The model you show wants a neutral. Grr.
This is why most current codes require a neutral in almost every box... really opens up your options.
I'm guessing you're not thrilled with the Shelly 1UL or Aeotec Nano options that have been suggested?
1 Like
Let's approach this from another direction, then.
Have any of you in the world of Hubitat had any success getting Aquara Zigbee devices to work on Hubitat? Or, are they the Verizon of Zigbee, having their own little quirks to keep their alleged Zigbee protocol from working with rest-of-the-world Zigbee devices?
There are LOTS of discussions on other threads about how to get Aqara devices to work properly. I've avoided them because I've not wanted to deal with it
1 Like
My understanding is that in general, they tend to be picky re: which devices they will repeat through to stay connected to the zigbee mesh.
In the case of a wired switch or relay module, that may be less of an issue, depending on how close the device will be to the hub.
I have 3 of the non-neutral Aqara light switches connected with no issues.
I also tried a switch with a neutral and that trashed my zigbee mesh after a few days.
The non-neutral ones do not repeat so do not cause mesh issues. (For me anyway).
EDIT: I am using a custom driver.
So many ways to spend one’s time. Chaperoning a zigbee mesh shouldn’t have to be one of them.
I’m not the only one!
Our bathroom has two switches to turn the ceiling light on. One by the bedroom door and one by the hallway door.
My OCPD goes into overdrive when I want to turn the light on by flipping the switch up, but IT IS ALREADY UP yet the light is off.
I gave up 30 years ago telling my wife that up is on and down is off.
Now, when I encounter both light switches up, they both get flipped down. Problem solved until my lovely bride uses the light switch again. What she usually does is flip one switch up to turn the light on, then she goes out the other door and flips the switch up to turn the light off.
I have some lights in the basement that are wired three way, and on of the boxes didn't have a neutral. I converted one of the wires to a neutral and now the GE z-wave switch in that box controls the other switch (with a neutral connection) by z-wave. I have them associated, so in the event of a hub outage, it should still work.
Not the same situation, I realize.
I've no experience with the aqara switches, but based on the manual for this one I would guess they're using the ground as a neutral wire. Lots of people used to do this (and probably still do) but it's not electrical code compliant. Although the ground and neutral are connected together in your electrical panel, the ground is intended as a safety circuit only and not a a current carrying conductor. If you decide to go this way, you should know that you can probably accomplish the same thing using a better quality switch (Zooz, Inovelli, Lutron, etc.). And if you try this on a GFCI protected circuit, it will almost certainly not work.
At this point, the entire matter is moot. Due to my declining health,I now reside in a condo, and - glory be! - it is wired with neutral available everywhere.
