Dear all,
my current setup looks like this:
power → dumb switch → smart zigbee lamp (connected to HA)
Now I’d like to make the switch smart using a zigbee module, wiring it only to the switch, so it doesn’t cut power to the smart lamp.
Most importantly: Should my zigbee coordinator or Home Assistant fail, I still want to be able to control the lamp using the switch with the module.
Do you have any advice on how that could be realized?
Best regards,
bloatware
I kind of do something similar to this where I have my lamps plugged into a KASA HS300 power strip to monitor wattage used as well as allowing me to control other things plugged in behind my couch and then I have a Zigbee dimmer plugged into the outlet on the strip.
The outlets plugged into the Zigbee dimmer modules have an automation associated with it that, should the outlet ever get turned off, Home Assistant turns back on the outlet. I do this for my network equipment, too, so I can monitor energy usage and also allow me to remotely do a quick power cycle if I want to (short of HA stop responding and thus cannot send the power-on to the switch).
You could install your smart switch in the outlet and then build that automation. Then, your Zigbee lamp just gets fed by it. If something happens, you can also just hit the switch on the wall manually.
In my past, with another product, things would get flaky when their cloud went down so being able to manually control everything in my home was important to me. With the Zigbee dimmers on my dumb lamps, I can cycle the power switch and it turns on. Hope this inspires you to find a solution.
Haven’t find a way around this with zigbee.
I find it easier with wifi devices, on esphome you can just configure to toggle the relay if api is disconnected (if wifi or homeassistant is down)
I know there’s the option of zigbee binding, if the devices support it. Does anyone have experience using bindings? Especially if it survives Homeassistant and the coordinator going offline.
Browsing the forum, I found some topics.
The general consensous is, to use a 2 gang switch relay that sends a trigger to HA and in case it can’t reach it, will trigger the relay. Does anyone have experience with a solution like this?