Finding UK switches seems to be a painful experience with limited options. In my search to make my home smart without sacrificing my family's old habits (of actually using a switch) I came across Den Smart Home.
Looks exciting but currently limited products with more coming later in the year. It needs its own hub (yet another hub) but seems to work with Google Home and Alexa.
Is anybody already using these?
How do they find them?
Does anybody think these would be controllable through Hubitat (which is a big selling point for me if the answer is yes)? Has anybody written such code to work?
Does anybody else know of similar UK solutions to make my home smart without sacrificing the switch? I know of Hive and Hue but other than than smart bulbs, the UK options seem very limited.
Ah - are these like the Fibaro things? They looked a bit complicated and I am a simple person. They just sit behind the light switch right? But they won't move the switch on and off - But I assume I could find a fancy light switch to go in front rather then the traditional toggle type?
May have to look into these more
Didn't realise they work with Hubitat
Thank you
You are right on the den switches - reading more they work with magnets, and the magnet needs to charge after each switch. Also some people say they are a bit loud in a bedroom. They talk on their own protocols using IEEE 802.15.4 (WI-FI?)
They sure are.
I'm in the UK but unfortunately my back boxes are not deep enough to fit these in with the switch.
You can fit them in the ceiling rose.
If you do get them and they do fit in your back box make sure you get the Fibaro Dimmer 2s.
They do not need a neutral at the light switch and it will give you dimmer capabilities. The light switch will still turn the light on and off and you can automate the light so HE turns the light on with motion, Lux levels etc.
Have fun.
I went with philips dimmers and covers over the existing switches. Its completely cured the problem with the Mrs keep turning them off, although you can get to the switch if needed.
Thank you both... I guess Philips is the easiest solution albeit costly. (but then adding up the cost of the switch / faceplate / painkillers after electrocuting myself there is probably not much in it. Actually, Hue may be cheaper?
Sorry to divert the question away. I have read in some posts we still need a hue bridge for these to work with Hubitat or will these dimmers work direct without the Philips hub so I could use the dimmers to control anything?
I have most of my Hue dimmers are directly connected to HE, and can see they are repeating through my Ikea bulbs, also on HE. All are very stable, never really have any issues with them. If I do have issues, its normally the hub itself that's being funny.
If you get Hue bulbs, and a dimmers at least you can reset the bulbs (if ever needed) with a dimmer, you don't need the hub. Although I've never had to reset any Hue bulb, only other makes. So should be ok. I have a Hue bridge, and that's connected to HE, but don't use Hue bulbs directly with HE, I've heard they can be bad repeaters. But the Ikea ones I have seem absolutely fine, and no need for their hub to reset if needed.
I've had to go this way, as all my back boxes are 35mm, so no room to play. But did got fed up with others switching things off Now they don't. And would have been more expensive drilling out, and redecorating where needed. Pretty much all the house are using smart bulbs, not that cheap but I did wait for Amazon deals etc to kit them out.
So to connect a dimmer direct I don't need the bridge - I assume it is just a case of searching for zigbee devices? I found the hue bridge app but I guess if not using the bridge I would not need one? I guess if I go hue bulbs I would be better getting a bridge anyway.
With the Ikea bulbs, do they need the ikea gateway or the remotes for initial set up of will HE just find them with a zigbee search and treat them like a generic bulb?
The things I am trying to avoid is too many hubs and having to buy hubs just to set up and then not use them.
Also I guess once the dimmer remote is in HE it could control anything else in HE - doesn't need to be just bulbs.
Exactly this No need for the app, only drivers, and they're built in.
No hub required for the Ikea bulbs either, although the only thing I will say, is some have found them hit and miss. For me, they have been pretty much perfect. I have 14 GU10's and a few E14's.
For me bulbs were no good. People just kept turning the switch off which renders a smart bulb useless until someone turns the switch back on again. There are ways round this as has been pointed out. Personally I like to use standard dumb switches with smart modules as this way whoever is in your house it doesn't matter if people use the manual dumb switch or not.
All I'm saying is its horses for courses but think about your home environment first and what would suit your usage.
Whatever you decide I'm sure you will get things how you want them.
It looks like these are not available in the UK so after shipping and customs yhese may not be a good option for me. They do look good though - maybe if AduroSmart would get a UK reseller this would be a great option for the UK market.
I use the Fibaro dimmer 2 behind the switch then I have retractive switches connected input 1 and 2. Input 1 controls the dimmer and downlights and input 2 controls the ZigBee lamp (one in each room). I also have plain toggle switch controling a smart lamp and a z-wave RGBW controller, but for this I installed a Fibaro UBS behind the switch they are tiny and have 2 inputs but they need a 9-30v supply. Not a issue for me as I wired between the switch and the RGBW controller.
I also have motion detection as well so get best of both worlds.
And would have been more expensive drilling out, and redecorating where needed. Pretty much all the house are using smart bulbs, not that cheap but I did wait for Amazon deals etc to kit them out.
