Hi,
I’m about to embark on a project to replace the early-gen (~13yo) LED downlights in my house with new ones. And at the same time upgrade everything to HA-compatible smart lighting with dimming support. All lights will be primarily motion/presence sensor controlled, but still want manual control as a backup. Big project - 52 downlights, 4 exhaust fans, ~25 lighting/fan circuits, 26 wall plates.
ETA - luckily I already have neutral wires to all wall switches.
My primary requirements are:
- solid, reliable HA support
- local-only control via open API (no cloud requirement of any sort, no reliance on manufacturer support, not an integration reverse engineered by end users - no general predjudice against the latter, but want to avoid for a lighting system I’d hope will last 10+ years)
- tactile wall switches
- (solid) dimming support
I am fairly protocol agnostic - ZigBee / Thread / WiFi (solid coverage from 2x Unifi APs) are all OK. Even Z-Wave, although I don’t have any existing Z-Wave devices/network.
I already have ~8 “Nue” (3A Smart Home) ZigBee downlights and about the same of their wall switches. They’re not the right path moving forward - the light quality on the downlights sucks, and the wall switches, while they have fundamentally been quite reliable, aren’t ideal (don’t like the look, no tactile buttons, and, infuriatingly, no support for transition on the dimmers).
So far, I think I have three main options as follows:
Option 1 - Smart Lights, Dumb Switches: The downlights I’m likely to use (Brightgreen) have a ZigBee-compatible driver available. They cost substantially more than normal drivers, but much of this cost is offset by savings on wall plates / mechs / etc with this option. Pending testing a sample to ensure it works well with HA, I could make all the downlights smart, have basic wall switches (just to allow power cycling if needed), and then place ZigBee buttons / remotes in all spots they’re needed for manual control (by “remote”, think IKEA Styrbar-style - although hopefully I can find something a bit smaller and more light switch/dimmer-like).
Option 2 - Dumb Lights controlled by Shellys (Wi-Fi version): Not much more to say about this option, except that FWIW I’d probably use Clipsal Iconic wall plates with their compatible bell press momentary mechs (two per light circuit - one for dim up, one for dim down).
Option 3 - Dumb Lights controlled by Mercator ZigBee mechs: Ditto not much more to say on this option.
I guess there is probably a fourth option using Tuya-based Wi-Fi switches (Arlec GridConnect, etc) - but would violate some of my requirements (integrations that provide local-only control are reverse engineered I believe, and I’ve had mixed luck getting a few other Tuya bulbs to work without a cloud connection (local control has worked fine, but have had then stop responding when completely cut off from the internet)).
Option 1 is the most expensive, Option 2 the middle and option 3 the cheapest. But in the scale of the project, the prices are so relatively close I’ll just go for the “best” option of the three.
At this point I’m leaning towards Option 2, the Shelly option. Option 1 does have the benefit of “matched” dimmer drivers and downlights, so perhaps might offer the smoothest/best dimming experience, and also the most flexibility (given I can control every individual light, regardless of how they’re wired). But, I would hope the Shellys would perform almost as well on the dimming front given how ubiquitous and well recommended they are, and they would definitely be “cleaner” overall (i.e. no separate ZigBee buttons/remotes for control, relatively sleek wall plates/mechs). I don’t think I really see any solid areas where Option 3 is superior to Option 2, except perhaps a small preference for ZigBee over WiFi.
Does anyone have any thoughts on the three options above, and my leaning towards Shellys/Option 2? Or suggestions on any other options I should consider?
Thanks!
