Wired remote

I’m not sure if a product like this exists. I’m basically looking for something that is wired and replaces a regular light switch.

Except instead of toggling the power, it’s always on and draws that power to stay connected but the button (or buttons) can be customized to do different things, including turning on or off a group of smart lights or other connected things.

Does anything like this exist?

Sure. Just choose a switch which is designed to be the auxiliary in a virtual three-way set up. These devices will have a radio that can communicate directly to the hub but will not control the load. So they work exactly as you described. They are very popular in the community for people who want a mains powered Wall switch that can control smart bulbs while leaving the bulbs themselves always on power. :sunglasses:

The most popular is probably the Linear/go control WT00Z. It’s widely available, including at both Amazon and Home Depot, and always check prices at both places because it does vary.

https://www.amazon.com/Gocontrol-Z-Wave-3-Way-Accessory-Switch/dp/B00EAY3K5Y

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Wow, thank you!

I’m kinda new at this, but can you tell me how I can set this switch to issue certain commands?

For example, turn on or off a single smart light or a group of smart lights.

I’ve only set up regular toggle smart switches.

Or, perhaps, this switch is fundamentally different, such that, when installed and paired with the ST hub it’ll ask what I want it to control (instead of behaving like a simple light switch since it’s not a simple light switch).

Thanks!

Typically People just use it like a regular light switch except that you will use something, probably the official smart lighting feature, to assign a specific light to it. That can be one light or a group of lights or one of the new scenes Because you could also have the switch trigger a smartthings routine.

You could probably use the top of the rocker for one action, and the bottom of the rocker for a different action if you wanted, essentially turning it into a two button switch, but then if you want to toggle with it you would probably need to use Webcore To keep track of the toggles.

So you will have a couple of different options depending on how you want to set it up and how complicated you want the rules to be. :sunglasses:

But the simplest will be just to have switch coming on turn on a specific group of lights and switch going off turn off that same group. Then you can just use the official smart lighting feature.

I’m not up-to-date on the software these days, so someone else will have to help answer those questions. But you have a lot of choices.

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Would an addon switch do the same thing? Thinking of the Lowes IRIS addon that is made to work with the main switch in a 3 way mode.

It has to be an add on switch which has its own radio and therefore will communicate with the smartthings hub directly.

Different add on switches work differently. Some of them, such as the GE switches, use physical traveler wires between The add on and its master switch. The add on itself is invisible to smartthings and does not have a radio inside of it. So those don’t work for this particular use case.

Other add on switches expect to communicate wirelessly, do have a radio inside, and can speak directly to the smartthings hub. So that’s the kind you need for the situation. The linear/gocontrol device I linked to is this type.

Last time I checked, the iris switches were just rebranded versions of the GE/Jasco switches, and those add-ons do not have a radio.