Red Dimmer 4-Way Programming

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1

I’m in the process of upgrading an old chandelier in my entryway with a new one that will use Hue bulbs. (I’ve already got a well-established Hue and Home Assistant setup, with Gen 1 and Gen 2 Red switches in multiple rooms. I just hadn’t gotten to the entry way until now.)

The entryway has 3 switches (4-way setup) for the chandelier fixture which had been wired with one dumb dimmer and 2 dumb toggles. Today, the electricians wired up 3x VZW31-SNs using the provided 4-way diagram, and I’ve paired them with my Home Assistant’s Z-Wave integration. However, they weren’t able to install the new chandelier today because it shipped with the wrong length cord/chain, so I am waiting on a replacement, which might be a while.

At the moment, all 3 switches have their light-bar glowing solid blue, but only one of the switches is acting as an on-off switch. The other two currently do nothing.

I have 2 questions:

1. What switch type/config should I be using in HA right now to allow at least 1 (or ideally all 3) VZW31-SNs switches to dim and turn on/off the current fixture with its dumb bulbs? My guesses:

  • Smart Bulb Mode = Disable
  • Dimmer Mode = Dimmer
  • All 3 switches Type set to “Multi-Way with Aux” ?
  • Possibly need to write automatons to take input from switches 2 and 3 to set on/off/dimmer on 1?

2.Once the new fixture is installed with the smart bulbs, what settings should I use then? These?

  • Smart Bulb Mode = Enable
  • Dimmer Mode = On/Off
  • All 3 switches Type set to “Multi-Way with Aux”
  • Identical scene automatons to update Hue configured on all 3 switches

Thanks!

home-assistant vzw31sn north-america

2

For clarification, you are using all 3 dimmers on the same lighting circuit, correct?

Currently, only one of them is actually wired up to the light, which I am assuming is the one that can currently act as an on/off switch. Let’s call this the “Master” switch, and the others “Remotes”. You will need to “associate” both of the “Remotes” with the “Master” switch in Home Assistant so they will operate in unison.

When you finally get the smart bulbs installed, you will want to set the “Master” switch to use smart bulb mode so it is always supplying power to the bulbs. You will then use the up/down/config actions to control your Hue bulbs via automation.

The Dimmer Mode won’t matter, as you won’t be directly controlling a load or an associated device, and you can set all 3 of them to the Switch Type of Single Pole, but it really doesn’t matter.

I don’t have any ZWave devices personally, so most of what I have written is based off of knowledge I have gleaned by reading other posts and comments, so may not be as specific as needed or might even be incorrect.