The UK Light Switch Question - But I Have Neutral Wires! (2020) (Rotary Dimmer Preferred)

Devices & Integrations
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Hi all,

In the process of buying a new build property and the electricians have agreed to run neutral wires to light switches at no extra cost.

I know there are a variety of no-neutral options available in the UK - I have a fibaro dimmer set up in my current place with a momentary rocker switch - but I’m trying to understand what options are now available.

As much as possible I’m looking for “invisible” smart devices;

  • switches replace existing dumb switches
  • switches and smart control can be used interchangeably
  • that includes “off” at the switch still allowing for smart “on”
  • switches remain pretty standard (ideally rotary dimmers? The momentary rocker is just about partner-approved, but wouldn’t get the thumbs up for every room in the house…)

I thought the Den Automation switches looked great, but the company seems to have died a death.

The Aurora AOne switches looked like they could be perfect, but reading some other posts on here they aren’t designed as existing switch replacements?

Interested to hear what others have done and if there are any UK-style products that i could now take advantage of with a neutral wire.

Cheers!

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There are quite a few options that are available, some Z wave, some Zigbee, some WiFi, and some with their own hub and a cloud to cloud integration.

However, they are almost all press to hold, where the longer you press, the brighter light gets.

ROTARY KNOB

  1. If you want a traditional Rotary dimmer, one choice is the Aurora which is on the official compatibility list. They work fine as an existing switch replacement, so that shouldn’t be an issue.

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  1. In addition, just in March this year several different brands certified zwave plus S2 rotary dimmers. It looks like they all come from the same factory, so I suspect they are rebranded versions of the same device. But they may have someone different firmware and features, I didn’t look into the details yet.

Anyway, the nice thing is these are just multi level lights, I think that should work fine with smartthings as a Zwave dimmer. However, I haven’t seen any reports in the forum yet of people who have actually purchased any. So I don’t know about the build quality or any potential glitches.

The Robb Shop in the Netherlands is a well-established home automation retailer, and they are offering one as their house brand:

https://en.robbshop.nl/z-wave-knob-smartdimmer-robb-smarrt

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You should be able to swap out the face plate and cover with pretty much any standard design.

If you do try one of these, let us know how it goes, I’m very curious to hear a real life report. :sunglasses:

(Oh, and note that the same case is being used for a zigbee version. However, my expectation is that that will be much trickier to get to work with smartthings, so the zwave version should be simpler.)

Press and Hold Dimmers

If you want to look at some of the press to hold type, they come in a number of different finishes and styles.

  1. and 4) Currently Yagusmart and Zemismart are quite popular. Discussion in the following thread. For these, make sure you get the zigbee or Z wave versions, not the Wi-Fi version which is not compatible with SmartThings.

UK Light switches – My experiences (2020)

I personally really like the look of the Yagusmart switches, but everyone has different aesthetics.

  1. Coolcam were one of the first in this category and have an official integration, but a lot of people don’t like the way there is an LED light ring around the button when the switch is off. So it’s just an aesthetics issue.

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  1. and 7) Historically The most popular option has been the Fibaro or Aeotec in-line micros. These go in the wall and then you can combine them with pretty much any wall switch you like except a rotary dimmer. (The traditional rotary dimmers are analog, and don’t translate well to the digital micros. But you can use a retractive switch for a press to hold.)

Having a neutral available means you don’t have to add a bypass device to these, but otherwise everything is the same.

You will find many discussion threads on these in the forums. The ability to use them with any retractive switches you like which gives a lot of decorator options, but, unfortunately, no rotary dials that I’m aware of.

  1. TkbHome also makes a line of all in one switches and dimmers which require a neutral wire, so haven’t historically been as popular but can work. You can switch out the face plate covers for other Colours or styles. However, these can be tricky to set up because they rely on zwave associations for some features. And need custom code. So I think fewer and fewer people are using them these days, but you will see some older pre 2018 threads about them and I thought I should mention them for completeness.

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  1. LightwaveRF makes a popular line that requires their own bridge and has an official cloud to cloud integration in the new V3 app. One reason they are popular is that they also offer matching in wall sockets. Also, these offer simultaneous HomeKit compatibility as well, which is a plus for some people. :wink:. Make sure you get the current generation, as the first generation will not integrate with SmartThings.

These come in two finishes, brushed steel or white.

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I’m too tired to look up all the individual links for you right now, I will try to update this post later in the day if I feel up to it. But that should be enough to get you started.

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This is brilliant, thanks a lot!

I’ll take a look at everything you’ve mentioned. I’ll make sure to share my experience once I’ve tried some stuff out, but it may be a few months away.

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@Man_Overboard
The Den did indeed go bust. When this happened all their previously sold switches went dumb as it turned out their hub required access to their servers.

There is a message at the following link implying the technology has been acquired by their founder with the intent to relaunch. Personally whilst I was already avoiding their product because of its total lack of integrations the fact that it is so reliant on their servers puts me completely off.

https://denswitches.com/

The Aurora AOne rotary dimmer is by far the closet thing to your requirement. It can replace existing switches - that is its whole purpose. However there have been many reports of problems when using it with non-Aurora bulbs when the dimmer is set to max brightness. Might be worth discussing with their representative.

I had not seen the Z-Wave knob dimmer before mentioned by @JDRoberts it should be noted that link suggests they also do a Zigbee version. The Aurora product is also Zigbee.

The Aurora product is specifically designed for UK style back boxes and face plates the Z-Wave/Zigbee knob dimmer is designed for EU style back boxes and face plates. Whilst using US style back boxes and face plates would be completely impossible not least due to 110v vs 220v it would be I suspect possible to use EU style ones in the UK but worth checking with your electrician. They would obviously use the same 220v as the UK, be roughly the same size as the UK and be CE safety checked like the UK.

None of the other products mentioned by @JDRoberts are rotary dimmers but would be other dimmer possibilities.

The LightWaveRF products are another UK specific product and technically work well but do not meet my own personal desires.

Other than the ones listed by @JDRoberts other options include -

  1. Ultra high-end products like KNX, Lutron Homeworks QS, Lutron RadioRA2, Creston
  2. Various micro modules which typically one would use with momentary switches, this includes the Fibaro modules you have already used and Insteon and Aeotec and many others.

Overall Europe is still poorly served compared to the US. This is not helped by Lutron’s stubborn refusal to do a European version of their Caseta range. :frowning_face:

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