Hello,
As I live in europe, it's not easy to find smart light switches to create light automations.
So my idea is to keep the wall switch always "on" and turn the lights on/off with triggers using Hubitat.
But for example, if I want to manually turn off a light that is set with color blue using the wall switch, I want that the color remains the same when I turn on the light again using wall switch.
Is this a normal behavior in smart light bulbs? or do I have to look at some specific models that keeps this color/settings memory?
Btw, what light bulbs work best with Hubitat? Zigbee or wi-fi?
I can't help with what might be available in Europe but I would suggest you use the compatibility list as a start. Find bulbs that you can locate locally from that list. Some bulbs are able to store state when manually turned on or off and some can't. If you came back here with a list of bulbs that you can source locally, members can likely help you with ones that work as you need.
There are some community drivers for some brands of WiFi bulbs but many more are likely unsupportable. Zigbee is somewhat safe because it is natively supported on Hubitat. There may be issues with some so again I would recommend seeing what you may be able to source locally and bring back your list here for comment.
I also can't help with what is specifically available in Europe, but most smart bulbs do act in the way you describe. Two exceptions that I'm aware of include Ikea Tradfri (would not recommend this) and Sengled (can pair directly to Hubitat). These are both Zigbee, which in my opinion is the best protocol for smart bulbs among the current options. (Wi-Fi isn't inhrerently bad, but if you have a lot of bulbs, most home routers have a limit to the number of clients, and it won't create a mesh network to extend range like most Zigbee and Z-Wave bulbs do. There are very few Z-Wave bulbs, and the only one I've used was not very bright.)
A third exception--and I'm pretty sure this is available in Europe based on Philips' marketing--is Philips Hue with a Hue Bridge, which integrates with Hubitat over the LAN. The Hue app can be used to configure various power-restore settings for Hue bulbs, including what you describe. They can pair directly to Hubitat (over Zigbee) but can't be configured to use this setting there, and you probably wouldn't want to do this with Hue--or most Zigbee buls (except Sengled) anyway due to problems many are known to have when acting as repeaters on your network. That's why I'd recommend the Bridge.
Unfortunately, they are a bit expensive. In my opinion, however, they are worth it--good color and whites (something I've seen lack in other color bulbs, especially at non-2700K temperatures) on the latest generations, a few different bulb styles (unfortunately nothing like a 75W or 100W bulb equivalent, though a Light Strip Plus is surprisingly bright and can be made more so with extensions), and--important for me--a well documented local API using the Bridge, which other platforms like Hubitat can leverage.
Philips Hue seems to be great but it's very expensive.
I noticed that Xiaomi Yeelight lights are compatible with hubitat and they have a default state setting, giving the possibility to choose the settings of the light when it's turned on.
I also read somewhere that zigbee bulbs are not good repeaters, but I still don't know if they should be avoided.
Right now Yeelight bulbs seems to be the best option
TP-Link color bulbs are wifi and can be set to restore to a specific setting, or last “on” state when power is restored. The newer Sylvania zigbee color bulbs will also restore to last on state when power is restored.
