Nice looking switches and keypads for reasonable price - what are my options?

Hardware
1

I’ve been looking for keypads that can be used to trigger scripts within HA, and for a switch that can send an “on” and “off” signal – i.e. I don’t want a toggle action.

I’ll start with the on/off: I have a Kasa bulb and Kasa smart outlet that I’ve set up and configured so I can control the lights in the bedroom with HA. Sometimes, however, you just want to tap something on the wall right there to turn the light on and not mess about with a phone or voice assistant, because that takes too long. Ideally, it would be a decora-style switch, where tapping the top would send an “on” signal, and tapping the bottom would send an “off” signal. I realize those labels are arbitrary, and I’m really looking for a 2-key keypad that looks (mostly) like a standard light switch. Worst case, if I have to use a toggle I can live with that.

For keypads, the best price/looks ratio I’ve found is the 2nd gen Bond Sidekick (with custom engraving). I was planning to pick up a Bond Hub anyway because we will be installing compatible blinds, and already have compatible fans. Is it possible to install multiple Sidekicks with a single hub, and can the keypresses be exposed so that I can write scripts in HA to react to them?

At the moment I’m running HA in a VM on my Macbook (setup was a breeze – far less complicated than getting the stupid Schlage Encode Plus working to connect to WiFi), but I plan to purchase one of the pre-built units and get the SkyConnect so ZigBee or Matter would be options also.

I’d prefer to avoid proprietary switches (e.g. Lutron or Leviton), and I’m only considering the Bond because I need their hub for the fans (I think). I don’t want to throw another hub into the mix, and all the nice looking solutions seem to be proprietary or “really proprietary and we’re not going to sell you a keypad without an entire system and if you have to ask what that’s going to cost, you can’t afford it.”

2

Friends of Hue switches might be an option.
It is just ZigBee switches that send an event to the HA event bus (or to the Hue hub, if you prefer that).
They come in different versions that often follow the local design tradition in that area.
In Denmark they can look like this:
Http://smartkontakten.dk

The keypads is a standard keypad for many types of switches here and there are firms that can print your choice of symbols on the keys.

3

Thanks! I have never come across “Friends of Hue” before because I’ve generally ignored anything that had “Hue” in the name or description. Guess I need to stop doing that :slight_smile:

4

I use these

https://www.zigbee2mqtt.io/devices/WXCJKG11LM.html

They come with up to three bands, (so 6 buttons)

Battery powered, so no wiring.

Battery seems to last forever.

The front panel is attached by a magnet, so you can use it like a remote, or leave it on the wall.

5

After a bit of research, it appears that the Friends of Hue switches require a device, such as a Hue bulb, to translate the message into something that HA can use. Is that correct?

6

It requires a ZigBee hub or ZigBee usb stick

7

Good to know. From what I was reading, my understanding was only the Hue devices were able to receive the commands from those switches and were needed to translate to something a “normal” ZigBee system could understand.

I’ve also found radiant Wireless Smart Scene Controller with Netatmo. Can HA act as the required Netatmo “Smart Gateway”? While the UX of HA is generally excellent, I’ve found that the documentation sometimes skips over what I assume are obvious things to those with a little more experience.

8

I have no experience with Netatmo.