I’ve been trying to get an understanding of Zwave switches, and while people have been very helpful it’s hard to understand Zwave basics when everyone is suggesting different technologies. So let’s start over with a non-Smarthome setup and progress into changing switches to new technology, and then programming once they’re installed.
Let’s say you have:
- 2 gang boxes on either side of the living room, 9 slots each (but assume we can change this requirement)
- You have 8 spotlights circuits (S1-S8) and 2 lamps (L1 and L2) in your living room.
- All of the spotlights are configured as 3-way with 2 switches each
- Each lamp is connected to a wall outlet plug. Each plug is controlled by a dimmer switch.
Let’s say we hook up everything was setup as follows with traditional dumb switches.
| main | entr | fireplace | tv | sitting | window | deck | porch | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SL1 | SL2 | SL3 | SL4 | SL5 | SL6 | SL7 | SL8 | L1 |
| SS1 | SS2 | SS3 | SS4 | SS5 | SS6 | SS7 | SS8 | L2 |
Pretty straightforward, 8 spotlight switches and two switches controlling outlets with lamps plugged in. Now let’s replace all of them with various smart switches.
| main | entr | fireplace | tv | sitting | window | deck | porch | Read1/2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SL1 | SL2 | SL3 | SL4 | SL5 | SL6 | SL7 | SL8 | L1 |
| SS1 | SS2 | SS3 | SS4 | SS5 | SS6 | SS7 | SS8 | L2 |
And lo and behold, nothing changes much. We use smart switch dimmers to control the loads, and “dummy” smart switches setup as a 3way with their associated load. And each lamp gets a smart switch.
Notes:
SL = SpotlightLoad
SS = SpotlightSlave
Ramp Rate means how fast a device turns on. So if you brighten a lamp to 80% at 4 secs, it means it takes 4 secs to dim from 0% t0 80%.
What would it take to set the switches up such that:
-
The L1 and L2 switches so that an on press of either turns L1 to 75% and L2 at 50% in 4 secs. An off press turns both off in 4 secs.
-
If you manually brighten/dim either L1/L2 they mirror each other.
Now I’m assuming this can be done via association groups. But what if we want do be able to control all of the spotlights with a single press of either SL1 or SL2? How would you setup SL1 and SL2 a single on press will set every load and lamp to a specific brightness and ramp rate? A single off press will turn all,of them off at a specific ramp rate. Holding SS1/SS2 up or down will brighten/dim each device accordingly and their associated load/slave switches will mirror the switch being held down.
The SL1 and SL2 switches would be the most typically used in the room to turn on the “perfect” combination of lights at the desired ramp rate, from either gangbox. It’s the “wow factor” of smartplugs. Since the number of devices are well greater than 5, you can’t use association groups. How could you accomplish all of this and still have it appear as if all of these lights are just part of the same load?
Additionally, I want to be able to perform this exact scene using a hub, so you could use Alexa/Google to execute this scene. And not only have the brightness, ramp rate, but the switches should have their dimmer LED’s mimic the same behavior as if physically pressed.