Hi, new zwave (& vera edge) user here.
I’m thinking about automating some of my home lights and adding them to zwave. But there are a dizzying number of choices out there.
I know I can get in-wall zwave dimmers that would control incandescent lights. Those would pretty much (with the addition of a neutral) just add zwave capability to what I already have.
But I’d like to possibly go with RGB (or RGBW) lighting so have even more control.
What are my options?
I looked at Hue, but seems like that’d add yet another whole house controller – right? That seems to be duplicating effort and wasting a bunch of cash on a secondary controller that can be linked to vera. (correct?)
I looked at Milight, which seems to have all the drawbacks of hue, but is significantly cheaper overall. So maybe not so bad, though not crazy about adding things to 2.4GHz. (otherwise I’d have gone with zigbee in the first place!) (correct?)
I see fibaro makes a RGBW controller that I could roll my own LED light strip solution. So far this seems like the winner, but wondering if there are hidden drawbacks to this approach. (Does it integrate well with vera?)
Am I missing anything? Am I just completely confused? It doesn’t appear as though anyone makes any RGB(W) zwave lightbulbs that would screw into my existing light fixtures. I don’t really mind replacing the fixtures if I have to, but if I don’t then so much the better.
Thanks!
I really like the Fibaro device. Works on 12v or 24v systems. I’ve tried one out on a 5m RGBW strip and it works well. Yes, it integrates well with Vera (although it generates 6 devices: 4 for RGBW, and two masters, strangely.). You can set up colour combinations with scenes easily. No colour wheel, though. I believe there’s a plugin to do that.
It might help if you say which country you’re in, since that may colo(u)r your options.
oh, haha, sorry… I’m in the USA.
Actually, both Zipato and Aeotec make standard looking RGBW lightbulbs with thread bases. Both work quite well.
The problem you will encounter is one of convention; most people are used to turning on/off or dimming lights from the wall. If someone uses the wall switch your party is over - and it would have to be a switch as you don’t want to have a dimmer driving an RGBW bulb.
You would have to leave the switch in the on position at all times, and then provide an ancillary controller to operate them. Special applications and table/floor lamps are perfect candidates for RGBW bulbs, where the flow of juice to the bulb(s) can’t be accidentally interrupted.
Ahh thanks, I wasn’t aware of those options.
I know what you mean re: used to using a wall switch. Grand plan is to remove the wall switch and replace with a scene controller in the same spot. i.e. only slightly modify the prevailing convention rather than tossing it entirely. Besides, I’ll still want a (pseudo) local control option anyway.