Australia - Electrically Certified Hardware

sparkydave · May 3, 2019, 3:47am

I never suggested using PCB relays however, which is why I was suggesting that a sparky can put something together.

tom_l · May 3, 2019, 3:47am

You linked to a page full of them.

sparkydave · May 3, 2019, 3:50am

I simply linked to the page with ALL relays. I’m not here to do the design of some else’s hypothetical installation, just giving a direction for equipment supplies. Maybe I should have just given the base Altronics link and said ‘look for relays’…

tom_l · May 3, 2019, 3:57am

If anything you should have been more specific not less.

Which was why I linked to a page without PCB mount types. Admittedly bloody expensive compared to something like: https://www.altronics.com.au/switches/relays/?type_2=cradle (and a base).

If a non-electrician (do you have a polite word for them ?) were to grab one of those, hook up their ELV control circuit then hand it to an electrician saying please make this switch my lights, 9 times out of 10 they’d be good.

aidbish · May 3, 2019, 4:31am

Just beware that some device could have the more recent tuya firmware and that has blocked the tuya convert method, if they are older firmware then still good to go

efleming · May 3, 2019, 5:33am

But then, If I connect an ESP8266 or equivalent to the relay, they’re probably going to say bugger off anyway? Plus I’m adding what I guess is something non-compliant to a compliant relay? So back to square one.

kanga_who · May 3, 2019, 5:39am

Yes, I’m aware of the firmware issue.

That’s one reason why I am purchasing so many wall plugs while I can get them, they are all using the same firmware and flashable.

sparkydave · May 3, 2019, 5:51am

The only bit that needs certification is that which connects to the mains supply or is at that voltage. The control side will be ELV (5V in this case) so doesn’t matter in terms of certification. Use a certified 5V power supply to run the ESP and a certified (any correctly specified) relay / contactor / whatever and you would (‘theoretically’) be good to go. The same applies to the switch since it will only be switching 3.3v, it doesn’t need to be anything special. In the past I have used (I’m am electrician so able to specify and wire these things legally) the existing light switch mechanism (only swapped for a momentary pushbutton) as the control to the device. This way it looks completely standard. Just be cause the switch is rated for 240V, 10A doesn’t mean I can’t use if for 3.3v and bugger all amps Food for thought.

efleming · May 3, 2019, 6:11am

Don’t suppose you’re in the Southern Highlands by any chance?

sparkydave · May 3, 2019, 6:22am

Nah, Perth

efleming · May 3, 2019, 6:54am

Couldn’t get further away if you tried

thecubical · May 11, 2019, 5:44am

For the aeotech switches if you have a light two or more switches do i need the aeotech device at each switch or just at one, assuming I want to be able to tell if the light is turned on via any of the switches and also potentially dim from any switch (and tell in HA if the switch is dimmed).

Also can anyone recommend an electrician in brisbane that has experience with all of this?

exxamalte · May 11, 2019, 11:54am

The Aeotec Nano switches support a 3-way switch setup and you only need one device in this case, assuming that your existing wiring is suitable.
My electrician installed one Nano switch this way and as far as I remember it had to go behind one specific existing light switch and not the other, because of how that all was wired behind the wall.
Both switches can still turn on/off the light, and I can remote control the light and see if it’s on or off in HA.

I don’t have dimmers in a 3-way setup, but would imagine that you have to replace the wall switches for that level of control.

anilet · May 15, 2019, 10:33pm

Hello fellow aussies,
I am planning to implement whole house energy monitoring including solar.
So far I have had a look at
Efergy
Livehouse Energy Monitor (seems like an
emonPi from Openenergymonitor

What energy monitoring products are you using? Any suggestions?

efleming · May 16, 2019, 5:13am

emonPi here, works very nicely with my solar setup, no cloud to worry about, integrates easily with HA.

efleming · May 20, 2019, 4:19am

All right, here’s an update for everyone.

Bought a Sonoff Dual R2 from Oikotec, the mob that have got the Sonoff Dual R2 and Sonoff POW certified for Australian use. If you want to save yourself $10, buy them direct instead of on eBay as they ship free of charge from their website. Here’s a photo:

Only difference I can tell between this and what you’d buy overseas is the lack of header pins on the GND/BUTTON0/BUTTON1/BND GPIOs, so if you want external switches, you’ll need to do some soldering.

I’ve already flashed it with ESPHome, next step is I’m going to make a little light circuit to test functionality with some Clipsal Iconic rocker switches and code with ESPHome before getting a sparky in to install it.

