Hi all,
I am looking to expand my smart home set up to the whole home. I am using a small mish-mash of devices at the moment and im looking for some advice.
Currently i have a smart things hub (v2) with 4x lifx bulbs and logitec pops as the buttons, This set up is not very good ands there is a load of delay from pushing the button to the lights actually coming on.
Because of this and not being too heavily down a path now is the chance to change. I am looking at a hubitat hub (obvs) but then im trying to think of a lighting solution. My other half would like switches in the wall that operate the lights so this is a must. I am finding it difficult as being in the uk (square switches) and having no netural in the wall at the socket. I have looked into lutron RA2 as people say that these are the best.
Couple of questions regarding these though, firstly has anyone used these with a 2 wire set up and then with a 2 wire set up can they control other bulbs such as phillips hue bulbs ikea bulbs (through hubitat). If using them wirelessly do i have to have something in the wall.
Sorry if these questions are stupid, just trying to gather as much knowledge before i take the plunge.
Any help is appreciated.
Kind Regards
Elliott
Typically, if you install Smart Switches/Dimmers in your walls, you connect them to 'dumb' bulbs. This really works very well and has the best WAF (wife acceptance factor). Also, this is very guest/visitor friendly. The biggest disadvantage to this is that the bulbs are not color.
Smart Bulbs (RGBW) work well in table/floor lamps, assuming you can convince everyone in the house to leave the lamp fixture's switch ON at all times. Most bulbs are Zigbee mesh network repeaters, and as such, can cause major issues to your Zigbee network if they are powered off. The one exception to this rule are SENGLED Smart Bulbs. By design, these are not zigbee repeaters.
You could also go with Philips Hue bridge + bulbs. These have the advantage of being controlled independently of the Home Automation Hub, and they build their own Zigbee LL mesh network. Hubitat communication to the Hue bridge over your LAN network, so no cloud dependency.
Personally, here in the USA, I use Lutron Caseta switches, dimmers, fan controllers, and pico remotes throughout the house. (Hubitat communication to the Lutron SMartBridge Pro via the LAN, so no cloud connection.) Most every wall switch has been replaced. I have been very impressed at the reliability of the Lutron equipment. I also use Sengled Color RGBW bulbs in most every table/floor lamp fixture. I use Lutron Pico Remotes surface mounted on the walls to even provide simple control of these Sengled Smart Bulbs (on/off/dimmer level.) Control of color for these bulbs is done through Hubitat automations for alarm conditions (e.g. lights all turn blue in the house for a water leak sensor alarm) or via Alexa voice control.
I have pretty much removed Z-Wave from my home and have standardized on Zigbee for sensors (Motion sensors, Door/Window Contact sensors, etc...) Zigbee devices typically are lower cost and report status updated faster than their Z-Wave counterparts. YMMV, of course.
Being in the UK will bring its own set of challenges, with product availability of course. I hope you find the products to achieve your goals!
Fibaro (a company based in Poland) makes a device that goes in your wall socket that doesn't need a neutral as long as you use dumb bulbs......Not sure if it's available where you are?
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Firstly thanks for the responce. So you have lutron switches controlling the sengled lights is this through hubitat or the lutron set up?
Thanks for the response. Yes i have one of these now. I struggle with some of the back boxes of the switches not being deep enough. but i will use these where i can
Not exactly... I have Lutron Pico Remotes controlling Sengled Bulbs via Hubitat. Pico remote executes an automation with Hubitat which controls Sengled lights.
Lutron switches and dimmers simply control dumb bulbs.
Thanks For the clarification 
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