I have three switches I need to be always-on. How are you handling these? I have tried using a Simple Lighting to turn it on as soon as it's turned off, but it doesn't want to work - I think it might be too fast. My next guess was a rule with a 2-second delay or some such, but want to check here to see if there's a better solution.
I haven't tried this with three switches, but a triggered rule seems to work fine with a single switch.
It works if I physically turn off the switch and if I turn it off in a dashboard.
Biggest issue I see here is how fast do the switches report back to HE that they are off? That's the key. HE has to know that the switch is off before it can turn it back on. 
Aha. There's the issue. These are Z-Wave nonplus switches. They're probably not reporting status in time.
2 Likes
If that's the case and they are not reporting, the best you can do is try and poll them using the built in zwave polling app. Won't be instant but at least it will catch it and turn them on after they are polled.
That should be okay. Might make my guests confused, but they'll learn!
1 Like
I see you've figured something out already, but...
If you'll never want the GE switch off, you might also consider wiring the line and load together--the switch will still receive (and I would say "report," but it's this old GE model so...) "on" and "off" commands, which you can use as triggers for other automations, but they won't actually switch the load. Not sure this meets code everywhere, though it shouldn't matter too much since anyone working on the circuit should turn off the breaker and not the switch (and some smart switches still send a bit through to the load when the switch itself is off anyway).
There are also other switches that support disabling the relay (Inovelli, for example), which effectively does the same at the software level. Of course, I understand if you don't want to replace the switch itself just for this.
I'm actually in a similar situation: I have a HomeSeer HS-WS200+ on a smart bulb circuit, which I really always want to be on, but I got a smart switch for that location because I'm putting a smart lock in that room and wanted a beaming Z-Wave device nearby. This was less clunky than an outlet, and I also wanted a WS-200+ somewhere to use mutli-taps to set different scenes (just needing to be careful not to use the single-tap down now...). Since this switch does report status and the outside light is one that mostly just turns on with motion, I'm using a rule that turns the wall switch on if it's off when motion is detected during a time when the light itself would otherwise turn on. (Despite my suggestion above, I just wired it like a typical smart switch, but since it's just me who uses it, I doubt I'll encounter this problem much.)
But: how are you handling a situation where someone turns the switch off, then the switch "realizes" it's off and turns itself back on...and then your smart bulb turns back on even though the user of the switch wanted it off? Even on the new Hue firmware that can restore the last state on a power cut, the last state would be on in this case, and you can't set "off" itself as a default. Maybe you're using other bulbs that do default to off (or maybe you do always want the bulb itself also on?). I'm actually not handling this situation at all, under the assumption I'd never do it, but I'm open to ideas in case it happens. 
I'm actually_not_ handling the situation either. These switches need to stay on, and if someone turns them off, they need to turn on again, smart bulbs and all. I just request that my guests never turn anything off, although it does happen occasionally. I could hotwire the switches or do the inovelli thing, but it's not that big of a deal to me yet. The most important thing is these switches stay on, or the actual bulbs won't work.
If the circuit needs to stay on all the time, why have a switch at all? Pull the switch out, tie line and load together with a wire nut and put a blank plate back on.
1 Like
You can still use the switch with line and load in the same line at the switch, leave load of the switch with nothing,
And use the app one to many from Cobra to control the bulbs with the switch but the bulbs have power all the time.
I have this setup with 5 Yeelight and a dimmer, it works
Second rule is to maintain the wall dimmer in sync if I turn off the group from the Yeelight app
1 Like
If the switches are toggle type, Lowes carries covers that make it harder to turn on/off. If the switch is a rocker style, I purchased these for switches that control outdoor flood lights that I control via schedule:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00O1CR5TM/
Comes with 2 covers per pack.
1 Like
Note, Some switch/dimmers allow you to disable the toggle. Perhaps yours can do that.
Thanks all. I think the switch covers are the best option for me. I think it's important to have a hardwired switch for the occasions when automation doesn't work, or a bulb needs resetting.
