is there any way how to control light brightness (and color) using wireless rotary dimmer?
Push → on/off
Rotate → adjust brightness
Press and rotate → adjust color/temperature
I have tried different zigbee knobs - using zigbee groups - but without success.
If I undersatand correctly, it was possible using SmatLightning App - but Groovy is already down.
I have read something similar is possible now in Smartthings App, but I cannot find it - maybe it’s matter of localization? I am in Europe - Slovakia.
If you have a device that is supported by ST and exposes the capabilities you listed, you would be able to write Routines or Rules to perform those actions. Since there are generally different makes/models available in different regions, I’d check for a Zigbee or Z-Wave rotary switch available in your area.
In the smartthings architecture, the device has to be one which identifies itself as a “dimmer“ to smartthings, not as a “button.”
IKEA used to have a control device that did this, but that model was discontinued. I haven’t seen any others that work in that way, but maybe someone else will know of one.
The one thing that I know does work as I use it in my own house is to have a device of this type connected to a hue bridge and use it as a parallel means of control. In that set up the device doesn’t show up in smartthings, but it will work fine with the hue bridge (or Apple Home via the Hue bridge) to control a light also connected to a hue bridge. Then you can have other devices in smartthings synch to that light. So that will work for some people, but not others. It depends on the details of what you’re trying to do.
Here are some examples of this type of device that are available in Europe:
But again, these buttons are not going to show up in the smartthings app. They just give you a physical device that you can use for rotation to control a light connected to a Philips Hue bridge.
Technically a “rotary switch” is Mains powered, and those usually do identify as a “dimmer,” to smartthings, so they work fine.
I may be mistaken, but because the OP used the term “knob” I assumed they meant “button“ which is a different device class, typically battery powered or kinetic energy powered. And those generally do not identify as a dimmer, but rather as a button. Consequently, rotation is not exposed to SmartThings.
@blueyetisoftware was considering looking into the possibility of bringing in some of the rotary buttons that work with the hue bridge through the LAN hue driver, but I don’t know if any work has been done on that feature yet. If it did work, that would eliminate the need for mirroring to a light connected to the hue bridge, you could just bring in the button information directly to Smartthings from the Hue bridge. But again, I don’t think any work has been done on that yet.
Nice, I forgot about that one! Looks like it’s working with a custom edge driver, as discussed in that thread.
The usual caveats for Tuya devices apply: there can be identical looking devices with the same model number that have a different fingerprint, because they are rebranded under different names. But it should definitely be worth a try.
The driver exposes the rotary left/right events and the button presses. However, the events are stateless so you would have to figure out what to do with these incremental events in an automation. I am considering exposing it as a dimmer, but that bring other issues into play as my contrived dim value would not be synchronized with anything. The dial is stateless when it comes to dim values.
The text fields of the (EDGE Driver-Mc): Aplicaciones Virtuales Mc (virtual Switch Mirror, Virtual Calendar and virtual Switch Board…) driver from @Mariano_Colmenarejo could be set in Routines to keep track of various states. You could do a manual calibration stating at zero and see how many clicks to the right (or left) it took to get to 100% as well as assign some dim value at each click (25, 50, 75 for example). Then in Routines, you could adjust up or down based on the number of clicks right or left and update the text field to represent the dim level state.
Could do the same thing for the button push, manually calibrate on or off and then have a Routine that changes the state based on the button being pushed.
Aurora made a set of dimmers that worked with their Hub (240v) and there was the option to have a slave battery dimmer to use along side but it never worked with SmartThings - this was ages ago so perhaps thats changed now.
Unfortunately however Aurora SmartHome has gone into liquidation.
I had a ton of their sockets and they were (until the last month) working rock solid.
It might be worth trying to find one of their dimmers and seeing if you can make it work.
I believe you, but I hadn’t heard anything about that, and the last thing I did hear was that the company was acquired less than a year ago, with the intention of operating only in the UK, and focusing only on lighting products. But you can still order their Zigbee products.
Do you have a link to the details of the liquidation?
As to other brands of accessory batterypowered rotary dimmers, there are some out now, and I expect even more once matter is widely deployed. But as far as what exists today:
Tuya Knob, sold under many different brand names, including Moes (Zigbee, partial integration available now with a custom edge Driver)
aqara Smart Knob h1 (comes in both mains powered and battery powered models) (I’m not sure what ST integration is available, it’s quite a new product.)
I had an email from an employee of the Aurora group when i was making other enquiries.
It states
“Thank you for your email.
Unfortunately, AOne Zigbee has been discontinued. I am not sure if you have been made aware of the changes. Aurora Lighting Group went into administration and with that went AOne.
“The systems in the background that support the app/hub communication/functionality will remain the same, but ultimately the system will phase out over the coming years.
The AOne support and development team have been made redundant and we no longer have the comprehensive support available to us”
I wasn’t aware of the acquisition of the lighting side of things but its clear that the Zigbee side of things has gone.
I have reached out to a few of the wholesalers I’ve used for their products and they have dwindling stock or are no longer stocking them at all.
Thanks for the update, ill take a look at the above products
Aurora Zigbee sockets are still for sale and the stock is being purchased up by one company - who has an ex aurora employee working for them.
The sockets work really well with ST however if the hub goes offline or you have lots of devices, they drop off.
I got a second hub to spread the load and they are rock solid. Except for when the hub drops off - ST are looking into this. I have been told it may be to do with Aurora devices wanting a ‘handshake’ with ST to re join but that isnt happening.
Interestingly my aqara devices seem to favour hopping from these. So when the sockets went offline, the aqara sensors did too!
I was grateful to receive a free Aurora Battery dimmer to test with ST. A few years back this wouldnt even pair with the hub. However its now recognised as either a zigbee switch or an RGBWW light using @Mariano_Colmenarejo edge driver.
However there is still no dimming capability.
I was hoping this would work using the ‘’mirror function’ in smartlighting app as the old ikea rotary dimmer once did.
I have been told it cant and its a limitation of smartthings - ok, if thats the case. How did the ikea ones work?
Please excuse my ignorance but how does it compare to the behaviour of a hard wired switch?
Yes i understand the physical dimming side of things. But surely the signal/message/info sent between device app and the hub or visa versa is the same. So if i dim my Candeo dimmer using the app, the lights dim. Why can this message not be the same for this device?
So if anyone has any clue then i have a device i can test with. I will try add it to the hue bridge see if that works?!
Sorry just realised that wasnt very specific and I was thinking it instead of writing it!!!
The aqara smart knob.
I also spoke with an Aqara rep. They gave me no clues unfortunately but they said some great tech and capabilities are lined up for release very soon.
Lets hope thats the case
With thanks to @Mariano_Colmenarejo i can confirm that the Aurora Battery dimmers are working. @Mariano made a custom TEST edge driver to work with this and made a product that SmartThings said couldn’t or wouldn’t work within their system.
The device works using the Smart Lighting mirror function. So you need a hardwired dimmer attached to the device you want to control.
In my case ive tested it with both Aeotec nano dimmer, a candeo rotary Zigbee dimmer and a rotary dimmer
All work well so far
This certainly opens some doors for battery dimmers
