I’m currently looking to do my first setup, starting with wall switches for room lighting. For some context I am remodeling a room and want all the light switches to be smart. I have 3 separate light sources and 1 led strip. Wiring is UK standard with neutral available at switch.
My biggest requirement is that should my server be down, I would like the switches to operate normally (as dumb switches). Additionally, when the server is up I would expect that using the switches from the wall or from the app should have the same effect.
Having read about the different communication protocols I was interested in Z-Wave, in order to avoid wifi interference (I live in a crowded apartment block with a number of wi-fi networks).
I do not know if I am asking for too much or even what I should be looking for?
I would recommend lutron caseta. They aren’t cheap but they work. I’ve used zwave switches too and the speed and reliability of lutron vs zwave isn’t even worth debating.
They do require a neutral cable on your switchbox to operate (whereas some lutrons don’t afaik) and they work on wifi, instead of the z-wave you requested.
But, they are cheap enough for you to buy one to test and get rid of it if it doesnt suit your needs
Wifi switched are generally horrible or need 3rd party
Everything else has proprietary protocol that locks you into a 3rd parties products
Zwave is not perfect but currently most reliable smarthome platform with large product range and support (I never try zigbee)
(3yrs/2home) and never have single issue with these GE. I have some broadlink wifi that randomly lose network and must be setup again.
It’s instantaneous. There is no difference in timing between the lutron caseta switch on your wall and using via HA. Not sure if it matters for your use case, but they don’t require neutral wires either. I do use zwave for other things but just not my wall switches.
The other nice thing about Lutron Caseta is their Pico remotes - that is you can have a second (wireless) control for you switch anywhere you like (within reason) and it will also work if the HA is down.
I’ve found the quality to be high but they are expensive $50 to $70 depending on if you want the remote and dimmer or switch only.
