In our lounge we have a handful of table lamps. They are all now powered via Zwave sockets, and I’m using the Smart Lighting app to switch them all on and off together. WAF is impeded by having to use our mobile phones to switch on/off. What I would like to do is to have them all follow one lamp, so that when I turn one on/off at the lamp itself, then the others go on/off too. I assume that would mean monitoring power consumption on one of the sockets, and then switching the others on/off accordingly? Has anyone done this already?
Just use standard lighting automation of ST, you should be able to select a lamp (as a switch) and use the other lamps as lights to control, when selected lamp changes to On and Off all others go off as well.
That seems to allow me to again switch on and off multiple lamps via my phone by switching one lamp on/off. However, it does not appear to let me use the switch on the lamp itself, or the switch on the smart socket.
You can’t use the switch on the lamp itself, otherwise the radio will not be turned on the next time you want to send an “on” command.
You can use the button on the pocket socket to turn a light on or off, in which case it’s exactly the same as using the app on your phone, all the other lights in the group should follow it.
Another good choice if you can vocalize (not all of our community members can) is a $49 Echo Dot. This is now what we use at our house as the primary means of lighting control, and everybody likes it.
Alternatively, you can use any of the battery powered devices that work with smartthings. There are many different types. You can put one by each lamp or just keep one in a central location.
Thanks. The override button on the TKB “pocket socket” does not seem to do anything else than switching the local light on/off. The other ones don’t follow. I’m trying to avoid using a separate switch. I’d love to find a way to use a free wall switch (i.e. one beside the one that controls the ceiling lights).
I have a Smart Lighting rule so that when I turn one light on/off from my phone, then the other lights follow. However using the switch on the TKB only controls the local light.
You could add an in-wall smart switch, not connected to any load. Then configure all of the lights to follow this one switch. This way you’d have a very traditional method to turn on and off a group of lights.
True, but are there any in-wall smart switches that look like a normal UK lightswitch? Ideally, I would just want something that I could put into a normal UK lightswitch, and replace the 1-gang (which controls the ceiling light) with a 2-gang.
We were just discussing this in another thread. See the following post. If you use a battery operated one, you can place it anywhere on the wall that you like, including on a plate over an existing switch position.
Sure they do, that’s what the fibaro and Aeotec and qubino micros do. you could put one of those behind a switch, it’s the same end result as replacing the whole switch. @anon36505037 can say more about those, he has his whole house done with them.
Ok, so to be clear, it seems to me that the use case that they appear to support is where the switch is physically connected to the light, and then it enables smart control of the switch. I’m looking for the opposite, where the switch is not connected physically to the light, but is just a smart switch (like the Popp, etc)
Yes, that’s how they are normally used, but they should be able to be used in the way you are describing as well. physically manipulating the switch would cause the micro to send a radio signal to the hub which you could then use to have a command passed along to the smart bulbs. I believe @adamv already suggested that to you in another thread.
A little late to the party but unless I am misunderstanding your request the below Trend Setter SmartApp may do what you are after with the exception that each light will control all the others in turn. You may be able to edit the app to be able to set one as the master of course. It is a really great app and I use it all the time. You also may have to edit the Z-Wave socket DH and add the Light Capability to it. Similar functionality is available with Smart Lighting but this app Actually creates a simulated/virtual device (you could call it ‘Lounge Lights’) which appears in your list of devices and this in turn links all the lights together. Also works with dimmers, colour lights etc.
