Hi - I've just gotten started with my Hubitat Elevation, and I'm flailing around trying to find a solution to how to control the Sengled Zigbee smart bulbs in our bedroom. Generally everything works well, and I have a Sengled remote that works, but I want to replace our in-wall switches. What I think I need is some kind of smart dimmer switch, that ideally has a physical service switch, but otherwise leaves the power on at all times and has buttons that can be assigned functions in the Hubitat to turn a set of lights on/off and dim them.
So far, I've tried UltraPro Z-Wave switches, which near as can I tell cannot be set to not turn the power on and off. I also got some Lutron Caseta dimmers along with the SmartBridge Pro, and these seem to have the same issue - in fact, I can't even get the lights to turn on correctly because of the dimming that they do on start up.
I'm wondering if (1) my impression is correct that neither of these switches I currently have would work in this setup and I'm not missing something with them, and (2) what options there might be for an always-on in-wall smart dimmer switch. Thanks very much for the help.
You'll need switches from companies like Zooz and Inovelli, which have switches that provide a "bulb" mode so they don't affect power, just control the bulb(s) via the hub.
The GE\Jasco\Ultrapro and Lutron Caseta (AFAIK) switches do not have a bulb mode.
Awesome, thanks - I just ordered some of the Zooz ones (can't find the Inovellis anywhere?). I couldn't figure out how that specific feature was denoted and just kept striking out.
We did some renovations on the house including building a new room, but weren't able to rewire the lighting. So we have three sets of lights to control with three light switches, but the switches aren't wired to the correct lights.
Yeah, I really need to be able to control the bulbs independently, making the smart bulbs a necessity, but everyone also really wants to have physical in-wall switches to control them too. So, gotta have the whole thing it seems.
The remote's running through the Hubitat, and works pretty well, which is largely why I thought doing in-wall switches would be a cakewalk. Feeling more confident though with @danabw 's rec for the Zooz and being able to turn off the relay should get things right.
A smart switch with a “smart bulb mode” does indeed sound like the best option for you. Just keep in mind if the hub’s ever having an issue, you may not be able to control the bulbs at all until you troubleshoot that. With your current setup, at least you can still cut power at the physical switch if needed.
Update - took me a bit before I figured out that I needed to have the "Scene Control" option enabled, but got the Zooz switches working really well. Thanks, everyone, for the help - I appreciate it!
