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The easy solution is to have the intelligence in the lightbulbs the way Philips, Osram and IKEA did on their Zigbee based systems. I have all lights (100+) in
by t0mas88 6y ago
The easy solution is to have the intelligence in the lightbulbs the way Philips, Osram and IKEA did on their Zigbee based systems.
I have all lights (100+) in the house on Zigbee but without changing any wiring. Only non standard is that I replaced all the wall switches with a variant that's electrically "always on" and sends a Zigbee command when pressed (and can be pulled out to access a traditional physical switch as a backup in case of full system failure). They fit the original Siemens outer wall plates that my house was built with so everything looks standard. Returning evening to non-smart in case I want to sell the place is an afternoon of work replacing the switches behind the plastic face plate with their old versions. Those are all in a box in the attic :-)
The benefits of smart lights for comfort are pretty big, auto-on lights by motion detection is great for bathrooms, storage rooms etc. Having the color temperature match outside and time of day is also much better than traditional dimmers. Voice control is useful in some situations (mostly when cooking or carrying kids or groceries). And being able to walk out the front door saying "Alexa, turn off all lights" is a great way to save energy and make things easy.
- wmeredith 6y agoWhat Zigbee switches are you using?
- slmkbh 6y agonot GP, but I use Xiaomi 2-gang switches, IKEA 5 button remotes, the old IKEA dimmers, and their on/off remote. At the moment I'm eyeing LIDLs remotes as well... In Denmark Everything is controlled via Homeassistant+Deconz and a Phoscon Zigbee Dongle. It's even possible to hack the IKEA switches into the danish wall switches.
- hondadriver 6y agoHere friends of hue Gira and Ikea 5 button remotes mounted on a blindplate. Still wondering what @t0mas88 is using... The upcoming Lidl remote is very interesting indeed, because it has 4 buttons which could be wired to a regular 2 button up/down push switch (e.g. Gira 014700) as cheaper friends of hue alternative.
- t0mas88 6y agoThe Gira here as well, and left physical switches behind them. So in an emergency I can pull them off the wall push the switch that's behind to turn off power. Also 3d printed a holder for a few places that slots into a Gira frame and holds the Philips Hue Tap button. Allows more control of scenes etc, but the color isn't exactly the same.
- hondadriver 6y agoMaybe this is used? US (and Canada?) only though... https://www.lutron.com/en-US/products/pages/standalonecontrols/dimmers-switches/smartbulbdimmer/overview.aspx https://www.lutron.com/en-US/products/pages/standalonecontro...
- hondadriver 6y agoAlso found this : https://www.samotech.co.uk/product-category/samotech-adapters/samotech-light-switch-covers/ https://www.samotech.co.uk/product-category/samotech-adapter... Made for UK wall switches.
- ornornor 6y ago> I have all lights (100+) Your house is massive or your castle is very tiny. Either way, that’s an usual amount of lightbulbs.
- jiofih 6y agoEasy to reach if you use spot lighting. I counted a bit less than 30 in a (tiny for American standards) 100sqm house.
- piva00 6y agoI just counted my Hue lights in the apartment I live in and got up to 30, 90sqm. I have some bulbs, 4 spot lights, lightstrips around the living room. Lamps around the studio, bedrooms, living room. If you add bias lighting and indirect light by bouncing off the ceiling you add up quite fast. Granted, I built up this setup over some time, finding the best use for each set of lights I got but I can definitely see how you could get up to 100+ in a larger house.
- sp332 6y agoWell, the Hue bulbs and most of the competition are not very bright.
- t0mas88 6y agoPretty normal house, just under 200 square meter. But for example the kitchen alone has 2 ceiling lamps with 4 spots each, 6 lamps for countertop lighting and 2 in a wall of cabinets. So that's already 16 lamps in only the kitchen. It's more in the living room. Even a bathroom easily has 6 or 8 in the ceiling, a few near the mirror etc.
- pmlnr 6y agoI tried the IKEA bulbs. They have coil whine turned off any made my unable to fall asleep. Apparently it's a known issue: https://i.reddit.com/r/tradfri/comments/arlyiz/coil_whine_and_replacement_policy/ https://i.reddit.com/r/tradfri/comments/arlyiz/coil_whine_an... At the moment I have standalone lamps with Sonoff D1 dimmer and halogen (yes, really) bulbs that can actually be dimmed 0-100%.
- reportingsjr 6y agoI outfitted my apartment with ikea lights for the last few years, and I am currently in the middle of replacing them with philips Hue. It is insane how unreliable the ikea products have been and how terrible the interface is vs philips.
- hondadriver 6y agoI am using both, the bulbs are equally reliable here, the Ikea bridge & app have had their problems in the past, but also work well atm. I am moving to Deconz (Phoscon) for full flexibility though..
- t0mas88 6y agoThe Philips bulbs are much better. Ikea also doesn't dim as low as the Philips Hue. But the Ikea bulbs are cheaper so I still use those for storage rooms where the quality is less important.
- noodlesUK 6y agoPlease tell me what switches you are using. Are you in Europe or in the US?
- hondadriver 6y agoCan you please provide a name /brand of the switches you use? Friends of Hue (Gira and others) with EnOcean comes close, but you'll typically bridge the switch AC wires, so there is nothing to pull out and manually control things as backup.
- shaftway 6y agoLutron used to make an amazing switch that worked with Hue. It was the Lutron Connected Bulb Remote. You hot-wire the switches behind the wall plate, and screw in a panel that sits right behind the rocker hole. The remote then slots into that. They're great, and when the battery dies you can just pop them out and change it without taking the wallplate off. If they were held in by magnets then I'd call them the perfect switch for the Hue series. Unfortunately they discontinued them, and on the used market they're often >$100 per switch.
- t0mas88 6y agoI use the Friends of Hue but left physical switches (in the on position) under them. So if you pull them open you can turn off the power in an emergency. And 3d printed a holder for a few rooms that fits the Gira frame and holds a Hue button. Works to control more things (and used it that way in my old house), but the color of Hue isn't exactly the same as the frame.
- w4tson 6y agoOut of interest, what light switches did you choose?
- fyfy18 6y agoAre the originals German style modular switches (e.g. https://new.siemens.com/global/en/products/energy/low-voltage/components/delta-switches-socket-outlets.html https://new.siemens.com/global/en/products/energy/low-voltag...)? If so, what did you replace them with as I haven't seen any ZigBee switches that fit those.