[Official] Home Automation Thread

[Inediblebulk]

Yea i noticed more choices with neutral but wonder if any extra benefits such as having more possibilies in functional aspects...

For eg with neutral the switch is “fully” switched off but without neutral... current still runs through... is it through the system can provide true feedback in the scenario without neutral? - i cant rmb i read this where...

The neutral wire allows the switch to cut off power to the lights while the switch is still powered to receive the signal.

Non neutral switch will reduce the power to turn off the lights yet enough to power the switch. Thats why there is a min wattage for different lightings. If the lights wattage is low, the lights will flicker or remain on despite the switch maintaining at standby power.

The neutral wire is not used for any feedback or signal

 

[sellwatch]

Any of you guys facing problems with Alexa not performing tasks as before on rmpro ?

 

[spiffy123]

Hi All

im a newbie to home automation, and am looking at smart hubs for zwave, zigbee etc.

Understand there are different zwave frequencies and SG is using Euro zwave (868.4 Mhz). However, I saw this article recently (domotics dot sg/review-samsung-connect-home-and-compatible-z-wave-devices-in-singapore/) which says (2nd last para)

'Now before you speed off to get some Z-Wave devices and expect it to work with Samsung Connect Home, we’ve got a bad news and good news for you. The Samsung Connect Home in Singapore comes in Z-Wave Korean frequency. Why? Isn’t Singapore using Z-Wave Euro frequency? The reason is IMDA has recently announced that it will take 3-5 years to slowly farm back older 868.42Mhz to use it for longer range IoT protocols and they will only certify Z-Wave gateway that is in Korean frequency. While it is not illegal use Euro 868.42Mhz for short range devices during transition, they would recommend using the new Korean frequency moving forward. Refer to the Z-Wave coverage table for more details.'

Is this true? Im currently also looking for a digital lock, so this info really confuses me as to which hub i should be getting.

 

[sean_x]

Hi All

im a newbie to home automation, and am looking at smart hubs for zwave, zigbee etc.

Understand there are different zwave frequencies and SG is using Euro zwave (868.4 Mhz). However, I saw this article recently (domotics dot sg/review-samsung-connect-home-and-compatible-z-wave-devices-in-singapore/) which says (2nd last para)

'Now before you speed off to get some Z-Wave devices and expect it to work with Samsung Connect Home, we’ve got a bad news and good news for you. The Samsung Connect Home in Singapore comes in Z-Wave Korean frequency. Why? Isn’t Singapore using Z-Wave Euro frequency? The reason is IMDA has recently announced that it will take 3-5 years to slowly farm back older 868.42Mhz to use it for longer range IoT protocols and they will only certify Z-Wave gateway that is in Korean frequency. While it is not illegal use Euro 868.42Mhz for short range devices during transition, they would recommend using the new Korean frequency moving forward. Refer to the Z-Wave coverage table for more details.'

Is this true? Im currently also looking for a digital lock, so this info really confuses me as to which hub i should be getting.

This might be true.. Is better to check the specification before buying the hub and match with the smart devices that you planning to buy. Bcos they do have different variant of zwave frequencies sold by different seller/vendor.

 

[AsusEpoxy]

The neutral wire allows the switch to cut off power to the lights while the switch is still powered to receive the signal.

Non neutral switch will reduce the power to turn off the lights yet enough to power the switch. Thats why there is a min wattage for different lightings. If the lights wattage is low, the lights will flicker or remain on despite the switch maintaining at standby power.

The neutral wire is not used for any feedback or signal

to add on, this is why many RF switches also come bundled with a resistor to increase the load to prevent such happenings

 

[AsusEpoxy]

I bought the non-neutral switches. For the non-neutral switches it need to be within 3w to 800w, it might cause issue to led strip. Other than that, downlights and bulbs should be fine.

Installing Neutral probably cost $25+ for each point. On Aqara site it mentioned the only different is the load, so I just went for the non-Neutral cause I don’t need that load. Unless there is something they didn’t mention. *shrugs*

If you have Aqara non-Neutral switch, please share your experience! I only could tell more once mine got installed..

I have fitted out my home with Aqara non neutral switches
so far so good.

