Australia - Electrically Certified Hardware

Just spotted this on the Bunning site (no idea when it went up!)

The internals of a double gang looked prime for a third gang (to be flashed with Tasmota), will try with a 4 gang too when it arrives :smiley:

I rang a local distributor here in Adelaide South Australia to get pricing on the Stitchy Zigbee switch and dimmer modules. I was quoted AUD$115+GST for the ML-ST-D200 (dimmer) and same price for the ML-ST-R200 (switch).

Personally I canā€™t see them succeeding at that price. Yes certification is expensive, but I think a fairer price is more around the AUD$70 mark.

Note the Brilliantsmart dimmer mech is AUD$69+GST and the Elite smart 2-gang Wi-Fi swtich glass wall plate is AUD$64+GST.

What are your thoughts on Stitchy price? Perhaps I need to ring around for a better price?

Agree, seems expensive, can get Zwave gear for similar prices so theyā€™re not really bringing anything new to the market.

1 Like

I reckon that was about the pricing I got when they first launched and were looking for testers.

Donā€™t think weā€™re the target market, and certainly wonā€™t be at that price!

1 Like

Bunnings walking through the Tuya Warehouse

ā€œI want that, and that, and that, and that, some of thoseā€¦ā€

1 Like

Hey guys, a relative novice here, based in Melbourne. Keen on the local take on things, beyond the more generic (i.e. worldwide) threads Iā€™ve read.

Moving into a new place shortly, which is a new build house - due to that I will have trouble from the wife for making too many alterationsā€¦

I assume the general consensus is youā€™re better to replace a wall switch rather than just get smart bulbs? I might struggle for approval on that oneā€¦ I had been planning to get some Ikea Tradfri bulbs, but havenā€™t seen much mention of them in here?

Any particular products people recommend picking up? (appreciate I havenā€™t given a use case, just a general question)

At present I donā€™t have a ton of stuff, a Jinvoo Smart Plug (https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B07GLGM2MY), Broadlink RM Mini (https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B01FK2SDOC), both of those being used for our dumb TV.
Have a few GH Mini.

Iā€™m intending to pick up one of h4ncā€™s zigbee sticks, or potentially DIY a similar one.

if you only replace the bulb, you will end up with people turning off the switch and disabling the bulb.

If you only replace the switch, you will have dumb bulbs which you can turn on and off (and maybe dim if your switch allows that)

The ideal is both. Switches that allow control of the bulb (on/off/other, but not disabling power), and then a smart bulb so you can do things like temperature or colour.

Very good points, thanks for that. Bulbs are probably the path of least resistance initially, with a future expansion into switches Iā€™d say.

There is a simple work-around for the smart switch/bulb issue. If you use smart bulbs you can always use a wireless switch (ie: Xiaomi wireless button) as a controller for the smart bulb (leaving the wired switch on) and mount the wireless button over the wired switch.

One step further is to bypass the switch at the back of it (hard wire it ON) so people canā€™t turn it off.

A step further again is replace the switch with a pushbutton that is wired to the contacts of the Xiaomi wireless button with it mounted behind the switch plate. This way from the front you canā€™t see any sign of your Xiaomi button at all.

1 Like

Useful info, thanks Dave.
For now Iā€™ve purchased 2x Xiaomi wireless buttons, 1 Iā€™ll use as a doorbell and the other will likely be used for lights in the interim but I wonā€™t go as far as playing with wires etcā€¦ will let everyone get accustomed to the technology before rolling out too much of it :slight_smile:

Is there still no Aus-certified solution for smart-light switches (or in-line switches) in no neutral wire situations?

Something like the Sonoff T4EU1C.

Or this new General Electric range in the US: https://www.theverge.com/2020/1/2/21042580/ge-c-lighting-smart-switches-dimmers-no-neutral-wire-price-specs-features-ces.

There are some z-wave devices that support no-neutral wiring. Something like the fibaro dimmer 2 or aeotec dimmers. You can disable to dimming function on them if itā€™s a non-dimmable light.

For lighting with no neutral you may need to add a bypass (for the load)

These are z-wave devices though, not wifi.

There are some z-wave devices that support no-neutral wiring. Something like the fibaro dimmer 2 or aeotec dimmers. You can disable to dimming function on them if itā€™s a non-dimmable light.

I have a few of the fibaro Dimmer 2ā€™s with the Bypass. Work fine as switches but they can be a bit hit and miss as a dimmer with LED lights. In particular, I find the Zellweger load control signals here in QLD (Zellweger off-peak - Wikipedia) causes one of my LED lights to freak out sending it into a state where it oscillates on then off every second.

Generally, I think that the dimmers work best when there is a decent load on them which LEDā€™s donā€™t seem to do.

Have any of you had lucky with a sparky installing things like Shelly? I got one off Airtasker but he seemed pretty confused and in the end only got the Shelly working and the sonoff minis not

Now Iā€™ve got two Shelly dimmers and two sonoff minis sitting in my house waiting to goā€¦and no one to help me :tired_face:

Yes I 3D print one of these up to do just this Xiaomi Original Switch Cover/Button Mount by andrewpc222 - Thingiverse

I just use a small amount of BluTac to keep everything together!

1 Like

Get a better sparky.

1 Like

Great tip thanks

Nice! I might see if I can get someone to make a few for me

Looks very interesting, thanks for sharing. Iā€™d be getting the different buttons (the rounded square ones), but hopefully I can dig up similar or god forbid learn how to make my own model!

Does anyone have a recommended 3D printer at a good price? (meaning a company that does it, not a machine for myselfā€¦ for now!)

apparently you can get printing done at selected public libraries?

1 Like