Hi all,
maybe i am joining the discussion a bit late, but i was following the thread very closely and i found and bought these:
are these covering almost almost all the requirements that @mikaelhertzman defined?
The following is a short summary of how the T2 fulfills the initial requirements: Use the physical light switch to turn on and off smart bulbs (without toggling the power to the bulb) Use the grid/mains to power said device Use Zigbee standard for said device
this not
: : Not having to rely on bypassing the switch with wiring (edit: added this for clarity)
my story, i think, is similar to many others, i will write it here in any case for context.
I have bought trhough out the years many Philips hue lights and in my old flat i couldn’t really change anything since i was renting so i relayed a lot to the remotes from philips and its bridge.
i recently transfered and i am now living in my own house and the remotes are not really a thing i like, since i don’t want to re-buy all the lights. so i was looking for a solution where i can keep the look and feel of the light switch and be able to control the lights, and also i am moving to HA with a cluster on raspberry Pies (turing pi 2)
that is doing exactly that, for each philips hue light i had to bypass the switch (thus the negative cross on the list by @mikaelhertzman ) but for me it is working now i can control the lights with the original control in addition to all the possibilities that the lights themself offer.
Does it have support for zigbee direct binding? I’m unfamiliar with the term ‘green power.’ I’m still searching for a better alternative to Girier switch modules because they lack direct binding capability. It’s disappointing that no affordable Chinese modules offer this feature.
Direct binding is essential for smart switches paired with smart bulbs. For instance, during a recent storm-induced power outage, a smart light turned on in the kids’ room, causing frustration for my wife as she couldn’t turn it off until our home automation server rebooted. For light switches, there must be direct communication between the switch and the bulb, whether wired or wireless.
What product are you referring to? Please refer to this post for information regarding the Aqara Dual Relay Module T2. If you are referring to some other product, please specify which one!
When it comes to binding there are some posts discussing that topic in this thread. Ideally all switches would support binding to avoid the scenario you described, but it seems at the moment not all switches do.
There are probably ways around it but if you require binding I don’t think the Aqara T2 is for you.
First off - thank you for your input! I am always on the lookout for new smart products.
From what I can gather from their site their products seem to fit my initial requirements, even though a lot of the documentation is only available in German so I can’t be sure.
However if my currency converstion is correct they are incredibly expensive. 180+ EUR for one device is a lot of cash for a switch in my opinion!
If you, or someone else, owns the device however and can test it out I will add it to the list in this thread (assuming it meets the requirements).
I can’t find this particular device on Zigbee2MQTT and the documentation on their site doesn’t mention binding but perhaps @ciberkids or someone else has been able to try it out and can answer that particular question.
Looking further into the product however I am not sure this classifies as a smart switch/relay. It seems to be marketed as an in-wall remote control.
The reason for why this is important for me is that this device would require wiring the light in a way that bypasses the switch (at least if I understand the product documentation correctly).
Going down this route means there is no fallback or way to control the light/load if for example the controller fails or some other issue occurs that requires you to reset the switches to their default (switching/coupled) behaviour. Binding is a way of solving this but I prefer to have a wired/electrical option. Otherwise you might just as well just purchase any cheap Zigbee switch and bypass it with your wires.
As a friendly reminder I would like to note that I appreciate any suggestions for products that would help solve the issue outlined in my initial post, however I would kindly ask that other products, solutions or discussions be raised in separate threads.
I want to avoid this thread becoming a general discussion on how to control lights, since there are already many discussions on this forum already for that. Please help keep this thread a place where we can find this particular set of products.
I hope that everyone understands my reasoning and that noone takes offense!
So, if I understood everything correctly the Aqara T2 would totally work offline (coordinator or ZHA down) if it had the binding option, right? My needs are basically the same as @mikaelhertzman plus the ability to control the bulbs at all times with no exceptions. If HA goes down my SO would kill me when the physical switches are toggled and the bulbs don’t turn on.
Since the T2 does not support actions like hold I am wondering if there is any alternativ device which I can use instead to control my lights (on/off and dimm through zigbee)?
My setup is, that I have an old dimmer (supporting only halogen lights). I replaced the old halogen bulbs against dimmable ikea zigbee bulbs. Now I want to change the old dimmer to a switch whicht supports controling the lights (on / off) in case the HA is down and the switch or a relay module should fetch and support actions like long press and send this standalone or via HA to dimm the lights via zigbee protocol. Is this possible?
