Belkin Wemo Light Switch - I want to buy but who has them?

Forums › Gadgets, robotics, home automation, electronics (including wearables) › Belkin Wemo Light Switch - I want to buy but who has them?

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#1769858 24-Apr-2017 16:00

sbiddle:

sonyxperiageek: What is the difference between these smart light switches and something like a Hue bulb (without colour if you want it to be cheaper) though?

I could never really see the point in having smart bulbs when a smart switch is a lot more logical. No more ending up with the switch out of sync or having to turn it off and back on just because you don't want to use the app to turn the lights on.

some places they are completely fine, e.g. under the stairs/roof space. put a zwave door sensor/motion sensor to turn the lights on, never touch the switch. but for most rooms then yes theyre pretty useless IMO, too easy to get out of sync, this use to happy to me a lot with milights (now I have a box full of those lights sitting on a shelf, taking up space....).

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#1769875 24-Apr-2017 16:36

sbiddle:

sonyxperiageek: What is the difference between these smart light switches and something like a Hue bulb (without colour if you want it to be cheaper) though?

I could never really see the point in having smart bulbs when a smart switch is a lot more logical. No more ending up with the switch out of sync or having to turn it off and back on just because you don't want to use the app to turn the lights on.

Do you look at the switch that much in order for your OCD to kick in from an out of sync switch haha. IMO it doesn't bother me as half the time I'm not even looking at the switch. Like you said, if I wanted to use the switch to turn on the lights, I can just do a double flick of the switch. Besides, you could always use your voice with your Google Home too! :-)

Plus for most people, I think screwing in a light bulb seems a lot easier than playing around with wires and having to find out if it has a neutral wire or not for older homes etc.

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#1769876 24-Apr-2017 16:39

I agree light bulbs are easier, but they can be a lot more expensive (depending on the number of lights in a room, and how long the bulbs last for). If you can change a light switch (its not hard), I would go with a wifi light switch.

my kid use to always turn the light off, causing them to not work on motion, that was annoying.

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#1769913 24-Apr-2017 16:57

I was looking at this: https://www.noelleeming.co.nz/shop/computers-tablets/smart-home/smart-lighting/philips-huewht9-5wbulb-hue-white-9-5w-a60-e27/prod146581.html

And just realised maybe that's not an LED bulb. But it can still be controlled with the Hue Hub system.

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plas

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#1770068 25-Apr-2017 08:46

I guess I'll just have to wait and see what Belkin does. I liked the switches because of the price point, it allowed you to play around building a smart house at a fraction of the cost of zwave gear.

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#1770146 25-Apr-2017 11:17

Not to get OT but my only experience with a smart switch has been Insteon. They are not smart switches per se but modules that are wired (with difficulty) behind your existing wall switch and make them smart. They are supposed to detect if the circuit has been switched at the switch or via the controller/app and keep in sync.

Mine never worked that well Once the sparkie wired them up, the switch itself stopped working. That could have been because the 5 lights it controls have two slave switches and he perhaps wired the wrong switch? Anyway now the only ways I can turn operate the lights are to use the app (not that handy), Alexa (which is handy but my wife hates it) or finally I broke down and bought an Insteon RF remote :-( Now she can use that and of course did ask the question, what was wrong with the wall switch!

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#1770166 25-Apr-2017 12:40

sonyxperiageek:

sbiddle:

sonyxperiageek: What is the difference between these smart light switches and something like a Hue bulb (without colour if you want it to be cheaper) though?

I could never really see the point in having smart bulbs when a smart switch is a lot more logical. No more ending up with the switch out of sync or having to turn it off and back on just because you don't want to use the app to turn the lights on.

Do you look at the switch that much in order for your OCD to kick in from an out of sync switch haha. IMO it doesn't bother me as half the time I'm not even looking at the switch. Like you said, if I wanted to use the switch to turn on the lights, I can just do a double flick of the switch. Besides, you could always use your voice with your Google Home too! :-)

Plus for most people, I think screwing in a light bulb seems a lot easier than playing around with wires and having to find out if it has a neutral wire or not for older homes etc.

It's not so much the OCD aspect - it's the fact if you're going to install smart bulbs the app really does become the only way to easily turn the lights on/off and your switch becomes redundant. Switch the wall switch off and your bulb suddenly has no connectivity.

Having to find your phone just to turn a light on and off has to be the most backwards process ever invented.

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#1770191 25-Apr-2017 13:56

sbiddle:

sonyxperiageek:

sbiddle:

sonyxperiageek: What is the difference between these smart light switches and something like a Hue bulb (without colour if you want it to be cheaper) though?

I could never really see the point in having smart bulbs when a smart switch is a lot more logical. No more ending up with the switch out of sync or having to turn it off and back on just because you don't want to use the app to turn the lights on.

Do you look at the switch that much in order for your OCD to kick in from an out of sync switch haha. IMO it doesn't bother me as half the time I'm not even looking at the switch. Like you said, if I wanted to use the switch to turn on the lights, I can just do a double flick of the switch. Besides, you could always use your voice with your Google Home too! :-)

Plus for most people, I think screwing in a light bulb seems a lot easier than playing around with wires and having to find out if it has a neutral wire or not for older homes etc.

It's not so much the OCD aspect - it's the fact if you're going to install smart bulbs the app really does become the only way to easily turn the lights on/off and your switch becomes redundant. Switch the wall switch off and your bulb suddenly has no connectivity.

