Replacement of Hue remote v2 to handle bindings and multiple trigger sources

Hardware
1

I’ve been using the Hue remotes for a few years, that had HA automations to control the lights. i did not use the binding feature. This required HA & zigbee to be in a working state and always left the potential for lights to not be functional if these were offline.

Recently I’ve paired the remote to light(s) with the binding ability. The Hue remote handles the dumb on/off via direct bind, and then I have a HA trigger of “when lights on, do something” for the smart control.

Some rooms have 2 or 3 switches, and others ESP32 PIR sensors.

But the Hue remotes appear to have an internal state memory of on/off, rather than toggle when using the direct binding feature. This results in things getting out of whack depending which remote was last used/if PIR triggered and can result in multiple presses to be required to turn the lights on.

I don’t think it matters but 90% of my bulbs are HUE, either bulbs or entire light fittings. The rest are dumb bulbs behind zigbee switch/dimmer modules (eg: sonoff zbmini type modules).

Do other switch options have this internal state “feature” of the hue remotes and is there something specific i can search for in specs rather than buy every option and test myself? I’m in UK, and have a preference for no-neutral hard-wired, but battery is ok too.

2

Zigbee binding is pretty much a dark art. You’re lucky if the product listing mentions binding capability at all, let alone the internal state.

All I can tell you is that binding capabilities are usually only exposed in battery powered (scene) switches like your Hue remote. It’s generally safe to assume that if you’re going for hard wired stuff, binding clusters will be unavailable or severely restricted for that switch.

3

i got a bit lucky with my first test product - Vesternet (UK store) have their own brand of zigbee switches in 2,4,8 button configurations, that is technically is perfect according to the spec sheet.
Each pair of buttons are their own group so depending on how many buttons, i can assign direct bindings on a single unit to multiple lights.

I further lucked out with someone selling a new 4button version on ebay so immediately bought which arrived today. A quick test is working exactly as required.

Direct binding, touch link, dedicated on/off buttons (not a toggle state like hue remote), no-quirks in ZHA/custom blueprints, OTA and battery operated.

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