Control multiple lights with one tile

[Declan]

Hi Guys, new to ST and trying to figure out how to set up my dashboard.

Is there a simple way to control multiple smart bulbs by one tile? I.E one tile per room?

Thanks

[Bry]

It may depend in some part on your hub, but generally speaking you can do this with a scene. The scene controls the multiple lights and you have one tile on your dashboard for the scene.

[Declan]

So I would need to set up the scene in the SmartThings app? Currently I’m using Hue but don’t think that can be integrated?

[James]

Hi @Declan, welcome to the community. You can create virtual switches for each room, and use Smart Lighting (smartapp) to automate multiple lights when the virtual switch is turned on/off. See @Steve_Jackson post for more details.

Tile for All Lights

I created a virtual dimmer switch that I have my 3 living room lamps mirror using the native Smart Lighting app in SmartThings. When I turn on/off/dim the virtual switch the lamps follow. You can create a tile with the virtual switch on a dashboard and then control all your lights at the same time. [Screenshot_20190308-101353_SmartThings]

And here is a nice video post by @Justin_Newbury at SimplySmart for how to create Virtual Switch in SmartThings.

How to Create and Use a Virtual Switch in SmartThings

[Declan]

Will give that a try now, thank you

[josh]

@Declan

Currently I’m using Hue but don’t think that can be integrated?

There’s a community developed ‘Hue B Smart’ integration that can control a group of Philips Hue lights:

@josh

With Hubitat, you can control Hue Groups directly .

SmartThings only exposes the individual lights, so if you control multiple individual lights from a rule you might experience a bit of popcorn effect (each light turning on slightly after the next). For controlling Hue groups in SmartThings, most people like to use the Hue B Smart community developed integration .

Otherwise, I’d generally recommend the Virtual Switch + Smart Lighting approach. It has the benefit of being able to run locally on the hub, so it’s one of the faster approaches. (Hue B Smart is even faster if you are using native Hue Groups as it can take advantage of ‘multicasting’ to tell all the lights to change all at once)

[dave.blackwell]

I just created a Lighting Group “Night Lights (LG)” in my SmartThings app, and populated it with a couple lights already in SmartThings. I then updated the SmartThings connection in SharpTools.

Shouldn’t I be able to add “Night Lights (LG)” to any RULE?

Also, in my SmartThings app, I don’t see “Night Lights (LG)” as a device under SCENES.

Am I missing something? If this isn’t how LG’s are to be used, what is the use case for them?

Thanks

[josh]

@dave.blackwell

Am I missing something? If this isn’t how LG’s are to be used, what is the use case for them?

Lighting Groups seem to be a bit of a half-baked feature in the SmartThings ecosystem. They can only be actuated manually in the mobile app and are not available in first-party SmartThings features (like Routines/Scenes) nor in API integrations like SharpTools.

[dave.blackwell]

Thanks for the clarification.

So then if native LG’s can’t be used in Scene/Routine/Rules, is there an alternative available, since Trendsetter is Goovy-based, and therefore sunsetting…?

[Sgt.Flippy_PJ]

Here’s my solution for this, I’m not fully satisfied with it, but it works:
I have a scene in Smartthings that turns on and another that turns off the lights I need.
Then I have a variable that turns on and off. I added the variable to my dashboard.
This button then triggers a rule, which checks if the variable is on or off. If it’s off it runs the lights on scene and vice versa. At the same time setting the variable to on or off.

Now you can use the variable for the style to change the button when the lights are on or off.

Not really an issue since I never do this, but suppose I turn off all the lights individually, I assume the rule will get messed up. But changing the variable manually fixes it again. I would prefer to be able to add scenes to a supertile, that way I could make 1 tile switch on and off, without using a variable and a rule.

[John_Kelton]

Virtual switches is not an option in the SmartThings app. Did they do away with it?

[Bry]

@John_Kelton

Virtual switches is not an option in the SmartThings app. Did they do away with it?

You can set up virtual switches using a custom Edge driver. I recommend TAustin’s, although there are others. Not sure if Samsung will ultimately put virtuals back in natively, but even if they do, I’d continue to use TAustin’s. I’m running a number of them and they work flawlessly. The only caveat is that you must be running with a hub.

[ST Edge] vEdge Creator: a virtual device generator for end users

[Michael_Pauly]

Is this possible with a super tile? If so, how is this done? I have never worked with a custom tile and do not know how to set one up. Also how would I set up a variable. If that would work correctly, that would be awesome.

[josh]

Things, Variables, and Rules can all be accessed in Super Tiles.

You cannot execute a SmartThings Scene directly from a Super Tile, but you can run a rule which executes your scene or you can control a Thing or Variable which triggers your scene.

[Sgt.Flippy_PJ]

I haven’t gotten into the supertiles yet either. Something feels off about them, haven’t been able to create what I really want. So don’t know how it’d go with supertiles.

[Adam_Z]

@Michael_Pauly

Is this possible with a super tile? If so, how is this done? I have never worked with a custom tile and do not know how to set one up. Also how would I set up a variable. If that would work correctly, that would be awesome.

I will show you a supertile I built. I am a newbie, I just started messing with smart home stuff in Jan 2023, so this maybe a noob approach, but its simple and works.

first I setup 3 rules to 1. open blinds, 2. pause, 3. close. the rules have no triggers, they only have Action to execute.

Then I setup a supertile and added 3 icons to it. and linked those 3 icons to the 3 rules. works great. obviously what i did has nothing to do with bulbs. this method would work for any device or multiple devices by setting up rules with an Action.

[Carlos_Juarez]

Hi my friend, you can handle virtual switches with a special Edge driver, Im using VEdge Creator, you need to subscribe to its programmer server and add it to your hub, in Smartthings Community Forum you can find step by step instructions, its really easy. Let me know if you need some help. Luck !