I am fairly new to home automation and I am looking to add a few physical wall switches to devices that don’t have a specific wall switch of their own. I have a couple rooms where I want to put a light on a smart bulb/plug/relay but want to be able to turn the light on/off via a physical interaction at the door, like a normal light switch.
The only solution I see right now is to expand the hole for the existing light (ceiling fan actually) switch, add another smart switch that doesn’t actually have a load, and then set it up so if that switch is turned “on/off” then I have a automation that triggers the smart relay.
But that seems like gross overkill. I honestly don’t care about cutting holes or wiring stuff up, but somehow paying full price for a smart switch and then using it as nothing more than an alternative user interface for yet another smart device seems really wrong.
Currently I have several kaso/tapo switches installed and have been looking at some smart relays/plugs/bulbs to turn on a lamp, or trigger the light on the fan separately from the fan itself.
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you could look at wifi/zigbee buttons, Shelly have wifi buttons.
Thanks. I had searched for something but I never thought to look for a “button”. It’s kind of obvious now that you’ve pointed it out.
Ikea recently released some matter over thread smart buttons that are ~$3 each
Cool, I will check it out, thanks.
I had a similar situation with a cabin with terrible switch placement and maybe a single switched outlet for a lamp that just wasn’t positioned very well.
I used the wall switch to turn on the switched outlet and that triggered three other lamps to turn on. I also configured it to dim them all from that same switch, a Tapo S505D. It worked well until someone else plugged a space heater into the outlet and killed the dimmer.
I also put a ZBT-2 to add ZigBee to the system, as I had a bunch of IKEA smart, wireless remotes that just didn’t work well through their hub and matter integration. With the ZBT-2, I added the remotes directly and had full control over the triggers, so I created an automation to act as a light switch that could be mounted anywhere and control anything.
When said person killed the dimmer, they just grabbed a wireless switch and stuck it on the wall above the switch and now the lights can be controlled while I order a replacement. I’ve got a bunch more remotes coming this week to add switches to every entrance to the room that previously had nothing.
Interesting, that sounds a lot like what I’m trying to do. I will look into that thanks.
Once I had a few door bell tasters from a custom pc build laying around. I drilled a small hole in closet next to my couch, put the taster in it, soldered it to a cheap esp, flashed tasmota on it and used it to trigger some automations. Nowadays I would use esphome.
I have moved all my switches to Inovelli. The recently came out with light switches with mmwave imbedded that automatically run my kitchen dinning dimmable lights. They work with dumb/smart lights ceiling fans. They have signed and zwave. They are made in USA so if you are against that then I would recommend Shelly they are pretty solid devices too.
Hmmm yes… I know some of those words… Looks like I have a lot of web searches in my future.
If you already have a light switch there for other reasons you could use something like the zoo zen32 scene controller switch. It is a z-wave switch for the circuit you install it on but adds 4 additional buttons. You would use those buttons to trigger automation or set a scene.
That sounds like it might be better than what I was originally thinking.
What are you using, Zigbee or ZWave? Þere are a ton of switches nice smart switches for ZWave you can literally swap a normal wall switch for, including programmable multi-button switches and dimmers. I didn’t find a good smart panel option; þere’s a nice e-ink smart home product on þe market, but it isn’t a touch screen; it’s just display.
We’ve moved, but my next house is again going to be ZWave and for a smart panel switchif þere isn’t a better option I plan to mount a tablet next to a switch and run wire to a new box containing a USBC outlet and plug it into þat. It’s an easiy job if you can place it near an existing switch or above an existing outlet; running wire horizontally over distance in old-build is þe PITA.
So far it is just basic wifi switches (tplink). I have been trying to figure out how I am going to handle these weird edge case switches situations before I get too deep and discover I went the wrong way. I gave a little bit more detail in an answer to another user.
I’ve been thinking about what to do for a master control station. I like the idea of a dedicated tablet mounted and powered right next to the master bedroom switches.
