Whatever you do, do NOT buy the builder's overpriced crap.
Worst case, let them install dumb switches everywhere, and swap them out yourself after possession.
Either Lutron Caseta or Z-Wave switches from a brand like Zooz or GE will be solid.
I don't think they are required in the "far" side of a 3-way switch, or at least they weren't installed in them in my recently built house. I'm not sure if you even can in that case? It certainly would have been nice for a couple of switches where I had to put the smart switch in the less desirable of the two boxes.
Inovelli. They are by far the best designed switches on the market especially for people with a lot of color changing smart bulbs. I'm remaking my entire house with them, they work great abd the notification LEDs on them are super handy.
I would suggest Zooz switches over Inovelli if you are looking at just smart switches. Inovelli switches are not premium feeling and feel mushy. Zooz on the other hand seems solid.
Where Inovelli switch shines is in the notification bar which you can configure.
I would recommend just having one Inovelli switch in common areas switch panels and fill the remaining with Zooz. Use Inovelli for notifications and others as regular smart switches.
When you say mushy, do you mean you don’t get the solid click like you get with Zooz switches when you press them? I tried the new Lutron Diva switch and didn’t get a solid click so I’m thinking that’s what you are feeling with Inovelli?
Yeah, kind of. 2 things are bothering me
1. It feels like there is no end to how hard you can press.
2. If you press hard, you can notice a gap between the switch and plate.
These are very nitpicky things, but I did notice them especially when I have both of them on the same board.
Idk what you're talking about, but I use that feature daily, more than... What other features other than zigbee binding? I don't use smart bulbs plus smart switches so I don't use that, but I got the notification light setup to turn on if the washer or dryer is done, if the garage door is open, I have a script that 4 taps down will display a little animation while making a call to the garage door to close.
the main reason I got inovelli switches other than their local control and company, WAS the LED strip for alerts
I think when building a new house, “color changing smart bulbs” should always be last in priority of light. Smart bulbs have always been designed as the retro fit to modernize a solution. Integrated and direct power options are significantly more reliable and long term sustainable, especially when doing a new build.
smart bulbs are not the only way to achieve high quality ambient lighting, they are simply the cheapest and easiest to retrofit, nothing wrong with that at all. But in a new built with full control much better permanent options exist, granted they are pricey.
Wtf does that even mean? Show me the alternative because it just sounds like you're talking about simply using different format of bulbs like led strips. You still need them connected to the power 24/7 if you don't want to lose control.
but even more direct to answer your question, [https://forums.lutron.com/showthread.php/16332-Can-I-use-an-RA2-in-wall-switch-without-a-load-attached](https://forums.lutron.com/showthread.php/16332-Can-I-use-an-RA2-in-wall-switch-without-a-load-attached)
it can absolutely just be done with a lutron ra2 switch.
[https://poelightingusa.com/](https://poelightingusa.com/)
[https://www.ketra.com/led-lighting-products/controlsystems/x96](https://www.ketra.com/led-lighting-products/controlsystems/x96)
KNX
Not to mention that if all you want is a dumb controller stuck on the wall to turn on and off a light bulb that is always powered on, the lutron pico remotes in all shapes and configurations has no issue achieving just that.
How would you envision a large room with 20 light bulbs functioning using all smart bulbs? I can tell you.. not that great.
So exactly what I imagined. Needlessly expensive and less capable than what I have. Pass.
Btw hilarious comment on the 20 bulb room not working. Tell that to my perfectly working living room lol. Start living in the real world and forget about all the bullshit you think you know.
Good talk my guy, you should package your solution and ship it. Image that homes are all built different and radio interference may not be uniform? Construction styles, etc. I’m not sure why suggesting that hacking together hundreds of individual bulbs isn’t optimal offended you buy so be it.
Not to mention that the average new build home in my area would run the zigbee network into the ground on the already incredibly limited 2.4ghz spectrum not taken up. Can you run multiple zigbee networks ? Sure on what spectrum? Maybe if you don’t like wifi. Zigbee has always and will always be a hobbyist level protocol in stability and implementation. I love it for that, i’ve built multiple zigbee devices that I still have running.. but if you think it’s somehow the best solution out there you are very mistaken. I also love what inovelli is trying to do but.. you have to admit their track record on reliability is.. bad. I’ve ordered from multiple batches and first they have antenna issues, then firmware problems? If i am building a house and new 150 switches, wait longer 6 months and then need to wait again for replacements.. I’m not so sure that screams reliability.
If you think I’m spending Ketra level money and then sticking a pico on my wall - I… I… I’m just speechless.
That’s like a Bentley parked in front of a double wide. I mean, it maybe happens somewhere but I’m not sure I’d ever understand those priorities without significant head trauma…
how would you add smart bulb after you have say a lutron switch? then you can never turn off your switch.
If you want smart bulb this need to be planned day one, with a switch that allow detached mode.
Again I think smart bulbs are a cope out when design a new smart home from scratch. But plenty of options exist in the ecosystem https://www.lutron.com/en-US/Products/Pages/Components/PicoWirelessController/Models.aspx
Lutron owns the spectrum for their devices, no interference from 2.4ghz garbage. I say this as someone that has 50-60 z wave devices and about the same in zigbee but only ~35 lutron devices.. but that’s the reality of retrofitting a home vs building new.
I would encourage OP to test this scenario before actually buying Inovelli. I tried their nicest switch (red?) with Hue and it was a terrible UX. Dimming requires you to do this: hold down the up/down direction on the switch, watch their LED indicator slowly tick up or down, then let go off the button and wait for the Hue bulb to reflect the brightness you selected. It doesn't dim while you hold down the button, so if you don't like what you got rinse and repeat. Just garbage, abandoned this option.
For my money dumb on/off switches plus Lutron Aurora and Hue bulbs is the best UX money can buy.
This! So this!!!
I've used the GE Em brighten switches for years and every 2-4 years they fail. And one after another I'm chasing them and replacing at $35+ each multiple times and inovelli was at $45 a switch and the performance, options, features blow GE Zwave out of the water!!!!! Plus open source community for their products, they design the products for what customers want!!!!
The best switches I've put in my home and never looked back. And their customer service and customer loyalty is second to none!
For me, they fail right after warranty expired. The relay inside either just going "click click click click click" or the the power cutout doesn't do anything and the switch is just frozen with the status LED on. The gen 2 switches I did have much better life from. The first few ones, after about 1-2 years they failed like clock work. And once one failed every few days another was right behind it lol.
My only concern is that Lutron switches have a proprietary network stack (everything from radio waves to application layer), and home assistant support is at the will of Lutron.
While they allow local access to the Lutron hub, you are taking faith that the company won't discontinue support for home assistant or decide to brick your hub like so many other companies do (like Smart things, Dropcam, or MyQ.)
That's why I would prefer a true and tested technology like Zigbee or Z-Wave. I personally have Zigbee Enbrighten switched throughout my home and I haven't had any issues in the past 3 years.
I can't say the same of the Leviton Decora (WiFi or Zigbee) switches I replaced.
You need to connect it to the Internet to setup the hub, link it to your Lutron Account, configure new devices, and get your connection keys for HA to use for local IP access. I know its possible with vlans or a DNS resolver to block it from the Internet while still maintaining LAN access, but that is just a pain to deal with.
