Economical Wall Switch (3rd Reality)

Found these on Amazon for $9.99 each. It is a lot more economical buying these than replacing a whole switch with a Z-wave or ZigBee switch

THIRDREALITY Smart Light Switch (Gen1) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079M178GW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_X77yDb3SNJH38

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So darn ugly. However, these look interesting for other hacks…

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I use some of those. A couple things to note.

  1. The first generation is really noisy and the second generation is pretty noisy. Noisy enough to wake up a sleeping baby. So they’ll be OK in some situations, not others.

  2. these are battery operated switch covers that fit over the existing dumb switch and physically moves that switch. ( that’s why they’re so noisy— you can hear the gear mechanism operating each time.) That works for a lot of use cases, but won’t work if that switch controls smart bulbs. (I mention that because most battery operated switch covers are a good way to control smart bulbs. But this one isn’t. )

  3. The design is a single momentary button fairly high on the case. This makes them physically challenging for a small child or a person in a wheelchair to use manually. On the other hand, if you are intending to use them with a voice assistant, that doesn’t really matter as much. But it’s just something to be aware of.

  4. this is just a binary on/off switch. Not a dimmer. The product description is pretty clear, but I just mention it because, again, most of the competitors can also do dimming.

We use ours for two backup cases because they will operate locally if they are linked to an Amazon echo plus (instead of being linked to smartthings), so it means there’s one switch on each side of the house that I will have voice control over even if the Internet is out.

So I have them and like them for what we use them for, but I wouldn’t do a whole house with them. They’re a good inexpensive no-wiring way of adding one more smart switch to a location where the noise won’t matter.

YMMV, of course. :sunglasses:

p.s. I personally don’t find them ugly and nobody’s commented on that. They do look odd, but they’re pretty sleek as compared to, say, the Sylvania dimmer.

The first generation have the silver bar at the bottom, which does confuse some people, who keep trying to press the bar instead of the button. The second generation has a white bar.

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Thanks @JDRoberts . I did order 3 of them to try out. I figured it is a lot easier than changing out the entire switch. I’ve done this on multiple other switches that I have but figured this will hit the wallet a lot less than buying z-wave/zigbee switches. Figured for $10 ea it was worth a short and see how well they actually work!

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They’ve worked well for us, just with the caveats I noted above. :sunglasses:

Price went up already?

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Reminds me just recently I had 2 Echo Show 5 in my Best Buy cart for $35 each. Contemplated for way too long on buying them. Finally went to check out and price was up to $50 each . Snooze you loose.

Does appear they have gone up to $17.99. I was lucky enough to snag them for $9.99 ea.

Hey @JDRoberts! I got all 3 switches today. Piece of cake to install and pair to ST. The switches are comparable to the sound of a Z-Wave Yale door lock. I would say the dB is a little less. For the price, I’m pretty happy with the buy. When I do a battery change I’ll be using Lithium. I’m not a fan of cheap alkaline.

Question though: Do you know a way to get battery feedback? Thanks in advance!

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Hey @JDRoberts, did you know of a way to get battery feedback on these devices?

Sorry, I don’t.