I'm just getting started with Hubitat and smart lights in my house. I'm installing Juno Connect Zigbee wafer lights in an old plaster and lathe ceiling. To minimize holes am hoping to take power from the existing ceiling fan / light kit and replace existing switches with controllers that can work with Hubitat.
I'm finding the switch possibilities a bit daunting! Good news is I have a neutral with the current light switches. Since the lights are Zigbee I'm thinking that a Zigbee switch / controller might be a good idea. However, I'm not seeing so many options out there.
One possibility looks could be this Enbrighten switch. Anyone know if that can be used as a controller for the smart lilghts in the ceiling so that Hubitat would be notified when the on/off/brightness changes and forward that to the Juno lights?
But these Zooz controllers look nice too, and it seems clear they would do what I want, although they are Z-wave. Perhaps I really don't need to stick to Zigbee since Hubitat works with both? I can always plug a Zigbee extender in somewhere if I end up needing it. Good option?
I see that Inovelli might have Zigbee switches at the end of the summer. Hmm...I'd rather not wait but they look nice!
Thanks for any thoughts on the above or other suggestions!
Those lights don't need a smart switch, and in fact, the switch should be disabled, as with any smart bulb. Your choices are limited to the smartest of the smart switches, such as Zooz and Inovelli. Either have the option of 'separating' the physical switch from the load. You use that to keep smart bulbs powered while allowing the physical switch actions to be sent to the hub to be interpreted.
You can cross protocols, of course... a ZWave smart switch can control Zigbee devices and vv. You should take a glance at Lutron too... Although the initial investment is adding a Lutron Smartbridge PRO, you get access to Pico's and can simply wirenut the line/load inside the switch box, then use the Pico (in a decora faceplate) to send physical presses to the hub.
To expand a wee bit on @csteele's post, the Enbrighten switches are a no-go for this situation. Your hard-wire choices are either the Zooz switches/dimmers that have "smart-bulb mode" (not all Zooz do, so verify before pulling trigger) or waiting for those Inovelli Blues to come out. Inovelli Reds (z-wave) have smart-bulb mode too, but they are near impossible to get your hands on now or in the foreseeable future.
Lutron Picos (requires Caesta Pro bridge, not consumer bridge) are worth considering too -- Picos make for a great remote for just about anything in HE.
This leads to one thing that's been bothering me. If I wirenut the line/load inside the switch box that will permanently power the smart bulbs, which of course is what we want, but will I regret that at times? I suppose if I need to reset the bulbs I just might have to go to the circuit breaker. Maybe that's fine, but I'd be curious to hear people's thoughts on leaving a switch accessible vs keeping the smart bulbs permanently on.
Regarding the Lutron, thanks for pointing out that the Pro hub is necessary, I might have missed that! I keep reading how great these are but I'm not sure I understand what makes them so great? I've been hesitant due to the cost and the need for yet-another-hub but I'd love to hear some more details on what makes these so popular.
Caseta is an incredibly bullet-proof lighting system -- very reliable and responsive. The actual look-&-feel of Caseta switches/dimmers (including Picos) is a turn-off for some folks though.
The PRO bridge enables telnet connection for local integration with HE. Another benefit is the ability to add Pico remotes for use with stuff outside of Caseta. Some folks here have the Pro bridge for that capability alone (i.e. no actual Caseta lighting).
In case you research Caseta, you may be dismayed at its tech-spec range (something like ~30' IIRC) -- don't be dismayed -- though it's a hub-&-spoke (not mesh) system, the actual range is way more than advertised. Few people actually need a Caseta repeater to make it all work.
ETA -- re: the switch question, you could always leave a dumb switch there but put a guard over it to discourage inadvertent on/off. I just thought of this, but I wonder if a Lutron Aurora could work with those lights -- that may be worth looking into too
You can always recess a switch behind the Pico.. they are designed to be as thick as the faceplate. You can just stick them to a wall with 3M Command strips and slap a Decora faceplate on.
