Hello
Den equipment finally has a release date of May for some things. Anyone going to buy any?
https://www.getden.co.uk/products
I just hope they can work with HA and do actually come in colours like Chrome eventually. Shame the 3 gang wall switches are HUGE…
Cheers
Mark
I’d probably buy a whole house worth if it works as advertised but for the fact that they don’t plan to release the API so it’s tied to there hub and presumably the cloud which is an automatic NO for me.
I have been keeping an eye on Den for a while now. I’m glad their products are finally getting released. Their products look like they have everything I have been looking for. With the one exception, as @calisto pointed out they do not have an API. There is a glimmer of hope on the FAQ’s they state “we don’t have an open API at the moment.”. Without the api the only hope we have is that they use local multicast to send data over the home network. Xiaomi did this with their smart home products. This allowed the xiaomi component to work. Initially I plan on buying the hub and a couple of switches to try out the system.
Promise of an API is as good as never gonna have an API.
API could just be another method of interfacing with their cloud service
First rule of tech, never buy ANYTHING with the promise of future features, wait until the features actually exist, and someone has tested them to your satisfaction.
These have now been released, if anyone is interested
Well some things have been released, a lot says it isn’t available until Q2 2019.
Also, where is this alleged API?
I am surprised by their telling of a delay when the switch is turned on or off as the capacitor needs charging which is fair enough but their advertising never mentioned that.
And their switches don’t work if you don’t have an earth connection as they use the leaky current which is negligible to trip the RCD and charges the capacitor.
Sounds effing dodgy to me.
that is me out,
Yeah same here was excited about den but not anymore as the delay is about a minute to recharge the capacitor and that is not smart. Should be instant if it’s a smart switch.
Looks like is all been released now and available to buy on Amazon.
Just wanted to clarify something… if you send a command to a Den switch to change state it will do so instantly (very loud clunk). However it can’t then change state again for about 45secs whilst the capacitor recharges. In practical use this delay isn’t usually an issue. Very few things get turned on and off again or vv. within 1 minute. PIR activated lighting maybe an exception.
I have a couple of sockets and switches just to play. The light switches do not act as repeaters which is disappointing and increases the cost of a useful install significantly as you need more sockets. It’s too expensive for any more bits atm.
Can the capacitor be bypassed if the light switches are wired for neutral, live and earth? Given it is there to allow usage without neutral wiring, it is redundant if you do have it.
And where would you put the neutral wire?
It would need the appropriate circuitry to be permanently powered, like the wall switches you usually run stuff like Tasmota on.
True but I don’t think there is any provision within the switch for this. Plus - if it was permanently powered it really should provide repeater capabilities for the Den network and I doubt that’s in the firmware.
All in all unless you really want the physical movement of the switch there are better options out there if you have a neutral.
Actually in most usage scenarios I don’t think the delay caused by the capacitor is a problem… except that if a command is sent by your automation during this time it seems to get lost rather than being heard, stored and actioned when possible.
