Trying to reset light if (smart) wall switch is turned off

#1

Does anyone have a piston that facilitates the use of both a smart light switch and smart bulb.

Meaning that no matter what happens to the switch it always does what’s expected.

i.e.
Default state should be light switch on and bulb off

if anyone hits the switch to turn the light on then instead of turning the switch off, it actually recognises that it should be on and then also turns the bulb on

if anyone hits the switch to turn it off, then the light switch turns back on again and then subsequently turns the bulb off.

I think this is the only two situations that we will come across.

At the end the light switch should always be left on and the bulb be in the state opposite to what it was when the piston was called.

Hopefully this makes sense.

The issue is that I have guests in the house that keep turning certain light switches off, so I have bought some smart switches in the hope to be able to achieve this.

Anyone already done it before I go an reinvent the wheel?

#2

I am sure I seen someone on here say that they have achieved this. was it you @WCmore…

I cannot for the life of me find there post

Best I have so far is this but I am not all that happy about it, plus I am not sure how to handle the vice-versa condition

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#3

The challenge is… When the smart switch is off, then there is no power going to the bulb… so your smart bulb becomes 100% “dumb”…

It sounds to me like you want a “button” instead of a switch… Each time the button is pressed, it can toggle the bulb to the opposite state. (but at no time does it cut power to the bulb)

For what it’s worth, I always recommend one of the following:

  • Dumb bulb with a smart switch… or
  • Smart bulb with a dumb switch… or
  • Smart bulb with a smart button…

I often have to encourage my clients to break the old habit of manually turning off the dumb wall switches if there is a smart device attached. (this is my favorite method to kick that habit, but a well placed piece of duct tape can also do the trick) Usually after a week or two, everyone is onboard.

For the record, it makes the transition easier if there is some easy way for the family to control the lights without opening apps etc. (Alexa, Smart Button, ActionTiles, Motion Sensors, etc)

#4

What I have is a one of those smart panel switches. Like the sonoff ones.

They do cut power to the bulb when off.

I am simply looking for a piston that will always keep the power to the bulb on but also make it look like it’s done what the user wanted it to.

So if bulb is on and they hit the switch (fundamentally cutting power to the bulb).
Then turn the switch back on and make sure bulb is off

If the bulb is off and they hit the switch (again fundamentally cutting power to the bulb)
The. Turn the switch back on and make sure the bulb is on.

Sounds easy in theory but I think the triggers keep tripping over themselves. I’ll probably need to think about a variable that gets set and prevents it tripping up.

#5

Each time a bulb comes back from a power outage, it takes a bit to reconnect to the hub…
(although some devices may take up to two minutes)

… and of course, even if you get your current idea working, it will cause extra on/off or off/on, so it will look very unprofessional…

I would recommend buying a $10 button, and stick it to the wall nearby. It looks just like a light switch, but it is battery operated, and can send a signal to the hub to do what you want. (with a much quicker response time, and no hassles with programming)

#6

Many choose using a “dumb” bulb attached to that smart switch…
It will let guests press a wall switch, and it lets you code here in webCoRE.

The only real downside is giving up color changes with those bulbs… but if you can live with that, you will have the most flexibility.

#7

Thank you so much for your replies.

I do need the colour bulb. One of on two I “need” to have.

I might revert back to a dumb switch. Or perhaps just put a blank plate over it with a smart button on top of it.

#8

Both are good ideas…

One other food for thought. There have been quite a few houses that I set up where the owners wanted a few switches/bulb combos to be left 100% dumb. (mostly in high traffic area) This lets them program 85% of their lights, and leaving 15% of the bulbs totally manual…

#9

Yeah. I’ve got a few dumb bulbs in certain areas too. But this one is my hall light. That goes red when anyone is in the toilet.

There is a smart switch on the wall that I had before I bought the colour bulb. So everyone is used to it being smart but also able to manually flick it when they want to.

I thought it would be relatively easy to combine both but like you’ve said in a previous post it takes time for the smart bulb to reconnect after power loss. Plus the end result is lights coming on and going off after someone has manually used it. Which doesn’t look too good and confuses people even more. I kinda hoped that when power was resumed that it would not ahhhhhh. I’ve just had a thought. I can control what happens to the bulb when power is resumed in the tp-link app. ao every time power is resumed the bulb stays off. That will fix half the problem. Just to do the vice verse scenario which will be even more tricky.

I’ll keep this post updated on how I get on or if I eventually give up.

#10

Bugger. It’s let’s me control colour and brightness but not if it’s on or off :frowning:

#11

$10 button, such as?