Smart light switches

[jacauc]

I'm considering replacing all switches in the house with smart switches and any advice would be appreciated. I will be pulling neutrals wherever it is not available already. My requirements as follows:

1. Physical momentary switch - I do not like the sonoff style touch panels, want something with physical feedback when pressing. Can someone confirm that VETI2 switches are definitely momentary? Any other nice looking momentary switches in 2x4 and 4x4 format?
2. Prefer a mini relay unit in the wall box behind a dumb toggle switch, as opposed to fully integrated switches like Sonoff T1
3. I do not want Wifi switches. I have invested in a few other devices with zwave on smartthings, so building out the zwave mesh is preferred over wifi (also much less complicated to transfer custody when selling the house). But as a last resort, wifi is not a dealbreaker.
4. Would like to have a uniform look at all switches in the house. (1 gang, 2,3,4 gang etc, 2x4, 4x4 etc). If I install VETI2 switches everywhere, even on dumb lights, how will they switch on/off (if the VETI2 is truly momentary)?
5. 2-way and dimmers are not the immediate concern. I can handle them at a later time.

Appreciate the inputs!

 

[Tinuva]

Shelly wifi switches is the way to go
Yes they wifi...but you can set that you have a momentary button on it and it will work just as you want it to work. The momentary button will also work with the shelly dimmers.

Also a good read: https://robdobson.com/2020/11/the-10-reasons-i-ripped-out-a-6k-lighting-system/
Maybe, just maybe that will show you why you shouldn't put EVERYTHING on z-wave...

 

[jacauc]

Thanks that's a great read. Understand the limitations of zwave better now.
Any suggestions on a nice looking front cover momentary switch available in SA for controlling the Shelly?
The reason I was aiming for zwave is that some switches are not easily accessible and I want to have a wall mounted battery operated zwave switch which will send a signal to the Shelly to power toggle.
Ultimately it would have to be easily transferred to a new owner of the house, so don't necessarily want to rely on a middle man mqtt or hass.io instance to be available.

 

[Tinuva]

The reason I was aiming for zwave is that some switches are not easily accessible and I want to have a wall mounted battery operated zwave switch which will send a signal to the Shelly to power toggle.
Ultimately it would have to be easily transferred to a new owner of the house, so don't necessarily want to rely on a middle man mqtt or hass.io instance to be available.

So what about the shelly button1? https://smarterhome.sk/en/shelly/shelly-button1-battery-powered-scene-controller-wifi-829.html

Then you can have that trigger another shelly via shelly cloud?

 

[Tinuva]

Thanks that's a great read. Understand the limitations of zwave better now.

No idea on this yet. I am leaving this for a later project. First need to find a brand and range of switches the wife like/approves. Then I will worry about figuring out how to get a momentary switch. I do know, the one momentary switch that was in this house when we moved in, she hates. I am unsure about the veti switches, no idea why they are so popular.

I want something that doesn't feel plasticky and feels nice to the touch when using. Anyway, for me this will be in a later budget.

 

[MDKza]

I think if you gonna go mass scale for smart switches it's best to stick to pure WIFI - I got around 25 different devices on my Unifi Wireless and it works flawlessly.

 

[jacauc]

Yeah, I'm changing my thinking here... Wifi switches with static IPs or statically leased DHCP addresses would be better in the long run. Zwave mesh can become messy with two many devices.
I can use RF or ZWave remote controls to the switches if I need to control it physically from elsewhere close by.

Biggest stumbling block at the moment would be to get reasonably priced nice looking dumb physical wall switches, which is either momentary, or doesn't physically show which state the switch is in - smart relay can react to state change and toggle relay.

I want to uniformly replace switches throughout the house, so there needs to be variety (2x4 form factor, 4x4 form factor, 1 gang, 2 gang, 3 gang, 4 gang etc)

 

[ShellySA]

I'm considering replacing all switches in the house with smart switches and any advice would be appreciated. I will be pulling neutrals wherever it is not available already. My requirements as follows:

1. Physical momentary switch - I do not like the sonoff style touch panels, want something with physical feedback when pressing. Can someone confirm that VETI2 switches are definitely momentary? Any other nice looking momentary switches in 2x4 and 4x4 format?
2. Prefer a mini relay unit in the wall box behind a dumb toggle switch, as opposed to fully integrated switches like Sonoff T1
3. I do not want Wifi switches. I have invested in a few other devices with zwave on smartthings, so building out the zwave mesh is preferred over wifi (also much less complicated to transfer custody when selling the house). But as a last resort, wifi is not a dealbreaker.
4. Would like to have a uniform look at all switches in the house. (1 gang, 2,3,4 gang etc, 2x4, 4x4 etc). If I install VETI2 switches everywhere, even on dumb lights, how will they switch on/off (if the VETI2 is truly momentary)?
5. 2-way and dimmers are not the immediate concern. I can handle them at a later time.

Appreciate the inputs!

The Philips hue line up of smart yet analogue in appearance switches are possibly the Omega of home light automation

Smart Light Switches | Philips Hue

New smart light switches for your Philips Hue home lighting setup not only give you greater control, but they complement your home decor.

www.philips-hue.com

 

[jacauc]

Actually - If I can find a CBI momentary switch like this one without the "DIM ON/OFF" writing on it, that will actually be perfectly good for my needs.

The CBI's are modular, affordable and freely available, so I can mix and match to my hearts desire to systematically smarten the lights in my house without the smart light switches looking different than the existing switches.

The CBI cover plates are quite flexible with all kinds of modules that can be installed in them. 2x4 and 4x4. Have a few strange 4x4 lights in my house that I need to replace the cover plates on. This way, not necessarily every switch in the plate has to be smart and they all sit in the same box

 

[Britany D]

If you want good-looking easy to install and effective smart switches in either black or white Look at Waco Smartouch switches.
Below is a youtube link to one of our installations.

 

[jacauc]

If you want good-looking easy to install and effective smart switches in either black or white Look at Waco Smartouch switches.
Below is a youtube link to one of our installations.

Nice plug.

Just wish that smart switches had a physical indentation/groove or haptic feedback where the button is. I personally hate the smooth glass panels

 

[ipodmusicman]

Hi jacauc

I use Qwikswitch in my smart home. The physical switches which are battery powered are push-button switches with either 2 or 4 buttons 2x4 size that transmit a proprietary RF signal to the paired relay connected to a light or group of lights that turns them on/off. I have the dimmer relays so holding the button in dims low or high.

To integrate with Home Assistant you need a QSUSB dongle which you have to contact Qwikswitch for. It is not on their website, but they do still make them. With HA you can set the light level as well. What I like is when you turn them on or off, they dim in and out which is quite cool.

I have never had to replace the batteries in the switches because we hardly use them. We aim to press the buttons on the switches as little as possible by means of putting automations in place that turn on/off the lights accordingly.

My requirement was that if for some reason my Home Assistant instance was down due to an update or something along those lines, the lights must be able to be turned on/off via the physical switch without the need to have Home Assistant involved.

And yes, your other option is Shelly. I don't know much about the Shelly Dimmer, but I would hope that if you had to buy bell push light switches that you could use them with the dimmer to dim up/down accordingly. I would love to hear from others who have used the Shelly dimmer. I would have to get back to you on the models of bell push light switches you can get here in SA as a friend of mine did do an installation with them with Shellys as the relays.