All of the Z-Wave switches from Zooz support smart bulb mode. It allows you to control your smart bulbs wirelessly, without cutting power to them when the wall switch is off. Turn your smart lights on and off however best works for you – from the app, automatically, or by tapping the wall switch. There are also fully wireless options out there with Z-Wave battery powered remotes for the ultimate flexibility. We go over helpful tips and best practices for using wall controls with smart bulbs in this comprehensive guide.
NOTE: It's important that you follow the programming instructions below to ensure accurate performance and avoid equipment damage. Your Z-Wave hub needs to support access to advanced settings (parameters) for you to program the switches with smart bulbs.
How does it work?
Your existing wall switch won’t work well with a smart bulb because it cuts power to the fixture when it’s off. That means the smart bulb’s wireless receiver is off and you can no longer communicate with it to turn it on remotely. It’s a great way to turn a smart bulb dumb.
With a Zooz wall switch, you can disable the electrical control by disabling the relay. This will keep power to the bulbs even if you turn the switch off by tapping the paddle or sending an off command from your Z-Wave hub. Once the switch is in smart bulb mode, you can program the paddles just like buttons on a remote control in your smart home hub. The top paddle can turn the bulbs on, the bottom paddle can turn them off. You can use multi-tap triggers to activate different colors and brightness levels on your bulbs too. We’ll cover these fun scenarios in the next parts of the article.
Will it always work?
There are a few requirements for a successful smart bulb set-up using our Z-Wave switches:
- You need a Z-Wave hub that gives you access to advanced settings on your Zooz switch so you can enable the smart bulb mode. These include the Z-Box Hub, SmartThings, Hubitat, Home Assistant, or HomeSeer.
- Your Z-Wave hub also needs to give you the ability to fully control your smart bulbs. You’ll most likely need a multi-protocol bridge solution for that purpose so a hub that integrates Zigbee or Wi-Fi smart bulbs, which are most common in the market.
- You need to have neutral wire from the fixture in your switch box to install any Zooz wall switch unless you decide to go with one of the battery powered remote control options.
- Always double check that the actual Wattage of the smart bulbs doesn’t exceed the LED bulb rating for the switch model. Even though you’re not electrically switching the bulbs, the device is still connected to the load directly and can be used as an emergency power cutoff to the fixture so make sure you don’t overload your switch. Check the device specifications of your model before installing.
- Real-time remote dimming that we’re used to when using dimmers with regular bulbs is very hard to accomplish with smart bulbs. Since we’re not able to dim smart bulbs electrically (this is true for both smart and regular dimmers since smart bulbs are equipped with their own dimming mechanism), we need to depend on radio commands which are often translated between two different wireless protocols. This causes delays and prevents a good user experience. We recommend creating presets with your favorite smart bulb settings and triggering them with single or multi-tap button presses on the smart switch.
Which Zooz switch model is recommended to use with smart bulbs?
- ZEN32 Scene Controller: Use this handy 5-button wall controller to activate your favorite smart bulb presets with a single click. This is the most seamless and intuitive way to control smart bulbs from a wall switch. Rather than trying to "dim" the smart bulbs in real time, simply find and save the brightness and color settings you use the most. Then program each button on the ZEN32 Scene Controller to trigger these presets. The ZEN32 Scene Controller can be used with smart bulbs in smart bulb mode in 3-way installations as well.
- ZEN71 On/Off Switch: If you prefer a wall switch with a classic decora look, this is the recommended model. You can use central scene events from the switch to turn the bulbs on and off and double or triple clicks to trigger other brightness and color settings on the bulbs if needed. You can use the ZEN71 in smart bulb mode in 3-way installations with regular mechanical switches as well though we recommend a virtual 3-way set-up for smart bulb control.
- ZEN72 Dimmer: If you absolutely need "live dimming" from your wall switch, this model will provide the best, yet not perfect, experience to change the brightness of your bulbs remotely. Never dim your smart bulbs using any dimmer directly. Always put your smart switch or dimmer in smart bulb mode first. If you have Z-Wave smart bulbs, you may be able to link the dimmer with the bulbs using direct association or program button events to remotely dim the bulbs but in our experience, the "live dimming" commands are never as smooth and fast as electrical dimming and we recommend against it if you can find and program your favorite brightness and color presets instead to use the ZEN32 Scene Controller or the ZEN71 On/Off Switch options instead.
- ZEN34 or ZEN37 Remotes: If you're looking for a battery powered wall remote where you don't want to worry about wiring, go with one of these handy remotes. They fit in any standard electrical box or can be fixed to a wall or any flat surface for easy installation. Program the buttons and paddles on these devices according to the standard scene control / central scene event instructions for your hub and control your smart bulbs with a single / held / or multi-tap trigger.
What about the ZEN73, ZEN74, ZEN76 & ZEN77 models?
You can use these models with smart bulbs in single pole installations only, as they are also equipped with the smart bulb mode feature. We don’t typically recommend dimmers or the ZEN76 model, for example, because they are not as powerful which may affect the lifespan of your device depending on how many smart bulbs you’re planning to connect to your smart switch.
However, you cannot use these models in multi-way installations with smart bulbs. These units (the ZEN73, ZEN74, ZEN76 & ZEN77) rely on current readings to change and maintain status, and they will not work correctly in a multi-way installation with smart bulbs.
