Easiest/Best way to replace real switch with one that can get HA commands

1

Hello there,
I’ve got this fairy lights in the bottle (see picture).
It is powered by AA batteries and there is a switch to turn it on/off. What is the best way to automate it with HA? Like how can i replace that switch with something that gets signals from HA?

IMG_20180915_100849
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Thanks,
Alex

2

The answer mostly depends on your preferred protocol. Zwave, zigbee, WiFi, HomeKit or …

3

Hi @SebasT.
I don’t really have any preferences. I have aqara hub and hue hub and raspberry pi with hassbian but I guess there is no way to use any of those and I probably need a device to send/receive zwave/ZigBee signals?
If so what is the best way to do it?

4

You’ll need some kind of relay to replace the switch. There are a lot of zwave relay switches on the market. But since you don’t already use zwave you might be better of using a WiFi based solution like Sonoff relay switch.

5

Thanks @SebasT,
do you think it is going to use lots of power? This is just 3 AA batteries so i wonder how long it is going to work if it is wifi switch? And is it going to be more energy efficient if done with zwave or zigbee?

6

you’ll need to provide mains (120v etc) power to the Sonoff, set up MQTT to control the Sonoff, then connect the wires that used to go to the switch for the LED lights across the relay of the Sonoff so that the Sonoff works in place of the old switch.

7

Is there any way to make it work with just AA baterries or powerbank?

8

Like this fairy lights i mentioned above or i was thinking about Halloween pumpkin and putting there motion sensor and light so when someone approaches it gets lit.
I found aqara battery sensor tat works really good but not sure how to do it with the lights.

Please help…

9

Aqara hub is Zigbee, but I think works only with Aqara Xiaomi devices.
If you don’t find anything good from them, get WiFi switch.

Zigbee and WiFi switches I think they only work with high voltage.

10

I really don’t think so. Any type of switch is going to need some type of “always on” connection that listens for the on/off command so battery life would be horrible.

11

The switch will need its own powersupply. Those three AA batteries are not going to cut it. You could get yourself a Sonoff SV and power it through a decent power bank I guess. The leds can be connected directly to the Sonoff SV. You will be needing some degree of electronic/soldering skills to accomplish this

12

Hi @SebasT
Do you mean i’ll need to:

  • cut fairy lights cable,
  • solder power to Sonoff SV from one end
  • and solder lights to another end of Sonoff SV

Is it everything or is there anything else to it?

How easy it is to set up Sonoff with HA? Is it a matter of declaring the lights in configuration.yaml or something more complex? And do i need any special hardware to send signal to the switch (something similar to mqqt broker)?

Thanks,
Alex

13

I guess you are right about how to hook it up. Power (5v dc) on one end and lights on the other.
I’m no Sonoff expert though. I know it can be controlled by HASS but i’m lacking the details on how to accomplish this. I’ll leave that to other experts on this forum.