I am looking for a Zigbee based switch which:
Are there any recommendations for this?
I am also interested in this.
- can work in a mode where a press on the button just sends a message via zigbee, does not actually switch the line (for smart bulbs). Not sure how this mode would be called
This is apparently possible for with Shelly switches and it’s called “detached mode” (see here: Shelly Detached Switch - #3 by pickerin), unfortunately those are not zigbee switches.
I tried to accomplish this with Aqara single switch T1 module. I did this by connecting the light switch wire and live wire directly so that the smart bulb always has power. Then I connected the switch module to a wall switch and the live wire. Unfortunately this does not seem to work. The switch does not provide a switch event when pressed. Also, connecting the live wire directly to the switch wire is not ideal because all the smart bulbs will turn on after a power outage since the bulbs do not have a way to set the default value.
Thank you, it is good to have a name for that feature. I will google a bit for this detached mode. This is exactly what I am looking for. I am not sure why not every in wall switch supports that… otherwise there is no way of using it with a smart light bulb
I’m looking for the exact same thing
Hello,
I’m currently dealing with the same problem described in the OP; smart bulbs needing constant line power and a dumb switch that can’t provide that. I’m reviving an older post, hoping someone has found such an elusive switch, and describing how I’m approaching it.
I came to the same conclusion as HarmvZ … use a smart switch as a button input to HA. I will leave the existing dumb switch in place, holding it in the on position with cover guard (or maybe tape) to provide constant line power. In case of a power outage and restoration, I could remove the cover guard and kill power to those bulbs while HA recovers.
Then wire a ZigBee smart switch into the power mains, but not connecting anything to the load terminals. This should create, in effect, a mains-powered ZigBee button switch that will also provide repeater/router capability. That smart switch can be controlled with a button push (locally) or through the HA dashboard.
I prototyped this using a Sonoff S31 ZigBee wall plug. I set up two automations in HA. One uses the switched “on” state of the plug to turn my smart bulbs “on”. Another uses the switched “off” state to turn the bulbs “off”. That seems to work whether the control initiates from the plug (manually) or from my HA dashboard control of that plug.
I was concerned how the bulb would turn on using these automations, but they seem to turn on with the last color/brightness configuration the bulb used when last turned off. I can go into the dashboard control of the smart bulb and change color/brightness. The button control just turns the bulb on/off with that new configuration.
Since my prototype works as I hoped, I will purchase a smart switch and do the installation. I expect it will also work. The switch has the same internal relay for switching mains and a similar manual control.
Any other experiences out there with this problem. Thanks.
Karl
Assuming you’re using zigbee2mqtt and you’ve already binded several zigbee bulbs in the same group
If your wifi switch is running on tasmota (with detached mode enable), you can setup custom rules that send mqtt payload based on different button presses. This way it doesn’t rely on automation
Thanks for the reply Shaq.
I watched this Digiblur video a while back. Travis is a real expert at HA and automation. I subscribe to his channel and like his work, but this is a bit too involved for me right now. I prefer to stick with UI implementations, rather than delve into yaml or other coding at this point.
As Dirty Harry once said, “a man’s got to know his limitations”. I expect as I get more experience and confidence in my HA skills that will change, but not right now.
cheers,
Karl