Background:
I installed some LED light strips around my bed and got some smart bulbs in there too for mood lighting. I can control everything fine from the smartthings app. I have all 5 lights linked up and they mirror each others color/brightness fairly well. I decided I wanted it to work with the light switch on the wall, so I set up some routines to have those lights mirror the settings on that dimmer. I took the bulbs out of the ceiling light so the switch on the wall controls just the new stuff. The problem is these lights are really just mood lights. They aren’t anywhere near as bright as the ceiling lights so I want control over both.
Preferred solution:
A remote that acts the same as a dimmer switch in the smartthings app that I can have by the bed or on the wall. This product claims to work with smartthings on home depot’s website, but on amazon people say it doesn’t. I can’t for the life of me find a remote that works natively with smartthings…
What I’m trying to avoid:
I know if I change out the 1 gang electrical box with a 2 gang box, I can install another dimmer switch and not attach anything to the load line to have it work how I want it too. This just seems like unnecessary work…
The pico remote is part of the Lutron system. If you have a Lutron SmartBridge, it can be used as an alternate means of control for other Lutron devices, but in a smartthings set up you can’t use it to control anything else. The same is true for the various Hue devices: they will work to control other devices connected to the same hue bridge, but not anything else.
There are several battery powered remote that worked with the old smartthings architecture, but I’m hesitant to recommend them right now because of the switch over to edge drivers, and I don’t know what’s going to work there.
It’s also possible that there will be some matter compatible battery remotes that will work with smartthings once that integration is released, but it’s not here yet either.
So unfortunately, this is just a bad time to be looking for new hardware. You should have more choices and more information by January.
If you really want something right now, it would help to know the brand and model of both the lightbulbs and the switch on the wall, as some may have more options than others.
The zooz Zen 34 might also be an option. It will definitely work with the new architecture. It works by sending a message to the hub which then sends a message to the bulbs, so it shouldn’t matter what brand/model the bulbs are as long as they talk to smartthings. The only thing I don’t know is whether it will do dimming or just on/off. Their tech-support is usually really good, so you can ask them about that.
In the smartthigns app I have the color coordinator going between the bulbs and another one for the strips (colors dont match well so they are separate). I also have the smart lighting smartapp to get the dimming to match up and to get the mirroring with the wall switch working.
If that zooz thing was a dimmer switch, it would be exactly what I am looking for
Do you have a smartthings/Aeotec hub or not? I forgot to ask before, and you do have to have a hub to use the zooz product.
The Zooz product does support multiple scenes, although to be honest I’m not sure if that works with smartthings with the new architecture or not. If the scenes do work you could have one scene for 25% brightness, a different scene for 50% brightness, etc. if that would work for you.
So unless I’m missing something, out of the box it kinda works but not really. I setup like 10 routines for the hold up/hold down events.
like…
routine for hold up -
if bulb is off, turn it on and set to 20%
if bulb is on and under 20%, put it to 20%
if bulb is on and between 20% and 39%, set it to 40%
you get the idea…
When I say set “it”, i’m referring to the 5 lights in the room (3 strips 2 bulbs). It’s using 1 bulb as the master for checking levels here. It’s super clunky but it normally works. It isn’t really what I had in mind but all the special features this zooz remote provides makes it worth keeping. I’ve actually bought 2 more remotes, a light switch, and 2 dimming switches since getting the first one because I love having secret button presses on switches to run various routines. 3 installed, 3 more to go
So was there an easier way to get the dimming working here?
Not sure what Dimmer the remote is controlling but I don’t believe it supports the Zooz Dimmer besides 0-100% using the hold buttons, possibly the updated driver available when you register does.
I have the Zooz remote as well as the identical Aeotec remote Dimmer. The Aeotec has a much updated driver over the Zooz but appears to use associations not available with the Zooz Dimmer.
If you want the hold to dim on, use “Turn On”, then Dimmer 100%. As you hold it, it will dim up from 0. It does it rapidly, so control isn’t great, but it works. To dim off, set the values to turn off, dim 0%
