Starting out with Sonoff

MDKza said:
Okay so revival and update. I never ended up putting the TX's in my current house.
Turns out I am fortunate enough to be buying a house and it is being built still.
I decided I want to go the way of full deployment of Sonoff TX's in black.

The new places has a few 2-way and 3-way switches - I confirmed already and they are going to be pulling neutrals. (apparently this is a law?)
So my question again, do I need them to do any special wiring to replace your normal 2/3 way switches like these: ClickMe

I am hoping for a simple yes or no :laugh:

EDIT: I also realised after typing out this reply that I should probably just ask the electrician these questions.
Click to expand...
I am not sure about Sonof, but Switchbee can connect to two way switches digitally as well as scenarios where you can group a number of switches to be controlled by one switch digitally. Also available in black
 
Britany D said:
I am not sure about Sonof, but Switchbee can connect to two way switches digitally as well as scenarios where you can group a number of switches to be controlled by one switch digitally. Also available in black
Click to expand...

Link me? Can't seem to find the black ones.
 
Yes I am. How do I change my registration from a personal registration to Switchsmart registration
 
MDKza said:
The new places has a few 2-way and 3-way switches - I confirmed already and they are going to be pulling neutrals. (apparently this is a law?)
So my question again, do I need them to do any special wiring to replace your normal 2/3 way switches like these: ClickMe

I am hoping for a simple yes or no :laugh:

EDIT: I also realised after typing out this reply that I should probably just ask the electrician these questions.
Click to expand...

Hi There,

I have been experimenting quite a bit with the 2-way and 3-way concept in my house with the smart switches.
Unfortunately, it is not simple if the wiring is already in place.
I had to buy NO NEUTRAL REQUIRED switches (here), shove a Sonoff mini in one wall switch, and leave the other 2 way switch unconnected, I had to draw out diagrams to figure out what exactly the electrician was doing 12 years ago.

After over a week of searching, I can safely say there are no rectangular switch plate 2-way or 3-way enabled smart switches on the market in SA. Even overseas import is difficult, with the predominant model being the TP-link 2-way / 3-way and that just will not fit our standard SA switch boxes. (TP Link 2-way kit)

That said, you can call an electrician which is fine but if you would like to do it yourself, and if your house is currently under construction, then this shouldn't be too difficult for you.

  • Make sure your neutrals are pulled into the switch boxes. This just makes it easier as all black smart switches i've found in SA are neutral required.
  • Make sure there are no additional wires placed into a stairway or corridor intended for 2 way communication - this will complicate your circuit and is unnecessary if you intend on not using conventional switches at all in the house
  • The main way to achieve this with all smart switches is by setting up scenes in eWeLink and telling one switch to turn the other on/off when planned in 2-way or 3-way.
    This should be fairly simple if each switch box has neutral and line in.
    Line out to the desired light will only be present in one switch box. This switch will then be controlled by scenes from the other switches or by manual pressing of the switch itself.
  • If you only plan on using some smart switches with a combination of standard and smart switches for 2-way communication, your best bet is using a Sonoff mini in the wall of the traditional switch, and setting up a scene where the mini will switch the light on and off from the other smart switches.
Here is an example video of the above normal situation.
 
Last edited:
Hi All
Smartouch is able to link two way switching as a smart switch. You can connect 2way, intermediate or with multiple switches controlling one light circuit.
We are also able to link a number of switches as a scenario to one switch or to a virtual switch.
Our switches do not need a neutral and can be used in all situations, they fit all SA standard 4x2 wall boxes. and are available in 1,2,or 3gang.
We are now registered as a dealer and happy to help anytime.

Instalation is quick simple and easy. see video link below of one of our instalations.

P.S.
We have full accreditation with Icasa and NRCS
 
Britany D said:
Hi All
Smartouch is able to link two way switching as a smart switch. You can connect 2way, intermediate or with multiple switches controlling one light circuit.
We are also able to link a number of switches as a scenario to one switch or to a virtual switch.
Our switches do not need a neutral and can be used in all situations, they fit all SA standard 4x2 wall boxes. and are available in 1,2,or 3gang.
We are now registered as a dealer and happy to help anytime.

Instalation is quick simple and easy. see video link below of one of our instalations.

P.S.
We have full accreditation with Icasa and NRCS
Click to expand...
These capable to be flashed with tasmota?
 
NabaDwA said:
Hi There,

I have been experimenting quite a bit with the 2-way and 3-way concept in my house with the smart switches.
Unfortunately, it is not simple if the wiring is already in place.
I had to buy NO NEUTRAL REQUIRED switches (here), shove a Sonoff mini in one wall switch, and leave the other 2 way switch unconnected, I had to draw out diagrams to figure out what exactly the electrician was doing 12 years ago.

