Technology

The Leviton Vizia RF dimmers look like the regular dimmer switches you commonly in homes today, but contain wireless radios that allow them to be remotely controlled. The other difference with these dimmers is they are digitally dimmed. Normally when dimmers are installed in a 3-way setup, one switch is a dimmer and the other can only switch the device on off. The digital dimmer in the Vizia RF dimmer allows you to have a main switch, and multiple remote dimmers.

The wireless technology embedded in the Vizia dimmers is called Z-Wave. Z-Wave is used mostly for home automation devices such as dimmers, thermostats, garage door openers, etc. Z-Wave works great in a home setup because it operates as a mesh network, meaning each device broadcasts commands. This helps when relaying commands across the house and eliminating dead spots. It also operates on a 900MHz frequency so it won’t interfere with your wireless router. You can have a total of 256 different devices on a single Z-Wave network. For more info about Z-Wave see Wiki.

The Vizia RF dimmers can be controlled wirelessly via a remote control unit sold by Leviton or and other Z-Wave compatible control unit. One of the downsides of Z-Wave is in order to sync a Z-wave device with a controller, they have to be close to each other, about 3 feet (a “security feature”)

Setup

I’ll skip over the physical installation of the dimmers since that’s not my specialty. As I stated earlier, the main reason I wanted to use these devices was to remotely control the lights via the Internet. There are a few options to choose from, but my best experience has been with a program called mControl. It’s a piece of software that can be installed on a Windows Media Center PC or Server. I chose to install it on Windows Home Server. In order to used the Vizia RF dimmers with a PC, a USB controller is required, I tried two and had best results with the controlthink – ThinkStick.

After installing the WHS add-in to the server and connecting the USB controller, it’s now time to sync your dimmer. Using the mControl provided Z-Wave software, it’s as simple as clicking the sync button in the software and the tapping the dimmer switch on.

Once the dimmer is added (I installed 6,) you’re now ready to setup different zones in your home. I installed them in my kitchen and living room so I created two zones with those names. You can also individually name each dimmer to make it easier to remember what lights each controls.

mControl also allows you to easily create basic and advanced macros. You can create a macro that automatically turns your porch lights on at sunset and off at 10pm or turns all of your lights off at 1am. I was able to create a macro that dimmed my living room lights when I hit play on my media center and back on when I press pause or stop.

mControl’s built in web interface is easily accessible from any PC running Internet Explorer, and is even compatible with the iPhone and some Blackberries. From the web interface you can remotely check if you devices are on and either shut them off or on.

Conclusion

The Leviton Vizia RF dimmers look great and work great. The LED display that shows the brightness level looks great . They work well even if you don’t plan on automating them. The biggest downfall of the units are the cost, which ranges between $50 – over $100 per unit. Automation also requires a controller and software. Another negative with the dimmers is the range of brightness. At the lowest level, the dimmers don’t get a low as non digital dimmers. A smaller issue is the speed of the dimming. Non digital dimmers, dim as fast as your hands can adjust them. The Vizia RF dimmers have a dim/bright rocker switch and it can be annoying at times waiting the 2-3 seconds for the device to adjust from its brightest to darkest setting.

Pros
- Dim from multi locations
- Digital LED display
- On to off transition
- Automation compatible

Con
- Very expensive (2-3x regular dimmers)
- Lowest dim level too bright

Check back soon for a review of the Intermatic CA8900 – Z-Wave Enabled Thermostat