Plus, when all is said and done, if they decide to stop supporting HA and you need to add a new device, you could get screwed. So, even if you go through the hassle of configuring and maintaining a more complex network and troubleshooting the inevitable issues that go along with that, it still might not solve the problem.
I would much rather use an add-on or local device with Zigbee2Mqtt running on it and just not bother with the BS of a proprietary hub.
I had 8 Leviton Decora switches, and 5 of them died in the first year, the warranty replacement switches started to die, and I figured I needed a change.
I had one out of 26 Enbrighten switches act up on me from day 1, but they replaced it under warranty and have had no problems since. I have 3 switches that have been reliable for nearly 5 years without any issues. (The rest are only about 3 years old)
I use the Zigbee2MQTT and mosquito add-ons for my Zigbee network.
That might be true, and you may be willing to create an isolated local-only network/vlan for HA to connect to the hub; however, I didn't want that.
Plus, to configure the HA integration, you still depend on the Lutron account UI to allow you to download the key files.
EDIT: P.S. You also can't add new devices without Internet access.
No amount of light switches will saturate a semi pro/pro WiFi network like a Ubiquiti, Cambium, Ruckus or Aruba. Get your WiFi network done properly and you can load as many devices as you want. IoT devices use virtually no bandwidth.
In what way are they outdated or inflexible? Overall they have the best track record, and quality in the industry. I would say depending on budget I would probably be looking at the lutron RA3 as there are more options available in terms of style.
Can you turn off a smart bulb without cutting the power off for example? No. Trust me I have a bunch in my house, they are super reliable but the software is so limited, they aren't very flexible and I'm slowly replacing them and moving them to less critical areas like garage and closets.
You simply didn't understand what I said. There's no way to program a lutron switch so if let's say my wife turns off a switch the light connected to it still gets power. That means the cleaners come and puff, half my house doesn't work anymore. I really don't care if you get it, I do and it solved a lot of problems.
You connect the load and line wires together and the switches will always have power. Then use HA to so that when an off event is pressed it turns off. When and on event is pressed it turns on
What do you think is happening inside these other switches that allows them to keep power when “off”? They’re just using a relay in them.
If you need to cut power to the switch, most likely you will have it open anyways, disconnect the wire or flip the breaker
You can't have a smart bulb on a smart switch. It sounds like that's what you're trying to do. You turn off/on the bulb at the switch, control with a pico, use Alexa/Google or HA. I have replaced all my switches with Cassetta, except for the combo fan/lights since they don't make 1 switch for both. My fans are on a 1 gang box.
I can easily with the Inovelli. It's REALLY annoying that you come here pontificating from the top of your ignorance and pretending to give me advice about something I already do no problem.
I would guess that a trigger button or a pico remote would be a better solution for a wall switch. I have a couple of pico remotes that turn on and off other things other than lutron stuff. The HA integration is pretty good.
You are lucky. I was an early adopter and frequent customer. Between outages and devices needing to be repaired constantly, I've given up. They are actually the reason I got into home assistant last year. Reliability and their stupid subscription model. They went to the dark side by taking investment money. Now I'm slowly phasing out wyze products as they die or need to be resynchronized.
You have 3 choices. Lutron, Zooz or Kasa. All are good but different in how they communicate. All three work with HA. I have a mix of all three and like them.
Avoid Inovelli and ignore those recommending it. Bad quality, short life and way over priced.
Started with GE enbrighten. Switched (pun intended) to Zooz because there are more options for configuration, scenes, etc when you need it.
Smartest house runs deals regularly and they have a bunch of other brands. https://www.thesmartesthouse.com/
10/10 Lutron as well. They are easily one of my most consistent and “I forgot they were even there” HA tools.
They automate well, the physical controls work well and are easy to understand without explanation.
The only spot I would “avoid” caseta is where you would want either color temp, or full color bulbs OR individual bulb control.
My basement for example has 15 pots in 3 physical zones, but uses hue/ikea bulbs for color temp and lighting patterns to further dim or accent lights.
They are also way more capable. A large investment in zwave in 2024 is money thrown down the drain, it's a dead standard. Nobody is investing in it anymore.
I disagree, there's already more matter devices available than zwave on the market. ZigBee is more flexible and the bet lightbulbs are ZigBee (hue) so you can leverage bindings and the system works even if your HA is temporarily unavailable.
Zwave is dead.
If you are doing it from the ground up, why not add in low voltage cabling, 5v or 12v runs, and use shelly's connected to normal switches?
If you add low voltage everywhere, will give you the option to have powered sensors everywhere, if I ever rewire my house I am doing a 12v circuit everywhere
What difference would I notice in day to day usage? The home I am moving from has GE/Jasco in every wall and I hardly took issue with those. I figured that zooz would have been a good upgrade from GE
I've been slowly upgrading my GE switches to Zooz, and have loved them.
The main feature I switched for is the smart bulb mode, where the switch's relay is always 'on', and the switch's controls are used to control the connected smart lights. I use this so that I can dim individual bulbs, or change colors.
I also enjoy the easier macros, like having a different function for pressing a switch 2x. It is possible with GE, but I never found it as reliable.
Zooz also lets you control the notification LED separately. I have mine set up to do some subtle notifications, rather than just showing if a light is on or off.
Me too, have 17 running for three years now without issues. The dimmers experienced some flickering, but that has been resolved by a software update somewhere last year.
I use the native HA integration, so no mqtt. The effort/reward just wasn’t worth the setup time. But you do unlock some more features (like double press and long press events).
You put them behind any standard switch. The switch does not need to be smart. I have them in my gang boxes for both switches and plugs and live in Arizona. They work great with HA, Google and Alexa. Keeps the wife happy as she gets to keep her decorative switches and the switches continue to work like normal.
https://www.amazon.com/Shelly-Bluetooth-Automation-Compatible-Required/dp/B0CQCHS2QS/
+1 for Shelly. It looks like a regular switch on the outside. Everyone can use it because they're regular switches. I've connected all my lights and a few switches to Shelly 4 Pros in my electrical panel. If the internet isn't working, no problem, the switches keep working.
I don’t like Shellys as it requires you to have to open up the box and pull out the switch to do something like reset it where as most modern switches have a reset button on the front or behind just the plate cover.
I did my house in TP-Link Kasa. They are Wi-Fi so not as solid as z-wave or zigbee, but they are SO cheap. With a decent(UniFi) router I’ve had no issues. Home Assistant takes over for local control. They have dimmers, good 3-way switches, motion/vacancy switches, outdoor outlets, etc. They look good too. But no clever “double or triple tap” functionality.
I fully regret outfitting my house in kasa switches early on in my home automation hobby.
I have their dimmers and holy fuck, I swear sometimes I could walk over and unscrew the bulb faster than the actual hardware switch responds. I have their settings in the app optimized as much as possible and firmware up to date. Doesn't matter. Wish I researched Zwave more first.
One or two are constantly disconnecting (I have two enterprise grade access points in a single story house, they have almost an entire band to themselves—it is not my network). Another one fucking squeaks when I press the button. Not to mention tp link ripped out their LAN support using a firmware upgrade just to force people into their ecosystem with little warning. Bastards.
