Smart lamp or smart relay?

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1

If I have a non-smart LED light bulb in a room and use a Zigbee relay, I can turn it on and off with HA. If I wanted to use a light bulb that changes color or brightness, I would have to install a smart light bulb (e.g., a Tapo lamp). But at this point, doesn’t the Zigbee relay make sense? Is that correct? And I wouldn’t even be using Zigbee, but Wi-Fi.

2

For a lamp, I would probably go with a smart bulb. You don’t necessarily need to get a color bulb as you can get white bulbs that do color temp (bluish white to yellow / orange white). Since it is a smart bulb the lamp always stays on from the mains - in an emergency the bulb can be set to come on when power is restored which means if your zigbee / wifi goes down you turn the lamp off then on to get the bulb to light up.

So, no need for a relay.

As for Zigbee or WiFi - just choose a product most suitable for your infrastructure. Personally I would look for zigbee since it would be a mains powered deviced and hence act as a router helping to improve the zigbee mesh.

3

So the choices are: (assuming you choose Zigbee)

  1. buy a Zigbee smart lamp
  2. install a Zigbee relay behind the lamp’s button

When should you choose one solution or the other?

4

If you need colour, a smart bulb
if not, a smart relay

5

Before removing the smart relay and adding smart bulbs:

  • Keep in mind that your Zigbee smart relay is likely acting as a router for your Zigbee mesh and removing it without providing another router in that area could have negative effects on the mesh. For this reason you may want to consider Zigbee bulbs instead of WiFi.
  • Make sure you have a plan to handle the wall switch/button, especially if you have other people in your household. It is usually best to keep any “new” action for the basic user interaction as close to the “old” action as possible.
  • Some smart relay devices support “detached” mode for just this situation. When set in this mode, the relay remains in an “on” state and the switch/button connections effectively become a sensor. You will need to check your device’s specs to see if this is an option.
6

So are many Zigbee light bulbs too.

1 Like
7

OP specifically mentioned the bulbs might be WiFi.

8

I have a pair of Zigbee bulbs from Ikea and a wall switch. The bulbs have power 24/7 and the switch is a Zigbee switch that doesn’t switch anything. But Home Assistant sees the switch state, so an automation using the switch state can control the bulbs. Wife can’t tell the difference.

I do not have any switches with scenes, but you may be able to use one of those for different color temperatures.

(BTW, I hate smart bulbs).

9

I would only install a relay if you want simple on / off control.

A bulb will give you on/off as well as brightness - optionally color / color temperature.

You can get Zigbee versions of either which will help a Zigbee mesh.

Ideally if you have Zigbee, then look to use ‘router’ capable zigbee devices over wifi ones.