Added an occupancy sensor so the welcome light at the door will auto on upon home entry.
So far all my 2 gang Aqara works well. But i have a single gang Aqara that keeps going offline after 2 days.havent got down to doing a repairing though.

Aqara keep your options semi open because it is based on Zigbee which you can add a DH through smartthings. Its not officially supported, so there are hit and misses.

The best part about Aqara is the switch can be configured to control other Aqara functions as well.

You can have switch A controlling Light Group 1(group consisting of only 1 lamp), you can have switch B controlling Light Group 2 (cluster of 6 lamps for eg) , switch C controlling Light Group 3 (Dining light or something)

you can map controls of switch A to control Group 2 or 3 as well..
Personally what works for me is i use my sense of touch to switch on the light in dark places. Aqara is a mechanical momentary switch, so there's no learning gradient. As for the touch based types commonly used by rf433 switches, u have to be pretty centred and spot on. There's no feedback feel...

I was halfway in Broadlink switches until they started screwing people with their RM Pro. Decided to steer away

 

[Inediblebulk]

I have fitted out my home with Aqara non neutral switches
so far so good...

How many gateways did you use? Does the aqara switches relay the zigbee signal?

 

[AsusEpoxy]

only 1. I have no problems with signal. only latency though.

 

[sean_x]

I have fitted out my home with Aqara non neutral switches
so far so good.

Added an occupancy sensor so the welcome light at the door will auto on upon home entry.
So far all my 2 gang Aqara works well. But i have a single gang Aqara that keeps going offline after 2 days.havent got down to doing a repairing though.

Aqara keep your options semi open because it is based on Zigbee which you can add a DH through smartthings. Its not officially supported, so there are hit and misses.

The best part about Aqara is the switch can be configured to control other Aqara functions as well.

You can have switch A controlling Light Group 1(group consisting of only 1 lamp), you can have switch B controlling Light Group 2 (cluster of 6 lamps for eg) , switch C controlling Light Group 3 (Dining light or something)

you can map controls of switch A to control Group 2 or 3 as well..
Personally what works for me is i use my sense of touch to switch on the light in dark places. Aqara is a mechanical momentary switch, so there's no learning gradient. As for the touch based types commonly used by rf433 switches, u have to be pretty centred and spot on. There's no feedback feel...

I was halfway in Broadlink switches until they started screwing people with their RM Pro. Decided to steer away

Thanks for sharing your experience on Aqara switch and use cases! The sense of touch sensor definitely gonna to be handy. More Mi products added to the cart too..

Have you tried using Aqara switch to turn on ceiling fan? I believe it should works the same, the fan would activated by switching on by pressing the wall switch (virtually and physically)..

 

[AsusEpoxy]

unfortunately my fan is a fanco fitted with led light kit which for some reason will only on the light when switch is on. Fan ops need to use the RF based remote control. If your fan works differently, I would suggest you to do it this way via scene.
During daytime hours, whenever sensor detects human activity at door, fan switches on and stays on. Upon zero human activity detected for say 1hr, fan auto off.

 

[sean_x]

Ah I see.. Just tried my home ceiling fan with light - power on switch, only light on. Fan without light - power on switch, fan would start spinning.

Called Fanco to double check, ceiling fan with wall regulator would need 2 separated switches to control the fan and the light. 1 switch to turn on light and another 1 switch to turn on fan..

Another thread shared ceiling fan with remote control have very short life span, 3 of my expensive remote controlled kdk fan having issue after 3 years. Probably I'll go for Fanco fan with wall regulator, then use Aqara switch as remote..

 

[waterfoe]

Just to check, any smart home system that is able to create nested condition?

 

[spiffy123]

This might be true.. Is better to check the specification before buying the hub and match with the smart devices that you planning to buy. Bcos they do have different variant of zwave frequencies sold by different seller/vendor.

yes, I thought SG is on Euro zwave, till I came across that article.

I found another article which seems to confirm that Connect Home is on Korean frequency:
h4sh dot automate dot asia/blogs/guides-and-reviews/5-things-to-consider-for-smart-home-in-singapore-2018-edition

Scroll down to the section talking about Samsung Connect Home:
'One drawback is that it’s Z-Wave radio for Singapore is now in Korean frequency'


Does anyone who has experience with or own a Connect home can confirm this?

If this is true, how do u find compatible products?