Quick question for the electricians here. Would boring old Dupont cables work for the GPIO’s going to the switches? The switches will no longer be directly connected to the circuit so I’m guess the answer is that they would be fine?

sparkydave · May 20, 2019, 4:25am

I haven’t worked with Sonoffs before but I’m guessing that the GPIO is 3.3v? DuPont’s will be fine but I’d be soldering to the GPIO connections so they can’t come loose

efleming · May 20, 2019, 9:49am

Yep, correct and they’re working. Figured out I didn’t need to make a 240v circuit to test, instead just have it powered via the UART coverter.

So far so good, got a spare clipsal switch connected and its working as I’d want. Interestingly, the Tasmota guide for Dual R2 says:

NOTE Make sure not to use a switch that keeps the connection between GND and BUTTON 0 active while power is re-applied as the device will start in programming mode.

Now, this problem isn’t happening for me. That means that either the Clipsal switch doesn’t keep the connection between GND and BUTTON 0, or, the ESPHome firmware negates this issue.

For anyone curious, here’s my code. My next step is the have the switches send a command to HA to toggle my Yeelights, rather than flick the relays (which for my purposes will always remain on).

binary_sensor:
  - platform: gpio
    pin:
      number: GPIO0
      mode: INPUT_PULLUP
      inverted: True
    name: "Sonoff Switch 1"
    on_press:
      - switch.toggle: relay1
      
  - platform: gpio
    pin:
      number: GPIO9
      mode: INPUT_PULLUP
      inverted: True
    name: "Sonoff Switch 2"
    on_press:
      - switch.toggle: relay2      

switch:
  - platform: gpio
    name: "Sonoff Relay 1"
    pin: GPIO12
    id: relay1
    
  - platform: gpio
    name: "Sonoff Relay 2"
    pin: GPIO5
    id: relay2
    
status_led:
  pin:
    number: GPIO13
    inverted: yes

sensor:
  - platform: wifi_signal
    name: "Front Door Lights Sonoff WIFI Signal"
    update_interval: 60s

text_sensor:
  - platform: version
    name: "Front Door Lights ESPHome version"

sparkydave · May 20, 2019, 9:49pm

Are you using a toggle switch or momentary? If it’s momentary (which you should use for this application, and it looks like your code is designed for) then at startup, there will be no connection to ground on that GPIO unless you have the button/switch held

chrisn · May 22, 2019, 6:04am

Thanks everyone, this is a very useful thread.

I’m trying to decide on what to use for lighting in a new home that’s being constructed. Sparky will be wiring up soon.

To maximise WAF I need wall switches that function normally but I also want HA control of the lights even if the wall switch is turned off. There are some smart wall switches that could do this of course, but I’m ruling them out as I want to use Clipsal Iconic switches exclusively throughout the home, not mix-and-match different types of wall plates.

I’m considering these AU-approved products:

Aeotec or Fibaro Z-Wave switches/dimmers
Pros:

Should work perfectly (on/off/dim) with Iconic push-button wall switches.

Cons:

Most expensive option
Would prefer zigbee or wifi to z-wave. (Open Z-Wave is not under active development.)

3A Smarthome Smart Controllers/dimmers (http://www.3asmarthome.com/products and ebay)
Pros:

Reasonably priced (for AU).
Works with generic zigbee gateways and HA.

Cons:

It’s a simple in-line controller. When the wall switch is off, it’s non-functional. And if the wall is on but the light has been switched off by software, to turn the light back on you switch off at the wall, count to about 3, and switch on again. (I tested this out in their store.) I could cope with this for some lights, but not most.

Oikotec supplied Sonoff Dual, flashed with Tasmota
Pros:

Reasonably priced (for AU).

Cons:

Although it can be powered continuously and the relay triggered by the wall switch, this isn’t a standard method of installation and an electrician probably won’t agree to wiring it like this. (Correct me if I’m wrong.)
In this case, it probably operates in a similar way to the 3A Smarthome controller.
Plus, would flashing custom firmware void the AU certification? Would I be breaking AU law by doing this myself?

Clipsal Iconic (https://www.clipsal.com/iconic)

This isn’t really an option at all for control with HA. They do have Bluetooth enabled mechs that you can control with a phone app, but I’m guessing there’s zero chance of ever getting that to work with HA.
Maybe sometime in the future they’ll release a zigbee or z-wave mech. Here’s hoping.

If there are other products that fit the bill, please let me know. I’m leaning towards the z-wave controllers but they will quickly add up in price if used across most light circuits in the house.