This feels like something that will have already been covered, but... Can I add a tile to a dashboard to always turn off a group of lights?
I have mostly hue lights and don't care about the current status when I press the dashboard tile (I already know the status), I just want the lights turned off. The scenario is that I have a living area quite close to a hallway / bedroom / bathroom area and I want a quick and easy way to turn off the lights in this adjacent area on a dashboard without worrying about timings of dashboard / device updates.
Yes. Group the lights and then put a bulb tile on your dashboard for that group. When in the dashboard setup, select the group and then chose bulb (or colour bulb if you can also control colour of these bulbs/group). If you choose bulb then it's very easy to control - just click to switch on or off. If you select colour bulb, then when you click you get a popup allowing you to change the colour/level and also switch on/off.
Not 1000% sure if this will work, but you can try.... using "Groups and Scenes" to create a Group with the desired lights, it will create a virtual device for the group. Next create a virtual button, then create a rule that when button is pushed light group turns off. Put that button on your dash.
No status, no on/color control, just turn off. If that is what you want. If you want control do like @Angus_M says and just put the group device on dash.
Thanks @dan3. I am a big fan of Bryan's (@bptworld) and have Tile Master installed, so will give it a try.
@TechMedX and @Angus_M - I gave a coloured bulb template a try and, similar to a regular group bulb, it wanted to first turn the bulbs on if it detected the group status as being off, which in reality was not the case. Given this covers three bedrooms and a hallway, I would prefer to have the option to just turn the lights off. Thinking about this more, I know this is flawed is one or more lights are on, so I will have to deal with that, but for now I would be happy to have all the lights in the group turn off.
When you set up the group, watch for the option regarding dealing with the status of the group if one or more members are on (or off). That may help...
Hmm.. I currently have my lights (and most of my groups) still hosted on my hue bridge. Not sure if your suggestion will be an option. I am considering making the move across to HE, perhaps using a second hub, but it might be a while yet. I'll give the virtual switch a go for now and see how it goes.
If your trying my suggestion above, make sure you use a "button" not a switch. A switch will go on/off, a button is a simple "push" = all off. Thinking about it you could also have the button trigger a "Scene" where all light are off as well. I think both would give you the same end result. "push" = all off
EDIT: If you want to leave lights on HUE you could consider the Hub Connect App to bring devices into HE for control both ways as needed.
I already have this in place in both areas, with motion sensors in the hallway / bedrooms as well as downstairs in the garage. I also have hue switches that can be used to turn the lights off in these areas. The buttons on the dashboard are another option for turning the lights off sooner than the timeout configured for the motion-based automation.
I just add the lights or group to the dashboard. Whatever device you're controlling from the virtual button can also be added to the dashboard. Use a bulb or switch template; they both have the ability to toggle the lights on and off.
Thanks @michael.l.nelson. I have my bulbs still hosted and managed on a hue bridge. They are still synced with HE through the integration app, so I have access to them in HE. I had placed tiles on my dashboards for them previously, but the lag in updates to their status made it cumbersome to use.
If I moved my bulbs and rules off the hue bridge onto HE then I'd definitely prefer to use the native setup like you suggested.
I have been using the hue integration, but will look at the hub connect as well.
