rsync exclude hidden files doesnt work!

Both versions you are showing are wrong. You need to use double quotes. The following works and excludes hidden files and directories:

--exclude=".*"

If you only want to exclude hidden directories:

--exclude=".*/"

I use this expression: --exclude=".[!.]*"

Does the job well for me excluding hidden files and directories.

Open a text file exclude_me.txt and type the following: .[a-z]*

Then execute the following:

rsync -avh --exclude-from='exclude_me.txt' /path/of/Source /path/of/Destination