Ok, I already have Smart Things hub in my home. I want a switch that’s a smart switch but I don’t need anything fancy. I just need it to turn on/off/dim the lights in the room that it will be installed. I have the Hue line of bulbs in my home in almost all the rooms. I’m also looking for a smart switch that will turn on/off my ceiling fan in my master bedroom and ones that will work for the bathroom fans as well. My girlfriend will move in within the year as well as her son. So I want a switch that functions like a normal one would, but compatible with my hue smart bulbs. I’ve looked at the red series and I think that may be what I’m looking for. Any suggestions? -Robert
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Both the Red Series (Z-Wave) or Blue (Zigbee) will fit your needs as they will both work with smart bulbs. You will have to wait on a fan switch though as currently I don’t believe there is anything available, however one is in the works for early 2023.
https://community.inovelli.com/t/zigbee-matter-fan-switch-project-zephyr-blue-series/
Thanks, Dan4! I was just reading of some issues with the Blue series as they’re the newest. I’m the only one tech savvy in my home and my girlfriend could honestly care less about what I’ve done to this place. It just needs to be as simple as a “dumb” switch. Trying to find a switch that’s powered on all the time to work with my Hue bulbs has been a task. I invested in 3 Orro brand switches and I’m not happy with them at all. They look slick, but that’s about it.
Since you are using Hue bulbs and likely will want to bind the bulbs to the switches, you want the Blue series, not the Red. The red is Z-Wave and will not bind with a Zigbee bulb.
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@Bry is correct on that - for direct binding to the Hue bulbs you would want the Blue switches - Red would still work but via scenes only.
I will also agree on this.
The reason you want binding is so that the switch can directly talk to the bulbs. The blue series will be capable of binding to the hue bulbs. If you were to go with reds, they would need to speak to smartthings in zwave and then smartthings would need to translate the message to zigbee and talk to the bulbs. That extra step in between adds delay. It’s small, but definitely noticeable over what the avg person is used to with “near instant” response on a light switch.
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Hard to get any of these switches right now.
So I finally bought the blue series switches and I’m in the process of setting them up for my Hue bulbs. It says I can’t have them connected to the Hue bridge anymore. They have to be connected to the smartthings bridge. Every time I try to set up to connect to the smartthings it tells me I need to “configure my hue bridge/lights first”. Which they already are. So does this mean I have to basically reset my hue bridge and then remove it from my “smart eco system” completely and re-add them (like it’s the first time) to the smartthings bridge? I was just planning on setting this one switch up first to see how it worked and then do the rest at a later date, but I can see if I do this I have to be all in on everything I’ve already got because doing it individually will be a nightmare. Curious for anyone’s thoughts that’s done it before and the best way to make it “seamless.” Also, to note that I use the hue Sync box with my entertainment. So if I’m not connected to the hue bridge anymore I’m not sure how this is going to work.
-Robert