Good switch for the Philips Hue ecosystem
Price match with OW for additional 5% off
CamelCamelCamel.
Can these be use to dim other lights too outside of the Philips sphere via Homekit/Googlehome?
You'll need something with ZigBee. Home assistant can use them.
Echo plus probably.
I've got an Aqara hub, which I believe supports ZigBee. So it should work then hey?
No, need a hue hub or a conbee/sonoff/smartthings type
Aqara is locked to their own stuff only.
Can confirm I'm controlling a tuya light with this Hue dimmer switch via HomeAssistant
Would this work with Meross garage door?
@nightelves: I haven't integrated my Meross Garage Door opener into HomeAssistant yet (or even looked into whether it is possible) as I was having connectivity issues with my Unifi AP and the Meross device.
Assuming Meross is HA friendly I can't see why it wouldn't work, but this feels a bit like overkill - it has 4 buttons and the Meross probably only has one "Open/Close" input. I expect that you'd be better with a single button remote instead.
Would this also work with Homekit? Or would I need custom integration via HA?
I had this working well do with z2m in home assistant.
But with November update it’s broken. Haven’t gotten around to fixing it. Care to share your template please?
@limaecho: I'm using the one from this thread: https://community.home-assistant.io/t/philips-hue-smart-butt…
If you’re exposing it to HomeKit, you can use it to control anything else with HomeKit.
Bonus info - if you expose Hue to HomeKit natively, each button on the remote can be defined individually. But if you expose it via Matter (requires a Matter-compatible hub like an AppleTV) you get two functions per button - one for a Single Press, and one for for a Long Press.
This is really useful information, especially the part relating to matter! I've got a HomePod mini which I believe supports matter. Good to know I can get two functions per button instead of one!
If you have a Hue hub or other Zigbee hub to bridge them to HomeKit or Google Home, yes.
Is it posiible to turn on and off with this ?
Or only dimming?
Yes, you can turn on and off with these as well
Thank you!
It has 4 buttons:
1: on/off
2: brighter
3: dimmer
4: multi function (default is switch scene)
You can also reprogram buttons with 3rd party apps.
Hue Essentials is one (some paid features) and you can then use each button twice (press vs press and hold) for different features.
Can do that with the Hue app too, although not sure if the functionality extends as far as the paid options
iConnectHue on ios is a great one too. Extremely robust.
Amazing! Now I can make my smart light less intelligent (dimmer) without twisting those pesky knobs.
Always curious why people don’t like the knobs - I think they make more sense
Agreed, knob is a better design choice for something that works on a gradient.
That dirty great big 'hue' logo on the bottom is a turn off for me.
It is a Hue product?…
Can’t think of a single other switch you’d have stuck you your wall of your house with branding on it. Clipsal, Legrand etc
actually it's the top button that does the turning off (and on).
Haha nice one.
Can you connect two sets of light strips onto one switch?
Yes - may need a bridge tho
I’ve had the V1 of these and I’m not sure if there’s a major difference besides the icon but observations:
* they require CR2450 which is a bit harder to find and more expensive than CR2032. It lasts from 6-12 months depending on usage
* after a couple of years reliability has dropped even on fresh batteries
Overall they are stylish with a nice slim design.
I have switched to IKEA Rodret remotes, they are $10 each and take a rechargeable AAA.
Of course if you just have a hue hub then yes you don’t have much choice, but if smart things or home assistant I cannot recommend the Rodret enough.
Which ever switch you use though in most cases buttons can also be:
* double tapped
* long pressed
For anyone else reading this, the latest version of the Hue Dimmer Switch (which is what is being sold here) uses a CR2032 battery (included), and it lasts for ages. I've been using six of these around my home for over a year and the batteries are still going strong (Philips rates them as 2 years of battery life minimum).
At the moment the Hue Dimmer Switch is definitely my favourite Home Assistant accessory, so the only downside to me is its relatively high price, like with all Hue products. I'll have to check out the IKEA RODRET, that looks like a solid remote for $10.
Interesting thanks.
The CR2450 is much chunkier, probably double a CR2032 capacity.
Unless they've done some magic on the power usage, I think with multiple daily usage, life may be more like 6-12months.
I've got 3 running, 1 for 2 1/2 years and 2 for 18months. Still no sign of needing a replacement yet.
No idea if the battery reporting is correct or not, but the battery levels are still reporting 100% // 99% and 88% on the 2 1/2 year one. the 100% sees maybe 2-4 presses a day. 88% maybe 4-6 presses a day, but used to be more before I moved house. The 99% 10+ a day (bedroom).
So they last ages from my experience
We have 19 of these - a mix of V1 and v2. In four years, I've had to change the highest usage ones once each, most in the last 12 months. But that's maybe because we put our highest usage on Hue motion sensors.
That said, our ensuite lights are on dimmer only, no sensor, and we use that a fair bit. I've not had to change the battery once in those four years.
@y2k: Yeah they're pretty great. My motion sensor near the bathroom I've had to change once, but that's the only one so far in 2 1/2 years of usage. It definitely gets triggered a lot, and is constantly measuring ambient temperature. So it makes sense.
