Fibaro2 FGD-212, Z-Wave Plus Dimming Module

Works as expected, great switch for installs that have no neutral wire.

I'm using this with Home Assistant and my Aeotec Z-Stick Gen5, which utilizes Open Z-Wave.I had a little trouble getting going due to issues on my part. I decided to go with this Dimmer specifically because I live in an older house and my light switches do NOT have a neutral wire in the box.First mistake was that my specific Dimmer was not fully supported by Open Z-Wave. My device was giving an id number of 2000, which was not in the manufacturers list, so I added it and pushed my change to the Open Z-Wave project.My second mistake was trying to use CFL's, which didn't work so well. Once replaced with 5 43W Halogen bulbs, it worked as expected.Installation wasn't difficult, but it was kinda tricky. There are so many different wiring methods, so you have to know exactly what you want to do. Each terminal would accurate a single 12 gauge wire, but I had to use a jumper between the Sx and N terminals, as required in the documentation. I had to use a 16 gauge piece of wire to achieve this, and have had no issues.I am not using this for dimming functionality, but simply on and off for my kitchen. There were a couple specific parameters that I had to set in order for everything to work as expected, and it's been solid since. Price is a little on the high side compared to an actual Z-Wave switch, but this was the only available option I had since I had no access to a neutral wire.Based on cost alone, I would recommend a cheaper option. If this is your only option, it is a good option as the device itself is solid. I considered giving 4 stars because of the price, but I don't think that'd be super fair. If I could, I would give 4.5 stars.

I gave this thing 5-stars because once you have it working it's really great, but it can be a pain to get working. That's par for the course with these teensy ZWave modules though, and the interface really is as good as it can be given the limitations.Wiring the module in is pretty straightforward. Getting it to successfully pair with my home network was a pain though until I read the instructions. In particular, there is a small recessed button on the back of the module that the manual calls the "B button." If something has gone wrong with the setup, there is a procedure for resetting the device by holding this button until the LED light begins to cycle colors, then when the correct color indicating "factory reset" appears, let go and click it *again* immediately before the light goes off. I had somehow coaxed the module into a bad state, but once I figured out the reset procedure it paired no problem. It's also a little simpler to do the pairing by clicking this button multiple times than toggling the connected switch if you're trying to diagnose a potential installation mistake.Once you get it setup, this thing is jam packed with features. Setting them requires a good interface, but presuming you have that you can adjust a ton of different settings. You can set it to work with a toggle switch rather than a momentary switch, change the dimming characteristics including whether it's leading edge or trailing edge, and read power consumption from the module.

I ordered a few of these to set up wall switch control for hardwired fixtures, to be connected and controlled via hubitat.It was a tight fit, but I was able to rewire each light pull switch to one of these dimmers, making it a soft cutoff.Two rules for respective on/off states enable wall switch control, with a delay of 2-3s.The second install was a little harder. The light wouldn't turn off all the way, even with a neutral wire. After reassembling it twice to make sure the wires were connected, I went ahead and connected it to my hub. Setting the dimmer state via hub resolved the problem entirely somehow.

The Fibaro Dimmer 2 works very well with SmartThings when using the proper device handler easily found online. The one I am using can be found on github by looking for "codersaur" then go to SmartThings / tree / master / devices / Fibaro Dimmer 2 (FGD-212). Sorry amazon does not allow links...This device handler exposes most, if not all, the settings of this little jewel.The performance of this dimmer seems to be better than the in-wall Leviton Vizia RF+ zwave LED dimmers and certainly way more configurable. The specific reason I used this dimmer is that I wanted my kitchen sink light to turn on and dim at the same time as my kitchen lights. The switch box under my sink did not have a neutral so I could not install another Leviton in-wall dimmer... The way I got around this was to leave the switch under the sink on at all times, and install the Fibaro dimmer inside the sink can light. Even though the can is metal the Fibaro dimmer has no issues communicating with the zwave mesh network but this may vary depending on how many zwave devices you have (the always on ones act as repeaters so the attenuation introduced by the metal can may not be an issue if another zwave device is close enough). I am using CoRE to control the Fibaro dimmer by essentially telling it to follow the kitchen lights. There are a million settings in the device handler for the Fibaro Dimmer so it can be adjusted to work with a large number of light bulb types, and its performance can be adjusted to suit your needs or preferences.One thing that totally surprised me was that the dimmer is TINY! The picture makes it seem huge but in reality it is really small. My house has 12 awg wiring as it was built after 2014 so I wonder how it would fair in an electrical box where the rigid wires need to be crushed in... I would expect them to force their way out so I am never going to install this in a switch box unless there is a ton of space or unless I use a stranded wire pigtail to reduce the strain on the tiny screw terminal. If you have 14awg wiring you may be able to pull it off but 12awg is too rigid in my opinion (I have not tried so it is just an opinion!).