I spent 2 hours crawling the community posts and couldn't find an answer... Maybe I'm not searching with the correct keywords? Anyways here's my setup.
Hub: I just ordered the HE hub, it's on its way
Bulb: all Sengled and Tradfri bulbs
Limitation: Battery-powered dimmer switch only. I have no neutral wire in my condo, so the wired switches are out of the question.
Nice to have: Ideally no additional hub.
I am looking for a robust, battery-powered dimmer switch to use with the HE hub. I've seen a few recommendations during my research, but they all seem to have dropped out issues. These are... Aqara dimmer switch, Sengled dimmer, Hue dimmer, etc...
I personally have experience using the Aqara dimmer switch with SmartThings hub and they just fall asleep after idling for more than an hour. Like pressing it once does nothing, then it works if I press it again. It's quite frustrating. I realize this problem is likely caused by the 2.4ghz interference from wifi, but I have a Google Wifi and I can't shut off the 2.4ghz or control the channel. Having that said, if the best solution is to get another router, I'd be open to router suggestions too.
Has nothing to do with this, and everything to do with the device.
The only button controller I have never seen fall off the net or require multiple button presses are the RGBgenie decora switch/dimmers.
These devices actually are aware of whether the command is received by the hub or not and send the command again if it wasn't received.
The other devices seem to have an issue when they are using a repeater and they receive a new 16 bit address, the initial button press just causes the router to issue the new address but that initial button command is lost and not resent to the hub...
I've got 3 Hue Dimmers around the house left over from my non-HE system, you can pair them directly to the HE hub and get 8 different events to hook on to (Btn 1 and 4: press, Btns 2 and 3: press, release and hold) .
I've also found that the batteries last a long time, as I sit here I'm not even sure i've ever changed the batteries in any of them in the 2+ years I've had them.
How's connecting them and keeping them connected? Any issues? I sold all my hue dimmer switch when I switched to SmartThings hub because they don't work well lol
Where are you located? When was your condo built? My condo was built in the 70's and I have a neutral in all but one switchbox.
What you're really looking for isn't a dimmer....it's a button controller. That might help your search here on the forum. Dimmer implies that it can control a load. There are no battery powered dimmers because they have to be mains powered to control a mains load. The Hue "dimmer" screws up that nomenclature but I think you will have a much easier time searching for alternatives if you search for things to do with buttons as opposed to dimmers.
This is not strictly true.
Fibaro do a dimmer module that does not require a neutral.
Xiaomi/Aqara also do a wall switch that does not require a neutral.
Neither are battery operated.
I have some of each running with no issues.
Just thought I would pass this on in case you were not aware.
I'm in Toronto, Canada. The condo was build in 2011, which normally should have neutral wire from what I am reading... Lol
I do have the Xiaomi/Aqara buttons and they work great without drop off issue mentioned above(which is surprising as I'd assume the Aqara wall switch are basically the same electronic but different shape). I guess I could use those, but they just don't look like they belong on the wall...
Thanks for the clarification, I did some more reading and looks like there are more wall powered options that doesn't require a neutral now compare to few years ago.
I have 3 of them connected for about a month now.
No issues with them at the moment.
I did have one connected that did have a neutral. Totally trashed my zigbee network as it is a repeater. I had to remove it to get things stable again. The no neutral ones are not repeaters and are not causing any issues.
I am confused with these wall powered ZigBee switch. Are they relays with ZigBee connection? Since I have all smart bulb installed, my bulbs must be always powered. So I don't need the relay function. Is there a way to turn off the relay function and just use it as a ZigBee button?
Not with any of the zigbee switches that I know of. Rather than pay for a zigbee switch that you won't use, why not simply get a zigbee button controller? The ERIA or RGBGenie zigbee buttons work well. Why does it have to be mains powered? Plus, you're not going to be able to control dimming from just a switch. You're only going to get on/off functionality. Also, you're have to make sure that you turn off the switch when you turn off the bulbs, otherwise you're going to walk up to the switch and keep tapping the up paddle and nothing will happen.
@Ryan780 I think I was confused with the term "switch", but that's basically what I was asking recommendations for in the original post. I don't need it to be powered by main, I just need one powered by a battery that doesn't have the dropped off issue.
You're never going to completely eliminate that. Using something like a Pico with a Lutron Pro Bridge will help. But there are occasions where one pico will just go nuts and only report held events instead of pushed for about 10 seconds or so....but then it settles back down. No RF device is going to be 100% reliable. That's why systems like Control4 are hardwired for their button controllers and why those systems cost the 10's of thousands of dollars that they do. That's the only way you're going to get 100% reliability. Nothing is perfect at this pricepoint. You're just going to have to settle for "really good" i'm sad to say.
Thanks for the recommendation, i will try the suggestions you mentioned. These are like 3-4 times the price in Canada lol I'll have to get them when i travel to US next.
Yea, Lutron Hub Pro and Picos are your best, least expensive option without wiring. I have about 15 Picos controlling various ZigBee bulbs and for me they work great. Bummer that the CA price is high
