CCT canless light recommendations /w conventional switch

💡 Lighting
1

I currently have wired LED canless recessed lighting connected to traditional dimmer switches. They are color temperature changing but only via a physical switch. What I'd like to achieve is having traditional on/off and dimming via the hard wired switch while color temps are set through the hub.

From what I've found, folks generally say to hardwire the lights and just use remotes to control them. But I don't love the idea of having to rely on my network for all lighting.

Please let me know if there's any product that might suit my needs or if this isn't really likely to be possible. Thanks!

2

To be clear, are you seeking to replace the lights you currently have with smart versions, or are you asking if there's some way to programmatically access the CT switch option in the ones you have now?

If the latter, is the CT selector switch something like a 3-position (e.g. warm-soft-daylight) switch on the fixture itself? If so, there's no way to access that programmatically.

If the former, the issue is that the light's smart parts need constant 100% line power in order to listen for & respond to commands. A traditional switch/dimmer respectively cuts or reduces line power to control the fixture. Neither option is compatible with smart fixtures. Cutting power turns off the smart capabilities (defeating the purpose), and reducing power will inevitably fry/damage the smart fixture.

The solution is to either do as you said in your post or use a smart switch/dimmer that has the "smart-bulb mode" feature -- that at least mitigates the need for a seperate remote.

If both switch/dimmer and the fixture are zigbee, you could additionally consider using zigbee direct-binding -- once in place, that will work even if the hub is down.

3

I’ve never actually used these:

https://a.co/d/6vwWSnh/

But my house is full of their non-smart canless lights, and I like them.

According to the Amazon listing, these are zigbee and can adjust color temp “via your smart app,” not just with the physical selector switch.

4

Read the reviews. Many say Zigbee either doesn’t work or is unreliable with these.

1 Like
5

Exactly. The current controller has a 5 way switch and I doubt there is a way to control that (without a lot of work for each light) so forced to look for an alternative

6

Does it say somewhere that these can be controlled by a conventional dimmer? Seems like they are expected to be powered on always

7

Conventional (dumb) dimmers are incompatible with any smart fixture because they achieve dimming by correspondingly reducing power to the fixture. Smart fixtures require constant full power.

8

Hue makes canless downlights. That's my vote. Hue lights and switches that support smart bulb mode and call it a day.

Not inexpensive, but it solves the need.