What are you using for the irrigation valves?
-
Join the MyBroadband community
South Africa’s biggest forum. Discuss, discover, and connect with thousands of members.
-
Question of the Day: Google Maps vs Waze vs Apple Maps vs physical paper maps?
Wifi light switches
- Thread starter fruitbat
- Start date
What are you using for the irrigation valves?
Just got my first pair of Sonoff Basics. Man, these are pretty nifty. Works instantly, great with Google Home. Easy to set up. The recent IFTT support is great and works well.
Only complaint is that the wiring is a bit tight in the plastic box, and that it would be much better if it had an earth passthrough too. I ended up wiring one into a lead and passing the earth through the box with a separate wire, but it might everything a bit more squashed.
Only complaint is that the wiring is a bit tight in the plastic box, and that it would be much better if it had an earth passthrough too. I ended up wiring one into a lead and passing the earth through the box with a separate wire, but it might everything a bit more squashed.
gregmcc
Honorary Master
Love these things as well. Added a few more to my banggood cart. I've now added all my Xmas lights to the sonoff. On a timer using openhab and also controlled with Alexa.
richjdavies
Expert Member
- Joined
- Sep 9, 2013
- Messages
- 2,643
- Reaction score
- 1,279
That's generally what we've found with sonoffs - but I've heard the software has improved since we last tested about 9 months ago. IE - would work first time you set it up, then a couple of weeks later, you realise it just isn't working, you have to hard reset etc... then finally you get it up again. Too buggy to be installed instead of a switch if you ask me.
(I've said before, I never understand in what situation I would want a wifi light switch... apart from security lighting when a timer is useful - I'd prefer daylight sensor myself - I'm going to be in the room that I want to switch the light on/off so I'd rather a wall switch that always works - that being said I do now have a remote control light for the bedroom... but that's just a very cheap LED light IR-remote)
They have been extra spotty recently. The IFTTT support became better with a firmware upgrade but then the eWeLink service went off line three times in 4 days, rendering the devices absolutely useless except if you activate them with the built in buttons.
Also looking at flashing mine.
What are you running - raspberry pi with HomeAssist or Openhab?
gregmcc
Honorary Master
oDroid C2 with Openhab. For ages I used Domoticz with Rpi but well worth the switch. Steep learning curve with OH but nothing comes close to it.
xera
Expert Member
I use all my sonoffs with Tasmota and haven't had any problems with stability. However the Sonoff touches were a bitch to setup - they leave no clearance for the AC wiring, so I had to make a few modifications, cutting slots in the bracket. I also had to cut a hole to add a secondary output to switch a second light, so the wiring is much like a rats nest. Also the 3.3v output wasn't stable enough for my relay, so I had to solder directly to the board to get a decent power supply.
Which one did you use - the US one or European one?
I really like the idea of the touches - relatively easy way to integrate sonoff in your home without disrupting the normal way switches work.
richjdavies
Expert Member
- Joined
- Sep 9, 2013
- Messages
- 2,643
- Reaction score
- 1,279
Couldn't agree more - the only wifi switch I would use* is one that basically works primarily like a normal switch, with wifi control on-top. IE Wifi has to not isolate the manual switching function... I'm not explaining well, but what ebendl said
*I first wrote buy... but I've bought loads of these things, just mainly sitting in a cupboard somewhere now!)
So one thing I think you can do with the Sonoff basics is the following:
- solder some wires onto the push button
- connect those to those dimmer light switches that is non latching, i.e. Those that you usually press and hold to dim the lights
That way pressing the light switch turns on - off the light and you can control and change it using wifi.
That being said, probably easier to use the Sonoff touch.
- solder some wires onto the push button
- connect those to those dimmer light switches that is non latching, i.e. Those that you usually press and hold to dim the lights
That way pressing the light switch turns on - off the light and you can control and change it using wifi.
That being said, probably easier to use the Sonoff touch.
Hi all, can someone recommend a smart wall adaptor or socket which works with Apple Homekit and doesn't cost a arm and a leg?
I want to dip a toe in to this home automation thing, I'm not the tinkering type with these things, so off the shelf plug and play. I'm also reading up on Philips Hue for lighting, though a bit expensive it seams it works very well.
I want to dip a toe in to this home automation thing, I'm not the tinkering type with these things, so off the shelf plug and play. I'm also reading up on Philips Hue for lighting, though a bit expensive it seams it works very well.
Sorry, the Sonoff stuff doesn't work with HomeKit - neither do our tp-link devices.
Any specific reason why you want to go with HomeKit?
Yes, at present the HomeKit stuff is very limited.
I'm quite deep in to the Apple ecosystem and will stay with Apple for the forseeable future, so it just makes sense to go with Homekit devices as well. With that being said, adding something like a Amazon Echo in to the mix once they are officially supported in SA is also a option, but rather don't want to bargain on that for now since as said I'm mainly in the Apple ecosystem.
My findings so far is that most of the home automation stuff has Apple apps, and the setup is just way less complicated (no need to designate an iPad as a hub or get an apple TV).
The HomeKit stuff was also much more expensive as Apple required an Apple made security chip (this has been scrapped though, so things should become cheaper).
If you're interested in easier, have a look at the Yeelights. They're cheap and extremely simple to use and does almost as many things as the Phillips Hue lights. Ios app is great.
Also Google Home and Amazon Alexa works well enough in SA that you don't really have to wait for official support. With my Afrikaans-english accent Google Home picks me up without any issues. I get weather in Celcius and for my location. Sure, the calling and shopping doesn't work but I wasn't going to use that in any case. Google Play music has all the music I am interested in and has support in SA. And both the Yeelights and Sonoff has IFTTT which works well with Google Home.
Last edited:
What do you feel is missing from the current Echo setup in SA? What do you feel you'll need?
I can't download the app using my SA Apple store account and I'm not going to create a US one just for that. Guess I'm a weird person, but it's the small things.