Switch Suggestions?

💬 Lounge
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I'd like to make the switch from Smart Bulbs to Smart Switches.. I recently ordered about 40(isn) Smart Bulbs, but as I add more and more to the Hubitat things are starting to go wrong. Bulbs are randomly shutting off, the was only happening if the physical switch was ever used (mentioned another post here) but now its happening even if I turn the light on/off from the Hubitat Dashboard. I bought some "repeaters" (sonoff) on suggestion, but those are not helping at all...

Anyways, I'd like to replace all the switches with smart switches. I don't care if they are Zigbee or Z-Wave, I just don't want them to be "WiFi" connection type. I found that I do have a neutral wire (at least I think so, as there is a white wire behind the current "dumbswitch" that is just capped off (wire nut).. I never physically looked before, an electrician said when we bought the house that we should upgrade the wiring to provide a neutral wire - kinda thinking now the guy was just trying to screw us..) Not having that neutral wire (or at least thinking we didn't) is why I went with the Smart Bulbs.

So I need a SmartSwitch that I can use that has 3way (think that is what its called) support for the Living-room, Den, and Hallway. I don't want a smart switch on one side of the room, and then a dummy switch on the other - I want to be able to not only turn on/off but also dim the light from both sides of the room. Is there a SmartSwitch that I can install on both sides of the room to allow the desired control? I was thinking it might be possible to install a smart switch on one side, then on the other side just install a Smart Switch, but don't hook it up to the "traveler" wire, and just use it as a Smart "Button" or "Scene Control" (which ever terms make more sense).. Is this possible?

I don't know if it makes a difference, but the light fixtures in the living-room and 3 bedrooms are all ceiling fans? Does this effect the switch that I could use?

The bedrooms have only 1 switch that turn the light & fan on/off. I wouldn't be able to use a Smart Dimmer switch on this because of the fan right? The switch box for the bedrooms only have 3 wires connected to the current switch, 2 Blacks, and a green, the white wire in the box isn't connect to the switch at all. I would really like a dimmer switch here if possible, but will settle for just a smart on/off switch.. and then just use night stand lamps for with dimmer light is needed.

The Livingroom light fixture, has a on/off for the fan, a light on/off next to that on one side of the room, but on the other side of the room, the switch only turns off the lights (no fan switch, so fan stays on.) I don't care about a smart switch for the fan in the livingroom, as its pretty much stays on 24/7 (only turn it off to dust the blades and ceiling)

Then I would also need a smart switch that would support a tube light fixture; in the kitchen

I'd like to use the same brand throughout the whole house, or as much as possible, as I don't want different looking switches scattered around.. I've seen some switch that have this odd little bitty rectangle at the bottom left (Zooz), which I have no idea what that would be for, and then some that don't have the little rectangle.. I'd like them to be as uniform throughout as possible. And preferably don't want to have to add a 2nd hub/bridge to the system, (no Hue/etc branded stuff)

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If you are going to be replacing a bunch of switches and wiring into neutrals, I HIGHLY recommend getting some Wago Connectors 1st.

image

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.amazon.com/wago-connectors/s%3Fk%3Dwago%2Bconnectors&ved=2ahUKEwiGmqOxptPvAhXkx1kKHUMYAIkQFjABegQIAxAC&usg=AOvVaw1M2a-QXR68rkSg6Lm-mNH_&cshid=1616945261600

They are so much better that twist nuts and I don't see them mentioned here very often.

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Based on your requirements, I would recommend Inovelli’s (Z-Wave) dimmers or switches. I have a lot of them and really like them. I got a couple of Black before I know they also had a Red series and afterwards, always got Red series as they can do so much more! The dimmers don’t require a neutral, and they can be setup in a 3-way fashion.

They also have a switch specifically made for a light/fan combo, but I suspect you would need to have it rewired to use it... But this is just a guess as I don’t have one of those.

https://inovelli.com/products/switches/

Zooz or GE switches might be another option, but I have never used them.

If I ignored your recommendation to have all the same types of switches and the one to not require a second hub, I would also have you look at Lutron’s Pico dimmers and remotes. These dimmers just work - always - but they require a Lutro Pro hub to be connected to Hubitat.

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Funny, I was just coming here to research the difference between the inovelli black/red dimmers. Any other differences to keep in mind (i.e. load?). Also peeking at the variety of new 700 series switches. Any challenges to keep in mind with with Series 7 hub?

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I recall someone else mentioning these in another post; Are these capable of being wired so they don't actual disconnect power/load to the light/fan? So they could be used to turn on/off perhaps some Smart Bulbs in the light/fan. I wouldn't mind keeping the Smart Bulbs in just the bedrooms, as long as I could replace the physical switch with someone to prevent power being disconnected. And then just use SmartSwitch in all the other spaces of the home

If they can be wired as just smart "buttons" .. Do you know by chance how many "Scene" can be triggered the Red (or even Black) series? Like Double Press, Triple Press, ect., on the upper and lower paddles?

I was leaning a bit toward these new Zooz switches, because they seem to be able to trigger a lot of scenes.. But can't find where they could be wired as a scene switch (no disconnect power.) But also they require a neutral wire.

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The Zooz Zen 26 can have local & Zwave control disabled as does the Zen 32. I just installed a couple of the Zen 32 for Zigbee bulbs and love them so far. It's a 5-button switch that is similar to a Pico.

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Yes, the Red series can be setup so that they will always power the bulbs and can be used to turn them on, dim, change colours, etc. They also have an extra button.

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As far as I know, the only difference is the ability of the Red switches to be used as buttons and also the ability to control their on-switch LED - I use this a lot, but find that it can occasionally overwhelm the Z-Wave mesh.

All but the fan switch are 500 series. The fan combo switches are 700 series. Inovelli are a small but very active company. Like Hubitat, they are very active and listen to their community.

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What's the Difference Between Red and Black Series Switches?

The main difference between our Red & Black Series switches is that the Red Series has everything the Black Series has, plus: Energy Monitoring, Scene Control, and LED Bar Notifications.

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Inovelli Black Series does not have Scene control. The Inovelli Red Series supports Scene control for 1x to 5x tap up/down, plus up/down held, up/down released, and Config Button tap 1x, Config Button Held, Config Button Released.

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Take a look at Lutron Caseta. They have switches that meet all of your needs, and when used in combination with the Pico remote, do really well in multi-switch circuits. They do require a separate hub - and make sure you get the PRO hub not the regular hub - but they are rock solid. Many, many HE users use them with lots of success.

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12

:point_up: what he said! :sunglasses:

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How about the new Zooz 700 series switches?