@JDRoberts, wow, thank you for taking the time to explain. That was quite a response. I totally get it with the whole difference in tech between Zigbee and Z-wave. However, with most of the bulbs being Zigbee, Smartthings really should have thought more about a product such as the Lutron, which can operate the bulbs wirelessly. Even a keyfob would have been nice. I have a Securifi keyfob, but could not get it connected with my STH either. Thanks again
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Based on what others have said, if you reset your Lutron zigbee remote (not the Pico, though), you should be able to get it recognized as a zigbee “thing.” That would be enough to put it on the same network.
So you could use the Remote to toggle lights on and off which were also controlled by smartthings. The only thing is that the smartthings hub wouldn’t know when you use the remote (which Wink does) so they would get out of sync.
That can cause problems because although smartthings does poll the bulbs periodically to get their status directly from the bulbs, in between polls Smartthings might refuse to toggle the bulb because it thought the bulb was already in the state you are requesting.
It’s important it’s one of those things where one person might have the set up and be really happy with it, and another person would be totally frustrated. It really comes down to how often you try to change the bulb state and whether you are controlling bulbs in groups.
You could try and see, but you would need to reset the device before you add it to smart things.
As for the Securifi fob, if you mean the little one that’s about the size of a half-dollar, it does work very well with smartthings, but you need some community contributed code for it. There’s a link off off the list of remotes topic. And again you have to reset it before you can add it to SmartThings. With the community code, you get full “button controller” functionality, which means things don’t get out of sync. It’s a nice little device.
Where do I use this? I mean, I don’t see an option for coding.
To use this custom device types you need to cut and past them into your IDE. https://graph.api.smartthings.com/ Just create an account if you don’t have one.
Are you asking about the smartenit 3 toggle switch? There’s an FAQ for that installation it was linked to above (this is a clickable link)
If you’re asking about custom device types in general:
If you’re asking about the LUTRON connected bulb remote, I don’t think there’s a device type for it yet. It just pairs as a thing. After that I believe you can use it with zigbee bulbs that are also connected to your smartthings hub, but there’s no interaction between the remote itself and the hub.
(If you quote a small snippet of whatever you are replying to, it’s easier for everyone to follow the conversation. The discourse forum software is great for a lot of things, but it doesn’t thread replies.)
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Any chance of tweaking the Button Controller code to trigger an IFTTT script from a button? Now that would be handy!
You could do this with a virtual switch.
Button push turns on a virtual switch.
Virtual switch being turned on triggers your IFTTT recipe using the “Switched On” trigger.
Keep in mind you’d still have your standard IFTTT delay.
I’m having an odd result from these buttons. I’ve got it all paired and working as expected, until I try to use one of the buttons to dim a light 10% in Rule Machine. A single brief button-press gives five or six events and a series of debug messages in the IDE Logging.
This is with V2 ST hub - I’m wondering if the device driver needs an update?
5317b17b-3e35-4263-b199-23c8aa19c652 5:28:59 PM: info Button 2 Triggered
5317b17b-3e35-4263-b199-23c8aa19c652 5:28:56 PM: info Button 2: Buttons button pushed
9e347f5a-066b-41cb-bd96-98865d973538 5:28:59 PM: debug setLevel >> value: 59
0f7b3e78-2e92-41e3-bfc9-f1f02a89fdc2 5:28:59 PM: debug setLevel >> value: 59
8e1c44c5-790e-485b-b198-11221f8223e6 5:28:59 PM: debug setLevel >> value: 59
948dcde8-bf21-4e7f-9a18-4342190cafb1 5:28:59 PM: debug setLevel >> value: 59
9e347f5a-066b-41cb-bd96-98865d973538 5:28:58 PM: debug setLevel >> value: 69
0f7b3e78-2e92-41e3-bfc9-f1f02a89fdc2 5:28:58 PM: debug setLevel >> value: 69
8e1c44c5-790e-485b-b198-11221f8223e6 5:28:58 PM: debug setLevel >> value: 69
948dcde8-bf21-4e7f-9a18-4342190cafb1 5:28:58 PM: debug setLevel >> value: 69
9e347f5a-066b-41cb-bd96-98865d973538 5:28:57 PM: debug setLevel >> value: 79
0f7b3e78-2e92-41e3-bfc9-f1f02a89fdc2 5:28:57 PM: debug setLevel >> value: 79
8e1c44c5-790e-485b-b198-11221f8223e6 5:28:57 PM: debug setLevel >> value: 79
9e347f5a-066b-41cb-bd96-98865d973538 5:28:57 PM: debug setLevel >> value: 89
0f7b3e78-2e92-41e3-bfc9-f1f02a89fdc2 5:28:57 PM: debug setLevel >> value: 89
8e1c44c5-790e-485b-b198-11221f8223e6 5:28:57 PM: debug setLevel >> value: 89
948dcde8-bf21-4e7f-9a18-4342190cafb1 5:28:57 PM: debug setLevel >> value: 89
56e48f57-8808-4252-a228-59b2b57a4da0 5:28:56 PM: info Button 1 - 78F for One: Buttons button pushed
2f8b7d83-445d-4e80-a350-c7c438e552bb 5:28:56 PM: info Button 3: Buttons button pushed
b7c6e645-99e5-4177-a2c7-41984b82ff93 5:28:56 PM: debug Parse returned Buttons button 2 was pushed
b7c6e645-99e5-4177-a2c7-41984b82ff93 5:28:56 PM: debug Button 2 pushed
b7c6e645-99e5-4177-a2c7-41984b82ff93 5:28:56 PM: debug Parse description catchall: 0104 0006 02 01 0140 00 45A6 01 00 0000 02 00
Who wrote the device driver your using? There have been so many of us contribute to this guy I’m not sure who’s code your running.
