I’ve got a pair of light bulbs that are being used in a single overhead light fixture that I’d like to group so I can turn them together instead of individually. Now I was wondering if there’s a smartapp that does this, some sort of custom device type or whether this could be done somehow through a virtual switch.
You could do it with a virtual switch. You could also just create a routine that when run would turn on all of those lights. Of course, you would also need a 2nd routine if you want to be able to turn them off as a group.
Do you just want to turn them on and off together? Do you want them to dim together? Are they color temperature changing bulbs (cool way to warm white) And you want them to change temperature together? Are they RGBW bulbs and you want them to change color together?
the official smart lighting feature can do on/off. See the how to in the community – created wiki.
If you just want to dim them together, a single purpose smartapp like trendsetter or one of the various “dim with me” variants should be all you need.
If you haven’t used custom code before, it’s pretty straightforward. Basically you just copy the author’s code and paste it into your own account. The following FAQ describes that process:
To find code you can copy, you can use the quick browse listen the community – created wiki. In this case, look in the smart app section for the “lighting” list.