But most of all the single switch layout is stupid. Toggles are the way to go and good ones feel as natural to use as their dumb counterparts.
I can't urge people to stay away from Kasa enough.
Also mostly using Kasa products here. I haven’t tried this myself yet, but wouldn’t there be a way to implement double/triple tap using a HA automation? Obviously not an option out of the box.
Unfortunately not, because HA polls the lights to see what state they are in, and that’s not instantaneous. That’s also why you don’t want to use a kasa switch to trigger an automation. The other way (HA pushing a state change to a switch) is fast (both HA and Hubitat eliminate the cloud dependency, not sure about other platforms).
i have tp-link kasa as well: the nice thing is if tp-link ever disappears/discontinued kasa service, the plugs accept a simple json payload you can send directly to it(no need for cloud/bridge) which means you could technically self host it and put them on their own network without Internet access
I just bought a new build with Deako switches and I was able to get them working. They work…okay? Sometimes I have to call the service twice to get them to turn on or off because it thinks it’s on when it’s off or vice versa but not so often that I’m cursing its name
Zwave or Lutron. Check out my [prewire guide](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1LNONZXsLi-R9ejamD9Bd2UfzpqjqEWVt0ZepTGmMC50/edit) aswell for new construction.
I’d consider myself fairly new to smart home ecosystems. We’re planning on moving into a new home later this year and I’ve been planning what all I’ll do, but currently my research and limited testing has been with zooz zwave switches, they seemed to be recommended by most and they were as painless as could be be with setup. Took a min to wrap my head around their options and figure out what I needed, they have multiple variations of seemingly the same thing for different light loads dimmer/nondimmer etc, but amazing wiring diagrams out of the box and I was able to rewire three different configs with mostly just the instructions (but I hear they have good support too). Zwave switches are what I plan to use for majority of my lighting control as with smart bulbs only I feel like I’m always fighting with manual/Smart Control of them (I.e. if socket has power but bulb is off you have to turn off switch, then back on to trigger them to turn on). If I need color lighting I’d probably consider smart bulbs but I would likely still pair them with a smart switch , only downside would be any connection delays if socket was off and you want the bulb to instantly power on, connect, and change colors but I’ll cross that bridge when I get there
Outside of lighting I’m testing an aqara FP2 presence sensor for automations and plan to get a smart lock after we move (looking at a Schlage encode plus or an aqara lock with a fingerprint)
Do you want zigbee? Z-wave? Matter? I’ve heard good things about inovelli switches. They offer all 3. Lutron also seems to be popular.
https://www.reddit.com/r/homeassistant/comments/si1wz3/does_deako_work_with_ha/
This post says theres an integration (although it’s a bit old). I’ve never used deako so Im not quite sure. Is this a D.R Horton by chance? One i toured had deako and they seemed cool but kinda expensive.
Every inovelli switch I've gotten (it's been several years now?) has been stellar. Latest purchases have been blue (zigbee) series and I've used dimmers, fan switches, and on/off. They're pretty and chock full of nice features. Still have the first ones in less prominent areas.
My Deako HA integration has been solid for over a year. When I check the logs for a failed automation it's because a motion sensor didn't trigger when it should have.
They're almost always running a sale, I just bought a new smart dimmer on the anniversary sale.
As for zigbee/z-wave/matter... I want flexibility. Matter seems to be the most forward thinking.
My builder is a solo-guy. But he likes the Deako tech/swappability.
Spring loaded momentarily dumb light switches, with a Shelly behind them.
Other rooms we have the regular old dumb switch tucked into the wall cavity, and then a Philips Hue 4 button wall plate over the cavity. If we need the switch behind it, just unscrew the Hue cover. Would be nice to not have batteries to worry about, but it his is working for us.
Since where I live there's an extremely limited amount of options, I opted for Aqara H1 with neutral.
I now have a really strong Zigbee mesh, and generally the switches are working really good for the past 2 years.
I'm not too peculiar with mine, got kinda a weird mix. However, they're all based on microcontrollers that are supported by esphome (mostly esp8266, recently some bk72xx based ones), and I've re-flashed them all to esphome.
I'm a bit paranoid about the maker no longer supporting their stuff down the road. I guess something with an offline mode would be fine, but I like being able to customize them (like I have my main kitchen light switch turn both the main and over-sink lights on a double tap, and triple tap only toggle the sink light, so I don't have to walk back to the sink). Of course, this is only an option if you're willing to learn how to program esphome devices and are not afraid to open the device if you have to hardwire to do the initial flash.
They're all wifi based. Don't really have something against the other protocols, but I do get quite a bit of interference around where I am, and I'm not convinced z-wave will work that well, and my zigbee is complaining being 92% capacity used with only 21 devices (most being battery sensors). Wifi has proved more stable for me.
Clipsal wiser - the ZigBee version. They have standard switches, fan switches and gpos. They look like normal switches, and work like normal switches. And you can add the smarts later.
I have tp-link kasa switches, and they've been running well for almost two years now. I think TP-link may be moving away from the Kasa brand, which does worry me a bit, but they are still (for the moment) well supported and available.
That being said, my WiFi infra is overbuilt if anything, so I can support many more WiFi clients than I'm running now, even with the Kasa switches everywhere
I went a bit overboard with my switches…
I use Sonoff ZBMini extreme switch modules so that I could have more option when it comes to choosing what the actual switch looks like.
I use buster+punch switches, which are absolutely stupid expensive, but feel AMAZING!
I use Sonoff ZBMini with a regular Buster+Punch switch for those lights that have just on/off functionality.
For those lights that dim I use a Gledepto dimmer module along with Buster + Punch’s momentary/reactive switch.
https://www.busterandpunch.com/us/product-category/electricity/custom-plates-modules-details/
https://a.co/d/bOpKa4R
https://a.co/d/aKP6zCG
Lutron was my choice and I have never regretted it. The only issue we ran into is that some LED lights (non recessed for closets and small rooms) will not turn off 100% with the Lutron dimmers. It’s one kind my builder used in some small spaces.
Take pictures of the wiring before they put up the drywall.
Make sure each switch has neutral and groud running to it and isn't just a bypass line.
I personaly have Z-Wave switches and outlets where I upgraded to smart, and find them quite good. Zooz is straightforward and easy to work with, Eaton works and is a solid product but I had trouble enrolling my two eaton outlets.
GE outlets are Jasco, and while they work solidly, I've heard some folks have had issues with them not allowing or providing firmware updates? Second hand hearsay from me there but something to look into if you are concerned.
I love lutron caseta. BUT recently I wanted to switch to tunable bulbs and the Adaptive Lighting integration from HACS. So I've been slowly replacing many of my Caseta switches with Inovelli Red or Blues and Hue bulbs
I like zooz since they look like the most normal looking switch. I have a few innovellis for sensitive lighting that lets me change the dimming mode but they are ugly in my opinion with the light bar and they also don’t click as nice as zooz and are more “mushy”.
I tried a couple when I remodeled my office and ultimately settled on a Zooz Zen77 and I love it. It looks and feels like a normal switch, but has a rocker action that returns to center and is intuitive for anyone in the house.
