If you use units behind the switches, they would look exactly the same as whatever the exact switch is you currently use for your smart light bulbs. So outside of you not having neutral wires (which are now also not an issue), I don’t think most of those reasons are valid.
Smart switches that sit behind your normal switches can either be taken with you when you move, or left in place and they will act like normal switches no problem.
What do you mean ultimate local control? If you turn off the switch locally at the switch, does it not get disconnected from HA and cannot be turned back on remotely?
There a smart switches (dimmer only to my understanding) that run the lights at 0% brightness to be able to get enough of a tiny current to run the switch, so can be used in 2 wire (no neutral) switches.
the smart remote has the fan speed and the light controller all in the same remote, for the fan thatt do not have the built in light, can this replace the current light/fan fitting on the wall that has the dial type contol and the on/off switch for the lights
hopefully i have explained what i mean correctly, just not keen on ordering anything and then the sparkie tell me no go
Or if there are other alternative controllers to control the fan and lights in a room i am open to ideas
@rowdybeans yeah mate my usb-a work(well actually I tried haven’t the usb c, I don’t have usb c to usb c cable). I am using tasmota and the template on blakadder site. I haven’t tried it on esphome, I dont use esphome much, so not much help there.
Hi Adrian, the remote that comes with those fan controllers is battery operated. You can put it anywhere you want or have it floating around on your bedside table for example. All that is needed is for the existing fan controller to be removed and replaced with a simple switch which you would leave on all the time. I don’t really recommend just bypassing this switch (which would work) simply because if something goes crazy with the smart fan controller, you now have an easy way to turn it off and hopefully get it going again.
I bought 3 of those fan controllers and plan on flashing them but just haven’t bothered yet since it’s been cold and the fans aren’t in use for now. There’s a good blog here which I plan to follow when I get time.
Thanks for the detailed response, just didn’t want to buy anything and the sparkie give me the finger with what i wanted.
Could i ask as an alternative, would this be a possible alternative to the brilliant controller but still control the AC fans and the lights in the room and the smart be in the wall switch(i presume i may need negative to be at the switch which i dont mind paying for)
Yeah, that would work as well. As you say, it will need a neutral run to the switch location. What I like about the Brilliant ones is that the remote is wireless and the whole thing is plug-and-play. If you move house you can very easily swap it out for a non-smart version. In the case of my house, 2 of the 3 fans I plan to use the Brilliant controllers in already have wireless remotes, so all I need to do is unplug / plug / flash.
Ah the dreaded Arlec tamper proof screws. I take it yours was the same as the ones I found on my set of PC190HA single sockets, with three groves around the outer edge and a button top?
In my case I drilled one out, but made a mess of that socket. Looking for a better option I attacked an M4 bolt with a dremel and a file to make a custom ‘driver’. Took about 10 mins to make, it’s ugly as all hell but it worked, got the remaining sockets open cleanly.
Just for the record couldn’t convert the a recently purchased set of 4 Arlec PC190HA, hence the need for opening them up.
