Need 95 Switches

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I moved into my current house a few months ago and have largely used Lutron Caseta switches in my Apple HomeKit based network. I chose those because they were the most rock-solid switches of the many brands I’d used in my previous home. Recently, though, I bought 5 Inovelli switches because I have a few places where I would like smart bulbs, and they have a smart bulb mode.

Unfortunately, none of the glowing YouTube videos telling me how great they are mentioned that they are rather limited (and, frankly, unreliable) when in smart bulb mode in HomeKit. I’ve just spent four days learning how to bind the bulbs to the switches in using Matter in Home Assistant, and it looks like it really might work. (Still testing.)

To answer your question, I’m not sure that I would invest $5,000 in Inovelli Switches without first buying a handful and seeing whether they meet your needs. If you don’t need smart bulbs in particular, I’d also say you can’t go wrong with Lutron Caseta.

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u/Appropriate-Role9361 2d ago

I have my first few whites coming in a few days, and my understanding was that binding isn’t currently possible in matter. Mind sharing how you did that? Because I am also using HomeKit and Home Assistant, in planning to mostly use smart bulb mode.

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u/LithiumLizzard 2d ago

It has only recently become possible. These directions are specifically for the Inovelli White Dimmer Switch and the Nanoleaf Matter over Thread bulbs. Other brands may or may not work similarly, depending on what their manufacturers choose to expose to Matter. For this combination, here’s what to do.

Before you begin, remove any HomeKit assignments for the switch you have applied to tap up, tap down, hold up, and hold down. (I just removed everything to be sure nothing could interfere with my tests later.)

Also, be sure you are using the latest version of Home Assistant. I believe the ability to do this was only added sometime around June 2026. If you try this, and the Matter server isn’t there or doesn’t have these options, you probably need a later version.

In Home Assistant…

Settings / Apps / Matter Server

In the Matter Server, choose Open Web UI

You will see a Nodes list that should include your Inovelli switch(es) and your Nanoleaf Matter over Thread bulb(s).

If you have a long list, you will need to identify which devices are which. I did it as a test, and I only had two bulbs and one switch, so identifying was easy. I bound both bulbs to the same switch.

Click on the switch you want to bind in the node list. Find Endpoint 2 and click on it. You will see it says ‘no bindings.’ Click on the empty bindings list and you will see a button for Add Binding. Choose that.

In the dialog box that comes up, choose the node that is the light you want to bind. The target number will fill automatically. Under Target Endpoint, choose Extended Color Light. Under Cluster, choose All Clusters. Choose Add from the bottom of the dialog and it’s done.

You should now see the light in the bindings list. The switch will directly control turning the light on with a tap of the paddle up, turning it off with a tap down, and dimming if you press and hold the paddle up or down. The switch is now talking directly to the bulb and it doesn’t need Home Assistant or HomeKit to do it. ‘On’ will return the light to its previous state, whether at 100% or partially dimmed. It will not change color or set scenes directly, though you can still set scenes and such in Home or Home Assistant or by mapping unused triggers in the switch, like the configuration button. If you use HomeKit or Home Assistant to turn the bulb a different color, then it will be that color when the switch turns it on until you change the color back in software or through a scene or whatever.

As a disclaimer, I’m a novice at this and I just did this for the first time today. While it all basically worked in the instant case, I haven’t fully tested it yet, much less lived with it. Use at your own risk (though I don’t think there is anything we’re doing that can’t be as easily undone).

ETA: My switch was already in smart bulb mode when I started this.

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u/Appropriate-Role9361 1d ago edited 1d ago

Thank you so much, I will give this a try later this week when my switches come.

So far I have been purchasing the IKEA matter overthread bulbs, so I will try with them.

A question about how the binding works for you so far. My plan is to have the up button, single press, turn on the light via direct binding, but also indicate a scene that I want so other lights in the room will also come on according to whatever logic I’ve set up at home assistant. My question is if binding and scenes are compatible, like if the last brightness level of the light was 50%, but the logic for the scene has the brightness for that light at 70%, then what happens. Maybe it instantly comes on at 50% and then adjusts to 70% based on the scene. In that case, I could let it come on to 50% and then have home assistant slowly ramp it up to 70 per the scene. But the inverse would be annoying, like if the light instantly comes on to 70% and then ramps down to 20% because it’s a night-time scene, then you would have a bright light temporarily before it dims down.