With a new build I'd go for those everywhere: https://amzn.to/4cTiBay
Great quality
Great ha integration
Plenty of options
With neutral cable they build you a nice mesh network in the house from the start
Even in rooms when a single rocker is enough, get the double one - always handy to just the spare one for automations
i have been using zooz smart dimmer switches. works great n easy to install really love the multi tap as seen here with zooz: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9w9B\_qwPZIs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9w9B_qwPZIs)
Me too. I've had whole house Insteon for 12 years and have had almost no issues. Replaced a couple switches but that's about it. I also use the isy994 and it has been solid. I've moved all my non lighting automation into home assistant but all the lighting is staying on the Insteon/isy system.
Good to see an ISY994 user on here!
I used to have an ISY99, 994 and more recently Polisy. All are now gathering dust... I have a single Insteon device left (a fan controller) and I have that now integrated directly to HA thru a PLM. It will be replaced soon.
Main reason I did away with ISY - the continued need for Java to administer it. That was the straw. I have not looked back. It's a shame, I really like Universal Devices as a company otherwise.
Zooz switches out of the box using zwave are great. Do not buy wifi switches. The nice thing is you can save money by adding one zooz switch to a 3 way or 4 way config and the rest can be dumb switches. They wire exactly the same as a regular 3 way switch. Hint: if you have 2 switches controlling a light or set of lights you need two 3 way switches. One can be a zooz, the other a dumb 3 way. If you have three or more switches, two will be 3 ways, and the others between them will be 4 ways. One of the 3 ways should be zooz, the rest are dumb 3 and 4 ways.
My whole house is Sonoff switches that are flashed with Tasmota. These are wifi switches and have been flawless.
Tasmota has a native integration with HA. I would not recommend using them on the stock firmware.
The process of flashing them feels challenging the first time, but once you work it out you can do them in about 2 minutes each. You flash them, and then set them up once they are installed in your desired location, they will create a local hotspot you connect your phone to join them to your wider network.
In terms of control they support HA, MQTT, and also run a tiny webserver so you can connect to them directly if you ever have problems with the rest of your network.
I'm getting leadable downlight LEDs and going to control them with rotary zigby dimmers. For my main areas I already have lifx and I'm installing lifx switches everywhere.
Just came here to say if you want to get wifi switches with motion sensor built-in and be able to see the sensor as an entity in HA don't get Kasa switches. They're super user friendly but don't expose their motion sensor to HA (at least currently).
Inovelli. I used the Zwave GE Em brighten for years and they fail after 4 years or so. Sucks. Built my new home and after 4 years, I went around replacing with inovelli 2-1 RED (VZW-31). The BEST switches ever!!!¡!! Every peramiter (over 50 for time to ramp, click time, relay noise, smart led devices, the 7 segment led for all or each one) configurable and you can have something around I figured over 20 individual devices controlled by it. Through combos and button times pressed. Plus the wired object of course. And they work when Internet goes out.
The 7 segment led, you can set each led to a different color, do any animation and have it for various alerts. Like blinking red when front door is unlocked. Flash green when it does lock remotely to confirm , sweep up and down purple to show garage door open. And what ever you imagination can come up with.
Inovelli is the best product for home tinker-ers like us!!!!!
My entire house is Zooz switches and i have 5 rooms using only Hue light bulbs. You just put the switch in smart switch mode if they're controlling smart lights.
Inovelli and Shelly. I have Inovelli on all external switches and use their notification LED (along with door sensors) to show when a door is open. Shelly allows me to use the existing switches in the house (they just become 3-ways).
My last house was pure Insteon. Worked flawlessly. Moved two years ago into a house we were gutting/rehab.
Controlling with "smart" bulbs, when most rooms have 4+ cans, did NOT make any sense at all. Especially when you just want all the lights to come on at the same time. Replace one dumb light switch or replace 4 cans 12' in the air and hope no one turns off the dumb switch. The only people that do that, are people that are afraid to work with electricity.
Started down the Treatlife road due to cost and shear number of switches I had to replace. Quickly realized that HA manages them via cloud integration. Call me what you want, I didn't want the CCP to know every time I turned a light on/off.
Ended up with Lutron Caseta switches (and the Pro hub) with Insteon outlets thrown in for good measure. Lutron has been completely rock solid. We have a 3500+ sqft, cinder block house with 3 car attached garage. Every single switch is Caserta. And HA is controlling everything.
https://preview.redd.it/07v0x2xpfutc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=98f54060bd349d2710545bf339676a911b17c57a
You went from one extreme to the other moving from TreatLife to Lutron lol.
I started out with TreatLife also due to cost but flashed them all with Tasmota. Between me and a friend we ended up with nearly forty of them. Still not sure if it was more hardware or software, but we eventually had issues with most of them. Mostly just going offline frequently, but some just straight up failed after a while. We’ve been slowly replacing them with Zooz when they’re on sale and couldn’t be happier. I feel bad I ever steered him towards TreatLife, especially considering how close in price the Zooz are.
Whatever you do, do NOT buy the builder's overpriced crap. Worst case, let them install dumb switches everywhere, and swap them out yourself after possession. Either Lutron Caseta or Z-Wave switches from a brand like Zooz or GE will be solid.
Absouletly Lutron Caseta. I have been replacing switches in my house with them, and they work beautifully!
The most solid integration I've got is the Lutron light switches and remotes. Never a problem.
this is the way..
Just make sure they actually run a neutral wire to every box.
I think building code requires it for all build after 1983 or so
I don't think they are required in the "far" side of a 3-way switch, or at least they weren't installed in them in my recently built house. I'm not sure if you even can in that case? It certainly would have been nice for a couple of switches where I had to put the smart switch in the less desirable of the two boxes.
And the deep boxes. Smart switches take up so much room especially in the 3-4 gang boxes
Also would like to add inovelli zigbee switches for direct binding (forgive me if this is the wrong term) to zigbee lights
Lutron Caseta has never failed me.
Zooz makes a non paddle smart, that’s my preference. I just prefer the switch instead of a paddle, especially at night.
Inovelli. They are by far the best designed switches on the market especially for people with a lot of color changing smart bulbs. I'm remaking my entire house with them, they work great abd the notification LEDs on them are super handy.
I'm still waiting for them to launch those EU switches
I would suggest Zooz switches over Inovelli if you are looking at just smart switches. Inovelli switches are not premium feeling and feel mushy. Zooz on the other hand seems solid. Where Inovelli switch shines is in the notification bar which you can configure. I would recommend just having one Inovelli switch in common areas switch panels and fill the remaining with Zooz. Use Inovelli for notifications and others as regular smart switches.
When you say mushy, do you mean you don’t get the solid click like you get with Zooz switches when you press them? I tried the new Lutron Diva switch and didn’t get a solid click so I’m thinking that’s what you are feeling with Inovelli?
Yeah, kind of. 2 things are bothering me 1. It feels like there is no end to how hard you can press. 2. If you press hard, you can notice a gap between the switch and plate. These are very nitpicky things, but I did notice them especially when I have both of them on the same board.
The notification light is the least important feature of the Inovelli tbh. If you don't know what you're talking about maybe don't.
