Can anyone share their experience in making “dumb” light switches smart? (and obviously connect them to HA)
All of my lights are currently rocker switches (Clipsal Iconic) and some have dedicated (seperate) dimmer mechs. If I were to use the authentic Clipsal bluetooth switches, the cost would be cost prohibitive.
My thoughts…
Purchase “dumb” momentary push button mechs
Purchase some in-wall controllers (Shelly? Sonoff? Other?) to provide the interface to HA
Get sparky to wire them up
How would I handle the lights with dimmers? Is it possible to have a “long press” control the dimming function?
There’s a chance that I may have answered my own question from the list above, but I’m very new to this and am keen to hear experience and guidance from the braintrust e.g. Other manufacturers to consider, ease of connecting to HA, preferred protocol, Australia-specific considerations, low/no reliance on third-party cloud controllers… etc…
Yes, my preference nowadays are Shelly devices where possible (neutral required), and wire them to the existing rocker switches.
In some cases I installed them in junction boxes near the lights in the roof where there was no neutral or no space in the wall.
Well, I tried a cheap one with a Shelly Dimmer and the haptic feedback is bad, but works in principle.
In the meantime I replaced the mechanics with a Clipsal 3-way rocker switch from their office product line. Much better, but looks very different so probably not suitable for the whole house (in my case at least).
I’m toying with the ideas, mainly around the Zigbee protocol, to reduce the load on my Wifi.
Currently looking at the Sonoff ZBMINI with neutral, so that they are then users as Zigbee Routers, but from what I’ve read the only with with an On/off switch, not a push button. where as the Sonoff ZBMINI-N1? i think doesnt used a natural, but will only work as an end point.
So im between a rock and a hard place. OCD of having to use the switches in off, when on, etc. or using all end points. and putting in a push button.
The beauty though is being about to turn if off/on at switch, like an old person, and then still be able to use HA to turn them on regardless of the state.
I’ve got a few ZBMini-L (Requires neutral) and ZBMini-L2 (no neutral) and the L2 at least can be swapped between rocker on/off switching mode and push-button momentary switching. I know this because for a few months after getting an electrcian to install one, I could turn it on using Home Assistant, but not the wall switch (standard HPM rocker), until I accidentally turned that switch on and instantly turned it off again, and the light came on. The electrician must have set it up in momentary mode when they wired them in.
e.g. Other manufacturers to consider, ease of connecting to HA, preferred protocol, Australia-specific considerations, low/no reliance on third-party cloud controllers… etc…