My brain is fighting between Philis Hue and OSRAM Lightify when trying to design the (almost) perfect setup to my home. Lightify beats Hue prices (up to 50%) when it comes to strips and RGBW bulbs but regular bulbs (white) are the same price ($15).
Anyways, when I saw this Dimmer Switch I was impressed. It has everything that is missing on the other guys I have found so far: On/Off and up/down buttons, look nice if you stick it to the wall, price is great.
My question is:
When I turn the light on and most important set it to a specific level using the remote, will the status and level information be updated on SmartThings?
Oh man, that’s bad news.
I’m a little confused now. I’m assuming that if I have a Hue setup with multiple bulbs I will have access to them from ST where I could individually turn them on/off, set level and color. Is that True?
Assuming the answer is yes to above question is yes, here is a scenario:
Use ST to turn lights on, set level and color.
After that, someone use the remote or Hue app to turn them off.
Assuming ST will not know light is turned off, it will continue to show them as On (is that what happen?).
Since ST continue to show lights as on, use ST to turn them off (not knowing they are already off), what happens here?
In the instance you described, nothing aside from ST listing the incorrect state info. But if you have any rules based on the switch being on /off, then there could be a problem.
The SmartThings system already polls the hue bridge about every five minutes, so the Hue dimmer switches can be used as a parallel means of control and the system will catch up on the status eventually. I’m not sure if it gets the dim levels or not, but it definitely gets the on/off.
We use these at our house for all the reasons you gave: they’re very intuitive for visitors, and they’re a good price.
Further discussion in the “Best switches for smart bulbs” FAQ:
This one below is the one I was referring to. It seems like there is a device type that will link the dimmer control directly to smartthings without a hub… but some people are reporting some issues.
I have, but those device type handlers are still in a somewhat experimental stage and in particular, the method the author is using will only work if you have a motion sensor. If you have the dimmer switch but not the motion sensor, his method doesn’t work, or at least it didn’t the last time I looked at that thread.
That one is different because it requires that you connect the switch directly to the smartthings hub, you will no longer be able to use it with the hue bridge. As such, you will not get any support from either SmartThings or Philips if things don’t work. And it is possible that you can lock the switch to your hub depending on the zigbee channel being used so that you then cannot use it with a Hue bridge again unless you get yet another device to reset it. That DTH is working for some people, but not for others, it’s not yet clear exactly why. I suspect it might have to do it repeaters are required, but I don’t know for sure. Anyway, if you want to try it and you’re OK with the possibility of not being able to move it back to the bridge, that’s up to you.