Options for in-wall battery remotes?

Hardware
1

I have a Ring Floodlight Cam that is currently controlled by a normal switch. If you accidentally leave that switch off, the Ring Cam has no power. If I installed a smart switch, the same thing would happen (although I could manually turn it on eventually thru an app). The best solution is to wire the floodlight to be always on. However, I would like to install a remote in place of the current switch so I can turn the light on/off still.

  • The Hue Dimmer would be great, but it doesn’t mount in the wall nicely near other switches, which is the case here (3 switches are in the panel)
  • The Lutron Pico remote is an option, but requires the pro bridge, which is another $125.

Are there any other options here? I basically just need a smart battery powered remote that will fit nicely into a light switch that I can control with Home Assistant.

2

With Zigbee, there is the Eria Dimmer that is a 4-button remote that can mount in a Decora faceplate like a Pico can. There is also the RGBGenie 5122 that looks similar to Pico.

If you want to go wired and Z-Wave I just got a few Zooz Zen 32 Scene Controllers. It has 5 buttons and you can disable the relay so it won’t cut power to your Ring Cam.

3

Thanks for all of the info here. Does the Eria Dimmer need a hub for Home Assistant to control it? I’m curious how I would mount it in a 3 switch panel, I imagine I would just install the Pico mounting bracket and use this remote instead.

Unfortunately I don’t have a neutral wire so it seems in terms of wired in switches, it’s mainly just Casetas and that is what I’m using around the house currently.

4

You would need one of the Zigbee dongles and then use one of the Zigbee Integrations to use the Eria Dimmer. I use mine with a Hubitat hub so I am not much help there.

The Eria has a magnetic bracket that screws in behind Decora faceplate that then holds remote in place but remote is easily removable when wanted. The RGBGenie works same way.

5

It’s worth getting the Caseta Pro bridge. I use Picos all over the place to trigger several non-Caseta devices using HA. And the Picos will match your existing switches, so it won’t look like patchwork.

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