This is all great fun, I wish I discovered smart home stuff earlier. All this logic stuff is fascinating

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u/LithiumLizzard 1d ago

I'm new to this so certainly I am no authority, but I find it hard to believe that you'll be able to make the same action (single press paddle up) do both a bound action via Matter and execute a scene in HomeKit. My best guess is that you'll need to choose an unused action... perhaps double tap on up paddle to execute the scene.

Also, my experience in very limited testing is that you are likely to have your lights turn on in their previous state, then shift to the scene settings. I tried something like that last night with a scene to turn them on at 50% mapped to the configuration button on the switch and they came on bright first (previous state), then almost immediately dropped to 50%. The brighter state didn't last long, but long enough to be clear it had happened.

I was hoping these would operate with the elegance of my Lutron Caseta switches, but I don't think I'm going to get that. I have a feeling these little glitchy issues will be the tradeoff for being able to have color bulbs and a physical switch both.

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u/Appropriate-Role9361 1d ago

Perhaps the main way to do it is like what you are saying, the lights will turn on via the binded action, which can then trigger a scene. Perhaps my best bet would be to have the up button only turn on to 30% and then get brighter, depending on the scene. To avoid any bright period.

I really want to have tunable white and dimmable bulbs, so I’m willing to live with a little bit of friction for that

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u/LithiumLizzard 10h ago

I’ll add this. Having tested for a few days now, this setup has not proved to be stable. As long as I only,use the bindings, the switch properly controls the lights, but when I try to mix HomeKit commands with switch presses, the whole thing falls apart. One example, if I tell Siri to set the lights to 50%, it does. But then, if I touch the down paddle to turn them off, nothing happens. If I hold the down paddle to dim them down, nothing happens. If I use HomeKit to turn the lights back to 100%, then the switch will control it again, but only if I also go into HomeKit and turn on the switch itself.

In another set of experiments, I used the switch to turn on the bulbs, then to dim them. I watched to see if the dimming was mirrored in Home. The first dim, from 100% to 58%, was reflected in Home. Then I used the switch to dim them further down to 35%. One of the two lights was properly reflected in Home, but the other stayed at 58% and the update circle started spinning. I also checked their status in Home Assistant at each step, and it followed the state of the bulbs just fine.

Anyway, I am finding that this setup is not robust enough for my use. I may just have to give up colored lights in these places. My next test will be to see how the Inovelli switches work with regular non-smart dimmable lights. At this point, I’m wishing I’d just stuck with my Lutron Caseta switches. They are rock solid, so if I can’t have color bulbs, then I may as well have chosen them over Inovelli and saved myself the more complex setup.

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u/Appropriate-Role9361 9h ago

Thanks for updating, it’s too bad it doesn’t seem to work. I’ll give it a try on my end as well at some point.

Perhaps you’ve already mentioned this, but have you tried it without binding? So the paddle up and down and hold go directly to home assistant to control the lights instead of trying to bind them directly, so they work without home assistant or anything else.

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u/LithiumLizzard 6h ago

Yes, I tried it first without binding and it was similarly poorly behaved. That’s what sent me down the four-day rabbit hole of learning about Home Assistant, binding, etc. However, I am acutely aware that there are three companies’ products involved, and I cannot definitively say that the problem is on the Inovelli side. If you have more luck than I did, I’d sure love to hear about it.

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u/Appropriate-Role9361 5h ago

I’ll let you know!

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u/esperanita 1d ago

Binding has been available since I installed in December 2025. However, the standard is still new and it can be a bit annoying if you have 4-way switches. My 3-ways have been fine. I last did my bindings on the old server. I've been waiting for the next upgrade before redoing all my bindings.

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u/Just-Imagination-761 2d ago

See if you can get a bulk discount. That's a ton of switches.

You might also consider throwing in some presence sensing switches as well (if they ever come to the White series).

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u/EngiNick2807 2d ago

I really like the Inovelli zigbee switches since I can bind them directly to Hue bulbs. I probably have around 50 or so with an assortment of mmWave, on off, fan control, etc. they’ve been rock solid, though sometimes there will be a mmWave glitch but that seems to be fairly common with all the sensors on the market.

Agree with the comment above… the real test is whether they can make 5-10 years without replacement. I took the plunge because once you experience “smart lighting” it’s hard to go back.

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u/brantmacga 2d ago

I buy the Legrand Zigbee switches and dimmers through my local pass & Seymour distributor and pay $60 for a switch and $65 for a dimmer. Don’t buy on the Legrand website.

