Very new to home automation and looking to start with a SmartThings Hub and lighting controls.
I have several places around the home with double light switches in one spot: each switch controlling a separate light. (Forum blocked me from photo posting as a newbie - hope I described this correctly). But all I see are single light switches.
I can’t find any SmartThings compatible options, although this seems like it would be common in most homes. What are people using to get around this? Keep in mind, I’m NEW to this and I’m no electrician. There may be obvious solutions that I’m missing.
Thanks for the reply Michel! But the specs say this is for ONE light to be controlled in two locations (i.e. a stairwell). That won’t help me, I don’t believe.
One example of my situation: foyer of my home has a wall plate with two old school light switches that toggle on/off. One switch controls stoop lights on the exterior of the home, one controls a light in the ceiling of the foyer. But there aren’t separate “boxes” (if that’s the right term). Both switches are in box.
I need a solution to replace and/or control two lights at same box.
If you are talking about dual toggle light switch then you will need 2 aeon micro switches for you purpose. All depend on how much room you have behind that single gangway box. Or you can get Leviton Vizia RF + Z-Wave 2-Button Scene Controller with Switch but I am not sure if there is a device type for the leviton yet. Give support a call about the leviton.
As @Navat604 indicated, you can use the Leviton Vizia device but it comes with some caveats. Here’s a thread where a bunch of us discussed using it.
The long and the short of it is, it works, but isn’t supported directly through SmartThings so you have to tinker a bit. Initial pairing can be a much larger pain than normal Z-wave devices. On the other hand though, it’d serve the exact purpose of what you are describing. They are pricey, but try and remember you have two switches in there so it would be at least double the cost of a single switch (it’s closer to 2.5x).
I myself, have 2 of these devices installed and both work to about 95% of my satisfaction. There is 1 small edge case where turning a switch on locally (with your hand, old school method) turns on the light and the associated LED to indicate it is on. If you then try and turn off through SmartThings, the LED indication light remains on but the actual light (load) turns off as it should. Pressing the button locally again will turn off the LED indication light and NOT turn off the light (load) which is what I’d expect as anything else would cause sync’ing issues. It’s really just a nuisance and I barely notice it anymore. If you plan on pushing the button locally all the time, it might be more annoying to you. Ours mostly control exterior lighting which mostly is automatic.
Unfortunately, this is the only device that I know of that will serve this sort of purpose which was pretty disappointing. Maybe SmartThings will add official support or maybe a new device will come out to accommodate us better.
My personal recommendation, since you’re new to SmartThings, is to get a few of the more traditional switches under your belt before you jump right to one of these to make sure you have some of the process figured out. The last thing you want is to be blaming SmartThings when it’s the device and for that to then turn you off of SmartThings in general.
Ok… I am not aware of a dual toggle z-wave switch… BUT… every GE/Jasco switch is both a switch, AND can be made to be a bonus scene controller, so here’s what I’d do.
1 - Wire up the interior light to a GE/Jasco switch
2 - HARD WIRE the exterior stoop light circuit so that it is always on (i.e. no switch in place)
3 - Replace the bulb in the stoop light with a GE, TCP Connected or Hue bulb (my vote for the TCP Connected and why in a sec).
4 - Then install the Double Tap app and have it turn on/off the exterior bulb from your GE light switch.
So now your single box light switch physically controls the interior light, and logically controls the exterior light. A single tap always turns on/off the interior, and a double tap always controls the exterior light.
Bonus points for having the stoop light linked into your change to HOME mode on arrival geofence and having it automatically turn on/off at sunset and when you go to bed.
I actually use the Double Tap app to do this with ALL my GE switches instead of adding extra scene controllers everywhere. The app allows me to physically toggle a given light, but a double tap would turn on/off all the lights in a given room as an example. An example of this is I have 3 light switches in our upstairs loft. It’s a pain to have to run back upstairs to turn them off at night, but a double tap at the bottom of the stairs triggers all the lights upstairs to turn off. It’s pretty cool once you start creating logical groups and using this functionality. Ditto in my master bedroom, a double tap there issues a good night to the whole house.
