So I am trying to figure out how to best configure things so that I can change bulbs with minimum changes to automations, scenes, etc. Lots of contradictory opinions out there (i.e. – always use entities) which then forces you to update virtually everything when you change bulbs. Do people have any clever ways to minimize programming when you swap bulbs (i.e. – use zigbee groups to refer to the bulb and only ever refer to the group for scenes, automations, etc.)?
Mine is what is suggested. I only use entities when setting everything up. If I need to replace a device, I name the replacement the same as the old name and nothing else needs to be changed.
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Using Zigbee2MQTT, I just change
'0xec1bbdfffea8defb':
friendly_name: light_ikea1
and everything in HA is updated
I use entities only. Replace the device rename new device entities to old device entities and move along.
Is the friendly name in this example the entity name? So you change the MAC address in some zigbee configuration file and then nothing else needs to get charged?
Yes, that friendly name creates the entity_id in HA.
Hmm, so my including bulb types and (my own) serial ID isn’t ideal in this situation (I had been naming Lbc (bulb C (third one purchased)) or Lpa (first lamp plug/switch). I like your approach and am not sure I need to track actual serial numbers in the HA (I can just keep a spreadsheet if I want to track how long a given bulb lasts).