Aqara 2 way switching questions (WXKG02LM model)

[Adrian_Priestley]

Hello. Im new to smartthings but I am a bit of a gadget geek.

I plan on replacing my downstairs entrance hall lights with a setup that triggers my hall lights to come on when i get home and also lets me use wall stitches and Amazon Echo for the same lights.
I have no-neutral wire to the light switches so i was considering the following setup.

2x Tradfri GU10 lights for the hall
1x Tradfi E14 bulb for the porch
1x Aqara Wireless Smart Light Switch 1-button WXKG03LM (first hall end)
1x Aqara Wireless Smart Light Switch 2-button WXKG02LM (other end of my hall and outside porch light)

From research on here that the Tradfri is integrated in the Smartthings environment but the Aqara switch require a DH.

1. can i use the 2 (1 button + half the 2 button) Aqara switches as 2 way control?
2. will there be a delay in switch on from the buttons?
3. How well does my smartphone work as an auto trigger to switch on the hall and porch light when i get home via geolocation?

Best Regards
Adrian

[JDRoberts]

Welcome!

First, we need to clarify some terminology. “2 way“ has two different meanings in a Home Automation context.

If you are in the UK or Europe and you are talking about a set up where two light switches control the same lamp, that is called a “2 way control set up“ there. But in the US, the exact same set up would be called a “3-way control set up.“ ( The UK counts the number of switches, the US counts the number of circuit branches.)

Separately, we also talk about “two-way communication“ with regard to light switches. This is the same term in both the US and the UK. It means that not only can you send a command from the smartthings app to turn on the switch (“one-way communication“), but also if someone turns on the switch manually at the wall, that information will then be sent to smartthings (“2 way communication”).

So we need to know whether your question is about the number of switches or about what happens when you manually turn on the switch at the wall.

In addition, when there are two toggles or buttons on one lighting device, that is called a “two gang“ or “double gang“ device. In the US, those will be twice as wide as a single gang device. In Europe, the outer dimensions remain the same, there are just more toggles. ( in Shanghai, those are called “double key” switches, so you will sometimes see that terminology used in English translations from Chinese companies.)

US 2 gang switch

UK 2 gang switch ( same width as a UK single gang switch)

The Aqara WXKG02LM is a U.K. style 2 gang switch.

So given all that, I’m not quite certain what you meant by this question:

can i use the 2 (1 button + half the 2 button) Aqara switches as 2 way control?

What specifically would you expect to happen when you pressed each button, and why did you say “half” of the second button?

[JDRoberts]

• will there be a delay in switch on from the buttons?
• How well does my smartphone work as an auto trigger to switch on the hall and porch light when i get home via geolocation?

As far as these two questions, The delay depends on the exact set up. Since that is a battery powered device, it has to send a message to the hub and then the hub Will send a message to the bulb. Typical delay could be anywhere from half a second to two seconds, but it really just depends on the exact layout of your network.

The geolocation trigger question is another one that varies a great deal from person to person. For some people, phone presence works very well. For others, it has a lot of issues. Also, if you are not in a region which is specifically supported by smartthings, Geolocation triggers may not work at all. It’s one of those “try it and see“ questions. If it works, great. If it doesn’t, there are a number of other alternatives you can try. See the FAQ:

FAQ: The Many Ways of Detecting Presence

[Adrian_Priestley]

Hi

The 2 way i am referring to is the British way (the correct way IMHO, lol)

Firstly “Half the second button” refers to using only 1 gang of a 2 gang unit for one end of the 2 way.
The other end of the 2 way would be the single gang switch.

I just want the wireless battery powered switches to work as toggles.

[Adrian_Priestley]

More info

So if i was to press 1 switch (1 gang of the 2 gang) and it made the tradfri light come on, if i then press the 1 gang switch could i get i to switch that same tradfri light off.? Also vice versa, as a normal 2 way wired British circuit would operate?

Many Thanks
Adrian

[veeceeoh (Keith G)]

Aqara calling models WXKG02LM/WXKG03LM “switches” is a misnomer. They wireless buttons, and as such can be set up as a trigger in SmartThings to do anything, not just toggle lights on/off.

So if i was to press 1 switch (1 gang of the 2 gang) and it made the tradfri light come on, if i then press the 1 gang switch could i get i to switch that same tradfri light off.? Also vice versa, as a normal 2 way wired British circuit would operate?

Since these two buttons are momentary switch-based, and not toggle switch-based, the easiest set up is to use your SmartApp of choice to set up your buttons of choice to toggle your smart light(s) of choice.

So for example, you could have the two gang at one end of the hall and the one gang at the other end, and a single-press of button 1 of the two gang or the single gang will toggle the hall lights.

What I would be more concerned about is whether the Aqara switches will stay connected to your hub’s ZigBee network with the Tradfri lights. Aqara and Xiaomi ZigBee devices have issues with many mains-powered ZigBee devices that provide routing for the network. This is because Aqara and Xiaomi ZigBee devices are designed to work on their own ecosystem (with an Aqara or Xiaomi Gateway hub) and don’t exactly follow all aspects of the ZigBee networking spec.