I have an outlet that has one of its plugs tied to a wall switch. Switch on, plug on, switch off, plug off. The switch is actually a GE Enbrighten dimmer that I've converted to switch mode using @JasonJoel's excellent GE Enbrighten dimmer driver (he provides a setting in preferences to turn a dimmer into a switch).
I have a wall lamp plugged into the controlled plug so my wife can use the switch to turn the light on and off. She can dim the light if desired directly from the lamp, which has a built-in small dial dimmer control. Works perfectly.
Of course, since it works perfectly (and exactly as she requested I set it up) she now wants to change things (ominous music swells). She has decided she doesn't like reaching for the dimmer dial on the lamp and wants to set the lamp dimmer control to max brightness and then use the wall switch (set back to being a dimmer) to dim the light.
So question is will this work, and even if it works, is it a good or bad idea to "dim" a controlled outlet plug from a dimmer switch which then dims a light that has a built-in dimmer control? I know, It's a riddle inside a mystery inside a 70's sitcom.
I can give her direct dimming of a smart bulb in the lamp from a Pico combined w/ a "don't touch the switch" constraint, but she wants it all, dimming from the switch and from her Pico, so she doesn't have to "remember complicated stuff." Egads...how does someone who has a Director-level position at work call "don't use the switch" complicated. Sigh...
Appreciate any advice. I haven't tried dimming the outlet from the switch yet as didn't want to fry anything if there is "big NO" about doing this. I tried asking the magical electricity elves but they are not responding to emails...
That didn't stop me from doing this. I just am very careful about what gets plugged into this outlet. In my case, there is the TV plugged into half of the outlet, so it never gets disconnected, and the floor lamp in in the other outlet, and again it is fairly permanently in this one spot.
Lutron (others too?) make a special outlet and plug with a "key" that allows you to only plug certain things into an outlet, and this makes it code compliant.
So both Zooz and Inovelli have smart switches that have a smartbulb mode... maybe something like that?
edit: What happens is physical control of the switch is disabled so you would control everything from your rules. I am NOT sure how well dimming would work with this though..
What @neonturbo said. But it really should be emphasized that if someone were to plug something other than a lamp into that outlet, you could end up with a toasted device and/or switch.
You can get a variety of plug-in smart dimmers and change your switch to a standard switch or smart switch. I use a Honeywell z-wave plug-in smart dimmer. They integrate with HE and amazon echo very easily.
The other thing you can do is change the switch to no-load... you'd hardwire the light to always on and use the smartbulb.. I've done this with some Zooz switches in N-Way setups.
I think I just found my "Legal Standing" to push back on the customer's request.
Any time someone mentions "Code" issues she becomes a law-abiding member of society. She is very risk adverse so this should be an easy win for me.
"I can do it honey, but @neonturbo, who is a manager in the Code Compliance Team has informed me that this violates code and could result in a total melt-down of our electrical panel."
The nice part about this is that she is already using her Pico, and the Pico is easier to reach than the switch, so she really has no reason to push on this other than her mania for being able to do anything she wants even when it doesn't really make sense to do it. Why enable a switch that is harder to reach than her Pico.
Yup, that should do it. And the crowd (me, basically) goes wild...
Thanks, but that would not work w/the GE switch dimming the outlet the smart switch is plugged into.
Yeah, good point, but I already have several extra GE switches laying around and don't want to buy even more HW just to satisfy her itch. The "Thou Shalt Not!" Code issue will be my winning card.
I'd like to keep things simple, and basically don't want to have to monitor long-term (this is our future retirement home) what gets plugged in where. My wite might forget and swap things around, when we're older some family member or care giver might change things ("I'll just plug in your ventilator here..." ) Just seems like extra unnecessary complications and I can duck it all w/the code issue.
Yeah point taken! We are not in our forever house thanks to NJ taxes.. just biding our time until our daughter graduates (or murders us).
I will probably have to pay an electrician some $$$ when we move sadly. At least I got my N-way switch working with associations (3 power-only Zooz switches + one Zooz Dimmer) so thats good.
My understanding is that children establish complete denial and don't even know they have parents from about age 13 to 23 or 24. So you're relativelfy safe as she likely has now idea who you are..."Eww! Who are these creepy old people living with me?!"
Oh she is certainly aware of my existence. It's a good day when I only get 1 or 2 "I hate you"'s... usually after driving her somewhere or helping her with something. The teenage entitlement is strong..
I am looking forward to spending my older days in a state "home" somewhere..
I use these with my floor lamps and they work well but they're pretty pricey. I needed to control two floor lamps and If I recall correctly 2 outlets and plug ends set me back approx $100. I was mainly concerned about having someone unplug the lamp to plugin a vacuum cleaner or some other high in-rush current device that would kill the dimmer (or the device).
Yeah, I wouldn't suggest getting a red series Inovelli because you'll end up with never ending "itch" until you replace all of your GE switches with a red Inovelli dimmers. And yeah, don't ask me how I know that.
You'd need to remove the switch, wire nut the wires together and, use the HE button controller app to control the plug-in dimmer but it's pretty simple to do. I'm controlling our night stand lamps this way (in addition to separate pedestal mounted Pico's on each night stand) and it works brilliantly.
Yup - she already has a Pico that she uses to control the lamp. She's had that Pico for years now and loves it.
The (in my mind) crazy thing she also wanted was to be able to use the (harder to reach, stuck behind the bedside table so you have to lean way over) wall switch to control the lamp as well. Kind of "just because it's there, I want to be able to use it."
However, I have since raised the "CODE VIOLATION - ABORT ABORT" issue that @neonturbo so graciously provided, and she now says she is perfectly happy using the Pico I have already provided, and has banned me from ever doing anything that is a code violation.
Truly a fairy tale w/a happy ending.
And yes, I think we'll see that a lot of stuff that she asks for in the future turns out, totally coincidentally, to be a code violation.
) Just seems like extra unnecessary complications and I can duck it all w/the code issue. 
