Can a smart switch control a smart light?
Voice assistants struggle to sequence turning on a smart switch, waiting a few seconds, and then adjusting the smart light's color and intensity. Because finding a single device that solves this is difficult, people stall their projects or compromise between having full smart control and keeping a physical switch that works when the hub is down.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
Can a smart switch control a smart light?
- 1Setting up smart home routines that turn on the switch, wait a few seconds, and then set color and brightness.Did this help you?
- 2Using a multi-button scene controller or Pico remote to trigger pre-configured hub scenes.Did this help you?
- 3compromising on having either physical or smart control, but not bothDid this help you?
- 4using a controller with a button instead of a knobDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Is it weird to have a smart switch controlling smart lights (circuits 1,5, and 6)?”source ↗
“If I ask Google to "set lights to warm dimmed", will it know to first turn on the smart switch, then wait a few seconds, then set the light color to warm and 30% intensity?”source ↗
“I am having trouble finding a specific device that I am surprised is not more common.”source ↗
“However, I'm adamant that everything should be able to function "dumb" as well when HA is unavailable.”source ↗
“I keep hitting the same roadblock on this project, so I've put it off for a couple years. Now my wife is pushing to get them done so I either need to find the right product or compromise on either physical OR smart control”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 2Why does turning off the light switch turn off the outlet?
- 6How to swap the order of wall light switches
- 4How to use two remotes for one ceiling fan
- 4How to figure out what an unswitched wall light is connected to
- 2Why isn't my new timer switch working after wiring it up?
- 3What do red wires mean in a 3-gang switch box?