So my newly-purchased house was built back in the 50s and the non-addition parts of the house have no neutral wire (and some no ground, yuck). Dont want to fish a neutral from outlets or fixtures in all these different rooms, I want to use LED bulbs, so it looks like smart bulbs are my option now.
I would like to have a switch for the bulbs because alexa isn’t always the most convenient (for guests, connection issues, you’re at the swtich anyways). Question is: is there a switch for a smart bulb that:
Is zwave
keeps the switch always set to ‘on’
is powered by the main so I’m not replacing batteries in 10 different remotes periodically
either replaces or covers existing switches. (I assume since I want main powered switches it would be a replacement). Ideally Id like a flush good-looking switch rather that something bulging out that you see with the covers.
All my googling has come up with remotes that require battery replacements with hacks to cover the old switch. I’m not sure such a product exists. I would have have thought someone would have made a switch replacement that keeps the power always on to control smart bulbs, but maybe not.
Thanks for your help. Great community here!
I’m not sure that what you want would work in your situation even if it did exist.
You said you don’t have a neutral at the switch box so how would you power the non-battery powered z wave switch that you would then use to control the powered LED smart bulb?
On the other hand…
One thing that I tried once was the Aeotec nano dimmer switch. It works in without needing a neutral wire. It gets its power from the hot wire going to the switch and it uses the load neutral as its neutral. For that reason it has to have a minimum load connected to it. If you don’t meet those minimums it won’t work. I did read somewhere on their site that they were about to introduce a load bypass device so it would eliminate the min load requirement but at the time I was using it it wasn’t available. The other thing to be aware of is that it has a pretty low max power capability. I think the max was something like 3 amps. If you exceed the rating it will constantly power itself off. I was using it to power 5 dual fluorescent tube fixtures and I hit that limit easily. For those reasons I eventually decided that it wouldn’t work in my situation.
If you have a fairly small load (but not too small ) then it might work for you. Its kind of pricey tho. But anything z wave usually is.
Actually I might give it a try again on some other lights I have. I’m in the same situation as you because I live in a old house with no neutrals at the box.
Actually I’m looking for a smart switch solution OR a smart bulb solution not both. The switch could be powered with one (or maybe THE one) neutral-less smart switch by Lutron, problem is it doesn’t support LED (non-smart LED). So It looks like I need to go the bulb option. I think the closest I can get is to:
I just wish there was a way to power the ‘remote’ from the wall, but this doesn’t seem possible. I guess I’ll have to change batteries across the house periodically (luckily I have neutrals in about 70% of the house).
Turns out the hue bulb remote is not zwave compatable. It probably could work with HASS but it goes through the cloud. Still searching for a better option.
Thanks. Yeah I didn’t realize what that device did until researching more. I hope it works for me, I’m just using it for bulbs. I do have a 4-bulb reassessed lighting but maybe if I have LED bulbs there it will work ok? Guess we’ll see. Thanks
) then it might work for you. Its kind of pricey tho. But anything z wave usually is.