Jasco Enbrighten Z-Wave No Neutral Smart Dimmer review

Our Verdict

The Jasco Z-Wave No Neutral Smart Dimmer is an piece of cake style to update your dimming fixtures—just don't expect information technology to do much else without some tinkering.

For

Very easy installation
Agnostic Load/Line Terminals
Make clean appearance and nice button feel
Lots of confirmed smart dwelling house compatibility

Against

No manufacturer-created device handler, limited out-of-the-box features.
No dissever dimming controls
No included wall plate
QR code S2 security setup is finicky

Tom's Guide Verdict

The Jasco Z-Wave No Neutral Smart Dimmer is an piece of cake way to update your dimming fixtures—just don't look it to exercise much else without some tinkering.

Pros

+
Very easy installation
+
Agnostic Load/Line Terminals
+
Clean appearance and prissy button experience
+
Lots of confirmed smart dwelling compatibility

Cons

-
No manufacturer-created device handler, limited out-of-the-box features.
-
No separate dimming controls
-
No included wall plate
-
QR code S2 security setup is choosy

Jasco Z-Wave No Neutral Smart Dimmer: Specs

Dimensions: 4.1 ten 1.75 x ane.five inches
Wireless Protocol: Z-Wave
Wireless Frequency: 908.4/916 MHz
Dimmable: Yes
Neutral Required? No
Works With: Google Home, Amazon Alexa, SmartThings, Wink, HomeSeer, Vivint, etc.
WiFi: No
S2 Security Compatible: Yep
Movement Sensor: No

If you accept several fixtures continued to a unmarried switch, a smart calorie-free switch such as Jasco'due south Enbrighten Z-Wave No Neutral Smart Dimmer is a good option. It's similar to some GE smart light switches, simply with a key, merciful divergence: this one dispenses with the neutral wire, pregnant you need only connect the line, load, and ground wires, making it imminently more DIY-friendly in near installations than your average in-wall smart switch.

For this Jasco Enbrighten Z-Moving ridge No Neutral Smart Dimmer review, I tested this switch on an Aeotec Smart Things Hub V3 — i of the all-time smart home hubs — so this review volition be through the lens of working with that particular hub.

Enbrighten Z-Moving ridge No Neutral Smart Dimmer review: Pattern

Easy to install and simple to utilise, this Enbrighten Z-Wave dimmer is a straightforward, no-frills experience. If not for the small status LED at the lesser, information technology would exist hard to pick it out from a standard paddle switch. At that place are no sliders or separate paddles/buttons on this dimmer: adjusting the brightness involves pressing and belongings the acme or bottom of the paddle down, and waiting. It'southward a clean look, just I don't know that it'southward necessarily worth giving up dissever dimming controls. The buttons themselves are nice and clicky, which I adopt over the somewhat squishy affair offered by other smart switches. On the bottom, a pocket-size tab lets you cut power to the switch by pulling it out.

Jasco Z-Wave No Neutral Smart Dimmer mounted on wall — (Image credit: Tom'southward Guide)

If the colour of the paddle, which is white, doesn't work for yous, an almond paddle is included in the box, and other colors are available on Jasco's website. That was a nice actress, but I was surprised to find no wall plate in the box. If yous've been toying with smart switches for a while like me, you probably take a few lying around, but if y'all don't, y'all should know you'll demand to buy ane. And then y'all might as well pick upwardly a fancy brass pineapple-endowed wall plate, like I did.

Jasco Z-Wave No Neutral Smart Dimmer back view — (Image credit: Tom's Guide)

On the back of the switch, you're presented non with screw-down clamps or colored wires; instead at that place are merely holes labeled "load/line", "basis", and "Traveler." Of form, these holes are where you poke your house'southward wiring when it comes time to install the switch, and it'southward this, along with the small box containing all the dimmer's guts, that really makes this switch shine.

Enbrighten Z-Wave No Neutral Dimmer review: Features and installation

For better or worse, Jasco doesn't seem to accept a SmartThings handler (more on what a handler is in a bit, merely in short it is custom code to operate the light). The switch will still work out of the box with your SmartThings hub, merely you shouldn't look broad functionality without some tinkering. There are no multi-tap or long-press actions available hither; from your phone, you can toggle information technology, schedule it, automate information technology, adjust a brightness slider, or tap one of v pre-configured brightness settings. In fact, the default killer features of this switch are not software-based at all.

