GE 45856GE Use

Devices & Integrations
1

Planning to get an in wall zigbee switch mainly because I need a repeater close to my garage door, as the garage door open sensor doesnt work very reliably.

With this switch, can I turn the lights on/off manually and also override it with smartthings? And vice versa - can I set it to come on via smartthings but then turn it off manually? It would be nice if I could turn this light on/off manually whenever I want but have it always turned off, regardless of switch position, when I run the good night protocol.

2

I’m not quite comfortable with the use of the term “override” since that implies that one control method has priority over another, which isn’t what happens.

Instead, commands are just processed in the order that they are received. So you can use the switch as a wall switch. And you can automate it with SmartThings routines or the smart lighting feature. And each command will be processed as it is received.

So if you have set up a routine to turn the light on automatically at sunset, it will come on. If you then use the wall switch to turn it off again, the light will go off.

If you have another automation which runs to turn the light on, say if the door is opened and the time is between 5 PM and 5 AM, if the door was opened after you had turned the light off at the wall switch, that automation would send a command to turn the light on and it would come on again.

So you can use the switch as a wall switch, and it works fine. But it doesn’t “override” any automated schedules in the sense of delaying or canceling the next scheduled “on.” Each command just gets processed as it is received.

I mention that because one of the more common requests in the forum is for code that will allow a manual switch to override an existing schedule, so that if the wall switch is used to turn the light on it stays on until the manual switch is used again. That can be done, but would require custom code.

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3

You can use the wall switch as a regular switch and turn it on/off

You can also use a SmartApp to turn the switch off after x minutes of being ON irrespective of how the switch was turned on (from ST or from the wall)

You can also have your Good Night or other routine of SHM send an OFF command and if the switch is ON, it will turn off

4

Thanks for the responses! I understand how it works now.

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5

We should also note that like most smart switches, the GE switch always returns to the neutral position right after it’s been used. Unlike a non-network switch where you turn it on and it stays flipped up until you turn it off, network switches stay right in the middle most of the time. Then you press up to turn on and the light comes on but the switch immediately returns to the middle.

This isn’t that noticeable in the rocker style, which I think is why most manufacturers make the rockers. But you’ll really notice it with the toggle style.