The problem I'm having is that I don't have a switch to try and the switch descriptions seem to focus on the hub to switch communication and ignore the switch to hub communication. They all tell me that I can control the lights hardwired to the switch, but I don't care about that because I won't have any hardwired bulbs connected to it. There is usually no mention of what signals I can use in the hub.
Ideally, it seems all I need to do to setup smart bulbs for automation and local control is: remove the existing dumb switch, connect the light wire to hot permanently, connect a smart switch to hot and neutral that will send the on/off/dim commands to the hub, synch the new smart switch to the hub, then program what to do with the commands.
Most of the smart switches that look like the old switches explicitly tell me that the hub can control the smart switch output voltage to dim hardwired lights, which I do not care about because the smart bulbs need to be controlled by the hub and are not hardwired to the switch at all. They do not mention anything about on/off/dim commands being sent to the hub. Sure they can tell the hub their current status, but can I use that to turn on/off/dim a smart bulb that is not connected to it. Example description: "The DG15S provides On and Off of connected lighting via the manual Decora rocker switch or can be controlled wirelessly
as part of a Zigbee network"
The Inovelli descriptions give me a high confidence that on/off/dim presses on the switch are sent to the hub so the hub can send commands to the smart bulbs. 'Smart Bulb Mode allows power to remain at the smart bulb and the switch sends a digital signal to the hub to turn on/off and/or dim the light bulb"
The Zooz switches descriptions seem like on/off/dim presses they will be sent to the hub so I can do something with them, but I'm not 100% sure. "Adjust brightness from the smart dimmer directly, from your Z-Wave interface, or through voice if your smart speaker is integrated with your hub. The on/off switches connected to the ZEN77 will turn the light off and back on to the last brightness level with a status update sent back to the controller every time"
The rest of the ones that know will work are battery operated remotes that do or don't cover my existing switches and I don't want/need to deal with batteries when there is 120V right there.
