All(*) my lights work like this: to the wall power socket (230V), I have an intermediate connected (a WiFi plug/relay), then the cable of the lamp (with its mechanical switch, always on) and a normal bulb.
On the wall I have a switch: a button that looks like a normal switch, either powered by the wall 230 V cables or by a battery and it sends a “pressed”, “double pressed”, “held”, … message to HA which then makes the decision to toggle lights through convoluted automations.
All this works great when HA is on.
The DRP is to either press the small button on the relays or plugs to switch the lamps (very practical when the relay is behind the couch), or plug the lamp directly to the socket and live as if it was 1980.
My question about Matter
I very casually read about Matter and I got the impression that it would be possible to build something like that:
the lamp is connected the same way as above, but the “smart intermediate” understands Matter
the Matter-enabled wall switch can pair the relevant devices for this switch
the wall switch is then integrated to HA
This would allow the lamps to work seamlessly when HA is off because the switch would know “its” lights.
Is the above correct?
If no, well thank you, good bye and thanks for all the fish
If yes - have you done that? Does it actually work? Any recommendations for the “smart intermediates”?
(*) I have three ceiling lamps that are not smartified yet, and the answer to that question will drive how I will address them.
TL;DR For most resilient setups that allow advanced local control (and full ownership) use ESPHome. You can control inside and outside the same (wifi) network (without HA)
Your sonoff/meross devices might even be capable running esphome (if not ZigBee/matter devices).
If each switch was a hub to which you would pair devices, then it would not need anything to toggle them. On top of that it would be connected to HA which could make it do some actions.
All my ESP-based stuff runs ESPHome (commercial devices and my own IoTs)
This is very interesting, I will have to have a closer look. The only problem is that today I have a mixture of ESPHome and Meross devices and I was considering to switch to Matter-enabled devices if my initial idea was realistic.
If I wanted to use ESPHome everywhere I would need to find plugs/relays/extenders that are built on ESP (or make some myself)
It is the intended way it should work, but Matter is only getting there now with the latest iteration and the future ones.
You need Matter hubs and end devices to be at the right protocol level to succeed and it is currently still a bit complicated to get it set up.
Zigbee can actually do this also and is probably a bit better integrated.
It is therefore mostly a question about whether you want it to work yesterday or you can wait for it.
Sort of!
The switch does not know the state.
It will not send an off or on command, but instead a toggle command.
I have smart relays (ESPHome, WiFi), Zigbee wall switches, gluded by HA
I want Matter relays and Matter wall switches, provided that they can work in clusters (switch + paired relays) in case HA is not available ← this is the core of my question
Yes, if I have 5 lamps, 2 on and 3 off then sending a “toggle” message will switch the 2 off and the 3 on (I am solving this point in HA via a quorum-based script, to decide if all must go on or all must go off)
This is not good. Maybe it can send sequences (upon pressing) of “on”, “off”, “on” (to switch everything on/off no matter their state)