Z-Wave Dimmer, Works with Google, behaves like an on/off switch, unless...

[sleevemedia]

All my Z-Wave dimmers are discovered into Google Home as on/off switches. The dimmers are manufactured and sold by the vendor of my HA software, who is Works with Google integrated, HomeSeer Technologies.

These same dimmers work as dimmers in HomeSeer's app, in the Alexa app, and all my Echo devices. As I consider de-Jeffing my home automation using Google Home, I'm finding that Home doesn't understand what my dimmers can do correctly.

But then it gets weird. If I ask Alexa to turn on a light to 30% then I go into Home, I can then control the dim level using Home. If I then shut off the light in Home, in Alexa, or physically at the wall switch, Home reverts to Nope, that's not a dimmer. The same thing happens if I set the dim level to 100% - nope, no dimmer here. 99%, oh look! It's a dimmer!

Now we could certainly go down some rabbit hole about the horribly bad HomeSeer device metadata transmitted at the time the devices are discovered, but I'm sorry that conversation dies at the point that I can use Home to further control dim level of an already dimmed device.

So if the Home product team could maybe swing by here and notice this post and maybe poke around in the code, I can continue my debezosification. Until then, Alexa still runs the house.

I've got a ticket open with HomeSeer and they're feeding me various hassle-inducing levels of factory reset. But then I see Nest Community posts within the last year that this also happens with TP-Link and Kasa devices. Given that I have no hardware investment in Google Home or Nest I can easily walk away and stay on Jeffy Junk, which is probably what posters here do when their posts go unanswered.

[virnab]

Hi sleevemedia,

Thanks for reaching out to our community.

I’m sorry to hear that the Google Home app is discovering your Z-Wave dimmers as on/off switches and isn’t understanding what your dimmers can do correctly. Thank you for sharing with us the behavior of your Z-Wave dimmers with other apps. It is my pleasure to assist you with your concern.

Before I start further troubleshooting, let me ask you a few questions:

• Is your Google Home app updated?
• Is your mobile device up to date?
• Could you please let me know the commands that you are using to control Z-Wave dimmers with the Google Home app?

In the meantime, I recommend you try the following troubleshooting steps:

1. Reset your Z-Wave dimmers, then set up on the native app.
2. Check if you are able to control your Z-Wave dimmers manually from the native app.
3. You can also unlink and re-link your HomeSeer's app account from the Google Home app.
4. Check if you are able to control your Z-Wave dimmers via voice command.

Let me know how it goes.

Best regards,

Virna

[sleevemedia]

Home app and phone are up to date.

Using the Home app UI, I tap and hold a device from the devices page, then I want to set the device to a specific dim level, but the UI only responds by turning the light on and off.

If I first use the HomeSeer app to set the same dimmed light to 50%, when I view the device in Home I see the dimmed percentage and I can control the dim level with the slider in the Home app. If I shut the light off with either HomeSeer or Home, Home no longer treats the device as a dimmer with slider UI, it shows the binary/toggle UI.

I have unlinked and relinked HomeSeer multiple times with no improvement. For now, I am not deleting and re-adding the dimmers to HomeSeer because I believe the issue is specific to Home's UI.

I've been using Gemini to control Home for a couple of weeks and, like the Home UI, it controls my Philips Hue bulb dim levels just fine. But then this weekend I used Gemini voice to set a HomeSeer dimmer-controlled device to a dim level, and it worked. Further, in the Home UI, I could see the dim level and adjust the dim level. But again, once the light was shut off by any of the working methods, the Home UI reverted to treating the light like a toggle.

So I've now isolated the problem to a Home UI defect. Gemini, the Gemini Home extension (if they're still called that this week), the Home app, and ultimately, HomeSeer are all fully able to control these dimmers.

That means whatever metadata Home needs to accept a dim level command from Gemini is present, it means Home, at least cloud backend, is able to send a dim level command to HomeSeer that is understood and executed. It even means that Home UI will treat the device like a dimmer - if it's already on at a dim level other than 100%.

So I have to conclude that the Home UI is misinterpreting the metadata of the device and rendering toggle UI rather than slider UI. Further, I don't expect a device delete and re-add would solve the problem because in order for Gemini's request to succeed, Home has to think the device is a dimmer. Parts of Home know it's a dimmer, just not the device detail UI page that renders the device control.

Philips Hue: working. Ecobee: working. nVidia Shields: working. HomeSeer toggle switches: working. HomeSeer dimmers: fully working in Gemini voice, partially working in Home UI.

Can fix pixels please?