The short answer is to stay tuned. Eric might also respond be we have a lot of things in the works right now.
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…Just a bump to see if there’s any info on the project.
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Apologies as I don’t remember if any/all of these ideas have already been mentioned above, but I had some thoughts about ways I’d like this device to work, assuming you can pull it off.
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You should implement five zwave endpoints, each of which is represented in software as a multilevel switch. The scene controller should be able to receive basic and multilevel set commands for each endpoint, and respond to multilevel get commands for each endpoint. Even though there’s only one actual relay/dimmer, the controller should store a multilevel state for each of the five endpoints, which can be used to control both the level of the indicator light and the command sent to the corresponding association group on a button push. You should have 16 association groups, lifeline plus one for each endpoint which sends basic set, multilevel set, and multilevel level change start/stop.
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You should have a traveler terminal to support three way switch configurations, and you should have it be configurable which of the five channels the three way switch controls. Probably the best way to do that is with one parameter for whether the built-in relay should react to the physically-wired 3-way switch (perhaps this could also allow you to either configure it as “toggle state on any change on the 3-way” or “match on/off state sent from a momentary switch”), and then bitmask parameters (described below) for each association group which controls which source triggers a message to that association group. This would allow you to, for example, turn an existing hardwired 3-way switch (either dumb or momentary) into a zwave remote control for controling some other device, perhaps connected to a zwave relay.
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You should have configuration parameters for what source triggers a message to the association group, for each of the five buttons, with the usual four-bit bitmask (zwave, physical switch, 3-way switch, timer). Maybe timer isn’t relevant, I’m not sure.
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You should have configuration parameters for managing how the indicator lights respond to the state changes of the associated endpoints. Options include:
- Match level (on when on, off when off, dim when dim, etc)
- Inverse match level (off when on at full, on when off, dim to 100% - level when dim)
- Always on
- Always off
- Controlled by messages sent using the indicator command class. (maybe this is the same as the always on/off options? not sure)
- Something mapping level to color? Not quite sure how you’d do this, but it might be cool.
I like to do as much as possible with associations, because they’re faster than anything else, and they keep working even if my zwave hub is down. That has a lot of value, because while I certainly plan to keep the hub running, what if I’m gone? I don’t want to burden my wife with maintaining it. Or if I sell the house, it would keep working even without a hub.
I’ve got a zooz scene controller with one of the buttons set to control another zwave light, which is also controlled by a motion sensor. Because there’s multiple sources of control, setting up an association is basically useless, since the zooz scene controller assumes it’s the only thing controlling the associated device. It sends either On or Off commands, depending on whether it previously sent Off or On, and has no way of updating when the state changes externally.
Ideally, I’d set up something like this, to use button 2 as a control for some other zwave light, which also has another, independent control mechanism (which could be another switch, a timer, my phone, a motion sensor, whatever):
- Add the inovelli 5 button scene controller endpoint for button 2 to the association group for the other zwave light, so that the scene controller gets updates whenever the state of the controlled device changes.
- Set the configuration parameter for the inovelli scene controller to not send messages to the association group for button 2 in response to commands received over zwave (to avoid an infinite loop, just like with the current red series switches)
- Add the other zwave light to the association group(s) for the appropriate endpoint on the inovelli 5 button controller.
- Configure the indicator light to either match level or inverse match level, according to my preference.
- Depending on the configuration options available from the other zwave light, either I set it up to not forward zwave commands (if it’s an inovelli switch) and configure the control algorithm in my hub to send commands to both the other zwave light and the inovelli 5 button controller, or I just configure the hub to send commands to the other zwave light and rely on its association group to forward the messages to the inovelli controller.
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Haven’t seen an update in a while on when or if this is coming out. Could someone please give an update? Thanks
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So I get they’ve been busy with the blue switch debacle but we haven’t heard peep about this project in many moons. Sans explanation the imagination runs wild. It would be great if someone could take 5 minutes to set the record straight.
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Begging for an update…. ?
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I too would love just any hint of what is going on in the background here too. Even if it’s to hear that this is never going to happen.
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There was a pre-order on this?
Preorders opened 04/01/2021. April Fools. Turns out the joke was on us. 
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I had forgotten all about this 5 button controller I ordered, will they ship or will we get a refund?
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We have offered everyone a refund if they would like it. You can DM me if you would like one and I will get it taken care of.
We still hope to make the switch but no date on if/when this would be completed.
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Thanks for confirming. I support the folks at Inovelli. Happy to wait, surprise me…someday
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I don’t mind the wait. It’s just that it feels dead. An update once in a while from Inovelli would be great.
Thank you.
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That’s disappointing. My wife is ready to throw away our whole smart home, because she can’t control some of the devices reliably. This 5-button switch was what I was waiting for to get it working well.
Apple Home Kit or something similar doesn’t work for her?
She doesn’t like using her phone to control the smart home.
Maybe setup a smart home that does things automatically reliably? Rather than requiring user input?
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One does what one can. My wife has no interest in interacting with the house, so almost everything needs to be passive. However, I’m anxiously awaiting the release of the 5-button switch because I know there are some things that it will make much easier around the house. Just the other night, there were a handful of lights that she wanted to turn on that she couldn’t, because she can’t be bothered to remember that to turn those lights on, it’s three clicks on the top of this unrelated light switch.
I can’t blame her; I can’t really get into some of her music, and won’t ever, so asking me to recall who did that song is useless.
Setting up ‘a smart home that does things automatically reliably,’ ‘rather than requiring user input,’ is the goal, sure. I’ve got a lot of things automated. I’m proud of my setup, and how lots of things require little to no interaction. I don’t even touch a lot of my light switches anymore. But I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect any smart home account for every little scenario its fleshy inhabitants can concoct. For those things… we have switches.
A home with buttons… that we have to walk over to, then smash, what, with our stubby fingers, to do things? That is not a true smart home. But since that’s pretty much unobtainable for most people, we have switches. And that’s OK, because not everyone cares about how smart our homes are.
Excuse the rant.
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