Looking forward to hearing from you or someone who can give me a tip.
Yes, if it would have supported binding it would allow you to control specific lights even if coordinator is unavailable since binding allows the switch to talk directly to the light (if I recall correctly).
Until anyone suggests a device that does everything the T2 does + binding all we have are different ways of mitigating the issues that occur when the coordinator goes down.
Believe me, I feel your pain. Redundancy and/or stability is the major issue I have in our home at the moment. I wish that some manufacturer would just make a device that ticks all the right boxes.
I don’t know of any device at the moment but I wonder if there might be dedicated Zigbee dimmers out there that might solve this issue? I would at least recommend giving it a search just in case. My limited experience is that buttons and keeping them pressed is not the most efficient or intuitive way to accomplish dimming but perhaps that’s just me.
As a way of working around the problem you could always use automations to accomplish double-press and perhaps even hold actions. At least this is what I did. (There are blueprints like this one that should help you get something up and running even if it might require some minor adjustments.) Wouldn’t say it’s as reliable as if the device would have built-in support for double and hold actions but it sort of works. (It’s worth mentioning I haven’t been trying it out for too long so your mileage may vary.)
Sorry for my late answer, i didn’t expect to see activity on this post after my latest answers:)
anyway i try to address all the mention i have seen.
Related to my first post on the coupler:
Does it have support for zigbee direct binding?
i looked into the documentation and it seems that it has:
I’m unfamiliar with the term ‘green power.’
As far i understood the green power is that technology used also by philips hue for battery-less actuator that harvest energy by a kinetic press and with that little power they generate the zigbee command.
in this case i believe that it is meant the protocol.
For giving a more accurate example:
(sorry i am in switzerland and the link points to swiss sites )
Second post:
First off - thank you for your input! I am always on the lookout for new smart products.
You inspired me, i was on the hunt exactly as you are, and then i found this place that was discussing how to solve a problem that it was bugging me a lot, so thank you
From what I can gather from their site their products seem to fit my initial requirements, even though a lot of the documentation is only available in German so I can’t be sure.
I always find the site in english, they have quite an expensive documentation, maybe i linked the site with the german language selected… I am sorry btw
i linked the pdf for the documentation above.
Unfortunately one of your initial requirements is not satisfied, as someone correctly stated, it is a wall powered remote control that can be binded to lights (and coordinator) that will require to bypass the switch for keeping the light (in my case philips hue ceiling light) powered on.
in this specific i haven’t made my mind yet, your finding with the aqara is still mostly the best choice but it hasn’t the dimming effect (topic in zigbee)
However if my currency converstion is correct they are incredibly expensive. 180+ EUR for one device is a lot of cash for a switch in my opinion!
edit: i understood later that this was written in the thread
about the Zigfred. And for that yes you are totally right they are out of mind with the costs… i also answered in the thread (after i understood how this place work…) that i wouldn’t recommend it after i heard what i heard
i find these modules online for 30 bucks
If you, or someone else, owns the device however and can test it out I will add it to the list in this thread (assuming it meets the requirements).
I will experiment in the near future, right now i am still fixing the network at home I am building knowledge right now.
at the end i will explain my zigbee configurations and ideas:)
third post:
yes you are right
fourth post:
perhaps @ciberkids or someone else has been able to try it out and can answer that particular question.
i believe it does reading the pdf i linked, i haven’t bought it yet
As a friendly reminder I would like to note that I appreciate any suggestions for products that would help solve the issue outlined in my initial post, however I would kindly ask that other products, solutions or discussions be raised in separate threads.
you are totally right! i didn’t really explain correctly what each products do.
i am sorry that i didn’t understand the thread methodology of this forum earlier, i realized what i have done only after i posted… sorry… i will not make the same mistake again.
I hope that everyone understands my reasoning and that noone takes offense!
absolutely, keeping the thread tidy is a must for getting the right information out.
For anyone who’s still looking for a decoupled switch, Z2MQTT has just released support for the Aqara Z1 Pro which, on paper (I don’t have one myself yet) can do on, off & hold.
Strangely, only the 4-gang version lists support for hold commands - the others with less gangs only seem to support hold for the slider on the side.
Use the physical light switch to turn on and off smart bulbs (without toggling the power to the bulb)
: : Not having to rely on bypassing the switch with wiring (edit: added this for clarity)
