There are two things you can do: you can either get actual smart wall switches installed or you can replace all your bulbs with Philips Hue smart bulbs. The problem with using Philips Hue is that the traditional light switch has to be switched on, then you can ask Alex, Google or SIRI (Hue supports all of them) to turn off specific lights, rooms or groups (that of course depends on your setup and naming of the bulbs and rooms). If you have somebody visiting who doesn't know how this all works and is willing to also use the voice commands, chances are they walk into a room and want to turn on the light, of course the switch is on but the light is off so first they switch the light off, nothing happens so it is my experience people then push/flick the switch again and most likely now the light comes on and they are happy. Then they leave a room or maybe if they are considerate and know that you can't see the lights they turn off all the lights when they leave and at that point you tell Alexa to turn on a light but of course it won't work because the switch is off and there is no power to the smart biulb.
So, going back to smart switches. That is what I would do now, when we got all our Philips Hue bulbs many years ago these in-wall decora style smart switches which look like a regular light switch didn't really exist yet. Now they do and when I did my retail store renovation 2 years ago that is what I put in. The ones I used are from Leviton and here a sighted person can push them as always, but you can also control them with Google or Alexa or through various home automation apps. I am not entirely sure if they support Apple Home Kit or this new "Matter" standard which is supposed to be coming and supported by almost everybody. You can get Leviton smart switches which work via Wi-Fi or you can get a version which uses the Zigbee wireless protocol to communicate with a hub, in my case those are the ones we have because this way they integrate with our alarm panel and app which is Alarm.com. Lutron also makes a huge selection of smart switches in their Caséta Wireless selection and here you can also have control for shades and so on. I think Lutron might be more expensive. I recently read about some other company which makes a very budget oriented smart wall switch, but I can't remember the name so you just have to do your homework. I am actually thinking of slowly replacing all our in-wall decora style paddle switches with most likely the Leviton ones since those at my store work well despite the fact we have Philips Hue bulbs in most of our lights and in the bathroom I have an actual Hue light fixture, they also do make a lot of stuff. But we run into this all the time when somebody is visiting then we run around the house afterwards and turn all the switches back on so we can use Alexa or the home app to turn them off and have control again. That is why in a new installation in-wall smart switches is in my opinion the way to go and you can also add a few smart wall outlets if you think you have things you want to plug in where you want remote/voice control over whatever appliance is plugged into that wall socket. You can also get wall sockets which have USB outlets next to them. If you want coloured lights you could still get a few Philips Hue bulbs capable of colours. Best regards, Sieghard switch if you have pe -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Amy Ruell Sent: Friday, September 16, 2022 11:01 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Smart switches Hello all, To any of you have experience with installing smart switches into your homes? I have a new home and want to be able to control all lights in my home with a smart speaker or by iPhone via an app. Suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I am trying to determine if there is a brand of switch that works best, and if so, how you control the lights. I have quite a number of lights in my home. Thanks. Amy. Sent from my iPhone -- The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone list. If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. Your V iPhone list moderator is Mark Taylor. Mark can be reached at: [email protected]. Your list owner is Cara Quinn - you can reach Cara at [email protected] The archives for this list can be searched at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "VIPhone" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/viphone/7B1EB14B-642E-4903-AB94-B24388976D4E%40comcast.net. -- The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone list. If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. Your V iPhone list moderator is Mark Taylor. Mark can be reached at: [email protected]. Your list owner is Cara Quinn - you can reach Cara at [email protected] The archives for this list can be searched at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "VIPhone" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/viphone/DS0PR10MB62453C341D6AC0813175CF64C7489%40DS0PR10MB6245.namprd10.prod.outlook.com.
