Fibaro Dimmer not allowing fades

Hi everyone, I’m still struggling with my Fibaro Dimmers (1 and 2) which don’t accept any changes to “Time of a dimming step” parameters. I tried Dimmer 1, Dimmer 2 and Walli Dimmer - all showing the same problem. Changing values of “Time of a dimming step” don’t show any effect. The dimmer still uses the default times and fast dimming. I want to have a soft fade over 8-10 seconds (home theater).

I know for sure the dimmers are working properly. I had no problems setting up slow fades with these dimmers when I used them with a Zipato Zipabox and a Home Center 3.

Hi Gaff,

I was searching for fading options for the Fibaro dimmer 2 and found your post. Unfortunately no follow up on it. Did you figured out anything about this over time? Your “slowly fading from bright to soft in 10 seconds” is something that I’m trying to realize.

Some background for those ending up in this thread by searching for info about there own issue; I had about 24 Ikea Tradfri / zigbee bulbs connected via a Ikea hub to the Homey (gateway) that acted the same - in same group (driveway street to house). But unfortunately it was so bad and not stable that after a year of frustration I bought a Fibaro dimmer and 24 non-smart GU10’s to reduce the load from 24 devices to 1 device. With the bulbs you had the option in the Homey flow to dim in x seconds. For the Fibaro instance in Homey you don’t have that option. Hope that anyone has an idea for this. Or even better, that Athon creates this feature that exist for Lights, also create it for the Dimmer instance :slight_smile:

Btw; I replaced about 40 smart bulbs with non-smarts, so if anyone is interested to make a nice deal, let me know.

Thanks! John

Hi John,

Unfortunately this problem never got solved. I tried removing/re-adding the dimmer multiple times with no luck. I have a second Dimmer 2 in another room, which had been removed/disconnected completely and even that didn’t fix it.

Of course it would be great to have a Flow option to “dim in x seconds” that’s outside of the dimmer’s own custom settings. Where can I vote for this, Athom? :slight_smile:

@JohnHomey @Gaff

You don’t have this card?

Or didn’t you try: Transitions App voor Homey | Homey

No, I don’t think so. This is what I have in the Fibaro actions list.

How does the Transitions app work? How do I associate a transition with a specific device, such as a lamp or a dimmer?

My first picture was from a Qubino dimmer.

Start dim level change and Stop dim level change should give a level transition, I think.

Here you can find the instruction for the Transitions App:

Sorry, but the Fibaro Start/Stop Dim Level commands never worked. I’m getting an error with this test flow.

Hue lights and the Hue app are so much easier where you simply set a brightness level and transition time in one step - that’s it.

Hmm, are You sure to want to do this in Homey? :wink:
At least Walley havin’ a nice features/parameters
–8<-- From manual
154. Automatic control – dimming step size
Description This parameter defines the percentage value of dimming step during the automatic ontrol.
Parameter size 1B
Default value 1
Available values 1-99 (1-99%, 1% step) – dimming step

  1. Automatic control – time of dimming step
    Description
    This parameter defines the time of performing a single dimming step set in parameter 154 during the automatic control.
    Parameter size 2B
    Default value 1 (10ms)
    Available values 0-255 (0-2.55s, 10ms step)
    –>8—

I’m not using those, but 156&157 (functionality same, but for manual control). Givin’ me quite lot of time on the night to evacuate from TV room to bed.
From automation side - no mess with different dim levels and send each level separately. Just a “switch on/off” or if necessary, then “set dim to XX”

Sorry, no time to check other devices manuals - but hope, they have similar functionality.

This works easily with a Fibaro Dimmer 2 here without any other apps… DIM TO **% during ** seconds

Schermafbeelding 2021-10-05 om 08.18.28

@Gaff is it a Fibaro Dimmer 2? Which firmware?

Also @DidierVU @Gaff , @JPe4619 No idea how I overlooked that feature on the card itself. It’s same feature as for lights… Indeed, this was an existing feature on the card that is working for the Fibaro dimmer 2. I’m still experimenting with it, but giving a a “duur” of 1 second give me already an acceptable smooth fade when using a dimmer (one click up/down on the Ikea simple dimmer) to increase / decrease a bit - long press is on/off.

Some details; firmware; 3 / sub 5 / hardware 2.

Thanks for pointing me to this feature :slight_smile:

These dimmer configuration parameters are identical in all Fibaro dimmers. However, they don’t work with Homey as changes to these settings applied from the Homey app are ignored. These worked flawlessly with three different controllers I used before switching to Homey (including Zipabox and Home Center 3).

Hmm, then may-be it’s a little hint for author of app/driver :wink:

But, they working for me (my Walley). Unfortunately do not remember, was they set as “Raw Configuration Parameters” or used for them a developer tools “send raw data”. Actually right now the raw parameters block contains other than the “slow switch” ones.

For some time, the zwave devices were automaticaly included as secure in Homey, when included as secure, it is not possible to change the parameters, (search this forum for unsecure or secure) maybe this explaines the problems.

Sorry, doesn’t work for me. The card you showed above sets a specific dim level with a delay, not with a fade.

Type and firmware looks like this.

OK, guys. I found the solution. This particular dimmer was in fact a Dimmer 1 which apparently doesn’t support fade time in the „Dim to…“ card. Replacing the dimmer with a Dimmer 2 fixed it.

It’s still not possible to change/apply the dimmer‘s own „time of dimming step“ parameters, apparently because of the known secure/unsecure issue but this no longer matters.

Thanks everyone for your help and hints. Very much appreciated.

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What is the result of testing the Transitions App?

To be honest, I never got my head around it. I’ll need a step-by-step tutorial i guess. But I’ll be happy to try it again. Could be really useful in my home theater.