First time here. Searched but did not find a similar scenario.
I’m hoping to use a smart switch (GE or Zooz) to turn standard ceiling lights on/off but also control LED strip above the crown molding in our closet. I would like:
LED strip to be full bright when the light switch is flipped on and turn off when the switch is flipped off. There’s nothing challenging about that.
Is it possible to add an automation that happens after sunset so that the LED strip is still full bright when the switch is flipped on and dims to about 20% when the switch is flipped off?
Lastly, could it be set to 100% bright white during the day and maybe 20% amber (If I go with RGBW LED strip) after sunset?
This is an automations question, and the short answer is that sure, you can do it by using scenes, but you may have to set up a separate automation for each of the different timeframes if you are just using the standard official features. Alternatively, you could use some of the more advanced Rules creators like web core or the rules API and do it all in one rule, but there’s no real advantage to that except it might make future maintenance easier to keep track of.
The reason this will work is because the device which is doing different behaviors is the LED strip. It would be more complicated with The regular overhead light because those are normally required to act as a dumb switch as well. But here you are just going to have the LED controller perform based on a rule about what to do when the switch goes on or off, and you can definitely filter those by time of day.
(BTW, I moved this from the “capabilities“ section of the forum because that has to do with programmers creating new device handlers, not with your question.)
There are some choices in LED configurations, ingress protection, as well as 12V or 24V power options, which the ZEN31 can handle as well. Overall been very happy with their product.
Hello. I ended up going down the rabbit hole with these for various uses, closets, under bed, pantry, TV ambiance, etc. The biggest obstacle has been how to handle the the color versus white device while also maintaining a master device. It ended up getting very cumbersome and honestly that might have been mostly due to my own vision of how I wanted the device to work. There are instances where I would automate setting the main parent device, adjusting the color child device and then adjusting the white child device. Not sure if things still work the same as its been a minute since I have looked at all of it. Also I have since moved to Hubitat and have not integrated these there yet.
In terms of physical hardware, there are 12x in use still. If I remember correctly I have had to replace 1x of the ZEN31 units and 3x or 4x of the LED strips that were previously linked in my last post. Most of the strips that I had to replace were due to some weird bends or curves I have had to make and probably stressed the strip.
If you are an advanced user and have plenty of time and depth for tinkering into automations these are a great device. For an average user just looking to turn on strips it could be frustrating due to the nature of the device.
