Pairing Hue bulbs

Configuration
1

How can I have one hue lamp (bulb) connected to a switched outlet (dumb on-off switch), turns on and off through wall switch, control another Hue lamp (bulb) not connected to same switched outlet to turn on and off as the other switched bulb? Can this be done through the Hue app, or how can it best be done with Home assistant? Basically I want both bulbs controlled through wall switch without using the Hue app or Home assistant app. Any suggestion is appreciated, thanks.

2

This would be possible by writing an automation in Home Assistant that turns on/off the second bulb (not connected to the switch) whenever the first bulb turns on/off.
However this will have huge delays when it comes to turning the light on, because you switch it through a dumb switch. It doesn’t have power when it’s turned off, therefore in Home Assistant it will be shown as unavailabe and it takes some time until Home Assistant sees it again once you turn it on. And the second bulb will only be able to turn on, when the first bulb is seen as ON by Home Assistant.
This will definitely not be a satisfying solution.If I were you, I’d rather buy some Hue Dimmer Switch, mount it next to the dumb light switch and either wire the bulb to be always powered on or tell everyone to only use the Hue Dimmer Switch. Nice bonus, you can then use the Hue Dimmer Witch for other things as well, like turning off other applicances in the same room etc.

3

hey thanks so much Burningstone, great help and very detailed. how much delay do you think there would be if i would set up that automation?10 seconds, 1 minute?

4

Write a automation as long as home assistant can see both bulbs

lamp 1 has the switch which turn on/off

lamp 2 is the one we want to match

- id: light on when other on
  alias: 'light on when other on'
  trigger:
  - entity_id: light.lamp1
    platform: state
  action:
  - data_template:
      entity_id: light.lamp2
    service: light.turn_{{ trigger.to_state.state }}

could just do a toggle but we dont know what the state of the other light

  - data:
      entity_id: light.lamp2
    service: light.toggle

there more than one way to skin a cat

my thinking is if lamp2 on and lamp1 get turn on lamp2 will get the on command so stay on

1 Like
5

there should be no delay, not a noticable one anyway.

Heaven knows why you are asking for a non home assistant solution on the home assistant forum.

6

There will be a delay for sure, because it takes some time for HA to “see” the bulb again after the power was cut. When it has no power, it will be unavailable in HA.
Or is Home Assistant that fast? I remember trying something similar maybe 2 years ago and it was far from instant. But the hue integration probably changed quite a bit in the meantime :sweat_smile:

I assume he meant that he doesn’t want to open an app on his phone to turn on the other light.

7

Just try it out. Go to Developer Tools -> States and watch the status of the lamp that is connected to the switch.
If you turn it off at the switch, does the state change to “off” and then “unavailable” or does it go directly to “unavailable”?
When you turn it back on at the switch, how long does it take until the state changes from “unavailable” to “on”? This will be the delay you’ll have with this solution.

8

Nice template you got there in your action section :slight_smile:
Just one thing, you need to add a condition to account for the state “unavailable”. The bulb will always be unavailable when it doesn’t have power (which is the case here as he turns it off with a “dumb” switch)

9

Good point bro didn’t think that far ahead that was just off top of head

10

Thanks all, yes got it to work, it does have delays but they are acceptable for what i need for now. Delays are 5 seconds to turn on and 24-50 seconds to turn off.

11

You could get an Aurora always-on dimmer switch. It locks your toggle-switch into the ‘on’ position and mounts a button/dimmer wheel over the top of it that wirelessly controls the bulb. It’s easy to pick which bulbs you want it to control, so it can control both the bulb connected to the switchable outlet as well as the other bulb without any apparent delay (in my house I can’t perceive any difference in when they turn on or off). They’re pretty quick to install as well and don’t require any wiring. It also keeps the light “ready” for other automations from Home Assistant. In the current setup, once you turn the light off with the switch, you have to turn it back on before it can work with any other automations.

Here is the product page on Hue: https://www.store.meethue.com/us/lutron-aurora-always-ready-smart-bulb-dimmer. I haven’t tried to connect it to Home Assistant (so it can control non-hue devices).