I got a stupid question and I can’t find the answer.
I understand there are some connected lights (such as ZigBee spot LED or wifi lightbulbs) but how is it interacting with the traditional switch?
What I mean is, let say, HA automatically switches on the light when a person enters the room. When the person leaves the room, he/she will naturally switch off the light using the traditional wall switch. This will power off the light which will disconnect from HA and therefore won’t be able to switch on again automatically. Isn’t it?
I am quite interested into ZigBee lights to create ZigBee relays but this problem is stopping me from buying them.
Hi, zigbee or WiFi lightbulbs have the ability to be switched on directly from HA, without the interaction of a physical switch.
If you have a traditional electricity system with physical switches and bulbs, you ‘cannot’ use these switches because if you power off from there, HA can’t control your lights anymore.
With zigbee, you have another problem: if your devices is disconnected for a longer time from power, it will be removed from the network.
BUT… there are devices, very small, that you can mount behind your physical switches to control the lights + that way you can keep using the switches as before.
BUT… it’s kinda overkill (and of course more expensive) to use smart bulbs with smart switches together.
If you let HA control the switching ON from a light, you probably would do that with a motion sensor.
Then, an automation will take care of switching the light OFF.
BUT… motion sensors are not ideal for area’s where you sit still because you might find yourself in the dark if your automation switches OFF to soon before there was any movement.
There is a ‘solution’ for that when, for instance in a kitchen where you also have your meals, you toggle a virtual switch for those occasions that your are sitting down instead of moving around.
I’m doing that in the kitchen with a multi purpose wireless zigbee button which also controls the media player.
If you would control dumb lights with smart switches, you also might loose the ability to dim your lights which of course can be done with smart lights (and if desired control colors and light temperature)
HTH
Thank you @Nick4 for such a detailed answer.
So basically, if I want to leverage the ZigBee router ability (my ZigBee network is too spread out and without enough routers so currently I have to place many ZigBee electric plugs which are not useful apart from their router abilities) with spotlight, I should remove the traditional wall switches or transform them into clever switches. But if I don’t want to use the dimmer or color lighting features, the best would a smart wall switch. I have already been using the wifi sonoff mini r2 which are good for that purpose but do not help me with my ZigBee network.
So I am stuck at the same point, not really understanding how to leverage ZigBee spotlights in a natural user experience way. I want my visitors not to think and not to have a user manual on how to switch on and off the lights…
Edit: for rooms where you could sit for long, i switch on the light when someone enters, check after 30sec and if the motion is still on, i disable the switch off. It generally works okay in terms of human behavior but it is not fail proof.
But it’s probably also the only way to deal with this problem - which goes right to the heart of what smart homes are all about. There’s no point in automation if people have to change their behaviour to use it.
Philips make small battery powered switches to control their Hue lights manually. In the UK at least you can get mounts that clip over standard wall switches, so the power stays permanently on but people can still click off the lights as they leave the room. That’s the right idea.
Or you can do what I do and not let anyone in the house. 
You can replace them with the Sonoff Mini Zigbee. They are excellent routers.
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I changed many normal switch for the ikea stuff switches for they are still not too expensive, but I ran into the same problem you have.
Plus I too like to have a switch so I do not have to hang a screen extra on the wall or grab my mobile all the time, which is often somewhere…
Unless you have a reliable WiFi network that is better then the provider modem/router/wap device, your signal reaches all the corners of your property and you only use the 2.4Ghz for IOT, I would not choose to use WiFi for home automation.
I started with WiFi because the devices were dirt cheap + you could flash them with tasmota.
Now I only use 1 power plug that is close to 1 of my AP’s and I went with zigbee for wireless devices.
Regarding your zigbee network: have a look at this if you have not done yet Guide for Zigbee interference avoidance and network range/coverage optimization
FYI: IKEA sells power adapters (TRÄDFRI) that also are zigbee repeaters and from what I read here these are a good solution.
As you see, there are some option for your traditional wall switches, that’s up to your preference.
I didn’t do anything about those since those places that have lights (all but 2) controlled by HA are automated.
To me, home automation is also about making the system smart to work for you so you don’t have to interact manually.
Still using wall switches is not really a smart home and you have to change your behavior to not use switches anymore.
But that’s my opinion, yours might differ.
If I’m somewhere else I tend to forget to switch off the lights since I’m used that this happens automatically.