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When it comes to smart lighting, there’s nothing better than having smart light switches and smart dimmers installed in your walls. I’ll explain why and then tell your about the best smart switches and dimmers you can buy. Zigbee Curtain Switch
Sure, you could put smart bulbs into your lighting fixtures and call it a day, but that they’ll become dumb bulbs if they’re controlled by an ordinary light switch that gets put in the off position. You’ll have the same problem with smart plugs if they’re plugged into outlets controlled by switches.
Installation is the biggest downside to in-wall smart switches and dimmers, because you’ll need to deal with your in-wall wiring–be sure to turn the breaker off first! The other alternative is to hire an electrician for the job if you’re not comfortable doing it yourself. I’ve lived with smart lighting in my home for more than 15 years, and I can’t imagine not being able to turn my lights on and off with voice commands, in response to motion, on a schedules with a smartphone app, and even based on my location (thanks to geofencing).
Here are TechHive’s top picks in smart dimmers, followed by a guide to the features and terminology you’ll encounter when you shop for one.
The Diva Smart Dimmer is a part of Lutron’s Caséta smart home ecosystem, which is much less open than the other big three smart lighting platforms: Wi-Fi, Z-Wave, and Zigbee. And Lutron has yet to announce its intentions for the Matter smart home standard. But Lutron’s Caséta technology is so inclusive of other smart home systems–Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit, Google Assistant, IFTTT, Samsung SmartThings, and even Sonos speakers–that there’s little reason for concern that buyers will end up on a disconnected island. The Diva Smart Dimmer is an excellent product and we highly recommend it.
TP-Link’s motion-activated Kasa Smart Wi-Fi dimmer gives you immense control over how its motion- and light-sensing features work. Why reach for a light switch when you can have the switch turn on the light as you approach? And TP-Link’s dimmer is remarkably low priced–it was selling for $30 at the time of our review ($10 less than its $40 list price). It’s remarkably easy to install, but it does require a neutral wire, which will be a non-starter for some homeowners.
This isn’t the prettiest dimmer on the market, but GE Lighting’s Cync Dimmer + Motion Sensor Switch sure packs the features. And if you happen to own GE Lighting’s Cync smart bulbs, the switch can also control them even if they’re not wired to the dimmer. Being a Wi-Fi device, this dimmer switch doesn’t require the presence of a smart home hub or any other bridge to your home network. An onboard motion sensor can turn the light switch on when the room is occupied, and an ambient light sensor will stop that from happening if there’s enough daylight that the extra light isn’t needed. There’s now also a 3-wire version of this product that doesn’t require a neutral wire
If you’ve settled on Zigbee as your smart lighting protocol of choice—and it’s certainly not a bad one if you have a SmartThings hub, an Amazon Echo with an integrated smart home hub, or the like–allow us to recommend Jasco’s Enbrighten Zigbee In-Wall Smart Dimmer. It not only has a slimline design that isn’t tough to shove back into the box when you install it, it has enough onboard intelligence to distinguish the line wire from the load wire, so you don’t need to worry about mixing them up if you’re doing the work for yourself. This smart dimmer is affordably priced, too
Putting this roundup together exposed a hole in our editorial coverage. I’ve had Leviton’s Decora Smart Z-Wave switches and dimmers (along with other brands of Z-Wave switches) installed in the smart home I built the house in 2007), but we’ve never officially reviewed them. That said, Leviton’s Z-Wave lighting controls are among my favorites; so, while TechHive hasn’t officially reviewed Leviton’s product, I have deep personal experience with it and recommend it strongly. All that said, if Matter succeeds in becoming the de facto smart home standard, you’ll need a Z-Wave-to-Matter bridge, and none have been announced yet.
Brilliant was one of the first companies to integrate a touch panel with a smart switch, and this smart dimmer has some very cool tricks up its sleeve, ranging from being able to stream video from a doorbell camera to controlling a Sonos multi-room audio system. Brilliant also offers a plug-in version of this product. It has a cord that plugs into an AC outlet, so you can control smart bulbs and other devices without needing to deal with the electrical wiring in your walls.
