Not sure how to solve my 3 way light switch issue using ThirdReality switch

My garage lights are controls by a three-way switch. The way it’s wired, I can’t use my favorite solution which is an Enerwave box so instead, I’ve installed a Reality Switch that physically flips one of the switches and one of the bulbs is a smart bulb. My thinking is that I can use the smart bulb to indicate the state of the lights (on or off) in Smartthings and hopefully toggling the bulb can trigger the Reality Switch to do the actual switching. My question is how do I link the bulb and the switch to work together?

Thanks for the help!

Sorry, I’m confused about why you have a smart bulb in the mix. Why don’t you just have the third reality switch in smartthings, they have an integration. That way you will know if the switch is on or off.

The smart bulb isn’t going to work the way you envision because “off“ is not the same as “is not receiving power.“

Smart bulbs are almost all intended to always have power so that the radio inside the Bulb can hear the next “on“ command from the network. If you put the bulb on a circuit branch where the power is regularly being cut and restored by a switch, you will significantly shorten the life of what is already an expensive bulb.

So first things first… Why doesn’t the reality switch show up as on or off in your network? Mine does. :sunglasses:

There is an official integration:

yup, you’re right. hmmm… i’m trying to find a work around because it’s a 3 way switch so the on and off states are out of sync since we use both switches often.

1 Like

There are many ways to wire 3 ways, but it sounds like you have the kind where sometimes you flip a switch down to turn the light on, is that right?

In that case, I understand what you were thinking of with the smart bulb, but I still wouldn’t do it that way. Because you run the risk of turning the lights off again if you try to activate the third reality switch.

The challenge that you have is that sometimes when the third reality switch is in the “up“ position the lights are on. But sometimes when the third reality switch is in the “up“ position the lights are off. You can’t change the state of the third reality switch without physically moving the toggle underneath, and that’s not what you want. So the state of the third reality switch is never going to tell you whether the lights are on or off in your case.

Instead, I would just put a light sensor in the garage and when the lux is above a specific level, turn on A virtual switch to act as a proxy. You can do that with the official smart lighting feature.

It’s the virtual switch which will always be on when the lights are on and off when the lights are off. Not the switch on the wall. :sunglasses::bulb:

You are describing my scenario exactly! I thought about using a light sensor but the garage is fairly well lit during the day so I guessed it wouldn’t work well. I have a light sensor handy so I’ll give it a shot.
I’ve created the virtual switch in the ST app but how do you link the sensor and switch to it? Sorry, this is where I have no experience! I appreciate the help

Which version of the smartthings app are you using? And which brand/model of light sensor?

FAQ: how to tell which version of the SmartThings mobile app that you have

I’m using the Classic app and the sensor is a Monoprice 4 in 1 Z-Wave.

I am actually trying to do the same thing in a jack and Jill bathroom. Its a 3 way switch with two switches on separate walls. There is no Neutral wire in these boxes so I can’t use a replacement Z-wave or Zigbee switch. I originally just put a reality switch on one switch and covered the other. Then about a week ago I got an extra third reality switch and decided to see if I could make them work together.

I created a webcore piston that I felt sure would do it but it does not act as I though it should. the plan was to setup a virtual switch that I used to keep track of the light being off and on. Anytime I physically pressed either of the third reality switches it would toggle the virtual switch. Webcore has a setting to only respond to a physical interaction. I then setup all my apps to control the virtual switch and when they turned the virtual switch off or on it would then toggle the third reality switch I labeled as the master. The problem being when the piston toggles the third reality switch it sees this as a physical interaction, so it toggles the virtual switch again. Then it is out of sync.

Here is the piston. Switch 36 and 39 are the third reality switches, switch 35 is the virtual switch. I have been meaning to ask on the webcore forum if anyone has a solution. I am thinking maybe I could add a light sensor to the room and then set the virtual switch based on light levels. I want to add a multi-sensor to the room anyway but I haven’t gotten around to it.

Then you should be able to create an automation in the official smart lighting feature so that the virtual switch turns on at a specific lux level as measured on the sensor. I haven’t looked at that in a while, but I suspect you will need two automations, want to turn the virtual switch on and one to turn the virtual switch off.

1 Like

Depending on the fixtures and illumination, you may be able to use combination of location and a shield or filter on the sensor so that the lux threshold isn’t reached with ambient light.

2 Likes