z-wave RGB bulbs

[TechBill]

I been looking for a screw in RGB bulb z-wave supported for a project I am working on but so far I been able to find one manufacturer that sell them and it Aeon Lab - "Aeotec RGB bulb". All other z-wave bulb are just plain white or have limited color choices. Aeotec RGB bulb is 50 dollar each.

However I found large number of "WiFi" RGB bulbs online with it own color controller, can those bulb be linked to a smart hub somehow? Is there a wifi interface for smarthub to connected wifi supported device? Those "Wifi" bulb are only going for 10 to 20 buck a piece.

Thank

Bill

 

[tangent]

I been looking for a screw in RGB bulb z-wave supported for a project I am working on but so far I been able to find one manufacturer that sell them and it Aeon Lab - "Aeotec RGB bulb". All other z-wave bulb are just plain white or have limited color choices. Aeotec RGB bulb is 50 dollar each.

However I found large number of "WiFi" RGB bulbs online with it own color controller, can those bulb be linked to a smart hub somehow? Is there a wifi interface for smarthub to connected wifi supported device? Those "Wifi" bulb are only going for 10 to 20 buck a piece.

Thank

Bill

I'm not sure I'd bother with the cheaper ones, I think you'd be disappointed.

Aeon makes solid products. The other one to consider would be Phillips Hue, which use bluetooth. They have a hub device to get them on your network, but you might be able to use them without their hub depending on the rest of your HA system.

There are many ways to interface with networked devices using a some type of 'hub' or automation controller. For less common products, you'll likely have to program it yourself, with no documentation. Colored bulbs have potential for fairly passive notifications.

 

[bp2008]

It looks like the top amazon review on the Aeotec RGB bulb is from @erkme73

Maybe he can tell us how it has held up over the last year?

I wonder what would happen if I wanted to use one of these in a location where I already have a dimmer switch?

 

[erkme73]

Love it. Had a few hiccups with the secure classes error when VERA (home automation controller) firmware updated, but that resolved itself. It's worked so well, I now have 5 of them. One thing I will say is that having more than two activate on a single trigger (with VERA) causes sluggishness. There is enough of a latency and polling delay inherent to z-wave that it wouldn't work well if you tried to have 3 or more activate on a single trigger. They'd come on many seconds apart.

They need constant, full, power. While it is dimmable, the dimming occurs via its own controller - not an external one. After having put z-wave modules at all of my light switches, I was hard pressed to find a circuit that wasn't already remotely turned off - where I could plug in the light. I ended up going with a table lamp that plugs into an always-on receptacle.