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

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

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

Anyone have some suggestions?

  • 𝕽𝖚𝖆𝖎𝖉𝖍𝖗𝖎𝖌𝖍@midwest.socialEnglish
    26·
    2 days ago

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

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

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

    • turmacar@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      1 day ago

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

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

      • 𝕽𝖚𝖆𝖎𝖉𝖍𝖗𝖎𝖌𝖍@midwest.socialEnglish
        1·
        7 hours ago

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

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

    • TVA@thebrainbin.org
      9·
      2 days ago

      For that second bullet point you can get them a smidge cheaper at thesmartesthouse

      They’ve got a sale going on, might be worth looking into, but, sxan has really good points with his first bullet point

      • ShepherdPie@midwest.socialEnglish
        5·
        2 days ago

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

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

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

        • afk_strats@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
          1·
          2 days ago

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

      • tburkhol@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        1 day ago

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

        • 𝕽𝖚𝖆𝖎𝖉𝖍𝖗𝖎𝖌𝖍@midwest.socialEnglish
          1·
          1 day ago

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

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

          But the bite-size advice is gold.