What are my fellow Brits using as Zigbee relays in your dumb light switches? Samotech SM308-S, for example? Sonoff? Yagusmart? or some other?
Bit of a minefield for a beginner like me...
I'd like to control a couple of dumb light switches - one upstairs hall, one downstairs hall. Either can switch both lights on and off. I intend putting a contact sensor on the front door, to switch both lights on for, say, 5 minutes, after sunset, upon entering.
I know I could replace the switches with the full Yagusmart Zigbee switch (and maybe I will), for example. But I may want to put relays in other switches that I don't want to change, so feel I need to understand this.
And could I switch it on at the wall when I come in? Of course I could. But sometimes I'm carrying too much beer...
I'm just about to do a full rewire.... I have gone for the Sonoff ZBmini's. They do say neutral optional so might work on UK wiring with no neutral but given I'm fully rewiring I will have neutrals available
I use fibaro dimmer 2's not zigbee they are zwave have 15 of them i also have some fibaro single switch2's and some aeotec nano dimmers and nano switchs.
I really like the dimmer 2's i use the s2 output on some of them, this allows you to wire up a second switch to control other stuff.
If your doing a full rewire make sure u go for deep backboxes especially if you have solid walls, i had to go 70mm deep to fit my modules and switches (schneider ultimate flat grid)
I've used Samotech Zigbee switches (SM323) to replace dimmer switches with success, you don't need a neutral for these. In my case I was able to re-use the existing faceplate and just replace the dimmer module.
I have also used Yagusmart smart switches, neutral required, purchased from Amazon which work well but you may need a deeper box or you can buy a Schneider spacer from Screwfix.
Im working on a smart home that is 100% dumb at the same time. The ZBmini is great for this as it retains the original switch operation so a non tech person can still navigate through my home and operate everything as usual. Theyre suprisingly small as well, I have not yet had one not fit and i have a 3 gang with 3 minis behind it.
The only issue is failure rate. Some dont work at all. Some work via hubitat but not the physical switch. Some work great. Out of the 6 ive installed 2 dont work which sucks. Its wasted time as well as they take a bit to install.
Just adding my thoughts to this, I have circa 40 samotech Zigbew 308 switch and 309 dimmer modules in my new build that use neutral. All have been rock-solid so far.
I've personally integrated them into Hubitat via Hue (for the WAF as she likes the Hue app), but I don't recommend this way as there can be issues when polling switch statuses this way around. So add directly to Hubitat if you go down this route.
Yes, to work properly retractive switches are required to 'pulse' the relay, normal switches will work but you'll have to push them on/off in rapid successsion to create the pulse and switch on/off - at least that's what you need to do with the Samotech Relays.
I used the varilight 'powergrid' modular options to build the switches I needed alongside their retractive switches.
Anyone here in the UK have slick looking switches? Am about to buy a load and really want something looking nice. Current best bet seems to be the retrotouch retractive range but I did notice they also now seem to have capacitive touch screens that they say are "Fibaro" compatible which could be a nice option but the cost is fairly high.
Would be interested to see examples of slick looking switches you may be using.
Yes we've deep boxes and as it's a new build I got the electrician to install an extra backbox below the switch back box so I can drop the modules down there out the way.
We didn't get any other switches we liked so think probably going with retrotouch white glass models
The ZBmini doesn't require any kind of retractive switch. The only reason you would need something like that is if you care about the actual physical position of the switch. When you call out for activation via Alexa or whatever else the switch will turn on but the physical switch will still be in the off position. This bothers some people. I don't mind.
