Switching smart bulbs with fibaro dimmer 2 s2 association

Hi,

I’ve read a couple of posts on here about switching smart bulbs using fibaro dimmers, but none of them cover quite what i’m after, which is switching smart bulbs using fibaro dimmer 2 s2 associations

I have a fibaro dimmer 2 wired into a wall switch to control a ceiling light, and would like to use the s2 connection with a second switch on the same faceplate to control two lamps via z-wave association.

The main issue i’m having is that there don’t seem to be any z-wave bulbs that support the basic set association group (some have a lifeline association group). Does anyone know of any bulbs that support this functionality?

Failing that, i considering the following two options to achieve the same effect:

  1. Using wall sockets to plug the lamps into that do support basic set association and using dumb bulbs in the lamps. Any recommendations for wall sockets (uk) that support basic set association?
  2. Using wifi/zigbee smart bulbs in the lamp and harnessing some webcore jiggery pokery to switch them on when s2 is pressed. But I can’t work out how to get webcore to determine if s2 on the fibaro dimmer is pressed? Any idea what the delay would be with this method? (needs to be wife friendly)

Any thoughts on:
a) Zwave bulbs that support basic set association
b) Wall sockets that support basic set association
c) Tips on how to get webcore to recognise an s2 press

All much appreciated

Thanks in advance

Every Z wave device must accept a “basic” command. That has a very specific meaning in zwave, and exactly what the device will do when it gets a basic command varies depending on its device class (on/off devices will turn on or off, dim can dim). Every device. So that’s not a problem.

Where there appears to be some confusion is that association is how the trigger device sends a basic command, but the target device does not have to support association in order to receive one.

So you don’t have to look up whether your target device supports association or not. That’s irrelevant to whether it will turn on when it receives a basic command. It will. It’s the trigger device which has to support association in order to be given permission to send that basic command directly to the target device without telling the hub about it.

So in your scenario, any certified Z wave lightbulb will work as a target device for the basic command sent by association from the Fibaro. To the lightbulb, that’s no different then a basic command sent from the hub. It doesn’t care. It gets a basic command addressed it, it turns on.

Depending on whether you are in the US or the UK, the device selection varies, but there are a couple of Z wave lightbulbs in both regions. Aeotec Makes some, for example. In the US, gocontrol are popular for white bulbs. But again, any certified Z wave device can accept a basic command. :sunglasses:

Just make sure the bulb uses Z wave, not zigbee, and you are all set on the target side. And in your case you are using Fibaro for the trigger, so you’re all set there.

As far as the webcore question, they have their own forum where most of the experts hang out, so you will get the quickest answer there.

https://community.smartthings.com/t/introducing-the-new-webcore-community-forum/96259

Amazing! Thank you so much for explaining, i had been getting so confused by this and there aren’t many resources that I could find explaining just how association actually worked!

:+1:

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Most people won’t use Z wave direct association with a multiprotocol platform like smartthings because since the hub is by definition not told about the commands being sent, your mobile app statuses will get out of sync.

There are still a few reasons why you might want to use it but, most people don’t. Instead, they just let the messages go to the hub and then let the hub send out the messages to the target device. That way everything stays in sync.

Ah, ok, hadn’t considered that the hub would get out of sync if using association - that doesn’t sound great for me.

Think i might go the route of getting webcore to detect scene IDs from the dimmer s2 and use them to switch on the lamps.

Thanks again for all the help!

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FWIW I use direct association between Fibaro dimmers and the double switch 2 and have not found things get out of sync. The direct association changes the state of another device and then the new state of that device appears in the app just as though it was turned on by its own local switch.

I have also used Webcore and the scenes method. This works well, although it’s not as fast as direct association.

so am i right in thinking then ,unless i use web core ,i can’t use s2 assocation to control hue lights ,just bought this for that purpose

I haven’t got hue bulbs, but since association only works with zwave devices I’m pretty sure you can’t use it with hue.

As an aside I got the s2 on my fibaro dimmer switching an outlet today using webcore by enabling scenes on the dimmer and having webcore respond to that. Works great with very little lag.