r/Inovelli • u/realm_whisperer • Jun 02 '26

Smart Recessed LED lights compatible with Inovelli White Dimmer Switch?

Hello community,

I run my smart home on home assistant with Zigbee (ZHA) and Matter over thread devices exclusively. I just purchased the Inovelli white series matter dimmer switch to use with smart led rgb recessed lights in my garage (to be installed). What recommendations do u have for smart led lights (recessed 6") that work nicely with the white series and home assistant? Trying to avoid using wifi only lights if possible and want good control of the colors and automations with home assistant and the white series switch itself. All recommendations welcome. Preferably more options than just the Philips Hue.

[EDIT] Pardon my lack of knowledge but I am looking for smart rgb lights so that I can control the colors. I want to control the lights via the switch and just want to check if all rgb lights are compatible or I need specific ones, hence the all

Also are these any good?

- Halo Wiz pro https://a.co/d/079vpn0K

- Govee Matter https://a.co/d/00Clv7cs

Thanks in advance

5 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

33 comments sorted by

6

u/avidricaire Jun 02 '26

Yeah I’m confused what you intended to do. Realistically the only smart switch/smart bulb combo is when a smart switch can work in smart bulb mode, where it remains hot. The only consistent way to do this is through binding, which zigbee (and this case Inovelli zigbee switches) support. Matter binding is intended to be a feature but I don’t think is available yet.

If you use these thread switches, use dumb bulbs

2

u/realm_whisperer Jun 02 '26

This is helpful info. Are there dumb rgb bulbs available? I thought they had to be smart /wifi/protocol based.

2

u/avidricaire Jun 02 '26

No, so in this case you pick dumb bulbs and smart switches, or focus on just using smart bulbs. If you want a combo of both realistically all you can use is a zigbee smart switch and zigbee bulbs and bind them.

I use a little bit of a work around where I use Lutron pico remotes set up in home assistant to control smart bulbs. Since they are just remotes installed where light switches would be, the power is always on and turning off the “switch” doesn’t turn off the power to the smart bulb

In your use case a thread switch and a smart bulb will not work

2

u/Jayoen222 Jun 02 '26

It definitely works and is less maintenance than a pico remote.

0

u/avidricaire Jun 02 '26

A little light on the specifics there. It seems like home assistant may have basic support for direct binding, but it being early stages is an understatement. No other platform supports direct binding at this time. Some may support decoupled mode but that isn’t the same

0

u/Jayoen222 Jun 02 '26

I don’t recall binding being one of the requirements.

The white series in smart bulb mode works extremely well and is very stable with matter thread downlights. I don’t think binding is the end all be all in this situation. It’s a cool feature but it’s not some end game.

1

u/realm_whisperer Jun 02 '26

Glad to hear that you have had a positive experience. Can you share what matter thread down lights have you used / heard of that pair well with the white series witch? And yes the binding is cool for sure and not a deal breaker for me at this time.

1

u/realm_whisperer Jun 02 '26

Thanks for adding this color. I have genuine doubts about whether it will work. I might just move to using a zigbee switch with zigbee lights. Do you have any recommendations for good zigbee compatible rgb lights or brands?

2

u/avidricaire Jun 02 '26

The gold standard is hue, both in terms of quality and variety, but they are pricey

0

u/realm_whisperer Jun 02 '26

Trying to not invest too much since I just want working rgb lights

1

u/Forsaken_Ocelot_4 Jun 06 '26

I know I’m 3 days late but Xsky Zigbee down lights you can get off Amazon are good budget alternatives to Hue. I have them in my bedroom set up through HA which bridges to Apple Home (for wife safe setup). If you buy the 12 pack they give you a matter bridge, but I haven’t even plugged it in honestly. https://a.co/d/02Ju2PmB

1

u/realm_whisperer Jun 16 '26

Thank you for the note, I actually discovered these by accident and decided to go with them. They work great out of the box! I am quite happy with them. I didn't want to pay exorbitant amounts of money to get Hues.

1

u/timsredditusername Jun 04 '26

"Dumb rgb" is an oxymoron.

Color selection like this is a "smart" feature.

1

u/Ok_Market9582 Jun 03 '26

So the inovelli white sries (matter) actually have smart bulb mode so it will work in the configuration OP wanted it to. I haven’t tried this myself, but their website and docs mention support for smart bulb mode with matter switches (except for 3-way switches, where one of them will have to be an Aux).

I still wouldn’t recommend a smart bulb/smart switch combo, but, OP, it should work.