How to wire my Zooz switch with smart bulbs?
You can use the single pole wiring diagram included in the user manual for your Zooz Z-Wave switch. All connections will be the same as with standard bulbs. The main difference is that once the switch is wired, you will turn it on to supply power to your bulbs and immediately after, enable smart bulb mode for it so that it doesn’t cut power to the bulbs when turned off. You will then need to program the switch according to the instructions below to actually control the smart bulbs using the paddles or buttons on your Z-Wave wall switch.
What about 3-way and 4-way installations?
If you would like to use a Zooz switch with a mechanical switch in a 3-way scenario to control smart bulbs, only the ZEN71, ZEN72, and ZEN32 models can support this type of installation. Note that you will be limited in the way you can program your switches in this set-up as well, since the only way to link your switches to smart bulbs when there’s a mechanical switch in the mix is by creating simple If… Then… rules that will rely on status reports from both the switch and the bulbs to keep them all in sync. Instead, we recommend a different solution:
- The most intuitive way to handle smart bulb control in multi-way circuits is by replacing all of the switches with Z-Wave wall switches and wiring them in a virtual 3-way or 4-way installation. Here are some helpful resources to guide you through this type of installation:
How to program my Zooz switch with smart bulbs?
And now for the fun part! Once your Zooz switch is installed and connected to the smart bulbs, you need to link them together for wireless control. There are multiple ways to do that and all of them apply to both the wired wall control as well as to the battery powered Zooz remote controls. We will cover the basic premise of each solution before listing detailed programming instructions for the most popular Z-Wave hubs.
SCENE CONTROL
Aka central scene, aka button triggers, aka smart tap. This method refers to the button events that are sent from the Zooz switch to the hub anytime you tap the paddle or button on the device. In most hubs, this feature needs to be enabled first in the advanced settings.
This method allows you to map each trigger (single tap, double tap, held, released, triple tap, etc) to an action (turn smart bulb on, turn smart bulb on to 30% brightness, turn smart bulb on to pink, turn smart bulb off, etc). It’s the most efficient and flexible method to program your wall switch for instant smart bulb control.
IF… THEN… RULES
If your hub doesn’t support central scene / button trigger programming or if you’re not able to trigger that functionality in your switch, you can also use a set of if… then… rules that will keep the devices in sync:
- If the Zooz smart switch is on, turn the smart bulb(s) on
- If the Zooz smart switch is off, turn the smart bulb(s) off
- If the smart bulb is on, turn the Zooz switch on
- If the smart bulb is off, turn the Zooz switch off
Z-WAVE ASSOCIATION
This method can only be used if you happen to have Z-Wave smart bulbs that are included to your hub with the same level of security as your Zooz switch. You can use Group 2 and Group 3 (for dimmer models) to create a direct link between your switch and the smart bulb. More groups will come into play with multi-button models so always refer to the association section of the manual for each model. Remember that your Z-Wave hub has to provide access to direct association settings in its UI as well for you to program the direct association.
Before you start programming your switch, please note:
- Turn the switch on to provide power to your bulbs and enable smart bulb mode immediately in the advanced settings for the device in your hub. You don't want to switch the bulbs electrically as this may damage your equipment. If you're not sure how to access the settings for your switch, simply search for your model number and the word "settings" in our Support Portal to get detailed instructions for your hub or scroll down for articles dedicated to the most popular switch models and platforms.
- You always need a Z-Wave hub that supports central scene functionality to program your switches using the scene control method. Please check if your system has button control built into its interface for our devices first. Here are a few examples of programming using the scene control method:
We include step-by-step instructions for the most popular platforms only. If your hub isn't listed, please refer to your platform's documentation on how to access central scene commands for Z-Wave devices.
- After you add the switch to the hub, you need to go to the advanced settings to enable scene control on your device (it's disabled by default on most platforms) unless you're using the ZEN32 Scene Controller model or any of the battery-powered remotes like ZEN34 or ZEN37 (they have scene control enabled out of the box). If you don't change the setting first, your programming won't work. If you're not sure how to access the settings for your switch, simply search for your model number and the word "settings" in our Support Portal to get detailed instructions for your hub.
- You can only trigger devices which are controllable from your hub's interface - check if your smart bulbs integrate into your hub first. This type of communication between the devices requires that your hub is active and operational.
- The paddle on your switch will now be treated like a button on a remote control that's pressed or held - it will send only this information to the hub and should not be treated as an additional on/off device with its own status.
Here are detailed articles for how to program the recommended Zooz switch models on the most popular platforms:
How to use ZEN32 with smart bulbs on SmartThings
How to use ZEN32 with smart bulbs on Hubitat
How to use ZEN32 with smart bulbs on Home Assistant
How to use ZEN71 with smart bulbs on SmartThings
How to use ZEN71 with smart bulbs on Hubitat
How to use ZEN71 with smart bulbs on Home Assistant
How to use ZEN34 with smart bulbs on SmartThings
How to use ZEN34 with smart bulbs on Hubitat
How to use ZEN34 with smart bulbs on Home Assistant
How to use ZEN37 with smart bulbs on SmartThings
How to use ZEN37 with smart bulbs on Hubitat
How to use ZEN37 with smart bulbs on Home Assistant
Let us know if you have any questions or feedback about the scene control functionality for the Zooz switches!
