Newbie here...basic question

I just finished building my house and I’m looking to start some automation items…

One of the first things on my list, is…

My wife goes to bed earlier than I do, but she always leaves her lamp on…I’d like to be able to remotely turn her lamp off after I get into bed. That part is pretty simple I think…but the part that I’m not sure is there, is for her to still be able to control it with the normal twist switch in the lamp. Is this doable?

Thanks in advance

Not really. If you turn the twist switch off at the lamp, then you interrupt the power to the light bulb and nothing can bring it back except twisting the switch back.

But, my living room lamps do have dimmer modules on them from SmartThings that when you turn the switch on, I guess there is a little current allowed to go through them because they will then turn on.

These are the ones I have on my lamps:

Hey There Chad,

There are a couple of answers to your question so allow me to break them down for you a little and they really depend on what smart hardware you choose to use…

Smart Bulb:
The first thing you could choose to use would be a smart bulb. This would allow you to remotely control the lamp providing power was supplied to the bulb. Assuming power is supplied, you could remotely turn it on or off, and include it in automations.

The problem comes with the use of the physical switch on the lamp that you mention; when this switch is off, power is cut off to the bulb and thus you wouldn’t be able to control it, say to turn it back on. The switch on the lamp in essence breaks the power connection to the bulb and as such no power means no smart functionality. In order to control the bulb again, you would need to physically turn the switch on after which you could control it.

Smart Receptical:
The next option you have is a smart receptacle where you can control the power at the socket. This option however, like the bulb breaks down when you physically turn off the lamp as no power gets to the bulb regardless of the state of the receptical.


What I did to solve this problem in my bedroom was to install switches above by bedside receptacles within the wall but installed just above my bedside tables; so they’re physical wall switches but switch the top receptacle which the lamps are plugged into. I then use smart dimmer switches and disable (break) the physical switch on the lamp. So basically the lamps are controlled by the smart switches in the wall which can always be controlled both virtually and physically.

I’m not a lover of smart bulbs - I installed a load of Hue bulbs but removed them all because of the lack of switches available and I like the ability to use both an app (or automation) or physical switches. For most of my “lamps” that are plugged into receptacles I’ve ended up putting a switch about 3ft above the receptacle and switching the top receptacle.

Hope this helps but shout if you need more explanation.

Cheers,
Jon

Welcome!

There are lots of options for solving this, but I think the most common is to add a second battery-operated button remote on the nightstand that can be used to turn the light on and off. There are many different choices for these. There are also individual buttons that you can actually adhesive to the lamp itself. And there is even a smart bulb which has a button built into it so that instead of turning the twist on the lamp you push the button on the bulb.

All of these are good options, so it just depends on which ones you like the look and feel of. :sunglasses:

The following thread is the buttons FAQ which includes all the battery operated devices that work with smartthings. Some are intended as wall-mounted some are intended as a handheld, so you’ll see a lot of choices. ( this is a clickable link). Any of these can work with either something that controls the wall socket or with smart bulbs because the button sends a message to the smartthings hub and the hub then sends a message to the light. So again, lots of choices.

image

IMG_2378

And the smart bulb that has the button right on it is the Sengled element Touch. It’s on the official “works with SmartThings” list.

https://www.smartthings.com/products/sengled-element-touch-color-led-bulb-a19

IMG_3846

Again, different things work for different people. At our house, we now mostly use the Amazon echo for voice control of lights. Everybody really likes it. But some people don’t like to have those in the bedroom, so again, choice is good. :sunglasses:

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Thanks for the replies…it gives me somewhere to start…the lamp switch breaking the circuit is where I was stumped…gotta keep it easy for wife approval factor :slight_smile:

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