The reason i didnt change my switches was the extra cost if you are doing an installation from the start then the cost difference is minimal
The main reason to use the smart switch 6 is portability and easy installation, i have been using it to monitor different electrical appliances power usage, very handy.
yes you can just replace the outlet with a smart outlet but then you become limited to that outlet, where i can move my one to where ever i need it
when it comes to 3 way switching you have to take into count the wiring you have
i haven’t attempted to change my 3 way yet so cant say how hard/easy it will be
I received many quotation and are quite expensive:
2500 € for an alarm made by Ajax system (a Ukrainian company with a modern wifi system) and
2700 € for the same solution (3 sensor for the balconies + 1 pir sensor and 1 door sensor for the front door) built by TecnoAlarm.
So, I would love to spend less and have more!
But my main concern is ti have a reliable solution (no false positive!).
very cheap siren for outside (actually have not installed yet) ,= less then 20$
zigbee xiaomi door window sensor and PIR (of course xiaomi gateway attached to a UPS as the router), around 15 devices = around 200$
HASS as software and the ALARM component you find in the forum (yet another alarm …) = 0 but a lot of time
So far is very reliable.
Maybe for simplicity you want to go 100% the zwave route, you will spend definetely more, but I don’t think more then 1000$. XIaomi PIR and door sensor are like 10-15$ each, while zwave is around 30-50$ each depending on brand
My 2 cents worth… When I looked at the zwave vs. zigbee decision about 18 months ago, it looked to me like zwave is more mature and better supported than zigbee. I have two PIR sensors that have never given me a false positive or negative. As I have continued to look at the postings on this forum, I see nothing to change that decision. WiFi is interesting, but it is less turn key, and if you are looking at security as your primary use case, then I would than that WiFi is a more likely attack vector than zwave. Having said that, I do have a WiFi device for my garage door. It was more effort than a zwave device would be, but it works great.
No. Most smart switches don’t toggle. They are spring loaded. They look like decora style switches but return to the middle like momentary pushbutton switches. So they never take a state. The main thing is they work like normal switches when you need to manually switch it on
Some lamp modules like the ones from insteon have switch detection so if you have it off at the plug module, but turn the little rotary switch up by the bulb of the lamp, it will kick it on. Works amaztly well.
What I have seen most people look at are the ‘smart’ bulbs, which screw into a std fixture. Those are what I refer to as a non-starter and not something that would be spouse approved
If you have a switch or module that is always powered, that avoids the issue. That is of the reason I use zwave. Pluse it does not require an additional hub.
If you had a circuit that held the total power consumption constant, you’d be right that 110 volts will need to draw more amps. But in the case of a human touching a live wire, I think Ohms law is more applicable. It says that current is a function of voltage divided by resistance (I = E/R). The resistance of a human body can change is funny ways, due to its non-homogenous nature. But broadly speaking, twice the voltage will run twice the current through you, and thus a 220 volt wire is bad, and a downed high voltage power line is frequently fatal.
You’re exactly right. Ohm’s law is king. More voltage = more current for a given resistance = more dead…
I’ve had the “pleasure” to be shocked by voltages from 48vdc, 120vac, 240vac, 360vac and 480vac. None of them were “pleasurable” but as the voltage went up the “pleasure” definitely went down.