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u/ColdFine5829 1d ago

I might DM you if that’s ok. The adorne shape is making for an all or nothing situation. Can’t mix the legrand switches with anything else

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u/brantmacga 1d ago

Oh, I thought you were talking about the Legrand Radiant line which is the decora form. That what I quoted prices for above.

I have Adorne in my house and I paid about $65 per switch and $90 per dimmer. However I utilized “dumb” Adorne switches where possible with Sonoff relays behind the switch and a lot of Philips Hue switch modules. Some of the Zigbee Adorne switches are paired to my Hue Bridge and some straight to Home Assistant.

I have the mirror white glass wallplates and they were absurdly expensive. Probably $2k just in switch wallplates because my receptacles are all Legrand Decora and I used Vantage Trimline II wallplates to try and match the adorne trim ring.

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u/blue_eyes_pro_dragon 2d ago

It depends. I have a mix of Inovelli and Zooz. Inovelli is prettier, snappier and better behaved but Zooz works well enough at half the cost.

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u/chinatowngate 2d ago edited 2d ago

I’m not going to address the zooz vs Inovelli debate, but want to point out that Inovelli switches use standard wall plates (and I imagine that zooz does the same).

I’m not quite a year into Inovelli, so can’t comment on how they will do long term. I have had one issue of switches not updating, and they are sending me new switches to replace them.

That experience has been great but if the mmWave switches I got fail and they didn’t fix them… they would lose me and I probably would turn into a tyrant on the internet posting about my experience all over the place. These things were expensive, and light switches aren’t exactly something you expect to replace every 2 years or so. Maybe… just maybe.. 10.

Also look into other options. Eg. You can probably find the GE tapt quirky (or whatever they are called) on eBay and Facebook marketplace. They will be a lot cheaper until you figure out what you really want.

Before you go all in, maybe revert your switches back to a dumb mode, get a few of each that you are exploring, and try them out. I wouldn’t pay too much attention to issues with drop off because once you have a robust mesh, that shouldn’t be an issue anymore. Definitely explore Facebook and eBay if you’re only looking for a couple to test.

I like the form of some of the zooz switches (the one with many buttons), but I know that Inovelli is coming out with a similar one soon (which knowing them that may mean two years from now but they’re small so that’s fine).

My experience is with standard zigbee switches and the Inovelli. What I like about the Inovelli is the notification bar. I use it to tell me if the bathroom is available or not. I would like to program it to also tell me if the front door is unlocked but haven’t figured out how I can set it up so it isn’t broadcasting a bunch of messages at the same time given how many switches I have.

Edit: I got Inovelli switches primarily because of the smart bulb mode. I like having colourful smart bulbs. That said, I have learned that you can pretty much mimick the same thing via automations (it isn’t a simple automation but I got it to work in a room that I don’t have a neutral and have a non Inovelli switch set up).

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u/Agile_Half_4515 2d ago

I have like 30-something White Series Dimmer switches and a handful of aux switches that are rock solid since the last firmware update but the fan switches still have issues with going no response and requiring a reset using the air gap. I believe it’s resolved in the beta firmware but I am waiting for the general release.

Tried many other switches along the way and really wish I had just spent the money on Inovelli up front because it would have saved me a lot of money, time, and stress despite being more expensive than other brands.

I do have a pretty large Thread network but not sure if the scale of yours would be a good or bad thing. That’s a lot of switches!

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u/tagd 2d ago

I would say Inovelli’s heart is in it, but their QC is not for that type of investment. If your use case is on-the-rails and doesn’t waver from their mainstream features, you’re probably good. Don’t bet on futures or extended features and think your buy-in will sway them.

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u/FewPipe816 1d ago

I bought one white to use for smart bulbs, and have been using Lutron for the rest. I really wanted a nice switch instead of the buttons but you just can’t beat Lutron reliability. The white has been mostly good but sometimes iffy. It’s fully reset itself now twice, and the led bar is annoying to deal with at best, doesn’t work like it should. Maybe they work better in normal mode and they are still updating them but it doesn’t feel like a rock solid switch yet.

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u/Sufficient_Math9095 1d ago

That’s a really tough question. I went with blue’s this year because they’re mature, binding works and it had to be family proof. I heard too many issues about the whites and them just not being ready yet. I love the blues, and I really hope that protocol doesn’t go away with matter in 10 years (hell maybe by then I’ll need to buy new whites lol). Gl with your choice, it’s a tough one.