Just how many features can you cram in a single-gang light switch? Leviton squeezes a Wi-Fi radio, a dimmer switch, and an entire Amazon Alexa-compatible smart speaker into its Decora Smart Voice Wi-Fi Dimmer with Alexa. Yes, Ecobee pulled off a similar trick earlier, but with an on/off switch, not a dimmer. Leviton also has a deeper catalog of other Wi-Fi components—switches, dimmers, ceiling fan controllers, multi-button controllers, and more—to go with it. Apple HomeKit and Google Home users should look elsewhere.
You’ll need to make a raft of decisions before you choose which smart switches to install in your home, and your choices will be influenced by everything from the type of wiring in your walls to what flavor of smart home system you have now or plan to install later. Here’s what you need to know in roughly the order you’ll need to decide.
Neutral wire requirement: Many smart switches and dimmers require the presence of a neutral wire—in addition to line (power from the circuit-breaker panel), load (power to the light to be controlled), and ground wires—in the electrical box inside the wall. Smart switches have radios that must be constantly powered, and the neutral wire is usually what supplies that juice. While all homes have neutral wires, many older homes don’t have a neutral wire in every box. If you’re not sure if there’s a neutral wire at the location you want to install a smart switch, this how-to story will help you figure it out. If you don’t have a neutral wire, Lutron’s Caséta smart dimmer and the GE Cync Dimmer (3-wire version) are among the few smart switches that do not require one.
Most smart switches depend on the presence of a neutral wire to supply energy to their radios, but many homes built prior to the 1980s don’t have a neutral wire in every box. GE Cync and Lutron Caséta are among the few smart switches that don’t depend a neutral wire.
Single- or multi-pole: If the light you wish to control is connected to just one switch, then you’ll need to replace it with a single-pole smart switch. If more than one switch controls that load—switches on opposite sides of a room, for example—then you’ll need to replace it with a multi-pole (aka 3-way) smart switch. This typically means that you’ll also need to buy a companion switch or switches for the other end(s) of the circuit. There are a few exceptions to this rule, so check the documentation accompanying whichever smart switch you decide to buy before you install it.
Control protocol: You’ll undoubtedly want to control your smart lighting with your smartphone or tablet, and most people will also want to turn lights on and off with voice commands spoken to a smart speaker, such as an Amazon Echo or a Nest Hub. But to do that, the smart switch you buy must have some way of connecting to your home network (which explains why Bluetooth smart switches can’t talk to smart speakers).
Some smart switches connect directly to your Wi-Fi network, while others require a bridge to your router. If you’ve invested in a smart home system—Samsung SmartThings, Hubitat Elevation, Vivint Smart Home, or any other ecosystem—you’ll want to make sure that the smart switch you buy is compatible with it. These are the most common communication protocols you’ll encounter.
Bluetooth This type of smart switch is controlled directly by an app on your smartphone or tablet. Bluetooth smart lighting is simple, because you don’t need a hub or a connection to your home network. That isolation also makes it secure, because you must be within about 30 feet of the switch to pair with it. On the other hand, authorized users also must be within 30 feet of a Bluetooth switch to control it, and you can’t control the switch when you’re away from home (although most Bluetooth switches can be controlled according to a pre-programmed schedule). The other major limitation of Bluetooth switches is that they can’t be controlled by smart speakers or smart home hubs, which generally rely on one of the other wireless protocols described here.
Lutron Clear Connect This is a proprietary wireless protocol used by Lutron Caséta Wireless smart home devices, including switches, dimmers, ceiling fan controllers, occupancy sensors, motorized shades, and battery-powered remote controls. You can also control a limited number of third-party devices with Lutron’s app—ranging from thermostats to Wi-Fi speakers—and incorporate them into smart home “scenes.” Clear Connect operates independently of your Wi-Fi network, but you must hardwire a Lutron Smart Bridge to your router to use it. You can control Lutron Caséta devices via Lutron’s app, with voice commands spoken to smart speakers, and from mobile devices anywhere you have broadband access. Some smart home systems, including Samsung SmartThings, can also incorporate Lutron’s smart home products.
