CoRE? SceneMachine? Other? Looking for Synchronized Dimmer

SmartApps & Automations Automation Ideas
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Hello SmartThings People!

New ST User. Here’s my scenario:

  • I have a room with 3 Hue Bulbs + Bridge
  • A Hue Dimmer switch was setup with a Hue scene via the Hue App: Turn on 2 bulbs to 75%; Turn on 3rd bulb to 100%
  • Hue Dimmer calls this scene on tap. All 3 lights turn on, fade from 0 to target values in a synchronized manner. They start turning on at the same time and fade in to target threshold in the same time frame.
  • Hue Hub integrated to SmartThings and devices controllable (outside of Dimmer, i know the issues there and don’t expect them integrated)

My desire:

  • To setup some manner of ‘scene’ in SmartThings (via SmartApp, routine, whatever) to turn this device group on/off in a synchronized manner like the Hue App.

My Problem:

  • Attempts via CoRE Piston (first attempts, might be missing logic) result in the devices turning on in a Serial fashion (one followed by the next) and dimming to the appropriate levels (0->Target level).
  • Attempts via a Scene Machine smartapp do the same; Lights turn on in a serial fashion and turn dim to target levels

So my Question:

  • Can I setup a group of devices to turn on/off in a Parallel fashion like the Hue Bridge performs? Looking to replicate as close as possible to how the Hue App performs
    Can be via Recommended smartapp, some coding, something?

A Very Fuzzy Lab Rat…

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Checkout trendsetter app - [RELEASE] Trend Setter

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The problem may be related to some recent changes that smart things has made. These are affecting any communication between SmartThings and the Hue bridge, regardless of what smart app you use. So you can try switching to trendsetter, but since its communication is still ultimately through smartthings, I don’t think it’s going to fix the problem.

The alternative would be to execute a Hue scene using IFTTT. There may be a slight lag, but you will get the synchronization back.

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I will certainly look here – thank you aromka

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JD Roberts – i will certainly try both Trendsetter but also IFTT; I’ve been wanting to get IFTT into this anyway.

I haven’t looked at the article linked in detail, but do you think that this is specific to Hue Bulbs? I am considering some cheaper bulbs (GE and Cree seem reasonable); perhaps I’ll try the same setup with them.

Oh the joy of putting together a new HA system!

Thanks for the feedback so far.

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It’s specific to the hue bridge, but I think it will affect any bulb connected to that bridge.

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It’s not confirmed that it relates to the hue bridge, but I don’t have any other bulbs to test direct zigby integration to the ST hub and seems to point to a Hue/ST integration issue… an alternative is to setup scenes on the Hue hub and trigger those, this app will give you what you are looking for allowing you to trigger the scene not the bulbs, but you will lose some control within ST due to this…

Edit: just a side note, I can manually tap 3 lights on and they are currently quicker that ST can do a standard .on() across the 3 bulbs, so definitely on the ST and not Hue side of things

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To follow-up – I will confirm this is isolated in my setup to just the Hue bridge-based devices. When I setup a ‘scene’ for non-hue bulbs (like Cree bulbs connected native to ST hub) they power on/off/dim in parallel. Bummer for me since my downstairs is enabled with Hue bulbs

I will be trying out the IFTTT integration when time allows and am confident I can use IFTTT to accomplish the same trigger.

Re the other solutions here – I haven’t yet tried them fully, but these give me other ideas to attempt and I appreciate the feedback everyone has given! An open solution such as ST has lots of way to skin the same cat it seems!

Warm Regards!

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