How to Turn On a Light With a Switch?

Apps & Clients
1

Can someone tell me how to turn a light on/off with a switch? When I go to setup the action it gives me options to control with motion, door opening, etc. but not with a switch. All devices are paired and I’m able to activate them individually through the dashboard. I actually had an action set up for just this purpose and it stopped working all of the sudden so I deleted the action an am attempting to reprogram.

I have an AEON in-wall switch that is hard wired to an outlet with a floor lamp plugged in. I’m trying to make it so when that switch is turned on that it activates another Z-wave outlet (with a second floor lamp).

On a side note, why is this app so terrible? It should not be this complicated to set up a simple light switch. The menu structure is very convoluted. I should be able to select my device and have all available actions in one menu.

1 Like
2

We don’t use words like those around here, Mister! :speak_no_evil: (just kidding).

There’s currently no rules engine, so each piece of if/then functionality is manually coded into SmartApps which are parameter driven. But the benefit is arbitrarily complex logic can be written (in Groovy…).

The author of the light trigger Solution SmartApp “should have” offered capability.switch as a trigger. It may have made the UI too cluttered, perhaps, or be confusing. It’s too bad that all binary triggers aren’t inherited…

Likely there are many Community shared apps… I think one is “Dim With Me” or Dim and Dimmer (there’s no catalog yet).

3

I don’t understand why I need a community written app for something this simple. Not only that but I already had it programmed! They must have changed something with the app to get rid of this functionality and I can’t imagine why anyone would do that.

That rules engine app can’t get here fast enough

4

Is there no way to do a direct association between two zwave devices in a SmartThings installation? Or an indirect association through the ST hub? I know you might have to move the hub temporarily to get into association range.

If you have the minimote that comes in the ST lighting kit, I’d think at least you could do it that way without requiring custom code.

5

The app you’re looking for is called “the big switch”., search for it by that name in the app.

1 Like
6

Why not? Since association doesn’t involve the hub, as long as the two z-wave devices are capable of associating (really, just the trigger device), you should be able to set it up with a Minimote. The instructions for doing so are in the Minimote manual: http://aeotec.com/small-z-wave-remote-control/935-minimote-manual-instructions.html

7

in a standard zwave installation the primary hub should be able to start an association itself, but I’m not sure ST does. So that the minimote is a convenience, but not a requirement.

And regardless of that answer, there are always two questions:

  1. will the hub be able to report what devices have been associated and
  2. how long will it take before the hub knows the status of the end device

Different installations handle those two things differently.