My wiring is the older UK style wiring. Live is daisy chained to every light fitting, and wire to switch is taken from that live (at ceiling rose) and then returned, so yes, I have live and neutral constantly at each light bulb.
Just no neutral at the switch.
Have you considered the sonoff mini? https://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/SONOFF-MINI-Two-Way-DIY-Smart-Switch-APP-Google-Home-Remote-Control-for-Alexa-UK/254369846738
Seems like a much cheaper solution than the eachen.
Not applicable for this use case, the Sonos only switches via completed circuit not via mains voltage so would need re-wiring which the op is trying to avoid.
Having said that if the switch is taken from the ceiling rose it would be trivial to take it off the mains and then add as you mentioned or even a modified sonoff basic.
Is flashable. I think many HA users strive to not use cloud based links and look for only local control. Alexa and Google home been the obvious execptions.
What a clever idea. I have fitted a similar module (but dimmable) just above a uk ceiling rose but it was extremely tight to make a hole big enough and still cover with the rose.
Based purely on appearance they look like these ones…
They are ESPhome (or Tasmota) flashable …but as far as I can tell the mcu gives the esp a pulse for any state change on the switch. Fine for basic on/off with either a rocker or momentary switch…but you can’t detect hold or multi click easily etc. For any more advanced controls.
Yeah, I could maybe have expanded on my post a little. I’ve not used the mini myself, but I run a load of other stuff from sonoff and others (T1, dual, pow, th… all flashed with espurna, mostly before they ever got switched on). It should work as a direct replacement as used in the ceiling rose as per the original post, but at a fraction of the cost.
I’ve not really played with many other firmwares, but certainly espurna allows you to toggle the last light state reach time you switch it on from a light switch, which should allow you to skip the extra wiring… In any case, I’m lucky enough to have a neutral wire behind light switches in most cases as per newer wiring standards but it’s not my experience in houses built in the last decade or so (with the exception of slave switches, but you can switch the purpose of one of the wires with a bit of sleeving for safety and sanity). Certainly older house in the UK might not have neutrals, but it’s not every house.
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I find the shelly1 to be the best for this situation. The build quality is good, you can flash with tasmota which will integrate directly into ha or keep the stock firmware and just enable mqtt.
Just saying…
I just used Xiaomi (Aqara) light switches. They look nice and can be controlled both a s a normal physical light switch or through app / Homeassistant/ nodered.
Did you find a way to solve 2-way switches with no neutral with the aqara switches then? I have some but haven’t fitted them to my 2 way landing switches yet for this reason…
This should do you and it’s a dimmer, Shelly dimmer SL
https://shelly.cloud/wifi-smart-home-automation-shelly-dimmer/
Sorry should have said for sdwilko Wilkenism
Those Shelley dimmers look neat. I can’t figure out if they will integrate with a switch that has an existing dimmer (e.g. if set to 50% at the wall, could the smart dimmer change between 0-100 still?)
And thanks OP, this is a great idea I’ll investigate for use in AU too.
I think you are mistaken.
From memory the ceiling rose has live and neutral going in (and out) of it. The switch is connected to the ceiling rose via two wires. Live is passed from the ceiling rose, down to the switch, and then back up to the bulb.
You can connect a second switch (sonoff mini) between the live and the bulb but you are either going to do it in parallel with the switch, or in series. Either way I can’t see how this works well. Either the switches are dependent on one another, or they are independent. If they are independent I can’t imagine anything more frustrating than flipping a switch and having the light stay on.
A Sonoff mini could be used here, and you would want to move the switch to the s1/s2 connections on it. This would mean that the sonoff would be turning the light on and off but monitoring the switch as well.
Not sure if you are talking about the sonoff here or not but the Eachen units I’m using have live and neutral inputs, live switched output to bulb and a mains toggle input. This means the normal wall switch toggles the unit as well as the smart home commands 
Thanks Andy. It works the same way as the sonoff mini then. I was responding to Hercules 187 who said the sonoff mini wouldn’t work.
So, the bulb and controller are connected to the live and neutral, and the lines going to any switches are connected to the switch inputs.
Sounds like a good move, and keeping the controller outside of any metal junction box makes communication easier.
Hey guys, I was reading and I noticed the sonoff reference you are making requires communication to the ewelink cloud… I recommend this one which communicates through LAN:
It cuts response times significantly.
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Hi Mark the shelly Dimmer SL is not compatible with 110V. only the non SL version is and requires the neutral wire sorry…
Hi! I still dont understand how you solved 2 switch issue: using the main switch will cut the power to your Eachen unit placed on the ceiling, right?
Something doesn’t make sense, what I’m not getting?
Hi Pieter
Take a look at
https://shelly.cloud/wifi-smart-home-automation-shelly-dimmer/
But with the SL version neutral wire is optional
You could try the Itead Sonoff T4EU1C Wall Wifi Smart Touch Switch, which requires no neutral. It comes with an anti-flicker module which you connect to the live and neutral wires at the lighting fixtures in the ceiling rose. It is about the size of a 25ml ointment packet and white.