I bought an existing house with A LOT of dumb lights in the ceiling. These lights are dimmable with a traditional circle on the wall which i can click and turn. I think I could replace the whole unit in the wall, but there are a lot, and I rather stay away from this alltogether.
Want to rely on the Homey pro and Google home voice controls and even some motion detectors, but when guests are in the house its nice to fall back on traditional wall switches I guess.
Aqara Dual Relay Module T2 â this seems like an excellent choice. However I donât think they have dimming capabilities.
Question is what is the runner up that:
Is also Zigbee
Works with homey pro
Is dimmable
Ideally like the T2 can connect 2 groups, that would save me 50% on the amount of relays I guess making installing and maintaining way easier.
there are a lot and reading up a lot. But really want the most capable high quality solution also used by a lot of folks so you know updates and support are great into the future. Aqara seems to have all that except for dimming
anyway, love to hear what you guys think.
Note: Im looking for zigbee because all smart lights by Ikea I have are Zigbee. Tought that would make the mesh more stable as a whole. But maybe making the dumb lights with Zwave is also a valid option opening more products? In that case maybe the FIBARO Dimmer 2.
FWIW, and it might not be much, I solved a similar issue by replacing our dumb bulbs with smart bulbs. We handle dimming by having different voice commands that control, for example, which of our living room lights are turned on, light level and light warmth. For example: âDay settingâ, âNight settingâ, âCinema settingâ, etc.
For guests, Iâve created a simple web page that allows people to see all the voice commands in a room and, if they prefer, click that command to execute it.
I have an RFID tag that loads the menu onto guestâs phones and an adapted Amazon Fire tablet that shows the menu in âkioskâ mode. Our media centre can also call up the menu so people can use it via our TV.
Works for us as our guests tend to be web savvy. The page needs to be directly connected to our WiFi (internet not needed) so security is not a big problem.
The menu also explains the function of some other devices such as Flic buttons and our SwitchBot universal remotes.
We have guards over our light switches to prevent people turning off our smart lights by mistake.
I often find myself using the menu instead of voice commands.
Just a different way to think of the same problem.
2 reasons why I think in this particular system that is populated troughout our living and cellar wonât work:
There are A LOT of these lights. 2 per segment and in total about 20. So thatâs 40-ish of these small lights. I think I would run up to the Zigbee limit of about 50-ish devices when I count all the other smart lights and devices. So making the controls smart is probably a way better fit in this case.
Iâm not even sure this light fixture comes in a smart variant. The ceiling is very high, havenât been able to unplug one yet. But its not exactly a common E27 for isntance. Thatâs for sure.
Thanks, ive understood from multiple sources the limit is way higher, so sticking with zigbee to make the network bigger and keep it as stable as possible on one protocol.
I removed one of the lights. Weirdest things Iâve ever seen:
6watts a pop. You can only buy them with this reflector screen attached it seems, bit wastefull. On any casr dont see an easy way to remove the light bulb.
I am not sure how many wall switches you have, but an option might be to replace the dimming unit in the switch with a Zigbee capable version. For instance, I am using the following one:
The advantage is that you can keep your existing wall switch covers, with the round button. And you can still use the round button for the dimming function. In addition to switching/dimming via Homey. However, they are fairly expensive.
Yeah was actually in contact with them and want to order a couple of things I need. If it works Iâll scale up for the entire house.
To make the dimmable âdumbâ lights smart they advise: Philips Hue compatible draaidimmer Kopen? | We â¤ď¸ Smart! | ROBBshop. Because in this house they kind of overdid it with the dimmers ill scale back 2 or 3 dimmers per section into 1. Should be possible if I stay under 200 watts.
The only thing I need to search for now is another kind of dimmer for the smart lights that we have. I also have ikea tradfri lights, dimming them via the dial on the wall seems handy, but I imagine it needs a different kind of dimmer then the dumb lights need because power needs to be constant (right?) and the dimmer just needs to inform homey what to do (im guessing it works like this?).
You only need the bypass if your lights canât handle the âresidueâ current the 2 wire dimmers leave on the circuit. Often if ledâs connected exceed 25W youâll be fine.
If not the leds wil flicker or glowâŚ
At 6W each you might not have the problem if you put 4 or 5 on one dimmerâŚ
Iâd test it with one before making a decisionâŚ
So im getting there but so many variables. Just read robbshop also offers an installer that will do everything, think ill have them finish the plan and execute at this point
2x smart doesnât make it 2 times smarter, smart lights should stay powered on (no the residue current from a 2 wire is not enough).
You might consider replacing the dumb dimmers with smart wireless dimmers and let zigbee/Homey handle the dimming. But youâll loose control when Homey goes down.
Or put in smart dimmers and dumb lights and use the smart lights elswhereâŚ
Oh, and label and name each smart device one by one when you pair them.
You really want to know where each device is placed.
hard oldschool on/off switch â in principle you keep it always on. But if we have a guest they can turn it off the old fashioned way. Not really smart but could do the trick. Homey stays in the lead for 99,9% of times.
Install a kind of fake dimmer that doesnt actually control power input but rather talks with homey. When homey is down this isnt great, but as long as that works its 100% fit. Thats the one I remarked earlier as â???â Not sure yet if there is a good solution for that.
Installing wise I dont have a lot of options on most dumb lights to move them around. So making the dumb lights smart with zigbee dimmers is the priority. But want to finish this project with one of the flavours above where I do have the option to make the lights smart im going for it in one go. Just a question which switch ill add making it both usable for homey and old school wallclicking people :-).
From my own count I need about 16 new dimmers/switches and 20ish smart lights in total that I dont already have. Bit of an investment, but want to do it right.
No2 is my suggestion with a wireless smart dimmer.
Homey flow gets triggered by the dimmer (up, down, 50%, 90%, whatever) and the flow sets the light accordinglyâŚ
With no1 the smart lights lose connection with the Homey. When restoring power they have to reconnect. Do they have a ârestore to previous state on power loss?â.
If not, youâll need a flow to switch lights back on. It will take some time before the lights go on again. Probably not what guests would expectâŚ
So im looking for a form factor I guess comparable to Philips Hue compatible draaidimmer Kopen? | We â¤ď¸ Smart! | ROBBshop (for the dumb lights) but that only controls the zigbee. So in my mind kind of a fake dimmer that only does zigbee commands built in behind my existing design light switches. This way I can put on the same design dials etc that are in my home now on all other inputs.
But wonât the dimmer that regulates power to the âdumb lightsâ not also cut power to the smart lights? If so, is that not something to avoid? I tought that they always needed full power. But probably the issue is im not understanding the basics here :-/
EditâŚ.i get now what you mean. Yeah that makes more sense. Thanks ill do that.
btw I just had a thougt this afternoon aout the bypass, if you do need one:
If youâre lucky and both wires (blue to the lamps and black from the original switch/dimmer) run through the box with the dimmer, or even in the ceiling : you can put the bypass there, it doesnât hĂĄve to be with the leds physicaly.
It just has to bypass (bypass ) the lights.
Just donât try to bypass half the house, that donât workâŚ
. Thanks for all the help man, appreciated.
) the lights.