Replace light switch with no wires smart button or switch

I have a dimmable smart bulb in my bathroom. Obviously it needs constant power to work properly. I want to replace the manual light switch on the wall with something that “turns off” the light without actually cutting power. It would act as a momentary smart button that I can set up a routine to control the light. Anybody know of anything that can accomplish this?

There are quite a few battery powered or kinetic energy powered Devices that work with smartthings that can do this. It’s pretty straightforward. Anything that can send a message to the hub can be used with a routine to then send a message to the bulb, at least for on/off. Dimming is trickier, and depends more on the specific model of the bulb as well.

So, a few select questions first, as the device selection does vary:

  1. what country are you in?

  2. do you have a smartthings/Aeotec hub, and if so, which model?

  3. what’s the brand and model of the bulb?

  4. is the bulb connected to a hue hub?

  5. do you have a preference for Z wave versus Zigbee?

  6. there are some different forms for these. Some look like a round button. Some look like a regular wall switch. Some fit over the existing wall switch, which prevents anybody from turning that off, which can be useful. Do you have any preferences in this regard?

  7. if you are in the UK, there are some specific safety code requirements for lights in bathrooms, so let us know if that’s a factor.

  8. is on/off good enough, or do you want dimming as well?

Once we know those answers we can make some specific suggestions. Or you can take a look at the battery operated devices FAQ:

[2021] Battery Power Switches and Buttons

Also, if you are in North America there are a couple of wall switches which are wired in but can still be configured not to actually cut the power to a smart bulb. So you just replace the original switch with those. Would you be interested in one of those? Again, that solves the issue of someone turning off the original switch. Both Zooz and Inovelli offer zwave switches with this feature.

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US
Smartthings Gen 2
Generic ZigBee Bulb

I’m only interested in on/off as I control the dimming through routines.

The wall switch with constant power to the bulb sounds doable. Yes, I’m trying to prevent accidental cutting of power to the bulb.

The ZOOZ Z-WAVE PLUS 700 looks like it will accomplish what I’m trying to do. Thanks!

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Sounds good. Just remember that with any battery powered option, if your hub stops working, the switch won’t work to control the bulb.

If instead you went with one of the mains powered options like the Zen 71 from Zooz, you can put it in smart bulb mode for regular use, but if you did, say, need to replace the hub, you could factory reset the switch at the wall and then it would work just like a regular manual switch until you were ready to set up the Home Automation again.

A lot of people don’t care about that kind of emergency planning, but I did just want to mention it.

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