You are treading in uncharted territory a bit. However, have no fear and take a breath. You can buy a standard 220v to 110v converter for such a situation and it will work just fine. This is the same situation which everyone who travels to 220v countries has to live with. I alway have a converter.
power wise, there’s converters out there, that will allow you to do that. The problem comes with Z-Wave as EU has a diff wave length, depending on the products you buy to pair with ST.
Are you saying just buy a power brick that does the 220v to 110v conversion ? But aren’t these relays expecting to be inline power? Or are they meant to just trigger a momentary close/open and therefor the power of the garage door at 220v doesn’t matter? Or if I were to plug the relay into it, would it not destroy the relay?
@April - I’ve got a US hub but I live in Asia, not EU. Same problem just geographically further away
I guess I need to either figure out the power problem or find some battery powered devices that bypass this. Or wide voltage or AC adapters.
The inline relays will NOT work. Only use them for the voltages they are certified for, or you can start a fire.
The hub itself is like many consumer appliances, and can probably use a transformer. But check with support@smartthings.com to be sure.
Zwave is controlled but not licensed spectrum. Which means that in different countries, different frequencies are reserved for things like the walkie talkies that emergency services use, or mobile phones, etc. It is illegal in some countries to use US zwave frequencies. So before you plug in ANYTHING, including the SmartThings hub, that uses US zwave frequencies, check to make sure that doing so is legal in your area.
(The ST hub currently sold is US frequency only, and consequently can only talk to zwave devices that use the same frequency. There were a very few manufactured with the European frequency for original kickstarter backers. There has been some talk that they may add other frequency models in the future, but not now.)
See more frequency discussion here:
So…
First check that US zwave frequencies are legal in your country. If not, you will need to return the hub and hope for future options.
If US zwave frequencies ARE legal in your country, you can probably use the ST hub you just bought as it has a USB connector, but only to talk to zwave devices that are also on the US frequency. And finding those with 220v is very difficult. There are a few made for the South American market, and a few made for some of the Asian countries with the same set up. (Singapore?) But read carefully. Try writing to Aeon Labs (Aeotec) and see what they have, they’re trying to reach a lot of markets.
Transformers will only work for devices which draw power, NOT for devices which control power. So may work for things that plug in. But will not work for light switches, relays, motor controls, etc.
Many Thanks @JDRoberts for your reply. I’m sure it will help others read this as well.
Indeed the spectrum is available here. The Hub works find as the adapter is auto switching input (110-240v) and output of 5v. That part was easy.
Yes, i’m finding that a US frequency, 220v powered device is very difficult. I’m thinking maybe a transformer will be the only way. But there from what I can read online, a short term device and a always-on device maybe be greatly different in their requirements and thus cost.
Would the transformer not draw power as well in order to be able to listen to z-wave commands? If it was so little, would the vendors make a batter powered one like a door sensor?
Wondering about a Razberry or Arduino option here?
Given that it is just a momentary switch. How much load is it bearing? Hmmm. I should have known this wasn’t going to be this easy after the first successful pairing.
Arcs. It doesn’t matter how brief the contact is, the spark can occur.
Circuit breakers. Many times people try to wire in a 110 v controller on a 220 v line, there’s a short, but because of the damp down there isn’t enough current to trip the 220 v circuit breaker, leaving the line live. And the people maybe not so much.
Almost always a huge code violation, because of 1) and 2).
So the fact that the contact is momentary (if it is) doesn’t reduce the safety hazards of adding improperly rated control equipment.
Honestly you’re just paying for tiny space heaters wherever you use adapters. I’m in another country where I have to use one right now and it is sparking and spitting out heat like nobody’s business. I would stick with 1 converter for the hub and zigbee as much as I can… Or wait…
I bet he is also out of spec on the ZigBee radio as the one in the hub uses power settings for the US. It is too powerful to get EU certification. Not 100% sure on this but I have heard talk about a lower power ZigBee radio in Hub 2 so they can get EU certification.
The hub doesn’t need a transformer/converter, it is 5v with wide range auto sensing input.
The door/window sensors run on battery, again no issue.
There is only a singular item (right now) that I’m having an issue with and that is a garage door opener.
I’m looking around for options. One item I’m not clear upon is the garage door switch/relay. It gets power from the wall (in the case below at 12V/2A) so if I supplied my own power brick it should be fine.
I’m not sure the requirements of the garage door opener that it takes a quick 12V, or 220v to close some circuit before it starts.
Frustrating but its fully on me for not investigating…
Just figured I’d update if case anyone else was looking for this.
I was chatting with Aeon-Labs. They are going to be releasing a Z-Wave garage opener but it wasn’t clear to me if it’ll be 220v.
That said, I contact ZIpato and by the looks of it, this thing accepts the 90-240vAC in and output is likely correcpt (gathering more detail on the motor I have)
Aeon just released some new smart power plugs. However, you either choose the US version or other (220v with different country plugs)
Does anyone know of any US frequency products that have auto switching power inputs?
So far i’m relegated to my US Hub with battery operated window sensors which is fine and what this project started out as but I’ve got the bite now to do some more with this great technology.
First of all if the new Smartthings hub come with US and EU Z-Wave frequencies this will open the Z-wave market for Smartthings Hub and solve my issue.
I need help to locate an on-line shopping store for Z-wave products with 220v 50mhz or so with US frequency to utilize my smartthings hub since I have so many sensors installed.
Saw this post late, not directly related to your power switch need, but just in case : the Aeon Labs DSD37\US Range Extender works also on 220-240Vac, although it is not documented.
More generally, the issue for AC powered switches is that if you use a step down transformer (240->110Vac), the safe bet would be that your switched loads would likely have ALSO have to operate at this reduced 110Vac voltage…
…and the step-down transformer would have to be powerful enough to support ALSO the switched loads.
This could be an issue for heavy switched loads (electric heater, garage door, etc…).
Only checking very precisely how exactly works the Z-wave switch would tell you if OK with 240Vac for loads only, or not.
A solution to have the Z-wave switch operate at a stepped-down 110Vac voltage, while keeping the controlled outputs at 240Vac would be to use an intermediate power relay (electronic or mechanical) between the Z-wave switch and the power load, which accepts 110Vac (or less) as control signal and supports 240Vac loads.
But it is only practical if you have only ONE or two such switches, and you need some electronics fluency to set up the whole set.