My small button lights (one in the toilet and one for the dining room) have the most usage. The one in the toilet has been changed after a year, but since I got the motion sensor it is still at 100% now for the last 4-5 months. The one in the dining room sees a lot of presses as it also effects the Entrance hallway with a double press, that's at 61% after 18 months.
How did you create home assistant automation for the switch? Did you have to create many automations for each function? Thanks
There's a bunch of custom automation blueprints that people have created, I personally use this one (it's for use with Zigbee2MQTT, if you're using ZHA there will be other blueprints out there for that):
https://community.home-assistant.io/t/philips-hue-dimmer-swi…
I've had 10 of the older version in my home since 2020 and only starting to replace batteries on some of them now for the first time… so my experience is 3-4 years even on switches that get very heavy use in the kitchen and living areas. But yes, the older ones were CR2450. These new ones however take CR2032.
It lasts from 6-12 months depending on usage
wow how often are you using the switches?
I've got a bunch of V1 switches around the house, including the main controls for the bedrooms and lounge….and i can't remember the last time I changed the batteries, maybe once in the 5-6 years I've had them
Multiple times a day. The ones like the hallway or garage last 1-2 years as I hardly use them once a week.
Maybe it’s more to do with the longevity of the battery, and the quality.
Either way I’m happy using a single 1.2V AAA rechargeable on the IKEA remotes now.
could possibly be distance from hub too?
Have you considered Hue motion sensors for high use areas? Obviously you need to change their batteries too (every 2-3 years for us), but I'm sure you'd get better mileage than changing dimmer batteries every 6-12 months.
I similarly switched from these to rodrets, mainly because I'm using home assistant and no longer using the hue hub. In those circumstances I have to say it has been night and day difference, and being $10 each I've flooded the house with them, very happy with them. Only use I have for these hue switches (which are a PITA to use in HA) is the touchlink functionality to steer problematic bulbs and devices into pairing mode
Also a quick note about ikea switches; if you are only controlling other zigbee devices and not using it for automations, the functionality works without talking to the hub, meaning it will continue to switch your lights if your HA instance goes offline, whereas hue controllers talk via the zigbee master (HA instance or hue hub) in almost all cases
Curious about your switch. Do I have to buy everything all over again or is there an easier way to move to HA with Hue stuff?
In those circumstances I have to say it has been night and day difference
What has been the difference?
pita in HA?
zigbee2mqtt, they work fine.
click, long press, and double click on each button (the 4 button remote can do 12 things if you want it to)
Ditto, I've set a few automations up for the Hue switches in HA and it was a PoP, not a PITA. Curious to see what problems were encountered.
Yeah, I have 3 of these at home. Two with Z2M and one with ZHA connected to my HA. I wish this switch comes with a lanyard like cheap switches I bought from AE.
Can I use the Philips one like a remote, just leave it on my side table? Or is it designed specifically to be stuck on the wall?
You can put it wherever you want mate.
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
It’s got a holster you can mount in the wall or anywhere.
The ikea ones are magnetic and will stick on plain metal, I’ve never had much luck with the hue ones on anything but the mount.
If you use HomeKit or google home like me, then it lives on the wall. I’ve actually got a mount that goes over my regular light switch to cover it up.
It’s on thingiverse
I have a V1 version of this, bought over 10 years ago. Over a year ago I thought the original battery was going flat and bought a replacement. That is still in the packaging. No idea what would need to happen to only get 6 months out of a battery 150 months is more like it in my experience.
the ikea remotes are cheaper to buy, but much shorter battery life (these all get used daily)
I have one of the V1 switches in the loo, so it gets used a lot. Still going strong on the original battery for a few years now.
I was able to price match with Jb hi fi and used the $10 birthday coupon to get the price down further
My local Officeworks wouldn’t price match because the product number didn’t match the one in their system. I showed them the number on the physical product box matching the one on Amazon but they wouldn’t have it. Just FYI for others
You got unlucky. I would have allowed it when I used to work there.
Thats unlucky I got them to Price match it with zero issues
Dumb question but is there any way to pair these with Lifx products?
“Pair”? No.
Interop.. yes with something advanced like home assistant.
Integrate both the Zigbee remote and a LIFX globe and you can easily create an automation.
I’ve mixed wifi lights like this too
Basically I want to be able to turn my Lifx bulbs on and off using this switch.
If you are up for it, home assistant will do what you want, you will need a zigbee coordinator like the Sonoff USB one often featured here, as well as something to run home assistant on, like a raspberry pi or a NAS.
It will also work through HomeKit, if you are in the Apple ecosystem. I’m not sure about Google’s platform but I think the Hue stuff is matter compatible so it should work with any platform that supports matter.
Delay could be an issue though, I have a Hue button (the single button) controlling a LIFX wall switch via HomeKit and there is a delay of up to 1 second - although I think that may be related to HomeKit having to query the current state of switch to decide if it should turn it on or off because I’m using the button as a toggle.
I'm using the brighter and dimmer buttons to control my Aqara roller shade driver in my HA.
What is use case of this when you can control from the app/google home? Is it for people who don't want to use either of this?
Its a physical wireless switch that you can stick on your wall or have next to your bed,
Useful for my parents who dont work with apps superwell and prefer to have a physical switch
$59 now for free ship. But two of these will be just 20c over.