Z-wave device switched off, still acts as a wireless repeater?

Smart bulbs, whether they are Z wave or zigbee, are designed to always be on power. Then the bulb decides how bright or dark it should be, including a setting where the bulb looks like it is off, but it actually still has power. That way the bulb is able to hear the next “on” command from the network.

If you read the manufacturer guide that comes with the bulbs, you will see that they are not intended to have the power cut to them on a regular basis. In fact, that can greatly shorten the life of the bulb as there will be inrush current to the radio when the power is restored. That’s not a big deal if it’s just caused by an infrequent power outage, but you definitely should not have a switch, motion sensor controlled or not, which is regularly cutting the current to the bulb.

So you should not have that Z wave bulb controlled by a Lutron motion switch.

When the Lutron switch cuts the power to the fixture that contains the bulb, The Bulb will no longer be able to repeat. And it will not be able to hear the next “on” command from the network. And when the power comes back on, there is a very real danger of the inrush current damaging the radio in the bulb.

You should find the following FAQ of interest. (This is a clickable link) there are many ways to approach the issue of making sure the smart bulb always has power while still having a wall switch. :sunglasses:

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