Now as to why TCP over GE or Hue. This is really a personal preference, but the Hue’s are expensive still and you probably don’t need all the features they offer (colour changing hue) for your stoop light, though being able to say stop at the GREEN house one night, and RED house the next… hmmm, oh well toys are fun… The GE’s are the least expensive but they need to be “reset” (i.e. toggled) periodically when they get out of sync which you won’t be able to do easily under this setup unless you flick the breaker. The TCP’s are not as responsive (i.e. a bit slower to turn on and go through a dim->bright), but they have been rock solid reliable for my scenario which is similar to yours.
Bonus of this over the standard scene controller and aeon micro switches is that you still have hardwire control over the interior light (in case something goes down with the HUB), and its is a fraction of the cost of the alternate. Down side you are tied to the HUB availability and the Double Tap app.
Hope that helps, I’d be happy to discuss each use case you might have.
Was just about to give the same answer I just installed some GE Link bulbs last week and with no smart switch attached to them I would have to wait for the minimum 1 minute for them to go off. Then I discovered Double Tap while trolling the forum and installed it last night. Awesome code. Now I can turn off the kitchen main light with the GE switch and double tap to kill the whole kitchen, Link lights and all.
I am going to just hard wire the old dummy switches on and remove the switch so no one can turn them off.
I like this! Thanks for the idea. Definitely going to use it elsewhere.
Unfortunately, it isn’t 100% usable for my outdoor scenarios since one of the loads in each installation location is a GFCI outlet that gets the Christmas lights and whatnot. I’d have to make the receptacle powered by the switch locally and then the second load in each situation would be the connected bulbs (I prefer GE because they work natively and are cheaper). The problem with that then is the bulbs themselves don’t “match” the other bulbs on the house that are near them so it’d be an eye sore. Physically, it would work, but would fail the WAF. Potentially a plus for the TCP bulbs however is they are clouded white instead of clear which would closer match the surrounding exterior lighting…hmm
I love this idea for turning on secondary lamps on double tap though and I think the wife will love it too so all the better.
Just something to keep in mind if you are not a coder like me. Don’t buy a device without a device type with Smartthings yet or you will be pulling hair. I can do a decent job with pace soldering but really crappy at coding
WOW Double tap sounds great - I could SO use it in a bunch of places - where do I find it and how do I install it? (Sorry for asking dumb question, I’m new to ST and still trying to get the “lay of the land”)
Tried GE link bulbs, but my family keeps turning off the lights at the switch. I can’t blame them either. When you’re standing next to the switch, its much easier than commanding the Echo or pulling out your phone. Looks like there’s no good option for my double switches. Even relays will require the switch to stay in the “on” position.
There are several new " smart switch covers" just coming on the market. These are intended to solve the problem of family members turning off smart bulbs at the switch. The cover fits over the existing light switch and has its own buttons. So you leave the original switch always turned on to power the bulbs, but there is an easy and intuitive button switch on top of that for people to use.
Community members now have two of these working with SmartThings. See post 40 at the end of the following thread.
Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately, I’ve got these to contend with.
Also, It’s an older house with a certain aesthetic. My plates are decorative brass with dark brown switches to match the woodwork. I was really hoping to keep my automation efforts unseen. If those two issues weren’t the case, that suggestion would have solved my problem. Thanks again.
I’ll probably have to rewire the switches to a 1 and 2 setup and dye the plastic with Rit.
Double-tap app installs fine, but doesn’t work. I have a ge on/off switch for my back porch light. I have another ge on/off switch for my pool light. I installed double-tap to execute on the back porch light, to turn on/off the back porch light and pool light, but nothing happens.
I just installed some GE Link bulbs last week and with no smart switch attached to them I would have to wait for the minimum 1 minute for them to go off. Then I discovered Double Tap while trolling the forum and installed it last night. Awesome code. Now I can turn off the kitchen main light with the GE switch and double tap to kill the whole kitchen, Link lights and all.
