I just installed Hue bulbs over my kitchen island and replaced the dumb switch with a Zooz on/off switch. I set it to button mode.
I'm curious how everyone sets this up in Hubitat. I have the kitchen island lights in a zone in Hue. I created a button controller rule for on and off. I exposed the Hue kitchen island zone via Cocohue to Alexa.
I expect I'll set up a scene controller I have installed elsewhere to virtual push the buttons on the new switch, rather than control the lights directly.
Can you please clarify what you mean by "button mode"? Did you mean to say Smart Bulb Mode?
Since the Hues should have full power all the time, put the Zooz in Smart Bulb Mode to ensure that (you do not want to routinely be cutting load power to the Hues).
IIRC (but it's been a while), Zooz switches have a parameter to enable scene control -- if so, enable that.
Then program the desired Hue actions per Zooz tap/hold using Button Controller.
I'm not sure how Alexa, virtual buttons, or mention of another scene controller are relevant here, but if you provide more details about your intentions with those things, perhaps folks here can help.
Yes, I have it in smart bulb mode and have enabled scene control mode.
Just wondering if it works better to have Hubitat (and other things like Alexa) do button presses on the switch or to control the bulbs directly.
Just trying to get my head around having power to the bulbs all the time, with the switch triggering rules that control the bulbs. First time I've done this type of setup, and before I do other areas the same way I just wanted to see if there is something I'm not considering.
This depends on the automation in Hubitat you are using. Room Lighting can handle this where Button 1 is the Means to Turn On and Button 2 is the Means to Turn Off. Room Lighting can also handle Alexa and using the Hue App (just put the device or group as a switch that turns on and off).
Can you please explain more about what you mean by "control the bulbs directly" -- what are you picturing when you say that?
The downside of smart bulbs/fixtures is that they need full-time 100% power, so traditional ways of control (a switch to cut load power or a dimmer to reduce load power) are no longer options.
That means you have to rely on programming (i.e. rules) to accomplish on/off/dimming thru the bulb itself, and the bummer there is that when/if your hub is down, so is your control of those lights.
If you have a zigbee switch (e.g. Inovelli Blue), then zigbee-binding is a definite improvement for that pitfall, but it's yet another layer to feed & care for.
For all these reasons, many of us here aren't big on using smart bulbs/fixtures for switch-based lighting. Instead, we use dumb bulbs (with smart switches) for switched lighting and save the smart bulbs for plug-in lighting.