Wi-Fi This is a relatively recent trend in smart switches, probably because Wi-Fi hasn’t always been the best means of blanketing a home with connectivity. Mesh Wi-Fi routers, however, have gone a long way to remedying that problem. The attraction of Wi-Fi smart switches is that they don’t require a hub or a bridge to connect to your router. Once installed, they can be controlled with smart speakers, the manufacturer’s own app, and many smart home systems (check compatibility before you buy).
Z-Wave This is a wireless mesh network technology in which each node on the network is also a repeater that can forward commands on to other Z-Wave devices nearby. It operates in the unlicensed 800- to 900MHz radio spectrum (specifically, 908.42MHz in North America). Its low power requirement means it can be incorporated into battery-operated devices that cannot be plugged directly into an electrical circuit, including door/window sensors, smart locks, water leak detectors, and motion sensors in addition to smart dimmers and switches. You’ll need a smart home hub, such as a Samsung SmartThings, to act as a bridge to your Wi-Fi network. Z-Wave is supported by a raft of smart home product developers, including Leviton, Jasco, Aeotec, and others.
Zigbee This wireless mesh network technology is very similar to Z-Wave, but it operates in the unlicensed 2.4GHz radio spectrum (same as single-band Wi-Fi). Like Z-Wave, Zigbee has a lower power requirement and can be incorporated into both battery and line-powered devices, ranging from sensors to smart switches. And as with Z-Wave, you’ll need a smart home hub or some other kind of bridge to connect Zigbee devices to your home network. This could be something as simple as an Amazon Echo Plus, which has an integrated Zigbee radio, or it could be on the order of a Samsung SmartThings hub, which has both Zigbee and Z-Wave radios onboard.
Lutron’s Aurora Smart Dimmer prevents a conventional toggle switch from shutting off the power to any Philips Hue smart bulbs that connected to the switch. It can also wirelessly control those bulbs, including dimming them by rotating the knob.
Signify’s Philips Hue bridge is another solution, but it’s generally limited to supporting Philips Hue smart bulbs and accessories. Zigbee is widely support among smart dimmer manufacturers, including Jasco, Sinopé, and Sengled. Lutron also makes an ingenious Zigbee gadget for Philips Hue smart bulbs—the Lutron Aurora—that attaches to an old-fashioned toggle light switch and not only prevents the switch from being turned off (instantly rendering a Philips Hue smart bulb dumb), but it wirelessly controls all the Hub bulbs connected to that switch—complete with a rotary knob for dimming and brightening those bulbs and turning them on or off.
Switch mechanism: Since most people control smart switches and dimmers with voice commands, they soon discover that they rarely physically interact with the devices in their walls. But you’ll want to consider the type of mechanism the smart switch uses if for no other reason than to ensure its aesthetic matches the rest of your home. These are the most common types you’ll encounter.
Relatively few manufacturers make smart switches that look like this type of old-fashioned toggle switch.
Brilliant’s touchscreen panel lets you see and talk with a person at your door when a visitor activates your Ring Video Doorbell.
Wiring connections: Smart switches and dimmers tend to be larger than their dumb counterparts, so you should consider how the new switch will fit in your existing electrical box. This is particularly important if you’re installing multiple smart switches next to each other in a single box. Remember that there will be at least four wires to deal with—line, load, neutral, and ground—and that there will also be a traveler wire if you’re dealing with a multi-pole circuit. It can be challenging to stuff all those wires and the new switch back into the box. These are the most common types of electrical connections you’ll encounter in smart switches.
Pigtails and wire nuts are one common way to connect a smart switch to your existing in-wall wiring.
3 Way Wifi Light Switch Michael is TechHive's lead editor, with 30+ years of experience covering the tech industry, focusing on the smart home, home audio, and home theater. He built his own smart home in 2007 and used it as a real-world test lab for product reviews. Following a relocation to the Pacific Northwest, he is now converting his new home, an 1890 Victorian bungalow, into a modern smart home.