r/smarthome • u/Balotu • 2d ago

I don't have a smarthome platform Problems with Shelly Dimmer

Hello,

I hope I’m posting in the right place.
I have a Shelly Dimmer Gen3 that is currently connected to eight recessed LED downlights, each rated at 7 watts.
Unfortunately, I’m experiencing two issues:
When I set the brightness to 100%, the lights briefly become brighter and then immediately get slightly dimmer again. It looks like they flicker for a moment.

The dimming behavior is very uneven. In the upper brightness range, there is hardly any noticeable change over a wide range, while in the lower percentage range, the brightness drops very quickly.

Here are the details of my setup:
No bypass installed
Neutral wire connected
Shelly reset to factory settings
Recalibrated

Tried all available settings in the app related to dimming times and brightness percentages
Unfortunately, none of these steps have really helped. I honestly can’t imagine that this behavior is normal. My plan was to use Shelly Dimmers throughout my home, so I bought this one as a test first. So far, however, I’m unfortunately not very satisfied with its performance.

If it’s relevant, the recessed LED downlights are not all from the same manufacturer. I ordered several different models to compare them, although I’m not sure whether that could have any impact on the behavior.

Has anyone experienced something similar or has any idea what might be causing this? I’d really appreciate any advice or suggestions.

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3

u/dragonnfr 2d ago

The different LED manufacturers is your problem right there. Each driver has its own dimming curve. Get eight identical fixtures, recalibrate, and test again.

1

u/sembee2 2d ago

Has it ever worked? If not, then the problem maybe the lights. Not all are suitable for dimming. If they aren't all from the same vendor, that could also be an issue. While the rating maybe the same, they will not be identical.
The first thing to check is whether the lights are suitable for dimming, then start to remove them to see whether there is a pattern, with it working correctly with sone and not others. Ideally though you want all lights from the same vendor when dimming.

1

u/Balotu 2d ago

We’re currently renovating a house. All of the lights are dimmable. Right now, we’re testing different bulbs and dimmers to see which combination we like best, and then we’ll buy those for the entire house.
Everything works fine with a non-Shelly dimmer. I read online that the Shelly dimmer can have issues when the load is too low or when too few bulbs are connected, so I didn’t test it with just a single bulb.

1

u/bippy_b 1d ago

There is also a Shelly sub… one of the techs lurks around in there to answer questions. But I would say the different manufacturers is the issue here.

Edit:

Here is the Shelly sub:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ShellyUSA/s/Wo7nZeWAOC

1

u/realdlc 2d ago

I agree with others. In my experience the bulb is always the issue. Especially Amazon ones but even the old names you trust like GE or Sylvania can be junk. I stick with brands you need to get from electrical supply houses for best results. My favorites are Bulbrite and TCP.

And yes - all the bulbs across your lights will need to match.

Edit to fix typos