SmartThings RGBW Bulb Shortcut Color Buttons

I am setting up an Illumin RGBW bulb as a “Studio Light” for outside my office door. Red means I’m on a Zoom call with video, so do not disturb, green means OK to come in, etc. So I’d like some quick ways to switch the colors (no Alexa in my office, BTW).

The SmartThings classic App has what seem to be “shortcut” buttons for this light. See screenshot here: Screenshot by Lightshot When I click the white, yellow or orange dots, the bulb changes color.

But I don’t see how I can set those colors. How is that done? Long-pressing those buttons doesn’t help, nor does any kind of dragging.

Any help would be appreciated.

Also, in the New SmartThings app there is no similar shortcut ability. Am I missing something? Or will it be added soon?

Thanks.

-Mark

Hey Mark,

Do you have something like this in the new app?

Edit: Idk why the picture is acting up, but if you click on the picture, it will show you the full picture.

Hi Eric,
If there’s a way to do this in the new app, I’m good with that. But my display on my iphone is similar, but not the same as one you show.
Here’s a screenshot: https://prnt.sc/t0g0tu
I don’t see anything that will make the color shortcuts I’m looking for.
Got a secret up your sleeve?
Thanks.
-Mark

@Eric_Inovelli speaking of colors… what does “color pre staging” do? I can’t seem to find any difference when it’s turned on vs when it’s off.

btw, in order for me to know it’s on, I need to take a look at the IDE page. in the app it always shows as being off.

No clue – I’ll tag the brains of the operation @EricM_Inovelli lol

Oh, my bad, I didn’t see those color shortcuts at the bottom :frowning:

There used to be some flexibility with the main screen options in the classic app – not sure if this is possible in the new app. Let’s see what @jody or @EricM_Inovelli have to say.

Guys, is there a way to make color shortcuts?

@MarkWild Unfortunately there isn’t a way to set those shortcuts and I haven’t seen them in the new app. If you have an Inovelli switch or dimmer (shameless plug) :wink: you can setup a scene on it so that you could double press the up button to change it to red or triple press the up button to turn the bulb green for example.

@frcastellanos Color pre staging will change the color of the bulb without turning the bulb on (if it is in the off state). So you could stage the color based on different events and then when it is turned on it will already be at that color. For example, if you want to have the bulb 2700k at night and 6500k during the day you could setup an automation to turn the bulb to 2700k at 10pm and then 6500k at 9am. With color pre staging enabled those color changes happen on the bulb without turning it on. So, when you turn the bulb on at a certain time of day the color choice is already there.

Hope that makes sens.

3 Likes

oh excellent. nice feature.

I’ve noticed that the ST app doesn’t reflect the actual state of this setting. it says it’s OFF regardless but if I go to the IDE page, I can see the real state the bulb is in:

|Name|Type|Value|

|bulbMemory|enum|1|
|colorStaging|bool|true|
|logEnable|bool|false|

This is a fantastic feature. Do you think it will work with Circadian Daylight Coordinator? That is my largest issue with that setup is it turns on then after about 1 second to 2 mins (yes, seriously) it ramps and changes color. Wondering if this could control it via prestage so it’s always at the right color.

Prestaging level is another conversation for another day. THAT would be truly revolutionary.

@frcastellanos Thanks, I’ll check it out.

@kreene1987 I believe that will work. The only downside is that you need to send the on() command with a setColor() command in any automation that you want to turn on the bulb and set the color. So if you wanted to just change the color:

setColor()

to change color and turn on:

setColor()
on()

2 Likes

With respect…then what are those white dots doing there? Was that just some unfinished code? Or did it used to work but then broke?

Or…well, it just frustrates me much like those empty spots on my car dashboard that would have had buttons had I bought the higher end trim level of my car.

Your buttons and dimmer won’t work for me because in one case, I am using the bulb as a studio light for my Zoom calls. Red=“On the Air”. Green means “Off Air”. So I’d like a button at my desk (or in my phone).

Any chance you might make the shortcuts work?

-Mark

Those are supposed to be different white temperatures and not a type of ‘empty slot’.

What might work best for you is a Samsung button. It supports single press, double press, and hold. So you could easily single tap for green and double tap for red. They are pretty cheap too.