Smart light switch help

Scope

Scope

Scope

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1 Dec 2002
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Swindon
Im thinking of changing the lighting in my kitchen to be smart so I can control with Google home/phone/manual swithc. I currently have 2 switches in either end of the room:

1 normal on/off switch
1 push dimmer switch

Am I right in thinking that if I change the on/off switch for a smart switch the dimmer switch will work as normal?
So if I switch the light off at the dimmer switch, the smart switch will be able to switch it back on if I say use my phone to control it?

The answer is probably the same if I had 2 normal on/off switches on a light? - is it enough to change one of them for a smart switch, or do you need to change both of them?
 
AFAIK most of these switches need a constant live and neutral connection to work.

You need to check whether this is true for the switches you're interested in, and then check what wiring you have available. Many (most) UK light switches will just have a looped live which won't work.

Edit: You'd need a 2 way switch as well.
 
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I've looked into doing similar in our kitchen, which has 2 independently controlled rows of downlights, with 2-way switching and dimming.
Sadly it's unlikely to be as easy as just replacing a switch, partly because you probably won't have a neutral connection (which a lot of the wifi type switches need) as bremen says, and also because they may not play nice with a separate 2-way dimmer.
LightwaveRF is one of the few switches/dimmers that doesn't need a neutral, and there are wireless battery powered switches to provide the 2-way operation. The dimmers and switches do need deep back-boxes and a hub for the remote control. The main alternative I'm looking at is smart-bulbs like Hue, where you leave lights powered all the time and stick battery powered remotes on the walls for normal use.
If anyone knows any other options I'd be interest to hear too.
 
i went for the 'lightwaveRF' option. These dimmers don't need a neutral feed. You would need to replace both switches though and have a hub to link them together. They control well through google or you can create schedules through the app
 
I had similar requirement for my living room, with a 2-way setup consisting of one switch and a dimmer that switched a couple of ceiling mounted semi-flush lights (and I couldn't easily just replace the individual lights with smart bulbs which is simpler as no wiring required - but can get expensive if you have lots of lights to replace).

Rather than keeping the dimmer switch I opted for a smart switch - a fibaro 2-way dimmer - that provides a dimming capability and all the smarts you need - costs about £50 and wiring is fairly straightforward take a look at https://www.vesternet.com/resources/application-notes/apnt-112 One of the good things about Fibaro is that it doesn't require neutral so works in 2-wire setups that are common in the UK.

I then replaced both the dimmer-switch and push button with standard momentary (aka momentary or bell-push) switches, wired in the fibaro in the back-box which originally had the dimmer which had the additional wiring running to both the lights and second switch)

Fibaro is z-wave plus and hooked up to a Smarthings hub (much cheaper than Fibaro's hub) for control and that provides the integration with my Alexa setup to add voice control - it's worked without issue since installation a few months back and I'll be using the same setup for my kitchen which also has similar requirements.
 
Thought it might be better to revive an old thread rather than post a new one. Has anyone found a decent alternative to Lightwave RF for standard UK wired switches? The Fibaro sounds good but I've never wired anything like that up before. Does it have to be on a switch or could it just be a blank panel with the Fibaro behind it?
 
Nothing new afaik, Fibaro is expensive, the market seems just saturated with $$$ ecosystems of smart bulbs.
(the large premium for the smart bulbs seems unjustified by the addition, to the existing bulb electronics, of wireless mcu)

I want to use conventional (dimmable) bulbs, and replace the wall switches/dimmer with something that can also be hublessly controlled.

I had hoped varilight, a producer of the goto manual dimmer, would enter the market with a hubless design, but, have not spotted anything, hopefully, with an inbuilt battery to circumvent the issue of no live supply in many uk installs.
 
jpaul said:
Appears they have still not bought the wireless wemo dimmer switch to the uk market (probably because of live+neutral requirement)
this appears a good value solution in the usa https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-in-wall-wireless-light-switch-and-dimmer/

if they had that for £25, it would cleanup ... everyone wants to just replace the existing switch and use the existing good quality led bulbs ?
Click to expand...

I would prefer a full replacement light switch in the hue family, whole house is hue bulb converted and lots of extras like lamps with bulbs and light strips - have loads of the silly battery powered wall switches at the moment and can only assume there are many technical and likely regulation reasons stopping anyone launching a system in the UK let alone Philips.
 
Shimmyhill said:
I would prefer a full replacement light switch in the hue family, whole house is hue bulb converted and lots of extras like lamps with bulbs and light strips - have loads of the silly battery powered wall switches at the moment and can only assume there are many technical and likely regulation reasons stopping anyone launching a system in the UK let alone Philips.
Click to expand...

I only really need smart lights in the living room and hallway, so I'm tempted to use Hue for just those and keep standard on/off switches. It's annoying how there's no easy smart switch solution on standard UK wiring though.

jpaul said:
Nothing new afaik, Fibaro is expensive, the market seems just saturated with $$$ ecosystems of smart bulbs.
(the large premium for the smart bulbs seems unjustified by the addition, to the existing bulb electronics, of wireless mcu)

I want to use conventional (dimmable) bulbs, and replace the wall switches/dimmer with something that can also be hublessly controlled.

I had hoped varilight, a producer of the goto manual dimmer, would enter the market with a hubless design, but, have not spotted anything, hopefully, with an inbuilt battery to circumvent the issue of no live supply in many uk installs.
Click to expand...

Same, I like filament LED style lights and I'm fussy about switches so that they fit the mid-century style I'm after! Fibaro seems an ok solution but it's a bit fiddly.
 
interesting ... exploring aliexpress

- back of the box s1-b (singly £10) dimmer solution, need live+neutral (so - like zigbee)
- rf comms to these dimmer units, 4ch remote(£10)
- dimmer says its trailing or leading edge (but what's the triac or mosfet dimmable remark about?)
- can get rotary remote too , and mount the s1-b box dimmer in the back.

also a competing(compatible?) solution with combined rotary dimmer+remote

wifi/hub for both about £12, or buy them in a package.

am considering below, as a starter, and then get wifi hub later.
... no uk reviews, no pictures of circuit board in the box.




48116177172_b3d3d03561_b_d.jpg


The S1-B is an innovative AC phase-cut dimmer with both RF control and push dim function. The AC dimmer is designed with 100-240VAC wide input and output, 1 channel output, both triac dimmable and mosfet dimmable.

The RF triac dimmer can be compatible with a variety of single color RF series remote controls. While working with aWiFi-Relay controller, the dimmer can be WiFi controlled via APP installed on IOS or Android system.
Push dim function is available while the dimmer is connected with a push switch.
Click to expand...
 
jpaul said:
found a video of some of the s1-b dimmers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfmqR0hrwNQ , other videos show the android app.
http://www.iskydance.com/index.php?c=product&a=index&pid=100
... just waiting for the manufacturer , to reply to email to supply a video showing it working on a led bulb (falling edge) though, as opposed to incandescent.
Click to expand...

Looks promising. I could justify 20 quid for the dimmer, but Lightwave RF and Fibaro would be way too much (especially as I need to buy a bathroom).
 
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