Hi, I’ve been looking for a zigbee or wifi switch that doesn’t need a neutral, I’ve seen shelly but I don’t have deep enough sockets to fit them in as well as a normal switch. I stumbled across these but can’t see any real reviews online for them so was wondering if anyone in the community had any experience with them?
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I’ve been using one of the SM323 for about a while now, bought it to replace an existing dimmer that wasn’t working very well with new LED spotlights.
Currently using it through deconz, and had no issue getting it connected.
I did have to replace the original face plate as the one I have is a dual dimmer, and the unit wouldn’t fit in next to the regular dimmer, not an issue if you’re installing in a single but the previous owners of the house have dual dimmers in most rooms so something to be aware of.
Running 7 spots, and I have noticed that one of the spots turns back on very dimmly after the lights have been turned off, it may need an OTA update but I’ve not looked at how to do that with deconz yet. Note that I’m running without a neutral at the moment, so that issue might be related.
The physical push button does have a short delay in the lights turning on/off but it’s less than a second.
Have a second one that I haven’t fitted yet, and might get at a couple more to replace some of the other dimmers.
Haven’t used any of the shelly devices yet so can’t comment on them yet.
I have just installed one of these Zigbee rotary dimmers in my kitchen, driving 9 5W LED dimmable GU10 bulbs. It works very nicely. It was a drop-in replacement for an old dimmer module in a 4-gang double width front plate. Integration with Home Assistant was easy using a Tasmota flashed Sonoff bridge and ZHA.
The only problem I have is that sometimes when the lights are turned off a few of them flash dimly for an extended period of time - hours in some cases. I presume this is because the electronics in the dimmer draws some current which is enough to trigger the bulbs. I am looking into various fixes and will update here if it works.
PS - I bought this because of your question in this topic. I could not find any other information about Zigbee rotary dimmers. So, thanks
Just a note:
I bought the SM314s which had a similar issue and fixed it with a driver change I found mentioned here:
Driver:
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For completion the (only?) alternative seems to be the Aurora AU-A1ZB2WDM here: Smart Rotary Dimmer Switch - #28 by coobnoob
At 50 a knob those were a bit steep. These seem more reaosnable but still a bit pricier than my buying point.
I recommend the samotechs. They work really well – the auroras would not drive most of my downlighters
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I had the same problem with one of the bulbs coming back on dimly - I changed the bulbs from Phillips and the problem went away
I have just bought a couple of these and running into the same issue with the face plate. Which manufacturer did you find has enough space to fit two side by side? Tried Scolmore and MK with no joy.
(by the way need a brass plate)
Is it normal for these to have a slight delay when switching on via the physical switch? I’m getting at least a 1s delay. I don’t understand why there would be a delay with the switch but via ZigBee it’s almost instantaneous.
My only thought is that maybe there is a slight delay to detect wether it is a long or a short push?
It was exactly that. I emailed them and this is their reply:
The delay you are experiencing when switching on the lights is a built-in safety feature. It is not possible to change the delay time unfortunately.
When I asked if they could explain in more detail what this “feature” is doing?
They replied with:
As there is no separate reset button and every operation is done by the knob, the delay is required for the dimmer to distinguish functions requested from pressing the knob.
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These Samotech SM323 are pretty expensive compared to the standard Tuya Zigbee 3.0 dimmer switches - has anyone found any inexpensive alternatives that work with LED dimmable bulbs?
I bought the SM323 for £36.99 on Amazon, and I’ve just literally installed it now. I have to say - after 5 minutes of usage I’m pretty pleased with it! Using the Sonoff ZBBridge with Tasmota and it paired pretty much instantly (press the dimmer button twice and hold it on the 2nd press and the lights flash once to indicate pairing mode then add it to ZHA in HA).
This has replaced the middle dimmer in a Varilight V-Pro 3 gang polished chrome dimmer. Simply swapped out the middle dimmer with the SM323 and it fit perfectly fine.
I’ll be replacing the bedroom dimmer with this too (currently using a Sonoff D1 Dimmer and a custom made dimmer switch with a rotary encoder which has worked fairly reliably).
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I’m thinking of buying these to replace a few of my non-smart MK grid plus dimmers, but the delay when using the physical dimmer itself sounds frustrating.
Is this delay only when physically turning on & off, or is the delay also when physically adjusting the dimming of the lights?
Just on and off and you get used to it.
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Any one have state issues with these? Installed the other day and love it… Except, when you turn on from the switch the state does not update in HA to show it’s on. As soon as you adjust the level from the switch it does then update to show it’s on.
I have them installed through hue bridge and have the physical turning on/off flow in to the app and home assistant.
I have two of these installed via ZHA and am having state issues with them. When I turn them ON or OFF in Home Assistant they toggle back to their prior state in HA even though the physical device does not appear to change state. For example if the lights are OFF and I turn them ON in HA the lights come on and stay on even though the state changes back to OFF after about a second. I then can’t turn the lights off irl without using the physical switch. This prevents me from building any automations around them. Super frustrating and so far I’ve had no luck with Samotech customer service.
I have spoken to samotech about this. It’s basically the fact that the switch only responds with the on state if the dimmer is turned once on. If you switch on and do not turn the state is not updated to on. They have revised the sw and there current stock has this new sw (I have not purchased a new one to find out yet). They have also said I can return my current on for a replacement.
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That’s very helpful to know, I purchased my units only last month!