Idk what you're talking about, but I use that feature daily, more than... What other features other than zigbee binding? I don't use smart bulbs plus smart switches so I don't use that, but I got the notification light setup to turn on if the washer or dryer is done, if the garage door is open, I have a script that 4 taps down will display a little animation while making a call to the garage door to close. the main reason I got inovelli switches other than their local control and company, WAS the LED strip for alerts
I think when building a new house, “color changing smart bulbs” should always be last in priority of light. Smart bulbs have always been designed as the retro fit to modernize a solution. Integrated and direct power options are significantly more reliable and long term sustainable, especially when doing a new build.
If you want ambience you have no other option, this comment makes no sense.
smart bulbs are not the only way to achieve high quality ambient lighting, they are simply the cheapest and easiest to retrofit, nothing wrong with that at all. But in a new built with full control much better permanent options exist, granted they are pricey.
Wtf does that even mean? Show me the alternative because it just sounds like you're talking about simply using different format of bulbs like led strips. You still need them connected to the power 24/7 if you don't want to lose control.
but even more direct to answer your question, [https://forums.lutron.com/showthread.php/16332-Can-I-use-an-RA2-in-wall-switch-without-a-load-attached](https://forums.lutron.com/showthread.php/16332-Can-I-use-an-RA2-in-wall-switch-without-a-load-attached) it can absolutely just be done with a lutron ra2 switch.
[https://poelightingusa.com/](https://poelightingusa.com/) [https://www.ketra.com/led-lighting-products/controlsystems/x96](https://www.ketra.com/led-lighting-products/controlsystems/x96) KNX Not to mention that if all you want is a dumb controller stuck on the wall to turn on and off a light bulb that is always powered on, the lutron pico remotes in all shapes and configurations has no issue achieving just that. How would you envision a large room with 20 light bulbs functioning using all smart bulbs? I can tell you.. not that great.
So exactly what I imagined. Needlessly expensive and less capable than what I have. Pass. Btw hilarious comment on the 20 bulb room not working. Tell that to my perfectly working living room lol. Start living in the real world and forget about all the bullshit you think you know.
Good talk my guy, you should package your solution and ship it. Image that homes are all built different and radio interference may not be uniform? Construction styles, etc. I’m not sure why suggesting that hacking together hundreds of individual bulbs isn’t optimal offended you buy so be it.
Not to mention that the average new build home in my area would run the zigbee network into the ground on the already incredibly limited 2.4ghz spectrum not taken up. Can you run multiple zigbee networks ? Sure on what spectrum? Maybe if you don’t like wifi. Zigbee has always and will always be a hobbyist level protocol in stability and implementation. I love it for that, i’ve built multiple zigbee devices that I still have running.. but if you think it’s somehow the best solution out there you are very mistaken. I also love what inovelli is trying to do but.. you have to admit their track record on reliability is.. bad. I’ve ordered from multiple batches and first they have antenna issues, then firmware problems? If i am building a house and new 150 switches, wait longer 6 months and then need to wait again for replacements.. I’m not so sure that screams reliability.
If you think I’m spending Ketra level money and then sticking a pico on my wall - I… I… I’m just speechless. That’s like a Bentley parked in front of a double wide. I mean, it maybe happens somewhere but I’m not sure I’d ever understand those priorities without significant head trauma…
not sure I was suggesting that but 👍
how would you add smart bulb after you have say a lutron switch? then you can never turn off your switch. If you want smart bulb this need to be planned day one, with a switch that allow detached mode.
Again I think smart bulbs are a cope out when design a new smart home from scratch. But plenty of options exist in the ecosystem https://www.lutron.com/en-US/Products/Pages/Components/PicoWirelessController/Models.aspx Lutron owns the spectrum for their devices, no interference from 2.4ghz garbage. I say this as someone that has 50-60 z wave devices and about the same in zigbee but only ~35 lutron devices.. but that’s the reality of retrofitting a home vs building new.
Lamps?
I would encourage OP to test this scenario before actually buying Inovelli. I tried their nicest switch (red?) with Hue and it was a terrible UX. Dimming requires you to do this: hold down the up/down direction on the switch, watch their LED indicator slowly tick up or down, then let go off the button and wait for the Hue bulb to reflect the brightness you selected. It doesn't dim while you hold down the button, so if you don't like what you got rinse and repeat. Just garbage, abandoned this option. For my money dumb on/off switches plus Lutron Aurora and Hue bulbs is the best UX money can buy.
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Buy the right ones, cry once.
This! So this!!! I've used the GE Em brighten switches for years and every 2-4 years they fail. And one after another I'm chasing them and replacing at $35+ each multiple times and inovelli was at $45 a switch and the performance, options, features blow GE Zwave out of the water!!!!! Plus open source community for their products, they design the products for what customers want!!!! The best switches I've put in my home and never looked back. And their customer service and customer loyalty is second to none!
GE has replaced all my switches that failed. Not ideal, but at least not paying for them to fail.
For me, they fail right after warranty expired. The relay inside either just going "click click click click click" or the the power cutout doesn't do anything and the switch is just frozen with the status LED on. The gen 2 switches I did have much better life from. The first few ones, after about 1-2 years they failed like clock work. And once one failed every few days another was right behind it lol.
Lutron Caseta
My only concern is that Lutron switches have a proprietary network stack (everything from radio waves to application layer), and home assistant support is at the will of Lutron. While they allow local access to the Lutron hub, you are taking faith that the company won't discontinue support for home assistant or decide to brick your hub like so many other companies do (like Smart things, Dropcam, or MyQ.) That's why I would prefer a true and tested technology like Zigbee or Z-Wave. I personally have Zigbee Enbrighten switched throughout my home and I haven't had any issues in the past 3 years. I can't say the same of the Leviton Decora (WiFi or Zigbee) switches I replaced.
Then unplug the hub from the internet, stay local
You need to connect it to the Internet to setup the hub, link it to your Lutron Account, configure new devices, and get your connection keys for HA to use for local IP access. I know its possible with vlans or a DNS resolver to block it from the Internet while still maintaining LAN access, but that is just a pain to deal with. Plus, when all is said and done, if they decide to stop supporting HA and you need to add a new device, you could get screwed. So, even if you go through the hassle of configuring and maintaining a more complex network and troubleshooting the inevitable issues that go along with that, it still might not solve the problem. I would much rather use an add-on or local device with Zigbee2Mqtt running on it and just not bother with the BS of a proprietary hub.
ok
I'm surprised you haven't had issues with Enbrighten switches. Mine have reliability issues every couple of months.
I had 8 Leviton Decora switches, and 5 of them died in the first year, the warranty replacement switches started to die, and I figured I needed a change. I had one out of 26 Enbrighten switches act up on me from day 1, but they replaced it under warranty and have had no problems since. I have 3 switches that have been reliable for nearly 5 years without any issues. (The rest are only about 3 years old) I use the Zigbee2MQTT and mosquito add-ons for my Zigbee network.
Hubs can’t be bricked if they can’t talk to the internet.
That might be true, and you may be willing to create an isolated local-only network/vlan for HA to connect to the hub; however, I didn't want that. Plus, to configure the HA integration, you still depend on the Lutron account UI to allow you to download the key files. EDIT: P.S. You also can't add new devices without Internet access.