 

[sean_x]

yes, I thought SG is on Euro zwave, till I came across that article.

I found another article which seems to confirm that Connect Home is on Korean frequency:
h4sh dot automate dot asia/blogs/guides-and-reviews/5-things-to-consider-for-smart-home-in-singapore-2018-edition

Scroll down to the section talking about Samsung Connect Home:
'One drawback is that it’s Z-Wave radio for Singapore is now in Korean frequency'


Does anyone who has experience with or own a Connect home can confirm this?

If this is true, how do u find compatible products?

I didn't own any of those but another Singapore user confirmed it's korean frequency:-

https://community.smartthings.com/t/z-wave-frequency-compatibility/121779

You have to look at the products specification to determine the compatibility, example Fibaro switch, it works on the following frequencies:-

https://manuals.fibaro.com/content/manuals/en/FGS-2x3/FGS-2x3-EN-T-v1.2.pdf

868.4 or 869.8 MHz EU;
908.4, 908.42 or 916.0 MHz US;
921.4 or 919.8 MHz ANZ;
869.0 MHz RU;

You can contact the product help desk to double confirm if it would works. Same for every z-wave products that you wanna purchase. It's not that straight forward, just need to do some research beforehand. Easiest would be buy from UK vendors and use their frequency as they have larger selection of IoTs / UK plug. That's why vendors charging huge amount to configure HA..

 

[MaoZeDuo]

Thanks for sharing! Any idea if there is a solution for controling water heater with aqara switches? Understand that it is not recommended due to the load. However it will be a great “life style improvement” if it can be done!

I have fitted out my home with Aqara non neutral switches
so far so good.

Added an occupancy sensor so the welcome light at the door will auto on upon home entry.
So far all my 2 gang Aqara works well. But i have a single gang Aqara that keeps going offline after 2 days.havent got down to doing a repairing though.

Aqara keep your options semi open because it is based on Zigbee which you can add a DH through smartthings. Its not officially supported, so there are hit and misses.

The best part about Aqara is the switch can be configured to control other Aqara functions as well.

You can have switch A controlling Light Group 1(group consisting of only 1 lamp), you can have switch B controlling Light Group 2 (cluster of 6 lamps for eg) , switch C controlling Light Group 3 (Dining light or something)

you can map controls of switch A to control Group 2 or 3 as well..
Personally what works for me is i use my sense of touch to switch on the light in dark places. Aqara is a mechanical momentary switch, so there's no learning gradient. As for the touch based types commonly used by rf433 switches, u have to be pretty centred and spot on. There's no feedback feel...

I was halfway in Broadlink switches until they started screwing people with their RM Pro. Decided to steer away

 

[Inediblebulk]

Can be done. Use the xiaomi smart plug and wire the water heater through a 20A contactor.

The smart plug will turn on the contactor then the water heater will draw power directly through the contactor. The smart plug will be burned if the heater is directly connected through it.

Thanks for sharing! Any idea if there is a solution for controling water heater with aqara switches? Understand that it is not recommended due to the load. However it will be a great “life style improvement” if it can be done!

 

[AsusEpoxy]

Thanks for sharing! Any idea if there is a solution for controling water heater with aqara switches? Understand that it is not recommended due to the load. However it will be a great “life style improvement” if it can be done!

dont think Aqara has, but there's broadlink E touch 20A

 

[shacboi]

Kwikset KEVO (2nd Gen)

Hi,

anybody here using Kwikset KEVO (2nd Gen) ? Reviews?

seems like the 1st Gen is buggy but 2nd Gen improves alot.

https://www.kwikset.com/products/details/electronic-locks/925-kevo-2-db-15.aspx

 

[Z_Dash]

Hi All.......reporting in to home automation as i'm looking recently.
Currently i saw a few different bigger brand with their peripherals

1) Xiaomi
2) Samsung
3) LG (compatible appliance with Google Home)

What are the general IOT managed stuff you guys integrate?
I'm seeing the following
1) Light switches
2) Door lock (biometric)
3) Ambience temperature
4) Aircon (any support for non wifi models by adding a receiver/control?)
5) Curtain motor

Does Google home and Alexa comes in to provide just audio control?

 

[MaoZeDuo]

Anyone tried livolo 2 way switch? Working ok?