Having to find your phone just to turn a light on and off has to be the most backwards process ever invented.

Wemo do would work with the Alexa, so all you have to do is say, Alexa, turn on the Kitchen lights, which IMO is as fast as using a switch, and more convenient unless the room is loud. Infact that is mainly what I use Alexa for, for controlling my lights. I never use the actual apps on a phone, because it is far slower. Infact I see you can now pay to upgrade garage door openers, so you can use an phone app to open them . But IMO that is far slower than having a dedicated button remote. Phone apps for home automation IMO are a bit og a backwards step over dedicated remotes, simply becuase of the steps you have to take to get into the app you need. Voice control IMO provides a better option.

sonyxperiageek

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#1770207 25-Apr-2017 14:15

mattwnz:

sbiddle:

sonyxperiageek:

sbiddle:

sonyxperiageek: What is the difference between these smart light switches and something like a Hue bulb (without colour if you want it to be cheaper) though?

I could never really see the point in having smart bulbs when a smart switch is a lot more logical. No more ending up with the switch out of sync or having to turn it off and back on just because you don't want to use the app to turn the lights on.

Do you look at the switch that much in order for your OCD to kick in from an out of sync switch haha. IMO it doesn't bother me as half the time I'm not even looking at the switch. Like you said, if I wanted to use the switch to turn on the lights, I can just do a double flick of the switch. Besides, you could always use your voice with your Google Home too! :-)

Plus for most people, I think screwing in a light bulb seems a lot easier than playing around with wires and having to find out if it has a neutral wire or not for older homes etc.

It's not so much the OCD aspect - it's the fact if you're going to install smart bulbs the app really does become the only way to easily turn the lights on/off and your switch becomes redundant. Switch the wall switch off and your bulb suddenly has no connectivity.

Having to find your phone just to turn a light on and off has to be the most backwards process ever invented.

Wemo do would work with the Alexa, so all you have to do is say, Alexa, turn on the Kitchen lights, which IMO is as fast as using a switch, and more convenient unless the room is loud. Infact that is mainly what I use Alexa for, for controlling my lights. I never use the actual apps on a phone, because it is far slower. Infact I see you can now pay to upgrade garage door openers, so you can use an phone app to open them . But IMO that is far slower than having a dedicated button remote. Phone apps for home automation IMO are a bit og a backwards step over dedicated remotes, simply becuase of the steps you have to take to get into the app you need. Voice control IMO provides a better option.

Yes, there are some products which allow you to install a small box on your garage door opener, connect a wire or two and you can open/close as well as see if the garage door is open or closed through an app. You can of course still use your regular remote to open/close it, but it brings up possibilities such as Geo-fencing where it would open the garage door automatically when you are nearing your house in the car etc.

The thought of having so many apps to choose from is a bit of a pain for home automation, which is why I've started to play with home automation systems such as openHAB which I installed on my Synology NAS last night. I'm currently learning how to make up rules for it to make it "smart".

For home automation IMO you want to get to the point where everything is pretty much "smart" and install tablets around the house with a home automation UI such as this:

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mattwnz

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#1770253 25-Apr-2017 16:50

It seems that garage door companies are also now selling these as an upsell to a normal opener. But I would be wary if they use a proprietary system which you can only operate from the manufacturers own app, and possibly linking to their own servers, that may even need a subscription?. An open system as you describe above, that can be integrated into a home automation system is best IMO.

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#1770256 25-Apr-2017 16:59

mattwnz:

sbiddle:

Having to find your phone just to turn a light on and off has to be the most backwards process ever invented.

Wemo do would work with the Alexa, so all you have to do is say, Alexa, turn on the Kitchen lights, which IMO is as fast as using a switch, and more convenient unless the room is loud. Infact that is mainly what I use Alexa for, for controlling my lights. I never use the actual apps on a phone, because it is far slower. Infact I see you can now pay to upgrade garage door openers, so you can use an phone app to open them . But IMO that is far slower than having a dedicated button remote. Phone apps for home automation IMO are a bit og a backwards step over dedicated remotes, simply becuase of the steps you have to take to get into the app you need. Voice control IMO provides a better option.

Sure - voice is definitely going to be the future.. And the great thing about the switches is they'll work with both. Voice control is still limited until we have something in every room doing it, but until they deal with the fact your voice gets picked up by every Home or Echo that plan falls apart as well.

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#1770336 25-Apr-2017 19:58

@sonyxperiageek That's a nice UI. Can you let me know what it is?

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#1770344 25-Apr-2017 20:22

@mdf it's Habpanel on openHAB.

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plas

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#1770349 25-Apr-2017 20:43

mattwnz:

It seems that garage door companies are also now selling these as an upsell to a normal opener. But I would be wary if they use a proprietary system which you can only operate from the manufacturers own app, and possibly linking to their own servers, that may even need a subscription?. An open system as you describe above, that can be integrated into a home automation system is best IMO.

I use https://opengarage.io/ and control it with openhab, also bought their opensprinkler bee for the garden.

sonyxperiageek:

@mdf it's Habpanel on openHAB.

I currently use that, it works well enough. Hopefully soon I'm going to buy a POE tablet wall mount and get it set up properly, but I need to save up for a few other things first.

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#1770351 25-Apr-2017 20:45

@mdf I have been looking at imperihome for a tablet based ui ...I believe that you can get a binding for Openhab for it

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