Control Phillips Hue Lights with a ZigBee Dimmer Switch

Hi, I would like to control my Hue bulbs with a ZigBee Dimmer switch. Is this possible?

Thanks,

Oscar

It’s certainly possible as long as the two devices are not on the same circuit. This is most typically done with a battery-operated dimmer switch, such as the Phillips hue Zigbee dimmer switch, which works very well through the hue bridge.

http://www.amazon.com/Philips-458158-Hue-Dimmer-Switch/dp/B014H2OYVW

But you can also do it with a mains powered switch, Zigbee or Z wave, as long as it is not controlling the current to the fixture that holds the smart bulb.

In both these cases, the switch sends a wireless message to the hub, which then sends a message to the bulb. Then it’s up to the bulb to decide how much current to draw.

However, you should never combine a dimmer switch, smart or dumb, that controls the current to the fixture containing the bulb with a smart bulb. This will only confuse the bulb, and may burn out the switch.

JD, can you elaborate on this a little more? I’m trying to get my Lightify lights to run off of a GE smart dimmer and not sure how to go about it.

Unfortunately, You can’t do that.

Smart dimmer controlling current to a smart bulb will likely burn out One or the other.

See the following FAQ for various options.

How do I use a smart dimmer to dim a Hue bulb?

I have a Cooper Z-Wave dimmer switch (RF9540-NAW), and Hue bulbs.
The dimmer and the bulbs have constant power, so the dimmer is not controlling the bulb load.
I’ve successfully used a “Smart Lighting” automation to “turn on” or “turn on and set level”, but neither sets the brightness level to the “dimmer’s level”.

I want the physical dimmer switch on/off to affect the bulb, and it’s dimming to let me set the brightness level.

Thanks in advance

P.S. Oh, I also have two add-on Z-Wave slaves to that master switch. Can all the switches control the same as the master? Seems like the add-ons should natively change the master, and the master should control the Hues through ST.

I would like to know this as well. Did you figure it out ?

You should never use a dimmer switch, smart or not, which controls the current to a smart bulb to dim the bulb. You are likely to burn out either the bulb or the switch as the two devices will confuse each other. Smart bulbs are intended to always have power and to decide for themselves how much current to draw. Otherwise the current inrush can significantly reduce the life of the radio.

There are several alternative methods for providing a physical switch to control smart bulbs. See the following (this is a clickable link)

If the Z wave switch is not actually controlling the current to the bulbs, so it’s a essentially a virtual three-way, that can work just fine, and many people do that. You just set up the bulb to follow the switch, using a smart app like trendsetter or core.

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I have found @JDRoberts advice helpful and he had recommended Dim-A-Hue a while ago. I had to use the developer IDE to get that working, but it did allow one-or-more Hue bulbs to follow a single dimmer. I tried CoRE to solve the problem unsuccessfully too. There are SO many options with CoRE, and ways to get it wrong, that I may have tried it with a wrong setup.

I have not solved my problem of keeping multiple dimmers in sync yet, but I can now imagine how such a solution may be programmed in the developer IDE.

I will be following the post @JDRoberts just provided to your question to further my attempts.

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Are there any NEW options for controlling Hue bulb(s) with a Z-Wave dimmer?

I never got my 3 cooper dimmers to sync correctly… and the one dimmer I did have working with DimAHue just now needed to be reset. I could get the dimming working again, but not the on/off… so I’m back asking about any new/better solutions.

Do you mean controlling the hue bulbs with a Z wave dimmer which is not actually controlling the current to the bulbs? You just want the bulbs to follow the dimmer?

If so, I would ask in the webcore forum (they have their own forum now) and see if anyone there is doing it.

https://community.smartthings.com/t/introducing-the-new-webcore-community-forum/96259