Best Smart Bulb for Hubitat?

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#1

Hi! Im installing smart switches around the house (zooz and GE enbrighten) but I have a specific area of the house where I think I need smart bulbs...

Is the porch, I have 3 lights that currently are controlled by a tripple switch, each of them turns one light. I know I can install a smart switch and control all tree lights at once, but I want to keep the ability to control each of them separately (some lights are in front of bedrooms), and installing 3 smart switches is something I dont want to do because where the wiring is, I dont have the space for 3 boxes . So I'm thinking in keeping the triple switch and instead having 3 smart bulbs....

I dont need RGB, just plain white light. Which do you recomend that works seamsly with HUbitat?

Thanks!!

F

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#2

The best bulbs to use in this case and the Sengled Zigbee bulbs. Sengled bulbs are NOT Zigbee repeaters, which means they can safely be turned off via a light switch without negatively impacting your Zigbee Home Automation mesh network. They also have a unique feature that allows them to transmit a last gasp Zigbee message when they are powered off, to let the hub know to change their status to OFF. Of course, afterwards, the hub cannot control them until they are manually switched back on.

Here is an example

https://www.amazon.com/Sengled-Required-Equivalent-Assistant-SmartThings/dp/B072M5RT6L

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#3

Zigbee bulbs are notoriously bad repeaters for devices other than bulbs. Since the Sengled are not repeaters (most bulbs are) this also eliminates other possible issues down the road.

I have so many Sylvania bulbs that I opted to run them on a second HE hub to segregate them from my other Zigbee devices.

#5

Yes, they also report their status when powered on.

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#6

Sengled Element Classic bulbs have worked perfectly on my HE, no funny business on the Zigbee mesh network.

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#7

Sengled or Innovellli. That said, unless it's a table lamp, use switches instead of bulbs

#8

Thank you all for your support, i decided for sengled and will let know how it goes!

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#9

I like Inovelli bulbs too - they are kind of a Z-Wave lark out there in a smart bulb market dominated by WiFi and Zigbee. The only "issues" with them in my experience are they need the latest firmware and the power has to remain on at all times as indicated in the user instructions. Otherwise working well for my use-case - bedroom sconces.

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#10

Consider a few of these... I find them very helpful.

https://www.amazon.com/Lisols-Mind-Switch-Guards-Security/dp/B07RBTMG78/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=switch+safety+cover&qid=1615400111&sr=8-5

#11

I agree, but I recently ordered this item from Amazon and was sent Sengled bulbs that only work with Alexa. They have no ZigBee support whatsoever. I'm not sure if Amazon's item description is now wrong (and the Sengled's product has changed, or if somebody simply pulled the wrong item for shipping.

I'm trying again to see if I get the correct item this time.

#12

You might consider Lifx bulbs. Superior color and brightness, with Native hubitat integration. Far better than the sengled.

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#13

@ogiewon
Question about your comment:
They also have a unique feature that allows them to transmit a last gasp Zigbee message when they are powered off, to let the hub know to change their status to OFF. Of course, afterwards, the hub cannot control them until they are manually switched back on.

I just put in place 3 Sengled Element Plus bulbs. Excellent, in my humble opinion.
However, I do not see anywhere in the standard driver a switch/state that will allow me to "turn them back to the same state that they were in, when the power comes back on". Is this a parameter? (I'm guilty of not reading the tiny manual that they came with.)

#14

My experience has not been so good unfortunately. Totally agree with the colour rendition and awesome brightness, but mine keeps occasionally dropping off WIFI (despite the bulb not being very far away) requiring the bulb to re-powered. This appears to be a persistent issue with LIFX judging from search results. If it weren't for the fact that the bulb (a mini) had the form factor I needed I would have ditched it already. As they say YMMV.

#15

Strange. Are you on the latest firmware? Are you using jumbo frames? (that has caused me some issues and when removed from that segement I haven't had a problem since)

#16

Sengled makes both wifi and zigbee bulbs. If you’re certain you ordered zigbee bulbs and received wifi bulbs, you should be able to get a refund easily from Amazon.

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#17

I'll need to check. Thanks for the heads up!

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#18

I did get a refund. They didn't even ask me to send the 8(!) incorrect bulbs back. The model number listed on Amazon is correct for the ZigBee bulb (based on the Sengled website product info), but that's not the model Amazon sent.

I've ordered again, maybe I'll get the correct ones this time.

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#19

Not that I know of. The feature I mentioned simply allows the hub to know if the bulb is on/off due to a manual switch disconnecting the bulb from power.

I now use Hue bulbs attached to a Hue Bridge as I wanted the option of configuring each bulb’s behavior when power is restored to them. I also like the native Apple HomeKit support.

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#20

The two main reasons I have replaced most of our smart bulbs with Hue. A close third is that they just work: No extra repeaters needed. It’s also nice to be able to control them from Siri/HomeKit/Hue if Hubitat is offline.

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