I’m using this one by Gilbert Chan : https://github.com/obycode/smartthings-smartapps/blob/master/VirtualButtons/SmartenIt-ZBWS3B.groovy
soooooooo just to clear something up here, can each of the 3 switches/buttons on the " SmartenIT ZBWS3B " be used as like an ON/OFF switch . . . for instance could i have it setup like this:
BUTTON 1 - press to turn on light 1 / press again to turn off light 1
BUTTON 2 - press to turn on light 2 / press again to turn off light 2
BUTTON 3 - press to turn on light 3 / press again to turn off light 3
id like to put one of these at the side of my bed, and have the 3 buttons operate as follows:
BUTTON 1 - Turn On/Off the bedside lamps
BUTTON 2 - Turn On/Off the tv via virtual switch linked to harmony activity
BUTTON 3 - Turn On/Off All lights in the room
is this doable or does each button only have one command it can process as a pose to two per switch?
THIS VIDEO ANSWERED MY QUESTION:
- excited, now just need to find a way to get two of these shipped to the UK
Yes, each switch can be a toggle.
That said, for the UK I think I’d first look at the devolo or zwave.me battery operated zwave switches that @adamv has working with his custom device handler.
These have 4 usable buttons and lots of options.
just looking now and each of these only look like 2 button devices, where as this is a 3 button . . . is that correct or can each corner be used as its own on/off switch, thus making it actually 4 on/off (toggle) buttons?
Each corner is a button as shown with the cover off.
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You really are the Oracle aren’t you JD 
what a legend, thanks mate
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I purchased the Smartenit Zigbee 3-button switch and followed the instructions here and it worked so well I just purchased another one yesterday. Today, I came across this GE Z-Wave wireless controller that appeared to do the same thing - http://www.amazon.com/GE-45631-Z-Wave-Wireless-Controller/dp/B003OUWABU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1457081363&sr=8-1 . Does anyone know how this compares with the Smartenit? Thanks.
There is much discussion of the GE controller in the forum so you should search for those threads. But the short answer is this:
Like the Aeon minimote and the Enerwave SC7, the SmartenIT can be configured as what smartthings called a “button controller.” This means that it sends its request to the hub and the hub then sends a command to the end device. This is why the minimote, which is a Z wave device, can also be used to control a Zigbee device through smartthings. And why the smartenit 3 toggle, which is a zigbee device, can also be used to control Z wave devices via smartthings. And why both can control a group which mixes, say, some zwave light switches and some WeMo switches. The protocol of the end device doesn’t matter because everything goes through the hub first. 
In addition, button controllers can be used to run routines or smartapps or change modes. And because the requests are going to the hub, the devices being controlled can be anywhere on the network. You could be upstairs in the bedroom and use a button controller to turn on the front porch lights. Or close the garage door.
In contrast, the GE devices are Z wave scene controllers and can only be used to control other zwave devices which are within one hop of it, typically in the same room. They do not send the request to the hub. Instead, they communicate directly with the other Z wave devices. This is why they can’t be used with other protocols. They also generally do not update device status on the hub.
There are people who find a use for the GE devices as a parallel means of control, but they’re just not as flexible or powerful in an ST installation as a button controller device.
Here’s the discussion thread for people using the GE devices:
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@JDRoberts - I spent a lot of time searching and reading multiple threads. Thank you for the excellent explanation.
I just installed (2) Lightify light strips in my kitchen. I’m looking for a stick on wall switch which will allow me to turn both strips on and off. Hopefully, low profile. I don’t care too much for dimming. The light strips use ZigBee. As a pro at this, what would be your recommendation give the current hardware we have?
Fortunately, it doesn’t matter what protocol the light strips use as long as they can talk to the smartthings hub. 
Are you using the strips as RGBW or just white?
And were you looking just for on/off/dim control, or something more from the switch?
And are you in the US or the UK? (Some of the devices are different.)
To be honest, if you want to get color controls, it’s often easiest to just wall-mount an inexpensive Wi-Fi phone:
Then you can use anything you like just as a manual on/off control for times when the Internet isn’t available.
Other than that, it will depend on your answers to the questions above.
I have the RGBW strips in the US. To be honest, I’m most likely going to set a color and keep it. Dimming is a bonus. I just want to be able to have a switch in the kitchen to turn them on and off. Right now I have to use the app to turn them on and off.