PDL/Clipsal Wiser Dimmers in zigbee2mqtt

wiser.md

After a bunch of back and forth and many hours of trial and error, I've finally got a robust way to integrate the Clipsal/PDL Iconic dimmers integrated into Home Assistant via zigbee2mqtt.

I have submitted a PR that adds a zigbee-herdsman-converter that means the dimmers should be recognised automatically by zigbee2mqtt, allowing them to be controlled by Home Assistant like any other compatible device.

As it transpires, this was actually really easy once I worked out what to do, so this isn't even a hack.

Switching to zigbee mode

If you have the PDL354PBDMBTW or 41EPBDWCLM devices you can switch these over to zigbee mode by pressing the button 12 times (thanks to @ell249 for the tip).

After you press it 12 times it will take a few seconds then start flashing red. Then it takes another half minute or so to settle in and as long as your network permits joining it should show up as a device and join the network.

If you have problems, or you want to revert to BLE mode just do the standard factory reset by pressing the button 3 times quickly, then holding until the light flashes red slowly, then flashes red quickly. Make sure you hold on until it flashes quickly, otherwise it doesn't reset. This was the mistake I made and left me thinking I had bricked it.

Limitations

Once you switch to zigbee mode, you can't connect to it via the Wiser Room app to do firmware upgrades and such. It appears that the zigbee mode is supported by the Wiser by SE app, but it seems like you need a Wiser Hub to do this. So far, I haven't tried to make support for OTA via zigbee2mqtt.

There are some other settings that the zigbee certification document say are supported that I haven't gone through and made show up in zigbee2mqtt. I think it supports LevelCtrl and other things, but I couldn't get them to work easily and frankly I was more interested in the on/off and brightness control than anything else.

The comprehensive advice on this website worked for me. I couldn't get my dimmers to pair and thought my controller was to blame, but no, all it took was some twiddling with the button.

Note that the red LED blinks fast to indicate the dimmer is reset - give it some time.

Mine paired without the need to reconfigure anything.

(https://fearthecow.net/projects/clipsal-wiser-updating-without-hub-zigbee-home-bridge-home-assistant/)

Option 1) Updating via Bluetooth

Download the Wiser Rooms app

1. Press 3 times, then press (a fourth time) and hold until the light blinks red very quickly. It will blink red slowly first. Keep holding. This switches from Zigbee to Bluetooth mode. It’s not described in the documentation but does work.

2. Wait for the switch to reset into Bluetooth mode.

3. Press 3 times and wait for it to flash white for pairing.

4. Add the switch and pair it with the Wiser Rooms app on your phone.

5. Select the switch, and choose Settings -> Advanced -> Firmware -> Update.

6. Wait the 3min to update the software.

7. Factory reset the switch by pressing 3 times, then press (a fourth time) and hold until the light blinks red slowly. Wait for the reset.

8. Press 12 times to switch back to Zigbee mode. Wait.

9. Press 3 times to repair with Zigbee2MQTT.

10. Find the switch in Zigbee2MQTT and select reconfigure. This seems to intermittently be required and sometimes fail unless you restart Zigbee2MQTT. I’m not sure what’s going on here.

is there any way to configure the dimmer behaviour with these when they turn on/off?

• it likes to return to the previous brightness state but with a slow transition
• on/off actions have a fade in/out where obviously the swithces do not

I'd like to be able set the on behaviour and also that transition time to be actually zero.

The transitions mess with automations that I use to control the brightness in home assistant

const extend = require('zigbee-herdsman-converters/lib/extend');

As of the latest Z2M update (1.36.1) I've had to comment the above line in the js files to get Z2M to start - just in case anyone else has this issue. Isn't referenced in the files, and doesn't seem to impact operation.

const extend = require('zigbee-herdsman-converters/lib/extend');

As of the latest Z2M update (1.36.1) I've had to comment the above line in the js files to get Z2M to start - just in case anyone else has this issue. Isn't referenced in the files, and doesn't seem to impact operation.

That's because the latest version dropped legacy extend methods. FYI there's been considerable work on the support for these devices on repo, you might want to disable your external convertor and have a look at the repo version (with OTA support).

disable your external convertor and have a look at the repo version (with OTA support).

