Hi there, I’ve just installed a new Homey Pro (2023) and I’m wondering if either one of two following scenario’s is possible:
For the purpose of testing (before I splurge for the rest of the house) I’ve got:
1x rocker switch in wall
1x Sonoff ZBMINIL2 plugged in behind that switch, no neutral, basic setup.
3x IKEA tradfri GU10 lights in one fixture
Scenario 1:
I’m able to turn on/off the power to the 3 tradfri lights using the physical switch, the app and homekit.
If I turn the light off the zigbee status in homey and homekit is still ‘on’ for the light as Homey is unable to know that the lights have been physically cut off from power. Eventually I’m guessing it will error out due to timing out.
I’ve tried making a flow in which the following happens:
If ZBMINIL2 is turned off and light 1/light 2/light 3 is on then turn off light 1/light 2/light 3.
This does not “turn off” the individual lights in Homey. So the power is cut to the lights but they stay “on” in the app. Also variants with waiting 2 seconds before checking light status have been tried.
Is there any way to make this possible? If not, is scenario 2 an option?
Scenario 2:
I’ve come across this post with the following quote:
Move the “L Out” to the same connector as the “L In”. This would effectively bridge the live and have permanent power to the bulb. The Sonoff relay would still “click” when you pushed the light switch but not do anything. You would then need an automation to trigger the bulb on when the relay turns on.
This would be a fine workaround, not ideal but usable. But the ZBMINIL2 has these terminals:
Lout Lin S1 S2
I’m guessing the quote is valid for the unit that uses the neutral wire but is it also possible to bridge this without the neutral? I’m not quite sure how to wire it up.
You shouldn’t cut power to smart lights, they are meant to be powered on all the time.
A “no neutral” device still needs a neutral, but instead of the neutral being directly connected to the device, it’s connected to its load. Which means that the device will only work if there’s an actual load connected to its output (and AFAIK it needs to be a proper load, not just a neutral, otherwise switching the relay will create a short circuit between live and neutral).
I think it’s not possible to achieve what you want with a ZBMINIL2.
I have also a couple of zigbee lights that are not used at the moment but they are still “on” in the Homey app.
I have moved them to a not used room.
And reported this to Atom.
But you never should cut the power of a smart device, then it is an normal dumb thing.
Thank you both for the quick reply. Cutting the power was the necessary evil option to keep the household sane with the help of keeping physical buttons. Further experimenting did not yield any good results so since I’ve got mainly Gira switches and outlets in this house I’ve bought a couple of Senic Friends of Hue switches. I also have a Hue Bridge V2 lying around so the connection was fairly simple. Homey still as the main hub, Hue Bridge V2 for the connection to the switches exposing to Homekit through Hue app, all the other branded (tradfri mainly) lights exposed to HomeKit through HomeKitty. Works like a charm.
These fit straight into the existing frames and look OEM of the switches but don’t actually have any connection to the physical switch. So the wires running from the bulb to the switch are permanently connected using a WAGO connector and now there is even all the room for activities in the switch cavities.
Not the best practice to permanently have them on with no means to reset or cut power if necessary but then it’s always possible to shut them off from the main utility box.
Thanks for now! Will build up the system from here onwards.