After over a week of searching, I can safely say there are no rectangular switch plate 2-way or 3-way enabled smart switches on the market in SA. Even overseas import is difficult, with the predominant model being the TP-link 2-way / 3-way and that just will not fit our standard SA switch boxes. (TP Link 2-way kit)

That said, you can call an electrician which is fine but if you would like to do it yourself, and if your house is currently under construction, then this shouldn't be too difficult for you.

  • Make sure your neutrals are pulled into the switch boxes. This just makes it easier as all black smart switches i've found in SA are neutral required.
  • Make sure there are no additional wires placed into a stairway or corridor intended for 2 way communication - this will complicate your circuit and is unnecessary if you intend on not using conventional switches at all in the house
  • The main way to achieve this with all smart switches is by setting up scenes in eWeLink and telling one switch to turn the other on/off when planned in 2-way or 3-way.
    This should be fairly simple if each switch box has neutral and line in.
    Line out to the desired light will only be present in one switch box. This switch will then be controlled by scenes from the other switches or by manual pressing of the switch itself.
  • If you only plan on using some smart switches with a combination of standard and smart switches for 2-way communication, your best bet is using a Sonoff mini in the wall of the traditional switch, and setting up a scene where the mini will switch the light on and off from the other smart switches.
Here is an example video of the above normal situation.
Click to expand...

Shot for your reply on this.

Basically what I am doing is using the live and neutral to power the switch and have the main switch be the controller for the light, the rest of the switches will be based off the scene that if that switch is turned on the rest will follow suite. Also same in reverse. I am getting the electrician to wire the house as if there was normal switches coming in so that if I ever get tired of this experience or something new lands that is actual 2-3 way switches I can just swap them out.
 
MDKza said:
Shot for your reply on this.

Basically what I am doing is using the live and neutral to power the switch and have the main switch be the controller for the light, the rest of the switches will be based off the scene that if that switch is turned on the rest will follow suite. Also same in reverse. I am getting the electrician to wire the house as if there was normal switches coming in so that if I ever get tired of this experience or something new lands that is actual 2-3 way switches I can just swap them out.
Click to expand...

Ok, yeah you basically did the same thing that I was advising. I'm sure it will work out just fine.

One thing - by getting the electrician to wire the house as if normal switches were coming in, then they would definitely use 2-way or 3-way wiring techniques between switches which would mean at least 2 extra traveler wires in each switch box

two-way-light-connection.gif

As demonstrated above with the two red wires between the switches.

With your smart switches those traveler wires would not be connected.
So the question is, is the electrician going to leave the traveler wires in the wall and just tie them off, disconnected? Or will they be left out entirely - which means no future normal 2 way communication if that was the backup plan.
 
NabaDwA said:
Ok, yeah you basically did the same thing that I was advising. I'm sure it will work out just fine.

One thing - by getting the electrician to wire the house as if normal switches were coming in, then they would definitely use 2-way or 3-way wiring techniques between switches which would mean at least 2 extra traveler wires in each switch box

two-way-light-connection.gif

As demonstrated above with the two red wires between the switches.

With your smart switches those traveler wires would not be connected.
So the question is, is the electrician going to leave the traveler wires in the wall and just tie them off, disconnected? Or will they be left out entirely - which means no future normal 2 way communication if that was the backup plan.
Click to expand...

I am with you.
They idea is to leave the traveller wires in the wall tied off so that we can put them into normal switches if it ever comes to that point.

Thanks for your help with this.
 
Anyone flashed TX's with Tasmota before? Looking to get started with that as soon as my switches arrive.
 
It's with some trepidation I look forward to flashing a dozen Sonoff Minis with Tasmota. My gout-infested fingers can't wield a soldering iron like they used to, and my eyesight isn't what it should or used to be, so attaching the dupont wires to those miniscule contact spots on the Mini is a challenge I'm not relishing. Just last week I soldered headers onto 3 x POWR2 Sonoffs to Tasmotize them, and bricked one when the solder ran too far. Ah well.
 
Basically the same as with flashing any sonoff device. You’ll need the usb/ttl converter, tasmotize, the latest tasmota build and soldering a boot wire to the little resistor on gpio0, which you short to ground to put the esp8266 in boot mode. Then setup the template in tasmota to a tx0 switch. Dead simple really. I think there’s a few YouTube vids on doing it for this specific switch. Have you loaded tasmota before?
 
Yes correct. For the most part. But the boot pin will need to have a wire soldered to a resistor. There’s no pad or hole available for that.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X