WINK announces a wall mounted controller - Pretty Cool

I know this isn’t a ST product but WINK just announced a wall mounted controller that has two physical Smart switches and a touch screen that runs the WINK app. Gotta says this is pretty cool looking. Something like this would solve a few of my concerns when it comes to the WAF on using an app to control lights in the house. Although $300 is a bit pricey.

http://relay.winkapp.com/#intro

For $300, why not just mount a Nexus 7 in a wood frame and use iRule to build the remote with the look and function of your choice?

Very sleek. Where a device like this is nice is that it is completely packaged up and ready to go. Very simple for anyone to install and no hacking required. It is pricy. I’m guessing that it is a simple Android device with a shell over top and I’d be curious to see what the margins on this are.

Only one problem I can see other than price…it’s wink! :smile:

This is a really slick unit. Here is what I like about it.

  1. fits in and draws power from the single or double gang box. looks like it can physically control two local loads while offering a digital screen too. This means its a fairly easy retrofit without sacrificing physical switches

  2. good looking unit.

  3. easy intercom solution

Well maybe home depot will let us buy it for $.01 if we buy GE link bulbs like they did the wink hub.

1 Like

Yes, you could buy a small tablet to do something similar but then you need to do the work to frame it, use iRule (I need to look that up) and use that, but then you still don’t have the physical switches. The fact that it’s all pre-packaged with a nice design makes it appealing, at least to me.

Beat me to it, I was just going to post about this… pretty cool looking

@louisparks I think I read somewhere that the switches do not control load, unfortunately. I need to look again at where I read that. Maybe in the technical specs?

I agree the form factor is rather clever. Seems like they considered many different factors. In addition to your observations, I like that the screen is angled.

Too bad it is Wink specific.

@scottinpollock power. Don’t say running an extension cord through the wall either, that violates electrical code.

This requires power as well. And there are a number of UL approved outlet/inserts that provide USB power.

Don’t know about you, but I don’t have a lot of outlets that are four feet up the wall. You are talking about running another electrical outlet. This solution appears to take over for an existing single or double wall switch.

It does seem that in most cases this would require installing another outlet. Not a huge deal but certainly takes away from the install convenience a bit.

All you need is a switch that has a neutral and a double gang box or enough room to the right of a single gang box. It has two switches with it which would replace the one or two sacrificed.

I have a dozen locations where I could easily place this. About three or four would be perfect locations. You really only need one location. I don’t see it much more difficult than replacing with a normal smart switch like a GE. There may be complications with three way switches, however. It also would not work with 3 or more gang boxes.

It is a design an electrician could understand and I don’t see any issue with building codes. In my opinion this is a surprisingly good design. I think this format is a winner.

What I’m not sure is how well they pull off the software. Will it be a version of the mobile app? Is it a hub in itself or a mini hub. This is the part that can get screwed up.

No runs necessary, just replace a switch with an outlet, or add one to an existing switchbox.

Yeah this looks like a pretty elegant solution for a lot of people. I agree that it is A. A bit pricey and B. Would solve WAF issues very well. (Maybe that mitigates the pricieness???)
The other issue is that it’s WINK, which I’ve been burnt on before (Quirky Spotter).
Maybe Smartthings will knock this off or just get it to work with their hub.

1 Like

With Samsung backing, I could see a “Galaxy SmartThings Edition”. :slight_smile: In the grand scheme of things, this wouldn’t be too hard. Samsung has small device sizes they could use. They could really just us an existing, low-end device or previous generation, re-skin it, and then put it in a new housing.

Of course, that is all easier said than done. However, it is not a huge hill to overcome.

1 Like

Perhaps I should have tagged @Ben with my last reply? :slight_smile:

nudge, nudge, wink, wink…

I am excited about the possibilities of the new Galaxy phones, for sure. </crypticresponse>

3 Likes

How about the possibilities on Samsung TV’s, Wash Machines, Dryers, Dish Washers, etc…

:smile: