I have an early 2000s house and they went wild with a) the sheer number of wall switches and b) the number of 3-way switches. I want to replace a good number of them while accepting my wife’s requirement that they look and function as dumb paddle switches when necessary.

I’ve looked around and these seem to be the best at fitting all of my requirements but Mama Mia, the price 😭 😭 😭 😭

https://www.amazon.com/Inovelli-2-1-Smart-Switch-Dimmer/dp/B0BG329SH3

Anyone have some suggestions?

  • pbbananaman@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    18 hours ago

    I think as far as Zigbee support for a three way dimmer, you’re looking at the best option. I will also note that the dimmer on the Inovelli is amazing. It’s capable of setting my can light LEDs at a dimness setting I didn’t know was possible after using some standard Home Depot dumb dimmer switch.

    Pricey, but worth it IMO.

  • MystikIncarnate@lemmy.caEnglish
    2·
    17 hours ago

    Buy the innovelli switches.

    I picked up a bunch of them for my home and it’s been great.

    You’ll pay for them up front but at least you won’t be replacing them in 6-12 months like some other vendors.

    Edit to add: I’ll note, the ones I have are zwave. If you want, they also have ones with motion sensors built in (they look the same). They’re a bit more costly, but they can be useful for automations as they’re basically motion/presence sensors built into the switch instead of requiring a second device to do it. It would be useful on hallways where the switch is in a good spot to pick up people in the hallway…

    IDK. Use your imagination. With innovelli, the blue series is ZigBee, Red series is zwave. There’s also a white series which is kind of neither, and both.

    Good luck.

  • node815@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    17 hours ago

    What about just buying Matter Bulbs? Or supported WiFi Bulbs? I have 4 which work nicely! Aidot brand so it’s not known brand but it was good priced. I know you said they were three way switches so that may matter if you are wanting to utilize the 3 way dimmer, but with HA, it should be easy to do!

    This would also be depending on which lights you want to control, as some may not be controllable such as maybe the bathroom lights. As an apartment dweller who rents, I put mostly smart lights every where I could in my home so I can control which ones come on or off on a schedule. Change colors as well to help set the mood with my floor lamps etc…

  • UnearthedUnusual@lemm.eeEnglish
    1·
    18 hours ago

    In case you don’t feel like doing electrical work on some of them or find that the price of some of the options are too much, I wanted to suggest the ThirdReality Zigbee smart switch. They also sell them in four packs so you can save money. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0CRB18DHG?psc=1

    Where it fits with your requirements:

    • You can press it like a regular light switch (button-style) any time if you want to use it like a regular light switch
    • Goes over an existing light switch. So, you don’t need to deal with electrical stuff.
      • Can take them off the existing switch and flip the actual light switch manually if the whole smart switch fails
        • It does take mild effort to snap the device off the wall, but you don’t need a screwdriver, just your hands and determination
    • Better price than what you linked, and sold in multi-packs for cost savings since it sounds like you want to buy a lot of switches

    Where it may not fit:

    • Maybe your wife will not think this looks like a light switch? Maybe show her one online first, or only buy one to show her.
    • The aesthetics can look kind of weird depending on the existing light switch plates
      • Could make the aesthetics nicer by changing out the light switch plates to match the smart switch, which could be reasonably cheap
    • Make sure it will fit all of your light switches. If you have non-standard sizes because the prior homeowners were free spirits, the device may not fit. They do have a kit to help with a small range of sizes.
      • I bought one first and tested it/measured it with all the light switches to make sure it fit first

    Some info you did not ask for that may also be helpful to you/others:

    ThirdReality suggests buying a hub with them but if you have a USB zigbee dongle you don’t need it. Like this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0D737SJ5G?psc=1

    I found the connection was a little inconsistent behind walls at first, but after adding a sufficiently thick USB extension cable to help lessen connection issues from interference they have worked really well. For longer distances/through lots of walls you may also want to have Zigbee smart plugs here and there/other Zigbee devices that plug into outlets that can repeat the signal and strengthen your connection.

    • afk_strats@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      34·
      2 days ago

      I’m sorry. I’m still new on my HA journey (and marriage) so I’m sure there are unexplored integrations

  • 𝕽𝖚𝖆𝖎𝖉𝖍𝖗𝖎𝖌𝖍@midwest.socialEnglish
    26·
    2 days ago

    I have tried every kind of switch, so trust me on this: go with z-wave.

    • for 3-way replacements, get these. You may have to rewire the dumb second switch, but you won’t have to replace it, because this switch works with dumb second switched. If you want to update the dumb switch, these are awesome simply because of how easy they are to install.
    • This switch is fantastic for being able to pack a ton of functionality into a single switch, controlling non-switch-wired devices like smart lightbulbs, fireplaces, garage doors, and so on. There are a couple of HA templates that make programming easier. Not only are there a lot of buttons, but each can be programmed to respond to single, double, or triple clicks, or long-presses. You’ll never use all of the functions.
    • I got one of these as a controller and have not had any problems with it. It works well with zwave2js. I did try once to connect it to find ZigBee devices a previous owner left laying around, and never got them to work, but as I understand it Zigbees a big more flakey. I assume with enough diligence it’d be fine.