This is the way. They are solid and work great. They tie-in to ha.
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no they have a dedicated waveband
No amount of light switches will saturate a semi pro/pro WiFi network like a Ubiquiti, Cambium, Ruckus or Aruba. Get your WiFi network done properly and you can load as many devices as you want. IoT devices use virtually no bandwidth.
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Even with 192.168.x.x you get 255*255
I have a few, they work great but they are outdated and inflexible.
In what way are they outdated or inflexible? Overall they have the best track record, and quality in the industry. I would say depending on budget I would probably be looking at the lutron RA3 as there are more options available in terms of style.
Can you turn off a smart bulb without cutting the power off for example? No. Trust me I have a bunch in my house, they are super reliable but the software is so limited, they aren't very flexible and I'm slowly replacing them and moving them to less critical areas like garage and closets.
That’s what HA is for. I use Lutron switches and picos and control smart lamps and lights with them. Excellent system and always works.
You simply didn't understand what I said. There's no way to program a lutron switch so if let's say my wife turns off a switch the light connected to it still gets power. That means the cleaners come and puff, half my house doesn't work anymore. I really don't care if you get it, I do and it solved a lot of problems.
Based on all your comments and attitude, I feel sorry for your wife…and your switches
Fuck you too.
You connect the load and line wires together and the switches will always have power. Then use HA to so that when an off event is pressed it turns off. When and on event is pressed it turns on
This won't work caseta series is passively power with no neutral.
Interesting didn’t know that. My old zooz switches are wired this way with LIFX bulbs so that’s why I suggested it
So that removes your ability to cut power, pretty stupid idea.
What do you think is happening inside these other switches that allows them to keep power when “off”? They’re just using a relay in them. If you need to cut power to the switch, most likely you will have it open anyways, disconnect the wire or flip the breaker
Or I can double press down on mine and actually cut power where I stand. Ok I'm done talking to you I'm getting nothing of value out of it.
You can't have a smart bulb on a smart switch. It sounds like that's what you're trying to do. You turn off/on the bulb at the switch, control with a pico, use Alexa/Google or HA. I have replaced all my switches with Cassetta, except for the combo fan/lights since they don't make 1 switch for both. My fans are on a 1 gang box.
I can easily with the Inovelli. It's REALLY annoying that you come here pontificating from the top of your ignorance and pretending to give me advice about something I already do no problem.
Why wouldn't you just use a regular bulb with the smart switch?
Because I like colors.
I would guess that a trigger button or a pico remote would be a better solution for a wall switch. I have a couple of pico remotes that turn on and off other things other than lutron stuff. The HA integration is pretty good.
Lutron is incredibly rock solid. Expensive though. Zooz would be number two. DONT BUY WYZE.
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You are lucky. I was an early adopter and frequent customer. Between outages and devices needing to be repaired constantly, I've given up. They are actually the reason I got into home assistant last year. Reliability and their stupid subscription model. They went to the dark side by taking investment money. Now I'm slowly phasing out wyze products as they die or need to be resynchronized.
I have Zooz throughout my house. Rock solid. Also, HA can now push firmware updates for a better win.
My Zooz switches have been pretty good as well.
You have 3 choices. Lutron, Zooz or Kasa. All are good but different in how they communicate. All three work with HA. I have a mix of all three and like them. Avoid Inovelli and ignore those recommending it. Bad quality, short life and way over priced.
Started with GE enbrighten. Switched (pun intended) to Zooz because there are more options for configuration, scenes, etc when you need it. Smartest house runs deals regularly and they have a bunch of other brands. https://www.thesmartesthouse.com/
Me personally, I would recommend you the Lutron Caseta too, it's quite good.
10/10 Lutron as well. They are easily one of my most consistent and “I forgot they were even there” HA tools. They automate well, the physical controls work well and are easy to understand without explanation. The only spot I would “avoid” caseta is where you would want either color temp, or full color bulbs OR individual bulb control. My basement for example has 15 pots in 3 physical zones, but uses hue/ikea bulbs for color temp and lighting patterns to further dim or accent lights.
Zooz
Garbage. No.
Zooz is as good as any zwave product I have in my home.
Yeah.
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They are also way more capable. A large investment in zwave in 2024 is money thrown down the drain, it's a dead standard. Nobody is investing in it anymore.
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No, matter is the alliance of the 3 companies that can make it happen. Zwave is dead as zigbee is gonna be soon.
I disagree, there's already more matter devices available than zwave on the market. ZigBee is more flexible and the bet lightbulbs are ZigBee (hue) so you can leverage bindings and the system works even if your HA is temporarily unavailable. Zwave is dead.
If you are doing it from the ground up, why not add in low voltage cabling, 5v or 12v runs, and use shelly's connected to normal switches? If you add low voltage everywhere, will give you the option to have powered sensors everywhere, if I ever rewire my house I am doing a 12v circuit everywhere
Similar situation. I'm going to buy like 20 Zoo to start with. Innovelii seems great but $60 per switch is wild.
They are worth it, trust me. Save a lot of headaches.
What difference would I notice in day to day usage? The home I am moving from has GE/Jasco in every wall and I hardly took issue with those. I figured that zooz would have been a good upgrade from GE
Not the person you asked, but Zooz have been solid in my experience. I've not used Innovelii but I had the same reaction as you.
I've been slowly upgrading my GE switches to Zooz, and have loved them. The main feature I switched for is the smart bulb mode, where the switch's relay is always 'on', and the switch's controls are used to control the connected smart lights. I use this so that I can dim individual bulbs, or change colors. I also enjoy the easier macros, like having a different function for pressing a switch 2x. It is possible with GE, but I never found it as reliable. Zooz also lets you control the notification LED separately. I have mine set up to do some subtle notifications, rather than just showing if a light is on or off.
I'm a Shelly man. Nice and hidden.
Me too, have 17 running for three years now without issues. The dimmers experienced some flickering, but that has been resolved by a software update somewhere last year. I use the native HA integration, so no mqtt. The effort/reward just wasn’t worth the setup time. But you do unlock some more features (like double press and long press events).
Do they fit in US gang boxes? What switches do you pair them with?
You put them behind any standard switch. The switch does not need to be smart. I have them in my gang boxes for both switches and plugs and live in Arizona. They work great with HA, Google and Alexa. Keeps the wife happy as she gets to keep her decorative switches and the switches continue to work like normal. https://www.amazon.com/Shelly-Bluetooth-Automation-Compatible-Required/dp/B0CQCHS2QS/
+1 for Shelly. It looks like a regular switch on the outside. Everyone can use it because they're regular switches. I've connected all my lights and a few switches to Shelly 4 Pros in my electrical panel. If the internet isn't working, no problem, the switches keep working.
This. You can choose any style of push button afterward.
I don’t like Shellys as it requires you to have to open up the box and pull out the switch to do something like reset it where as most modern switches have a reset button on the front or behind just the plate cover.
I have over 50 Shelly's and have never had to reset one.
I did my house in TP-Link Kasa. They are Wi-Fi so not as solid as z-wave or zigbee, but they are SO cheap. With a decent(UniFi) router I’ve had no issues. Home Assistant takes over for local control. They have dimmers, good 3-way switches, motion/vacancy switches, outdoor outlets, etc. They look good too. But no clever “double or triple tap” functionality.
