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In Australia it's illegal to perform you own electrical or telecoms work. (things that connect to the grid or the wider telecoms network). I'd also counter th

In Australia it's illegal to perform you own electrical or telecoms work. (things that connect to the grid or the wider telecoms network). I'd also counter that it's totally fine to replace normal bulbs with smart bulbs! It works exactly as before, but the bulb gains some useful powers! Colour temperature, RGB colours and so on, are all useful features of smart bulbs that can be used connected to a standard switch! Turning lights on and off isn't the only function, and for many not even the primary function, of smart lighting!

alkonaut 4y ago
> In Australia it's illegal to perform you own electrical or telecoms work. I think most countries have similar laws. Exactly what level of knowledge you need to do it legally varies. Where I live most things are off limits to non-electricians other than 1-1 replacement of existing installations. I some times use that loop hole to replace a dumb switch with a smart one, or do other such basic repairs. Other times I try to do most of the work myself but have an electrician bless my work before I power it up again. Obviously I encourage no one to do any kind of electrical work they aren't 100% comfortable doing. > I'd also counter that it's totally fine to replace normal bulbs with smart bulbs! Yes. But the point of my post wasn't that it's EASIER to make a home smart by doing that, it was that by putting a smart bulb behind a dumb switch, you have created a frustrating experience. A bulb that can be controlled from a phone but can be completely disabled by a switch somewhere, isn't really that "smart"... > It works exactly as before if you can hook it up that way, then you have made your home a little bit smarter. Just make it pass the "smart test". I.e. does the old/dumb switch work still? Can someone buy or rent the home and not need to know that a specific switch must be set to "on" for the smart feature to work? Does the app work 100% of the time to switch the light on/off regardless of any switch positions? Great, the home is smarter. If the app some times doesn't switch the light on because a switch has ben flipped to the "wrong" position? Then I'd say the home was actually smarter before. The physical switch functoining and the remote controllability/color temperature/voice command are adding less smartness than the feature "the light switches on the walls actually switch on and off the lights" were. That's what I mean by that smart things should only ADD functionality and be careful to not remove it.

alkonaut 4y ago

> In Australia it's illegal to perform you own electrical or telecoms work. I think most countries have similar laws. Exactly what level of knowledge you need to do it legally varies. Where I live most things are off limits to non-electricians other than 1-1 replacement of existing installations. I some times use that loop hole to replace a dumb switch with a smart one, or do other such basic repairs. Other times I try to do most of the work myself but have an electrician bless my work before I power it up again. Obviously I encourage no one to do any kind of electrical work they aren't 100% comfortable doing. > I'd also counter that it's totally fine to replace normal bulbs with smart bulbs! Yes. But the point of my post wasn't that it's EASIER to make a home smart by doing that, it was that by putting a smart bulb behind a dumb switch, you have created a frustrating experience. A bulb that can be controlled from a phone but can be completely disabled by a switch somewhere, isn't really that "smart"... > It works exactly as before if you can hook it up that way, then you have made your home a little bit smarter. Just make it pass the "smart test". I.e. does the old/dumb switch work still? Can someone buy or rent the home and not need to know that a specific switch must be set to "on" for the smart feature to work? Does the app work 100% of the time to switch the light on/off regardless of any switch positions? Great, the home is smarter. If the app some times doesn't switch the light on because a switch has ben flipped to the "wrong" position? Then I'd say the home was actually smarter before. The physical switch functoining and the remote controllability/color temperature/voice command are adding less smartness than the feature "the light switches on the walls actually switch on and off the lights" were. That's what I mean by that smart things should only ADD functionality and be careful to not remove it.