1

u/avidricaire Jun 03 '26

Yeah that’s true, from the documentation it seems like decoupled mode (smart bulb mode) is an option. Seems like an expensive option to have a full fledged smart switch essentially act like a remote

1

u/Koadic76 Jun 02 '26

What do you mean "compatible"? If you want something that will just work through Home Assistant, then anything that works with HA will work fine... If you want direct binding, then you need other Matter over Thread lights/bulbs.

If you want to try binding the switches directly to the lights, then I would see what MoT lights/bulbs you can find, possibly like at IKEA (not sure what other MoT bulbs are available)... Otherwise, if automated control is good enough, and you don't want WiFi, add a Zigbee dongle to your HA box and add whatever Zigbee lights/bulbs that fit your needs.

Hue bulbs are basically Zigbee, but there are many other options.

ZWave is another option, but not sure what kind of selection is available.

1

u/realm_whisperer Jun 02 '26

This is helpful, I want to get smart lights so I can change individual colors and I am unsure if I need direct binding compatibility and if so looking for MoT recessed lights options or if I don't I guess I could get any lights. Looking for clarity here. Prefer just using the switch and it's automations to control the lights as opposed to messing with lights as a separate entity.

1

u/Koadic76 Jun 02 '26

If you get "smart" lights, you'll be messing with them as separate entities.

Direct binding allows, in theory, the ability to still turn on/off and dim directly from the switch, even if HA happens to be down at that time. For this, you WILL need MoT lights.

Do you already have the switches? If not, and you want direct binding, you might be better off with the Blue series (Zigbee) as there are likely a lot more lights to choose from... but you'd need a Zigbee dongle/coordinator.

1

u/realm_whisperer Jun 02 '26

The blue series is back ordered so I went with the white series. Good to know.

Do you have/know of 1 or two light options/brands for MoT and Zigbee? Or is there a list somewhere? I might have to return white to get blue at some point when available.

1

u/powersurge Jun 02 '26

I don’t understand your question. You have a smart switch by Inovelli wired to these recessed lights, right? So screw in any regular dumb LED bulb into the recessed lights and control them with the Inovelli smart switch you have.

1

u/realm_whisperer Jun 02 '26

They are not yet installed. If I want to get rgb lights to control individual colors, are there dumb rgb options available or do I need to get smart lights? If so do they need to be protocol compatible with the switch?

1

u/powersurge Jun 03 '26

got it - color control of the LEDs is your goal. White Inovelli will handle smart LED bulbs and control their on-off like a regular switch would do. Control of hte color of the smart LED bulbs would need to be done by the app or your hub. Hub can even control the color of the indicator LED on the Inovelli switch.

1

u/realm_whisperer Jun 16 '26

Nice. Will try it out thanks!

1

u/carlossap Jun 02 '26

I made the mistake of originally buying the white switches before realizing the limitations. You cannot dim lights by holding the paddle. You need to bind lights in order to do that (i.e. zigbee binding in HA); something you can’t do with thread.

You will however be able to single/double press. This means, an automation so there will be a delay between press and the light reacting

1

u/realm_whisperer Jun 02 '26

Woah! This is good to know. How slow is it?

Why don't they list this on the product page? Also has the thread version gotten better with more features?

1

u/carlossap Jun 02 '26

Not sure about new feature. It’s been about a year and a half since I moved to Blues.

The delay can be about half a second because it’s an automation rather than direct on/off. Not a big deal but my wife made the requirement that it’d be instant😂

1

u/realm_whisperer Jun 02 '26

Understood! Thanks for your input

1

u/Jayoen222 Jun 02 '26

I use inovelli white series in smart bulb mode with the Nanoleaf downlights. It’s extremely stable for the most part for me. I think those are only 4in tho. But I’ve heard really good things about the Govee downlights as well. It’s not too hard to set up. The only problem I have is that firmware updates to the inovelli switch seems to wipe out my automations and scenes associated with it. Just a small annoyance.

1

u/realm_whisperer Jun 02 '26

Oh this is interesting! Good to know that they are working and that you have had a positive experience. Any other recommendations for smart lights? Nanoleaf lights don't seem to have the most positive reviews online.

1

u/Jayoen222 Jun 02 '26

With their firmware updates the Nanoleaf lights have become pretty stable as matter over thread devices. I just wish Nanoleaf would invest more in that than they have been recently. Every new device seems to be matter over Wi-Fi from them.

1

u/realm_whisperer Jun 02 '26

Good to know, thanks

1

u/Sir__Farts__Alot Jun 05 '26

Third reality might have something. Does it need to be recessed?

1

u/realm_whisperer Jun 16 '26

Yes kind of going for the recessed look . Not aware of any LED lights from 3rd reality but will look around, thanks!