While I’ve managed to add LimitlessLED lights to every room on the second floor of my house, my ground floor lighting setup is significantly more complicated and I’ve not even considered replacing the standard manual switches until I found Home-Assistant supports running different lighting systems from a single source. While I only need on/off or possibly brightness control for which I got a Wink hub, I’m still trying to find the best approach to my first floor challenge…
I only need to connect the lights from the main living area which includes an open kitchen/dining/living area with tall ceilings. The light switches are wired according to the following-
[ul]#1 controls two ceilling lights,
#2 controls four ceiling lights,
#3 controls four kitchen lights,
#4 controls four small dining room lights[/ul]
Also, switch #1 and 2 share a 3-switch plate with the outdoor lights while switch#3 shares a two switch plate with a hallway switch.
In a nutshell, my main problem is that most of the lighting is embedded high up in cathedral ceilings. A contractor did recently install all new LED bulbs using a special telescoping light pole (longer than the one’s typically sold at Home Depot) so replacing these with smart bulbs is not an option for me as it stands. At present I simply keep the ceiling lights off for the most part, and light the living room with a single GE Link bulb on a floor lamp. However, this still leaves the kitchen lights unconnected and they are often left on when they don’t need to be. So when I bought the Wink Hub, my plan was to simply replace the four kitchen bulbs with Wink compatible Cree or GELink bulbs. However, it occurred to me that a Wink Compatible light switch sells for between $30-$60 whereas four new bulbs would be at least $75. Unfortunately, my electrical expertise is limited to what you can do on a breadboard and I have no idea if it would even be possible to install a Wink switch on a 2 or 3 switch wall plate.
Ideally, I’d like to have simple on/off control for my kitchen lights using a single connected light switch, while I’d like to control the ceiling lights with a dimmer-capable switch.
I would greatly appreciate it if anyone with more experience working with automated switches, especially Wink-compatible models could help me figure out what is possible and what is not. For example, would it be possible to control both ceiling switches from a single dimmer? Will it even be possible to install any automated switches behind a 2 or 3 switch wall plate?
Thank you very much in advance! I hope I’ve been able to explain my setup well enough but please don’t hesistate to ask if anything doesnt make sense and I can provide pictures or maybe even a floor plan if need be.
I am in a similar situation. I also use the limitless led and they work very well, however I also have very high ceilings and also some areas where instead of installing 10 limitless led bulbs it would be better to install one controller to turn on and off all the lights.
The main problem is getting the right controllers that will fit and work inside your switch socket.
I had tried X10 controllers, they were very unreliable (mostly because I have 3 phase electricity) I no longer use X10 very unreliable for me.
I think a Zwave switch controller is the way to go if you live in the US, however in Thailand the sockets are not exactly the same and then there is the problem of choosing between US, European and AUS Zwave. I don’t like the fact that the price is around $50 each.
So basically I have not found a solution that I am happy with.
However, when I have more time I am sure that I could use an ESP8266 with a relay switch to do this. The only problem is that there might not be enough room in the wall socket to have both the ESP8266, relay, and 5v power supply AND keep the existing switch. (if your switch has power)
When doing home automation, I don’t think automation should replace existing systems, it should only control it and at any time you should be able to override the automation or work without it. So this is the reason I have not gone this route (yet).
Yes, I think this might be where more commercial approaches like Wink and their associated products have their place. I’m somewhat more hesitant to risk a DIY approach when it comes to hardwiring my home. Especially, if it looks like commercial solutions are available and not even all that expensive. Until recently, I avoided commercial systems because I knew they would have compatibility issues but luckily Home Assistant has finally made that less of an issue.
I’m actually about to check out some of the ZWave switches they have at Home Depot since at least that way I’ll be able to see if they fit in my wall plates. I’ll report back on what I find…
I agree with you its always better to use professionally produced products when ever possible. The goal of home automation is to setup and then leave it alone and let it do the work for you. So the highest reliability is required for years of trouble free operation. While DIY can be reliable, usually the problem is the packaging or container. A bunch of loose wires doesn’t do much for long term reliability.
Just to clarify, I actually menat to say the opposite… I almost always prefer to take a DIY approach, especially with Home Automation as the commercial models often charge way too much for what you can actually get out of their products. I found there are exceptions when it comes to ZWave light switches and power outlets as they involve tinkering with household wiring and don’t leave much room for trial and error. Furthermore, inc comparison to inflated gadgets like the Phillips Hue, ZWave switches are much more reasonably priced. Especially, if the alternative is controlling each bulb individually.
Anyway, I’m happy to report, that I did manage to install a Wink-compatible Leviton Z-Wave Switch yesterday! Where space was concerned, it had no issues whatsoever fitting in the middle of a four gang wall plate. It did take me a long time to finally figure out that I need to splice into, rather than bypass, the neutral wire, and it certainly would’ve helped if they included some prespliced wires with the kit. Now that I know how it works however, it should be much easier to install a dimmer switch for my ceiling lights.
I haven’t tried adding it to any configs in HASS yet but I did notice that my Wink Light bulb showed up on auto-discovery, so it shouldnt be too difficult.
Now if I can just finally figure out how to make my physical button switch, I should be able to move on to building a remote doorlock… 
Another update- After learning how to actually wire a wall switch, and confirming that a Z-Wave switch will indeed have room in a standard wall box, I figured I might as well take it a little further by adding one of the Wink-enabled Leviton Dimmers (http://www.amazon.com/Leviton-Decora-Controls-Universal-DZMX1-1LZ/dp/B00LEWQY6C/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1450568590&sr=8-2&keywords=z-wave+leviton) to my ceiling lights. With a better idea of what I would be doing this time, installation took less than 30 minutes total! Unfortunately, there’s something wrong with the dimming function as it just flickers when set at anything between off and the maximum setting… The light bulbs are all CREE LEDs and should be dimmable AFAIK and I made sure to check and double check my wiring connections… It was hard to find support for the issue but there is a programming mode that is supposed to change the PWM rate of the lights. It didnt seem to work however and in any case the alternate mode is supposed to be for CFL bulbs while it should work with LEDs out of the box…
Nevertheless, it does work in on/off mode so I guess I’ll just use it as an on/off switch for the time being…