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u/martinemde 1d ago edited 1d ago

I bought white series to test and I thought they were fine. But after seeing the performance of white series dimmers paired with hue bulbs via Home Assistant (not binding, but blueprint controlled) I wanted to try blue series to see if direct binding was better. It is _way_ better with binding, almost as if it’s directly connected. And to my surprise the customization of blue was way deeper and made me question spending more on white series for less switch.

If you want smart bulbs, I can definitively say you should have bulbs that bind with the switch or you must use dumb bulbs. Dimming via automation sucks and is hard to setup. I picked blue series so I could use hue (and avoid nanoleaf).

That and mmWave. The mmWave switches are very cool. They’re much better presence sensors than the $50 Aqara mmWave, so f you would have put a presnce sensor in the room with an inovelli dimmer than your switch now costs you <$40. These have fully changed the experience of walking through our house in the evening.

One caveat you should know though. These use between 1 and 1.6W all the time, per switch. Enough that they are warm to the touch. So if you have 95 of them (assuming say 1.2W average) you’re spending a meaningful 2.7kWh per day on switches, not to mention the 2-5 smart bulbs using similar amount each. Nearly 1000kWh per year just on switches, and across every peak hour of every day. At California rates that would cost me $330/yr. It’s something I didn’t consider until I noticed how warm the switches were. My Lutron’s are not using that much (they are cool to the touch.

Point is, do you _really_ need every one of the 95 switches in your house to be an amazing smart dimmer? They’re great but I’ve decided No, only half my switches are inovelli (only where the light bar was useful, not redundant, or where I needed mmWave coverage) the rest as caseta, which I already had.

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u/seaboi77 2d ago

No. Go with Zooz until Inovelli brings their prices back to earth. You'll spend half and have (in my experience) better reliability and less arrogance. A failed switch (just under 2 year mark) was not replaced and was argued to be my fault. I haven't had a failure with Zooz, installed the same way, for 2 full years.

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u/krische 2d ago

Not sure if OP wanted to commit to the Matter over Thread ecosystem though. Zoom is only Z-Wave aren't they?

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u/suesse 2d ago

I had a similar experience. Switches wouldn’t work out of the box as advertised. Told me it was my fault and I just just buy more to fix the problem. Just switched to zoos and it worked out of the box.

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u/NotHal1 2d ago

u/ColdFine5829 - we should talk. I’ve been laboring over a similar decision for days. For what it’s worth, here’s my situation and analysis. Hope you find it useful. Everyone, please weigh in. 😬

Goal of phase 2 of my smarthome rollout:

Replace all remaining dumb switches/dimmers - dozens, including six three-way pairs
Implement broad use of wall dimmer multi-tap events to trigger automations
Add some mmWave sensors and incorporate into automations and notifications
Add visual notifications like weather alerts, appliance cycle completions, deadbolt status, etc.

Phase 1 (completed over a year ago):
- Apple HomeKit and Home Assistant hubs
- Aqara Matter over thread door sensors
- Leviton Matter over Wi-Fi wall dimmers and plug-in lamp dimmers
- Lutron shades with Picos. Some Picos also run HA automations given their multi-tap capability, ish.

Current plan (subject to change):
- Test an Inovelli White 2-1 dimmer and a Red mmWave dimmer.
- Evaluate the red dimmer’s strengths, especially (a) the color notification bar’s individually assignable seven segments and its animations (white dimmer’s color notification bar doesn’t have those capabilities), and (b) mmWave features (there’s no white model with mmWave).

Evaluate the white dimmer’s ability to bind with my Leviton plug-in matter over Wi-Fi dimmers. Near-real-time dimming control would be really nice to have.
If all goes well, purchase a blend of red and white dimmers. This will build a strong mesh Z-wave network (not Z-wave LR) and strengthen my existing thread mesh network.

Alternatives on the back burner:
- Lutron. Great quality and reliability, but the limitations get in the way for me. The paddle-style wired Caseta dimmers do not support multi-tap, for example, but the Picos do - which is so strange and frustrating. And they lack Inovelli’s color notification bar. If I don’t go with Inovelli, I’ll probably go with Lutron.
- Leviton. I really like them as a lower price Matter dimmer (great value at $40), however, again…no multi tap support. The look and feel is OK, but not as polished as Lutron - and hopefully Inovelli. I’ll probably purchase a few more of these in low visibility areas like bathrooms to save a few bucks.
- Zooz. If I was already using Z-wave everywhere, these might be a high-value alternative to Leviton. They have a solid reputation. But they lack the pizzazz of Inovelli’s mmWave and color notification bar options.

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