Interestingly I tried doing exactly that first - and none of my Clipsal devices worked. Didn't try re-pairing though.

On the OTA front, my devices all had their first OTA firmware via Z2M a month or so back - so it must be somehow merging the external and repo ones?

disable your external convertor and have a look at the repo version (with OTA support).

Interestingly I tried doing exactly that first - and none of my Clipsal devices worked. Didn't try re-pairing though.

On the OTA front, my devices all had their first OTA firmware via Z2M a month or so back - so it must be somehow merging the external and repo ones?

Which wiser devices are you using? They should be picked up just fine unless it's something super obscure.

The ota links were added to the ota repo about a month ago, I guess if the local converter has OTA enabled it will still be linked correctly.

Which wiser devices are you using?

Thanks - nothing obscure. 2AX relays, 10AX relays, 2AX dimmers. Will investigate further (and report) when I have some time to put into it - for now it was just the path of least resistance to get it working again so the hot water would heat tonight :)

Ha, yes priorities.
I find I can switch between local convertor and repo with nothing more than commenting out the config lines and restarting Z2M.

Turns out it wasn't that they weren't working - it was the fact that the relay devices are now presented to HomeAssistant as a switch entity - so I just need to run through my Z2M config file and map them back to light.

Turns out it wasn't that they weren't working - it was the fact that the relay devices are now presented to HomeAssistant as a switch entity - so I just need to run through my Z2M config file and map them back to light.

Ah yes - I also did that for quite a few of my 2AX

Yep. Went through all that pain. My local converters broke and used the repo version, and all my lights switched to switches. Had a good discussion on discord about this. @alexeiw123 share the discord link.

Ps, 2ax should be lights, not switches. Prove me wrong @alexeiw123 😂

Was a pretty quick resolution in the end thankfully. I use 2AX relays for heated towel rails and bathroom fans - so neither is a 100% hit-rate for me, but I'd tend to agree that they'd be more frequently used as lights than relays/switches. But please don't change it now 😂

share the discord link.
https://discord.com/invite/UAhfKWVd

This is where we've been putting some effort in to getting all the features working in Z2M.

Prove me wrong

This will be my hill to die on!

so neither is a 100% hit-rate for me

I'm in that boat too. About half half lights and other things.

I have more lights than non lights connected to mine. LOL.

Ps, 2ax should be lights, not switches. Prove me wrong @alexeiw123 😂

While I certainly missed that breaking change in the changelog, moderately strong disagree - mine are mostly on towel rails, fans, and heaters! Every good light deserves a dimmer ;)

That said, I still had to remap quite a few which was sad.

Every good light deserves a dimmer ;)

Cmon, I’m not that rich. 😂

is there any way to configure the dimmer behaviour with these when they turn on/off?

• it likes to return to the previous brightness state but with a slow transition
• on/off actions have a fade in/out where obviously the swithces do not

I'd like to be able set the on behaviour and also that transition time to be actually zero.

The transitions mess with automations that I use to control the brightness in home assistant

@alexeiw123 did you get anywhere with this?

I’ve got the same issue - figured I can delay the trigger from HA by a few seconds and it usually works ok, but it feels terrible.

is there any way to configure the dimmer behaviour with these when they turn on/off?

• it likes to return to the previous brightness state but with a slow transition
• on/off actions have a fade in/out where obviously the swithces do not

I'd like to be able set the on behaviour and also that transition time to be actually zero.
The transitions mess with automations that I use to control the brightness in home assistant

@alexeiw123 did you get anywhere with this?

I’ve got the same issue - figured I can delay the trigger from HA by a few seconds and it usually works ok, but it feels terrible.

No change to the transition behaviour but I managed to find a different approach than using automations for linking brightness between lights. That is to use binds in ZigBee. That minimum transition time seems to be fixed though, haven't found a workaround.

I have a couple of these switches(normal on/off) and would like to use the OnTime functionality. I have tested it via MQTT but was wondering if there is an option where it can also act like a delay off via the button?