Hi. I am new to the HA platform as I just heard about it few months ago when looking into ways to make the house I’m building as smart as possible. So I look to you, the experts, for some insight into what to do.
I am building a two story house and I will integrate smart lighting into it from the start. The problem is that I expect to have around 100 small LED ceiling lights (downlights) as this will be the main source of light in every room.
This means I am looking to buy cheaper alternatives to philips hue and I have settled on the Gledopto 9W RGBCCT Downlight. These are zigbee lights compatible with the Hue hub and I think also SmartThings hub.
To begin with I will use a SmartThings V2 hub I already own but later I will integrate this into HA running on a mini pc, either through zigbee dongle or via the SmartThings hub.
I have heard that there are limitations on how many lights and switches can be connected to a Hue hub (around 50) but what about the SmartThings hub? Do I face any limitations there? Or do I have to go through a Hue hub or other hub to pair the lights and control the lights from smarthings? What is the best way to go to connect and control all these lights?
Now I run into problem because I don’t know what to do regarding switches to control all these lights. Are wireless switches such as the Philips Hue Dimmer Switch or any of the Xiaomi zigbee switches the way to go or should go with zigbee switches that are wired into the wall for power (I guess the only reason to wire them is for power as the lights are zigbee lights with included driver)? If I wire them into the wall I have the limitations that I live in Europe and will need switches with a round back that goes into the wall (not the square one as in the US), as well as the dimensions of the switch can’t exceed 73x73mm to fit with the power sockets in my house that will sometimes be placed right next to the switch.
So I basically have three questions:
- Are these lights the way to go or are there any other brands I should be looking at than Gledopto?
- What type of switches, wired or wireless, do you recommend to control the lights (preferably with functions like dimming, scene selection and white color changes)?
- What is the best way to connect and control these lights and switches, as in what hubs and control units will I need?