Jasco Z-Wave No Neutral Smart Dimmer — (Image credit: Tom's Guide)

In a typical light switch installation, you volition have 4 wires to deal with: ii black (load and line), ane white (neutral) and one bare copper (or green-sheathed) ground wire. For about switches, you demand to figure out which of the 2 black cables supplies power to the switch, and which carries that ability from the switch to the light. These are known as the line and load respectively, and if you mix them upwards, nearly smart switches but won't piece of work. However, this Enbrighten dimmer has no such limitation—its load and line terminals are agnostic, with the switch automatically detecting incoming power and configuring itself automatically to use the appropriate terminal and yet provide proper, prophylactic grounding and protection.

This combined with the slim housing of the dimmer makes for a switch that isn't just easy to install, but brings with it peace of mind: any homeowner working on a upkeep will be quite familiar with the anxiety-ridden moment that is flipping the power back on (you lot did plough off the switch's ability at the breaker when you started, didn't y'all?) and rushing back over to make certain there's no indication of wires that oughtn't touch having cozied up when y'all pushed the switch into the wall. No amount of conscientious, patient wire arrangement and folding has, at least in my experience, managed to convince me I haven't set upwards a fire gamble once the wires are out of sight, but this switch'south simple installation comes shut, and that is worth a lot to me.

Enbrighten Z-Wave No Neutral Dimmer review: Performance

After installing the switch, its use is pretty bones: press the top paddle to turn on the switch or concur information technology to raise the brightness, and accomplish the contrary past doing the same on the lesser. I found the switch'south slow default rise to full effulgence or drop to off to be a touch too slow, simply this is only a minor quibble, and fixable if you lot like to tinker with custom device handlers, which can be installed via the SmartThings Integrated Development Environment in your PC web browser (If this seems confusing, run across this helpful guide written up past a forum member of the SmartThings community).

For those not in the know, 1 of the benefits of Z-Wave devices is that if you don't like the options yous have for controlling a device, you tin change its beliefs and options by copying—or writing—code for what'due south known every bit a "device handler." Z-Moving ridge has a rich customs of tinkerers who have written code for whatsoever device you can think of, so information technology'southward absolutely worth looking into this world if yous're the curious, audacious type.

At that place are some downsides, even so. Custom handlers tin can add more advanced features like multi-tap and long-press, but some features non officially supported by your switch volition have to exist executed in the deject, rather than at the local level, which is not as fast and potentially makes the device vastly more choosy. I toyed with some custom handlers during this review, and some were better than others, but ultimately I just used them to change some advanced settings that are otherwise inaccessible, then moved back to a generic Z-Wave Dimmer handler.

If you don't desire to mess with custom handlers and merely want the basic experience, just you detect that your fixture is flickering at lower or higher effulgence settings, you can configure the maximum and minimum brightness through a somewhat fussy series of push button-presses as laid out in the transmission.

Enbrighten Z-Wave No Neutral Dimmer review: Setup

Jasco's Z-Moving ridge dimmer setup was straightforward in my testing: open the SmartThings app, tap the + sign in the upper right-hand corner, follow the prompts, i of which allows you lot to securely add your switch. The QR code for this can be accessed either via the front end of the switch, earlier you put on the wall plate, or it can be found on the box your switch came in. I had trouble getting this to piece of work when trying past make, but using the QR scanner from the brand selection screen was successful, registering the switch as a generic Z-Wave dimmer.

Alternately, of course, you can besides simply scan for the switch, which the SmartThings app warns you is a less secure method, and non recommended.

Enbrighten Z-Moving ridge No Neutral Dimmer Review: Lesser line

Also screwing in a smart bulb, the Enbrighten Z-Wave No Neutral Dimmer is mayhap the most foolproof smart switch on the market. For an experienced person working with reasonable electricals, setup tin can exist complete in nether 10 minutes, with no extra crimping, twisting, or tightening—I had more than problem removing the switch it replaced, in fact. Not needing to trace wires or check and double-bank check your work (assuming you lot at to the lowest degree know for sure y'all're working with the load and line wires) goes a long way towards justifying its price.

However, if you're looking for a dimmer that has a rich, feature-packed experience, this one may take some excavation as you may accept to burn through a few custom device handlers before you lot settle on one y'all similar; and many of those features can't be had while keeping its operation strictly local. For another culling where a neutral wire installation is an option, the Z-Wave version of the Leviton dimmer from our best smart switches page offers more features for roughly the same cost as Jasco's offering.

In the terminate, not every situation calls for all the bells and whistles. The considerate, slim design of the Jasco Enbrighten switches makes for an extraordinarily easy installation, while its minimalist appearance makes it alloy in with ordinary switches far more than many alternatives. If yous value a elementary device backed by a lengthy guarantee, solid construction, and frustration-free setup, the Jasco Enbrighten Z-Wave No Neutral Dimmer is your all-time bet.