Switch that works as 2 buttons for Smart Bulb control

I need to find a smart switch that will also function as 2 buttons… I think anyway…

I have Sengled Color bulbs in my master bedroom that work fine with google voice control via smartthings. It has been a huge annoyance though when walking into the room not being able to hit the switch to turn the lights on/off.

So I got a Zooz Zen21 switch & wired both the line & load wires to the line side then setup an automation using smart things that when the switch is turned on the lights would go to white & 80% brightness. This has half solved the problem.

The remaining issue comes from using the voice control still. If we use voice control & change the status of the lights to the opposite of the switch then the switch doesn’t function (ie if the lights are turned off with the voice control the next person into the room his to turn the switch off first before turning it back on to control the lights).

I emailed Zooz about this & it was recommended that I create a rule to sync the status of the switch to the lights. Well this still has an unintended side effect in that if I use voice commands to turn the lights on to a color (we use red basically every evening) the lights turn on to the color & then immediately go to white 80% as per the original switch rule.

So I believe what I need is a switch that will act as an on button & off button separately so the on/off command gets sent no matter which was sent last. Does such a switch exist (want to keep it looking as an actual paddle switch, not actual buttons) or is there another more finessful way I can set my automatons so that they dont trigger off of another automation?

I’d use WebCoRE in this situation to automate the whole thing. Then you can do all the complexity you want.

If light.Switch changes to on then
If bulb.switch is off
Do something
Else
If bulb.level=80 then
Do something different

Etc. Etc. Etc.

1 Like

wow… I didnt even know that kind of control was a thing. I definitely haven’t gotten it figured out, but with enough trial & error & running from my office to my master bedroom I should be able to figure it mostly out. I still dont get how this will let the switch report an input when its in that status already. That may just be something I have to live without (like if the lights were already on & red hitting the on switch will not be able to turn the lights white since the switch wont be reporting anything from it).

Another option is the smartapp Trend Setter. I use it to keep a smart wall switch and a hue bulb in sync.

2 Likes