My light wiring doesn’t have neutral cables at the wall switches, which limits the options for smart switches. I currently have a mix of Lerlink Wifi and Aqara D1 Zigbee no-neutral switches, but have issues with both:
The Wifi switches consume more power and require capacitors to be installed at the lights. These capacitors cause most bulbs to flicker and don’t work at all on low-wattage lamps/bulbs (e.g. in toilet).
In an attempt to get rid of the Wifi switches, I got the Aqara Zigbee ones. They work great, don’t require capacitors and work even for the toilet. Unfortunately, Aqara devices are known to have a non-standard Zigbee implementation. My two Aqara switches don’t mesh with anything – even Aqara temperature sensors and even among themselves! Luckily they do mesh with IKEA repeaters and bulbs, but not to other devices (e.g. the Aurora dimmers).
So I’m looking for no-neutral Zigbee wall switches that don’t requite capacitors and mesh well with other devices. I really like the physical design of the Aqara’s, so something similar would be great.
Any ideas?
P.S. I now realize why smart home is still a niche thing. Different manufacturers, protocols, sub-protocols, software infrastructures – so much fragmentation. It should not be that hard, it should not be for enthusiasts only. Sad.
As far as I know, no-neutral devices can not “contribute” to meshing, at least not as router. Some proper power supply is needed for that.
They can just be end point devices.
Regarding aqara and xiamo devices, it is true that do not fully implement the regular zigbee protocol, but mostly the reconfiguration part. Once connected to a router, they do not easily connect to another one if you move them.
So my practice is it re pair again once at their final location ( I just deconz).
After that, they were always on for me.
Thanks @vdelab, this does help! Are you certain that no-neutral devices really can’t act as routers? (Any references? I think I may have seen that before on some Aliexpress product descriptions actually.) This information seems vital to me because if it’s really true, then the Aqara switches are probably my best bet.
I’m having the same kind of issues as you. Unfortunately this really comes down to manufacturers.
There are some really good zigbee dimmers with no neutral which also act as routers. The manufacturer is Candeo. You can buy them as direct replacements to go in your existing dimmer switch or the full version with the faceplate. They are really good for people not used to smart switched because they work exactly like normal dimmers. Press on/off, and turn for dimming.
I use them, and they are excellent for extending the mesh in my house
But so far I haven’t found any good switches which act the same. I really like the look of the Aqara ones, but for some reason they decided to only make the with neutral versions routers. It’s also a real shame they don’t mention this in any of their marketing…
But if Candeo can do it I don’t see why others can’t.