In my living room I use a Heath/Zenith switch from Amazon to turn on a Heath/Zenith wall outlet that my table lamps are plugged into. This is essentially our only light in this room. I don’t have a wired switch in the wall where I want the light switch. The Heath/Zenith switch is battery powered and just mounted to the drywall.
It doesn’t look like I can add this to HA. Is there any similar way to do this with HA with different hardware? Ideally, the switch would operate even if HA is down (in order to get wife approval), but I’d consider something that relies on HA.
Do you know what frequency the H/Z switch broadcasts on? You might be able to capture the signal thru a SDR Dongle and send a command to HA via MQTT. I am working on something similar with a wireless smoke detector.
There are code-switches on the device to set the channel and the operating range is “up to 100 feet”. My guess is it may be a 433 MHz device … but I’m not 100% sure.
You can if the devices operate at 433 MHz.
I know of three devices designed to receive data transmitted on 433 MHz frequency:
OpenMQTTGateway.
Sonoff RF Bridge modified to run with Tasmota firmware (can also be OpenMQTTGateway firmware).
A Software Defined Radio (SDR) used with rtl_433 software.
All three work with Home Assistant.
The first two not only receive 433 MHz data but can also transmit it as well. The rtl_433/SDR option only receives data. Transmitting is relevant if you intend to use Home Assistant to control the outlet independently of the switch.
NOTE
If you can find an FCC id number on either device you search for it on the FCC’s site where it will reveal the operating frequency:
I couldn’t find the FCC code in the documentation but I think required by law to be on the device (if in US) Then the code could be looked up in the fcc database for the actual frequency. But my guess is 433 as well
There’s a “Friends of Hue” switch that’s kinetically powered, it’s a standard dceora/paddle size so can mount in a standard box or it can be mounted right on the wall. It works great and there’s no batteries to worry about. You’d need a Hue bridge, but the Hue White (not color) bulbs are pretty reasonably priced if you get them on sale - or you can splurge for color.
I found both the US and Canadian registrations. It communicates at 315 MHz.
Of the three options I listed, only the SDR with rtl_433 can handle 315 MHz. However, Heath-Zenith is not listed as a supported protocol so you’d have to do some extra work to decode the received data.
If that sounds intimidating your other option is use devices based on a completely different wireless technology like zigbee or zwave (both are supported by Home Assistant).
It’s a fake switch. It’s battery powered and mounts on the wall, not in an electrical box. If there is another similar switch that works with HA I’m all for it.
Thanks for the research, @123. I dont think I’m smart enough to hack it.
google “Wireless Wall Switches”. There must be a thousand to select from. I don’t use 433MHz stuff here because its range is typically two-feet, and I don’t know which of them would be easy to integrate with Home Assistant.
If you want to dive into the deep end, Aeotec makes a Z-Wave wireless switch called the WallMote. But you would need a Z-Wave hub or add the Aeotec Z-Wave Z-Stick to your Raspberry Pi. (Because it requires a hub, the first Z-wave device will likely be the most expensive).
After this, adding more switches would be fairly easy.
You could also look at the Ikea Tradfri lights and Gateway. There is a Tradfri component in Home Assistant. The Gateway (really a ZigBee hub) is connected by Ethernet to your router.
