riscbroker
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Yip, looks like I'm not going to be able to sidestep Tasmota for much longer
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Question of the Day: Which compact crossover would you choose?
Starting out with Sonoff
- Thread starter MDKza
- Start date
How would one even set this up? Estimated cost for parts?
I do want to know though, if I power the geyser with the pow R2, does that mean I can only control it via app? So I can't use a switch to manually turn it on?
Also seems conflicting cause members here seem very comfortable with connecting it directly. Whats the worst case? The switch burns out right?
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Yeah, it's a good start. These days the eWelink can be integrated into Home Assistant directly, back in the day you couldn't and had to flash with Tasmota.
There are guys here with much more experience than me, and very helpful... so enjoy the journey and bottomless pit of money
Eish I can see it already.
So next questions is, I have my front pedestrian gate and front door gates hooked up to etc systems receivers, and I open them with a remote. Is there anyway I can integrate that into this where I tell Alexa to open the gate?
Dairyfarmer
Executive Member
Yes it has a button on it to manually toggle is on/off
My geyser is situated outside. The POW2 is inside an outdoor enclosure at the geyser.
The reason these a POW can burn out:
Overload, either an element above 3.5kw is used, or there is more than a geyser on the circuit.
Wire type where too thin a gauge wire or incorrect type of wire is used.
Loose connections account for so many burned out electrical breakers and switches.
Makes sense. Small problem for me is my geyser is located in the garage ceiling, so the on/off button is going to be a bit of a pain to get to. Unless I have it wired to somewhere else basically.
Any thoughts? Want to place my order with Geewiz, so want to factor in how many mini's I need.
Worst case with electricity will almost always be your house burning down. IIRC the Sonoff devices are all IEC 60950 certified, so they should be pretty safe: if it fails it should only be the device burning out. I'm paranoid, though, so I prefer to use a contactor for switching circuits drawing significant current ( > ~5 A in my view) on or off. The prices for contactors vary a lot depending on brand with cheaper ones going for about R200 and more expensive ones for upwards of R500.
As for control - it depends on your setup. If you use the Sonoff in parallel with a switch you can keep the switch off normally and then manually turn it on. My contactor has an override, so I can switch it on manually at the contactor.
Most important thing, though: your circuit needs to be protected. Don't bypass the circuit breaker (so don't use your circuit breaker as a parallel switch to the Sonoff).
*Edit
I missed the "how to" part. A contactor is pretty much the same as a relay. A two-pole contactor will have two inputs, and two outputs. Your live and neutral from the DB will go into the input side, and your live and neutral going to the geyser's circuit breaker will be on the output side. Then there will be a third set of contacts which is the control bit. The live and neutral from the Sonoff's output will connect to those. So the load current will never go through the Sonoff - the Sonoff will merely tell the contactor to switch on or off.
This picture shows the contacts pretty well. Connectors 1 and 3 will be connected to Live and Neutral in the DB. 2 and 4 will be connected to the geyser's circuit breaker. A1 will be connected to the Sonoff's live output, and A2 to Neutral.
Dairyfarmer
Executive Member
You can mount them on a wall easily. Has screw notches top and bottom.
I have mistakenly bought a Sonoff RF Bridge, thinking I will be able to clone the signal on the device to open and close my garage door and also to switch my alarm beams on and off. I have realized now this is not what it is for. It seems it is a product to be able to control existing sonoff devices with a RF signal with a remote. Does anybody know how I can incorporate any other products to automate my garage door and alarm beams?
So I've been looking for something similar for my garage and gates. I came across this but have no idea how to wire it up at this point:
www.robofactory.co.za
For alarms, I think it will be complex. I have a paradox system and its so difficult to anything with it. I can't wait for modular full scale alarms systems that can replace what I currently have.
Sonoff Gate / Garage Wifi Smart Switch
With this device you can make your electronic gate or garage door smart. When this device is installed, you can open or close your gate/door with either the eWelink app, any voice assistant or home automation hub.
www.robofactory.co.za
For alarms, I think it will be complex. I have a paradox system and its so difficult to anything with it. I can't wait for modular full scale alarms systems that can replace what I currently have.
Tabac
Honorary Master
http://acdcexpress.com/specials/
Page 3 - Smart WIFI switchmodule. How does that compare to the sonof one ?
Page 3 - Smart WIFI switchmodule. How does that compare to the sonof one ?
Mista_Mobsta
Expert Member
Just an idea for those running those portable Inverter/Battery UPS units re the SONOFF: I have 2 separate UPS systems running in my house and I have a POW on the LOAD side...this helps me to monitor the power usage of whatever is connected to the multi-plug and also the ability to remotely switch it off (at set max W limit) should the draw on the inverter be too high. Works like a bomb especially when your domestic decides to plug in the 1500w vacuum cleaner into the inverter plug by accident...
No teacher like experience!
So I've been looking for something similar for my garage and gates. I came across this but have no idea how to wire it up at this point:
Sonoff Gate / Garage Wifi Smart Switch
With this device you can make your electronic gate or garage door smart. When this device is installed, you can open or close your gate/door with either the eWelink app, any voice assistant or home automation hub.
For alarms, I think it will be complex. I have a paradox system and its so difficult to anything with it. I can't wait for modular full scale alarms systems that can replace what I currently have.
Search around -- there's a couple of discussions around automating garages / gates (usually put the Sonoff SV / Sonoff Inching inside the motor and connect it directly to the trigger pins).
Alternative is to take a spare remote and wire that up to the Sonoff SV / Sonoff Inching. So the Sonoff will "press" the button on the remote for you. I have one like this and it works great -- especially since my Wifi signal can't travel all the way to the gate motor.
Regarding the Paradox alarms -- there are guys that integrate that into something like Home Assistant too.
I agree with this sentiment -- for significant current I prefer to use something a little more robust. The most I've gone on a Sonoff POW is 1500W (oil fin heater). At some point I heard arcing inside, opened it up and saw that it was definitely warping the plastic a bit due to heat. So I redid some of the solder tracks and it fixed the problem, but that was luckily a device that I could see and monitor (not in my roof somewhere).
My geyser is 4kw and I control it with a contactor which is controlled from a Sonoff Basic. My sparky even put both on separate DB circuits.
Just do note -- if you're going the contactor route then there's no point in using a POW as you loose power measuring capability. Hence me using a Sonoff Basic. If you want to measure geyser power then you will need something more robust that can measure the power directly at high current, or you would need something like a Shelly EM which uses a CT clamp to measure the current/voltage indirectly.
So all my switches are fitted. I went with just the POW attached between the geyser and breaker, so the breaker offers protection. Having said that, the app shows its pulling 14amps, so Im to get a metal 4x4 box and put it in there just to be safe.
Dairyfarmer
Executive Member
On a Centurion you use 12v+, 12v -, Trigger and Common. Trigger and Common are what the button on your intercom are connected to.
If you have an intercom, better to put the SV inside. Dry (hopefully) and near wifi. You can tap into the cable anywhere between the intercom to the gate motor. It doesn't have to be inside the intercom (like mine is) or in the gate motor housing. Just split open the cable and find the power and trigger wires.
I definitely prefer having all my IoT devices in a separate vlan, they can reach my HA server which is on my main network - but only via MQTT port at the moment.
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
EDIT: I also realised after typing out this reply that I should probably just ask the electrician these questions.
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
EDIT: I also realised after typing out this reply that I should probably just ask the electrician these questions.
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