Best strategy for roof lights

Hardware
1

I was an early adapter of hue roof lights and im not sure if that was a good idea. In most homes we are used to having regular dimmer or on/off switches and the dilemma most smart replacements of those expect a dimmable light source over wire, and hue is not that.

It would also to be nice to have some basic control if HA is down.

I have gone through many scenarios now and are almost ending up in removing all hue light and spots, then use regular dumb dimmable bulbs controlled by a zigbee or zwave dimmer on the wall.

I have gone through the idea of tricking the dimmer with a bypass and use associations to control the bulb, but doesn’t feel like the best solution.

Any other thoughts on this?

2

I’m currently going through the same process of planing replacement of all my ceiling smart bulbs with smart switches. This does seem to be the best option:

Personally I’m leaning towards zigbee as I already have a number of zigbee devices and a good coordinator.

The issue I have is that a lot of my switches are installed on door architraves (very thin profile switch plate) and in most cases there is no room for a full size switch plate beside the door. So rather than zigbee switch plates I need zigbee modules I can install in the roof space. And this has operational temperature range issues in Australia.

Make sure you get good dumb dimable LED bulbs with a nice high CRI (>90), particularly for the kitchen and workshops where reproduction of reflected colour from white light is important.

3

So just to understand, you would go with a zigbee switch with dumb (but dimmable bulbs)?

4

Unless you need individual addressability or color control, my preference is always a smart switch/dimmer.

5

My main problem is that the boss in the house want individual colors, but I would say its much easier with a zigbee/zwave dimmer towards “dumb” bulbs. Its so hacky to put the dimmer to think it got lights, then use it in an automation especially when thinking about speed

6

You can get smart switches that talk with smart bulbs. That’s what I do. Basically the switch does nothing and it just sends information to the bulbs and the bulbs react. Not sure if zigbee can do this, but zwave can.

7

Zigbee can. Many switches can be bound to a zigbee device or group to function when HA is down.

8

Now are you thinking about associations and yes that is the best method, but a lot of dimmers etc still need to think it got a load in front of it. How did you solve that, that it thinks it got a light in front, but in reality you are just controlling my assosiation (zigbee) or binding (zwave)? I had SOME luck on using a bypass, but its limited how well that works

9

The smart switch usually has “smart bulb mode”, meaning it never reduces the load voltage when you physically adjust the dimmer.

10

Sadly none of the norwegian ones got “smart bulb mode”, and I have a more expensive version dimmers

11

Some switch/dimmers explicitly support a decoupled or smart bulb mode where they continuously pass power.

Inovelli is the best I’ve tried for the US market, but may not be applicable for your location.

12

Yeah the standards and requirements are so much higher here that we dont get a lot of “one size fits” all, and the box dimensions are completely different. Here in Norway we actually use IT net, so its no neutral, but 120V on each wire + ground equaling 240V

13

I just don’t see how there isn’t a product that does this. It’s standard on pretty much every zwave smart switch I’ve seen, but it’s always buried as a configuration parameter.

14

If finding a powered switch for your area is difficult, consider a battery powered option.

Even a lowly Sonoff button can be bound to a group to at least give on/off control.

Something like the Philips Hue Dimmer Switch would offer more functionality, and should support binding.

15

Hmm strange. Are you connecting it to zwave bulbs / fixtures then?

Here is the specs for the zwave version I have; https://documents.heatit.com/1444440/manual maybe you know what to look for?

I also have the zigbee version, but somehow it doesnt have any assosiation outgoing clusters, so it cant be bound to a light, so something is weird (Z2M)

16

Yes, that’s my plan, but zigbee modules, not switch plates that wont fit on my door frames.

It can, if the bulbs and switches use the same communication method.

Unfortunately my smart bulbs are all Lifx (wifi) and their switch offerings are rather limited (USA style only, no architrave plates).

So zigbee switch module and wifi smart bulbs would require home assistant to be up for automated control.

17

I don’t see the mode on these dimmers. Are there other brands sold in Norway? I’d just go to each brand and check out their configuration parameters for the devices. See if they have something that resembles this functionality:
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