I have done something like that on every bedroom wall switch. The single gang wall boxes hold a light switch... and I went and bought 2 gang faceplates. Lutron makes an adapter for their Pico's for just this purpose and that goes into one of the 2 gang openings. When the faceplate is put onto the wall switch, the whole thing looks perfect.
In one bedroom the architect put the wall switch in a completely inconvenient place... so.. Pico & 3M Command & Decora faceplate to the rescue.
Haha, yep, I've done that before too! Dremel/hack off the ends and stuff the switch in the box. Then at least you don't have to kill the whole circuit if you need to work on the fixture.
For my ceiling fans, which also need permanent hard wired AC, when it came time to add in the Zigbee controller, I added one of these too...
So now, if I ever have to reset the Zigbee controller up in the ceiling, I just drop the decorative plate and flip that switch a few times. Just loosen two screws, rotate the plate a fraction, it drops down, exposing the switch. Click click click and put the plate back, tighten two screws.
Those switches I referenced are 10amp at 120vac and are not a whole lot bigger than a wirenut.
The pico's also come with a box mount. Hard wire the bulb power. Tuck wires. Put pico box mount on box. Put on pico. Put on face plate. No one will know it's a remote. I mean it's essentially the same as a table lamp that's constantly on now. My night stand lamps use LIFX bulbs and are constantly powered and I use a pico on a pedestal to control them. (also makes it easier then reaching into the shade)
Thanks for all the suggestions! Very clever to tuck a little switch behind the pico. Also very cool how you can essentially extend the box without cutting into the wall. I just might do that as well.
I did this with my basement utility room - pico mounted on the box, did not recess a switch but kind like that idea. Everything works fine - my wife isn't crazy about the Caseta "look" so I've kept them mostly in our basement. I am using newer Zooz switches with smart bulb mode for several applications and that works really well.
It's a parameter setting for Zooz, but the language Zooz uses to describe the options kinda makes my head explode... Perhaps I'm just dense, but I struggle with their descriptions -- I can't say these are the exact same for all the Zooz SBM devices, but the parameter choices are ala this:
A) Enable local / physical control (from the button), enable Z-Wave control -- this is the default setting -- this is for when you have an actual lighting load connected to the switch.
B) Disable local / physical control (from the button), disable Z-Wave control -- As best as I can tell, you use this if you have no actual lighting load and you don't need z-wave direct association. But you can still use the switch to control scenes etc. This is the parameter I use for my Z71 that I use as a simple scene controller in our living room and it works great.
C) Disable local / physical control (from the button), enable Z-Wave control -- I think this is used when you have no actual lighting load, but still want to use z-wave for direct association. I'm not sure about that last part, but it's the only explanation that makes sense to me WRT option B.
@agnes.zooz -- am I close in my understanding? Thanks!
Points A and B are correct. Associations are actually their own separate thing and the association commands are sent regardless of this setting.
Point C refers to a scenario where you don't want anyone controlling the lights from the physical switch but you DO want to control the connected load via Z-Wave (automations, voice, or on demand from the app). An example would be an outdoor light switch located next to another switch used to turn a light on inside of that room. Sometimes you forget which is which and you accidentally turn the outdoor light switch on without realizing it and the outdoor light is now on throughout the day for no reason. If you disable local control on that switch, it won't turn that light on if you (or someone else) tap it by mistake. You can then program scene control on the switch instead to turn the light on and off but only after dark. In other words, this setting accommodates some more sophisticated automation scenarios where you want to limit control of the connected light from the physical switch in favor of controlling the light mostly via Z-Wave (automations, schedules, etc). I hope that explains it better but let me know if you think we could make changes to the documentation, we're always trying to improve it!
Good stuff - thanks Agnes! The various scenarios are tough to boil down in just a few succinct words, so that additional color is helpful.
For me, it was hard not to get derailed by the "...disable ZW control" part of the descriptions even though you guys foot-stomp elsewhere that scene control etc will still be available regardless.
At first blush, "disable z-wave control" sounds pretty ominous, but I knew it was (of course) something other than literally disabling the switch's z-wave altogether.
