Turning regular light switches into smart ones

10 comments

1. [deleted]

2. How “smart” are we talking about here? Like montion sensor smart or control via smartphone app smart?

3. I recently made my apartment smart. I used 2 IR remote control hubs made by switchbot to link to the ceiling lights, tv and air-conditioning units. I also replaced all the halogen bulbs with smart bulbs and added smart plugs for my fan and humidifier and some older lamps. I first used Alexa to control everything but she proved very unreliable and I returned her. I now use Google for everything with much better results. I recently added a front door sensor and motion sensor so now some of my less used lights lights only come on when needed.

   Biggest problem I encountered was many smart devices only operate on the 2.4ghz wifi band which where I live in Tokyo is super saturated. I also needed to up my wifi security using a more high end access’s point with better security features baked in to protect and isolate the smart devices from my 5ghz home network.

   Another issue I had and still have is with my ceiling lights. They are IR controlled and the remote only has a power button( controls both on and off). This means that google does not know if the light is actually on or off (state) only knows that when I say “light on” for example to push power button one time which will change the state to on if it’s off but to off if it’s already on.

   All in all I spent around 50,000 on the entire setup.

4. There’s a lot of things to look out for, whether there’s neutral wire in the light switch panel that you plan to replace. That would also determine whether you will need to source for smart switch that can work without neutral.

5. Do it the easy way. No re-wiring required:

   https://amzn.asia/d/7zvfDTA

6. How about trying smart bulb instead? Maybe more money though.

7. I switched all my light switches to [SONOFF](https://itead.cc/product/sonoff-tx-series-wifi-smart-wall-switches/) smart ones (tx t3 US series) since they’re compatible with the wall boxes they use here.

   My house was recently built so I made sure the electrician brings the neutral to every switch. Apparently, this is pretty standard these days. My friend built a small manufacturing building and all his light switches are also wired so that both neutral and live pass the switch. The neutral is just joined in the box while live goes to the switch itself.

   It’s really easy to confirm too, just turn off the circuit from the circuit breaker, pop the front off with a screwdriver, then you might have to unscrew the plates off to get a good look behind. If there are black and white wires back there, you’re good. White is neutral. Black should go to the switch.

   So pretty easy to replace, took maybe 5 minutes per box.

   But if you’re doing it yourself, please study first how to do things properly.

8. Annoyingly, all of the places I’ve rented don’t have neutral wire, which is needed for most of the iot smart switches as they need power to operate (to stay connected to WiFi) when the circuit is off.
   As such, the sonoss switch I bought years ago is just collecting dust in my storeroom.

   At places with a standard E26 socket, I just make do with generic smart bulbs.

   At the place I’m staying at right now, the socket is E26 but it’s angled in a way that only long skinny T shaped EFD25 bulbs can be used. I had to begrudgingly use switchbot bot for them.

   I mean it works, but not the way I was hoping they would. These switchbot bot aren’t instant, and it takes a few seconds before the “arm” moves when a command is sent.
   I have the switchbot motion sensor set up in my automation but boy does the switch take its time to do its thing.

   And the CR2 batteries these switches uses are stupid expensive as well. They suck battery like nothing if you use it the way I have it set up my routine.

   Oh and my recommendation for any iot route you plan on going with, don’t cheap out on your router if your router is the DHCP server.
   It might not be able to dish out enough IPs for all your devices.

   Edit: Just re-read some of your other replies and I see that you are already using Switchbot Bots. I guess my posted is kinda redundant. ごめんなさい

9. I’m using a combination of Ikea Tradfri and Philips Hue lights with a Conbee USB stick controlled by Home Assistant.

   For ceiling lights you could splice a Sonoff Basic into the wiring between the mains power and the ceiling light; and/or use an IR blaster like a Nature Remo if the ceiling light has an IR remote.

10. I’m looking into smart switches over a year know, without luck.

    The Japanese market doesn’t offer much. Requirements for me are home assistant compatible, non touch switches, no cloud dependency. As far as I know, the only approved smart switches are the Advanced series from Panasonic, which doesn’t offer non touch dimmers.

    The other method I’m looking into it are the SONOFF ZBMINI. Have to see if they fit in the wall boxes, if yes it would be the best so far since they could be used in tandem with Panasonic wall switches which offer a consistent picture with the outlet etc wall plates.

    If someone has more insight into the whole topic it would be highly appreciated.

    – Anyone got more information about the neutral wire (Japanese translation or how to explain it to electricians here)? Would it be expensive to pull a neutral wire to the switch if not available?

    – It seems like Lutron has a subsidiary here in Japan, but it seems focused on business customers.

    – Handling of the legal/insurance problem with non certified smart switches?

    – Anyone knows non touch dimmers (wifi, zigbee, matter) that work here?

    -Inovelli switches seem interesting, but they don’t have any plans in the near future to expand to Japan.