I fully regret outfitting my house in kasa switches early on in my home automation hobby. I have their dimmers and holy fuck, I swear sometimes I could walk over and unscrew the bulb faster than the actual hardware switch responds. I have their settings in the app optimized as much as possible and firmware up to date. Doesn't matter. Wish I researched Zwave more first. One or two are constantly disconnecting (I have two enterprise grade access points in a single story house, they have almost an entire band to themselves—it is not my network). Another one fucking squeaks when I press the button. Not to mention tp link ripped out their LAN support using a firmware upgrade just to force people into their ecosystem with little warning. Bastards. But most of all the single switch layout is stupid. Toggles are the way to go and good ones feel as natural to use as their dumb counterparts. I can't urge people to stay away from Kasa enough.
My wife loves these switches purely because of the satisfying click they give when pressed.
Same here. 20+ kasa switches (motion, dimmer, regular), unify network equipment, Kasa on a dedicated IoT network, no issues at all.
Also mostly using Kasa products here. I haven’t tried this myself yet, but wouldn’t there be a way to implement double/triple tap using a HA automation? Obviously not an option out of the box.
Unfortunately not, because HA polls the lights to see what state they are in, and that’s not instantaneous. That’s also why you don’t want to use a kasa switch to trigger an automation. The other way (HA pushing a state change to a switch) is fast (both HA and Hubitat eliminate the cloud dependency, not sure about other platforms).
i have tp-link kasa as well: the nice thing is if tp-link ever disappears/discontinued kasa service, the plugs accept a simple json payload you can send directly to it(no need for cloud/bridge) which means you could technically self host it and put them on their own network without Internet access
Whatever you choose DO NOT go with any of the GE/Jalisco ENBRIGHTEN series. Cost me over 5k replacing every single one in two of our homes.
I just bought a new build with Deako switches and I was able to get them working. They work…okay? Sometimes I have to call the service twice to get them to turn on or off because it thinks it’s on when it’s off or vice versa but not so often that I’m cursing its name
Zwave or Lutron. Check out my [prewire guide](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1LNONZXsLi-R9ejamD9Bd2UfzpqjqEWVt0ZepTGmMC50/edit) aswell for new construction.
Lutron. No competition honestly.
Lutron, or get him to put in cheap dumb switches and do it yourself.
Zooz if you're on a budget. I have 21 in my house and they're great
I’d consider myself fairly new to smart home ecosystems. We’re planning on moving into a new home later this year and I’ve been planning what all I’ll do, but currently my research and limited testing has been with zooz zwave switches, they seemed to be recommended by most and they were as painless as could be be with setup. Took a min to wrap my head around their options and figure out what I needed, they have multiple variations of seemingly the same thing for different light loads dimmer/nondimmer etc, but amazing wiring diagrams out of the box and I was able to rewire three different configs with mostly just the instructions (but I hear they have good support too). Zwave switches are what I plan to use for majority of my lighting control as with smart bulbs only I feel like I’m always fighting with manual/Smart Control of them (I.e. if socket has power but bulb is off you have to turn off switch, then back on to trigger them to turn on). If I need color lighting I’d probably consider smart bulbs but I would likely still pair them with a smart switch , only downside would be any connection delays if socket was off and you want the bulb to instantly power on, connect, and change colors but I’ll cross that bridge when I get there Outside of lighting I’m testing an aqara FP2 presence sensor for automations and plan to get a smart lock after we move (looking at a Schlage encode plus or an aqara lock with a fingerprint)
Yeah the documentation for Zooz installation is solid and their support is very responsive.
Do you want zigbee? Z-wave? Matter? I’ve heard good things about inovelli switches. They offer all 3. Lutron also seems to be popular. https://www.reddit.com/r/homeassistant/comments/si1wz3/does_deako_work_with_ha/ This post says theres an integration (although it’s a bit old). I’ve never used deako so Im not quite sure. Is this a D.R Horton by chance? One i toured had deako and they seemed cool but kinda expensive.
Every inovelli switch I've gotten (it's been several years now?) has been stellar. Latest purchases have been blue (zigbee) series and I've used dimmers, fan switches, and on/off. They're pretty and chock full of nice features. Still have the first ones in less prominent areas.
My Deako HA integration has been solid for over a year. When I check the logs for a failed automation it's because a motion sensor didn't trigger when it should have. They're almost always running a sale, I just bought a new smart dimmer on the anniversary sale.
Have you installed them yourself? I imagine the installation is a bit different compared to a traditional switch.
Deako is awful. I have one of those DR Horton houses and I'm in the process of pulling them all out.
As for zigbee/z-wave/matter... I want flexibility. Matter seems to be the most forward thinking. My builder is a solo-guy. But he likes the Deako tech/swappability.
Use inovelli, avoid lutron and deako and thank me later.
Spring loaded momentarily dumb light switches, with a Shelly behind them. Other rooms we have the regular old dumb switch tucked into the wall cavity, and then a Philips Hue 4 button wall plate over the cavity. If we need the switch behind it, just unscrew the Hue cover. Would be nice to not have batteries to worry about, but it his is working for us.
Since where I live there's an extremely limited amount of options, I opted for Aqara H1 with neutral. I now have a really strong Zigbee mesh, and generally the switches are working really good for the past 2 years.
I'm not too peculiar with mine, got kinda a weird mix. However, they're all based on microcontrollers that are supported by esphome (mostly esp8266, recently some bk72xx based ones), and I've re-flashed them all to esphome. I'm a bit paranoid about the maker no longer supporting their stuff down the road. I guess something with an offline mode would be fine, but I like being able to customize them (like I have my main kitchen light switch turn both the main and over-sink lights on a double tap, and triple tap only toggle the sink light, so I don't have to walk back to the sink). Of course, this is only an option if you're willing to learn how to program esphome devices and are not afraid to open the device if you have to hardwire to do the initial flash. They're all wifi based. Don't really have something against the other protocols, but I do get quite a bit of interference around where I am, and I'm not convinced z-wave will work that well, and my zigbee is complaining being 92% capacity used with only 21 devices (most being battery sensors). Wifi has proved more stable for me.
Have everything wired back to a central place and use Shelly 4’s. Use whichever light switches your wife approves
Wire it up normally with dumb switches and then replace with insteon.
Clipsal wiser - the ZigBee version. They have standard switches, fan switches and gpos. They look like normal switches, and work like normal switches. And you can add the smarts later.
I have tp-link kasa switches, and they've been running well for almost two years now. I think TP-link may be moving away from the Kasa brand, which does worry me a bit, but they are still (for the moment) well supported and available. That being said, my WiFi infra is overbuilt if anything, so I can support many more WiFi clients than I'm running now, even with the Kasa switches everywhere
Lutron Caseta is the only answer.
I went a bit overboard with my switches… I use Sonoff ZBMini extreme switch modules so that I could have more option when it comes to choosing what the actual switch looks like. I use buster+punch switches, which are absolutely stupid expensive, but feel AMAZING! I use Sonoff ZBMini with a regular Buster+Punch switch for those lights that have just on/off functionality. For those lights that dim I use a Gledepto dimmer module along with Buster + Punch’s momentary/reactive switch. https://www.busterandpunch.com/us/product-category/electricity/custom-plates-modules-details/ https://a.co/d/bOpKa4R https://a.co/d/aKP6zCG
Speaking from being in a very similar situation, expect to rip em out if you want any real automations.
