What is pre-staging?
Pre-staging, like with smart bulbs, allows you to set the device parameters while the device is in the “off” position so that the next time it is turned on, it is immediately in its desired state. With any good smart bulb, you can pre-stage color, color temperature, and brightness level. Switches only need to be able to pre-stage the brightness level in order to work with dumb bulbs.
With most current switches, the only way to immediately set a variable brightness is by turning the switch on with software, which (in many cases) is not particularly useful if you actually want to use it as a wall switch.
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Prestaging switches doesn’t make sense. It has 2 features that are the equivalent: Default Local Level and Default Z-wave Level. Both are adjustable at any time to turn on to the desired level (or last).
Prestaging is a term used for lights typically.
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Is there a way to set up an automation to change the default local level over the course of the day without having to turn the light on? I would be very grateful if you would share that with me. I am on Hubitat if that helps.
Yes…switches are also used for lights typically. The goal here is to get a smart switch to add functionality to dumb bulbs that smart bulbs already have. Isn’t making our lighting smarter why we are all here?
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Quick question, Kevin. Is this post of yours from July 2020 not asking about the exact same pre-staging ability in dimmer switches? I must be kind of dumb to not understand this because you also just said “prestaging dimmers doesn’t make sense.” I think it would get me closer to understanding what to do here if you could explain the difference in the two scenarios.
Is this for RedSeries? Just use the setConfigParameter command in a rule or in WebCore
setConfigParameter(9,{level},1) //for default level local
setConfigParameter(10,{level},1) //for default level remote
Thank you very much for your response. It seems that I am reaching the limits of my knowledge because as far as I have read in their forums, you cannot set configuration parameters with rules in Hubitat, and I don’t know enough to figure out how to do this in WebCore. At least not yet. If I am missing something simple and this isn’t as difficult as it appears, I would greatly appreciate some correction, but it seems like I might be stuck for the time being.
Perhaps this process would be easier if there was just a pre-staging option in the switch?
Let me try to clarify. This is not something that is universally enabled across all devices in Hubitat. The ability to set configuration parameters depends on the device and whether the driver allows it. In this case, Inovellli drivers support this feature. Many other brands do not. It’s one of the many things that make Inovelli stand out from the others.
Here is a simple Rule that shows how it could be done. This one triggers on mode change.
If mode is DAY it sets the default level on Kitchen Lights to 100%.
If mode is EVENING it sets the default level on Kitchen Lights to 66%
If mode is NIGHT it sets the default level on Kitchen Lights to 33%
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Yes I had it figured out. I use an app called “Adaptive Lighting”, which gives me a % value. I then apply that to all dimmers for each integer value it changes.
I use Node Red so I can’t help on hubitat, and it was a bad question when I started, admittedly.
Thanks, @mamber! That answers my question, even if it doesn’t resolve my current situation.
It seems like asking about pre-staging wasn’t a bad question for you to ask at all, @kreene1987. A lot of confusion and difficulty could be avoided if it were just a standard feature across all manufacturers. Any dumb switch with a dimming slider can be turned on directly into a desired brightness level. Until it’s a standard feature, it seems the dumb switches are smarter and more useful than the smart switches! 
I’ll keep an eye out here to see how this feature might be addressed in Project Phoenix. I would love a good reason to be separated from my money. 
How does it not solve your situation? The example I provided gives you “preset” capability. It just happens to be called by a different name (default level)
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I don’t currently own Inovelli switches. I own Zooz. I’m here shopping for new ones.
I do, however, own several Inovelli bulbs…
@mamber and @kreene1987 – just so I’m clear (I’m in the same boat as @AL_X – I don’t really understand it) is pre-staging something that happens at the driver level or is it firmware related?
While it looks like it’s possible via Hubitat, I’d be curious if it’s possible on other Hub/Gateway/Platforms. In other words, is this something that needs to be put in our product firmware that is exposed via a driver?
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Its done by the firmware, but the driver needs to provide a method to set/modify/configure it.
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Is “prestaging” just a Zigbee term? It seems like nearly all Google hits are tied to Zigbee instead of Z-wave.
I think this might have to do with the fact that no one has been manufacturing z-wave bulbs recently, so it’s not relevant. Inovelli’s own z-wave bulbs (LZW42) use the term pre-staging in their settings page. It’s enabled for color pre-staging and color temperature pre-staging, but not brightness/level. Newer zigbee bulbs have it enabled for all three.
Ok, thank you. I’ll check with Eric M to see if this is in our firmware, but maybe you know off-hand if it typically is?
This is basically the ability to set the dimmer to a different level BEFORE actually telling it to be at that level.
A lot of people use it for changing the level of a light before turning it on (think about the 42’s and how they turn on in their same off state THEN blink over to the current adaptive lighting state, they DO NOT prestage effectively on HA that I could ever do).
Default local level is just another way of saying the same thing I guess. @AL_X what you are looking to do the Inovelli will do. Just set the default levels to what you want, then when you turn on the light it will go to that level instead of “last state” (default). Inovelli does exactly what you are asking (I think!).
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That’s a good idea