    I really really like those Eva Logik switches. The fact that they work in 3-way configuration with existing switches makes things so much easier - and cheaper.

    • turmacar@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      1 day ago

      FWIW with zigbee I’ve had better luck with zigbee2MQTT and then using MQTT. If nothing else it made it a lot clearer what was/wasn’t a router and what was just and end device than the native zigbee integration. ( I was getting very frustrated with a less capable no-neutral wall switch. )

      Might just be placebo but it feels like there are cheaper/longer batterylife zigbee sensors than there are zwave.

      • 𝕽𝖚𝖆𝖎𝖉𝖍𝖗𝖎𝖌𝖍@midwest.socialEnglish
        1·
        8 hours ago

        Cheaper, maybe. I wouldn’t say most ZWave devices are exactly cheap. OTOH, I’ve never had a device not pair eventually, even if I have had a few times where I had to try the pair a couple of times. My biggest issue with ZWave has been when I replaced the controller, and had to remove devices from a controller that no longer existed and add them to the new controller. Pairing is usually straightforward, but many ZWave devices assume you still have the controller and expect you to start the removal on that end. And that part’s already horribly documented, if at all, and then the reset is “click 5 times fast, then hold for 15 seconds”. Hold on the 5th click? Or press 5 times and then press again and hold? Anyway, Thank goodness it rarely comes up.

        As for battery life, I don’t know. All of my button-cell battery-powered ZWave sensors have battery lives of 1-2 years. I have 4 or 5 motion sensors in the house and a couple of tilt sensors on the garage doors; the only one I have an issue with is a water sensor, which either burns through batteries at an alarming rate, or has a crappy battery level sensor. I have an 2xAA siren in which the batteries last about a year; they lasted a year in 2023-2024, and I replaced them at 20% because I was going around replacing batteries. That doesn’t seem too bad, to me.

      • ShepherdPie@midwest.socialEnglish
        5·
        2 days ago

        I’ll second what they said about ZWave and their recommended switches.

        I have that same Zooz scene controller in the kitchen and it works great to control the kitchen lights and the RGBW cabinet lighting I installed. For ‘normal’ smart switches, I’m using the dimmer and on/off Zooz switches (Zen32 and 34 I think? Zen72 & 76) which are about half the price of that Innovelli.

        I used the HUSBZB in the past and it did work, but it’s also pretty dated and hard to update so I went with the Sonoff 3.0 USB dongle (zigbee) and Zooz ZST10 dongle (zwave) and have had a trouble free experience.

        • afk_strats@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
          1·
          2 days ago

          Ok. I also have the Sonoff 3.0 and it seems good so far. Might need to add that ZST to the cart

      • tburkhol@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        1 day ago

        Just want to me-too Ruaidbrigh’s reco’s and to point out, as a long-time homeowner, that you don’t have to do all the renovations at one time. For me, at least, there’s a big difference between spending $1000 to replace all the switches in the house and spending $100 to replace a couple switches every month or so. Big difference between spending the whole weekend re-wiring switches and a quick after-coffee task.

        • 𝕽𝖚𝖆𝖎𝖉𝖍𝖗𝖎𝖌𝖍@midwest.socialEnglish
          1·
          1 day ago

          This is such good advice. You replace the switches one at a time, when you realize that it’d be nice to have that thing automated. Trying to do it all at once… that’s eager optimization. It’s overwhelming, and you’ll end up replacing switches that you never use.

          The exception is switch panels; my house has a couple 3- and 4- switch panels. When one of those wants automating, I give it a good, hard think about doing all of them while I’m in there.

          But the bite-size advice is gold.

    • afk_strats@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      1·
      23 hours ago

      These are cool but I need something which will help my existing light switches too. I looked at aquara wall switches and they are nice but they seem to be around the $35-40 usd range

  • IndustryStandard@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    1 day ago

    if you already have smart lights:

    Tuya have zigbee compatible 4way switches for like 8 bucks on AliExpress. The TS0044.

    This is a great blueprint for it which makes programming the functions on a script a lot easier https://github.com/zpriddy/Home-Assistant/blob/d7940c3aba7e96aae8da53864022b37e09923ef7/ts0044_zigbee_remote.yaml

    Since the blueprint is for that specific button I’d recommend getting that one. But they also have 3 way switches https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005178438396.html?productId=1005005178438396

  • Tinkerer@lemmy.caEnglish
    3·
    1 day ago

    I have a 3 ZigBee sonoff switches: https://www.zigbee2mqtt.io/devices/ZBMINIL2.html#sonoff-zbminil2

    They are nice and don’t require a neutral wire, you can’t use these on 3 way switches but they are very nice and small. You then keep the aesthetic of whatever switch you use, paddle or flip switch.

    The one thing I’ve noticed is that if you flip the switch on and off really quick about 3 times it disconnects from the mqtt server and needs to be repaired.

    You could also go with a zwave or ZigBee inovelli switch which are nice but very expensive. They are very reliable and I have no complaints with the one zwave switch I have from them.

  • Deello@lemm.eeEnglish
    8·
    2 days ago

    Not the most elegant solution but have you looked at Shelly devices? They are smart relays that connect to your switches in the wall. They connect via Wi-Fi, cloud optional. Newer ones are supposed to support things like Threads and Matter. What I love about them is that you can use any switch you want.