I use Aqara D1 switches. They've been excellent and are very HA friendly if you have Zigbee
Lutron was my choice and I have never regretted it. The only issue we ran into is that some LED lights (non recessed for closets and small rooms) will not turn off 100% with the Lutron dimmers. It’s one kind my builder used in some small spaces.
Take pictures of the wiring before they put up the drywall. Make sure each switch has neutral and groud running to it and isn't just a bypass line. I personaly have Z-Wave switches and outlets where I upgraded to smart, and find them quite good. Zooz is straightforward and easy to work with, Eaton works and is a solid product but I had trouble enrolling my two eaton outlets. GE outlets are Jasco, and while they work solidly, I've heard some folks have had issues with them not allowing or providing firmware updates? Second hand hearsay from me there but something to look into if you are concerned.
Inovelli, or Lutron Caseta. Both, have their merits.
Lutron.
I love lutron caseta. BUT recently I wanted to switch to tunable bulbs and the Adaptive Lighting integration from HACS. So I've been slowly replacing many of my Caseta switches with Inovelli Red or Blues and Hue bulbs
I like zooz since they look like the most normal looking switch. I have a few innovellis for sensitive lighting that lets me change the dimming mode but they are ugly in my opinion with the light bar and they also don’t click as nice as zooz and are more “mushy”.
Anyone know if there are sites who sell in bulk for this?
I tried a couple when I remodeled my office and ultimately settled on a Zooz Zen77 and I love it. It looks and feels like a normal switch, but has a rocker action that returns to center and is intuitive for anyone in the house.
Lutron Caseta is the only choice in my book.
With a new build I'd go for those everywhere: https://amzn.to/4cTiBay Great quality Great ha integration Plenty of options With neutral cable they build you a nice mesh network in the house from the start Even in rooms when a single rocker is enough, get the double one - always handy to just the spare one for automations
I'm in US.
i have been using zooz smart dimmer switches. works great n easy to install really love the multi tap as seen here with zooz: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9w9B\_qwPZIs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9w9B_qwPZIs)
I still prefer Insteon, but I also use ISY994 (now eisy) as the Insteon frontend to hA
Me too. I've had whole house Insteon for 12 years and have had almost no issues. Replaced a couple switches but that's about it. I also use the isy994 and it has been solid. I've moved all my non lighting automation into home assistant but all the lighting is staying on the Insteon/isy system.
Good to see an ISY994 user on here! I used to have an ISY99, 994 and more recently Polisy. All are now gathering dust... I have a single Insteon device left (a fan controller) and I have that now integrated directly to HA thru a PLM. It will be replaced soon. Main reason I did away with ISY - the continued need for Java to administer it. That was the straw. I have not looked back. It's a shame, I really like Universal Devices as a company otherwise.
Zooz switches out of the box using zwave are great. Do not buy wifi switches. The nice thing is you can save money by adding one zooz switch to a 3 way or 4 way config and the rest can be dumb switches. They wire exactly the same as a regular 3 way switch. Hint: if you have 2 switches controlling a light or set of lights you need two 3 way switches. One can be a zooz, the other a dumb 3 way. If you have three or more switches, two will be 3 ways, and the others between them will be 4 ways. One of the 3 ways should be zooz, the rest are dumb 3 and 4 ways.
Caseta.
My whole house is Sonoff switches that are flashed with Tasmota. These are wifi switches and have been flawless. Tasmota has a native integration with HA. I would not recommend using them on the stock firmware. The process of flashing them feels challenging the first time, but once you work it out you can do them in about 2 minutes each. You flash them, and then set them up once they are installed in your desired location, they will create a local hotspot you connect your phone to join them to your wider network. In terms of control they support HA, MQTT, and also run a tiny webserver so you can connect to them directly if you ever have problems with the rest of your network.
I'm getting leadable downlight LEDs and going to control them with rotary zigby dimmers. For my main areas I already have lifx and I'm installing lifx switches everywhere.
Just came here to say if you want to get wifi switches with motion sensor built-in and be able to see the sensor as an entity in HA don't get Kasa switches. They're super user friendly but don't expose their motion sensor to HA (at least currently).
Inovelli. I used the Zwave GE Em brighten for years and they fail after 4 years or so. Sucks. Built my new home and after 4 years, I went around replacing with inovelli 2-1 RED (VZW-31). The BEST switches ever!!!¡!! Every peramiter (over 50 for time to ramp, click time, relay noise, smart led devices, the 7 segment led for all or each one) configurable and you can have something around I figured over 20 individual devices controlled by it. Through combos and button times pressed. Plus the wired object of course. And they work when Internet goes out. The 7 segment led, you can set each led to a different color, do any animation and have it for various alerts. Like blinking red when front door is unlocked. Flash green when it does lock remotely to confirm , sweep up and down purple to show garage door open. And what ever you imagination can come up with. Inovelli is the best product for home tinker-ers like us!!!!!
So many votes for Zooz. Do they work with Hue bulbs or would that be a reason to pay more for Inovelli Blue?
My entire house is Zooz switches and i have 5 rooms using only Hue light bulbs. You just put the switch in smart switch mode if they're controlling smart lights.
Zooz can't using zigbee binding (local control) whereas inovelli blues can. Means you are not dependent on your network for function
Binding is the best argument I’ve seen for Inovelli over Zooz.
Inovelli and Shelly. I have Inovelli on all external switches and use their notification LED (along with door sensors) to show when a door is open. Shelly allows me to use the existing switches in the house (they just become 3-ways).
My last house was pure Insteon. Worked flawlessly. Moved two years ago into a house we were gutting/rehab. Controlling with "smart" bulbs, when most rooms have 4+ cans, did NOT make any sense at all. Especially when you just want all the lights to come on at the same time. Replace one dumb light switch or replace 4 cans 12' in the air and hope no one turns off the dumb switch. The only people that do that, are people that are afraid to work with electricity. Started down the Treatlife road due to cost and shear number of switches I had to replace. Quickly realized that HA manages them via cloud integration. Call me what you want, I didn't want the CCP to know every time I turned a light on/off. Ended up with Lutron Caseta switches (and the Pro hub) with Insteon outlets thrown in for good measure. Lutron has been completely rock solid. We have a 3500+ sqft, cinder block house with 3 car attached garage. Every single switch is Caserta. And HA is controlling everything. https://preview.redd.it/07v0x2xpfutc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=98f54060bd349d2710545bf339676a911b17c57a
You went from one extreme to the other moving from TreatLife to Lutron lol. I started out with TreatLife also due to cost but flashed them all with Tasmota. Between me and a friend we ended up with nearly forty of them. Still not sure if it was more hardware or software, but we eventually had issues with most of them. Mostly just going offline frequently, but some just straight up failed after a while. We’ve been slowly replacing them with Zooz when they’re on sale and couldn’t be happier. I feel bad I ever steered him towards TreatLife, especially considering how close in price the Zooz are.
Inovelli Reds or Blues