I have an Inovelli black on/off switch (zwave), which I would like to use to turn on/off a set of zigbee smart bulbs. I also understand that smart bulbs must have constant power, so I cannot simply turn on or off from the switch. So I was thinking of the below solution:
I believe this would provide constant power to the bulb, and I would still be able to send on/off status of the switch to my hub. And after that, I could use automations to have the smart bulbs reflect the status of the switch. Is this a viable option?
I understand this would mean turning the switch off would be misleading, which would be troublesome if we ever needed to change the lightbulb.
That is not the proper way to power a smart bulb with the LZW30.
Wire the switch with the line, load and neutral in the proper positions. Turn on Disable Local Control, which will prevent the switch from turning off the load physically attached to it. (Either turn it on before enabling it or turn it on after via the hub.) With Disable Local Control enabled, paddle presses have no effect on the connected load and the bulbs will stay constantly powered.
Access the Disable Local Control setting via the switch’s settings in the ST app.
Your problem is that the black series does not have scene controller functionality, so I don’t think you’ll be able to use it to control the Zigbee bulbs. If you had a Red series, you could then turn the Zigbee bulbs on and off via paddle presses mapped to scenes.
To your last point, that’s correct. Only the red series on/off or dimmer, or the black series dimmer (to a limited extent) have scene control functionality. I should have realized this before I bought the black series switches…
Edit: I posted this question on the Inovelli forums, but I just noticed you might be on there as well… sorry for the double post!
I decided to avoid any potential electrical issues and just buy Red series dimmers. I will use the Black series on/off switches elsewhere. Fortunately they are in stock now. Thanks for talking me out of it.
