VFAQ: Lighting Control Options for UK SmartThings

Sorry, not very clued up on downlights so this might be a stupid question, but are they essentially just gu10 bulbs?

Yes I guess they are. Suppose I can buy the housing seperately and a compatible GU10 bulb.

Although reading the orignal post, it may be better to get a wall switch.

Yeah, like you said, probably better to get a z-wave relay for the wall switch to be honest, ~40 quid a pop

However, I did find the lightify gu10 quite cheaply for 28.65 EURO over at Amazon Spain atm:

Thatā€™s around ~21 GBP each and standard shipping costs ~3-6 quid depending upon how many you order in totalā€¦

@TheMillHouse

Tell her you want downlights. They create a much nicer ambience than ceiling roses, especially with dimmers on the switches :smiley:

Probably a stupid question but can anyone confirm that z wave relay switches will work whether the wall switch is on or off?

My wife wants to be able to turn lights on manually without worrying about whether itā€™s affecting my home automation stuff - sheā€™s sceptical of the home automation stuff at the best of times so I need to do everything I can to please her!

Yes, thatā€™s how Iā€™m appeasing my SWMBO cause sheā€™s of a similar vein in regards to HA!

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A post was split to a new topic: Need Advice on a Wiring Project (UK)

I donā€™t know whether it was this page or another, but I picked up a link to ā€œThingsThatAreSmartā€ wiki, a site of consolidated SmartThings information.: http://thingsthataresmart.wiki/index.php?title=ThingsThatAreSmart_Wiki

Under **ā€˜Officially supported **devicesā€™ I found ā€˜GE Z-wave Dimmer Switchā€™ ; GE Z-Wave Smart Dimmer (In-Wall), 12724.
Turns out this is a US switch (might have guessed) and is $40 on Amazon.
Can anyone answer a couple of questions, acknowledging that the back-boxes are different to our UK ones, :-

  1. will our 240V blow this thing to pieces !?
    2, do I understand correctly that these US Z-Wave devices work on a different frequency to UK Z-Wave ?
    Supplemental: if so, is it conceivable to ā€˜tweekā€™ the local oscillator to re-tune it, - or is this old radio guy being too simplistic !!?

The GE switch will not work in the UK. You have to match both power requirements and Zwave frequency.

The GE switch is listed on the official ā€œcompatible with smart thingsā€ list for the US. But not for the UK.

Zwave frequencies are set at the factory and cannot be reset. In many cases there are also legal restrictions as to which frequencies can be used in which regions.

See post 1 in this thread for options that currently work in the UK. :sunglasses:

For more information on different zwave frequencies, see the international FAQ

Iā€™m not sure if it what you are looking for but there are light switches in the ST shop.

Do you have a link as i could only see dimmers?

Iā€™m not aware of any for the UK, though. (The thread weā€™re in now is specific to UK issues.) @aaron is SmartThings selling any wall switches for the U.K. Market?

We are not. The in wall switch market in the UK is different than US, and a lot more limited. We donā€™t have any official integrations yet, but investigating options. Feel free to let us know feedback of you test any.

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Just spotted thisā€¦ http://www.owon-smart.com/products/SLC602-ZigBee-HA-Wireless-Switch_28.html

Would it work with ST?

It should, itā€™s using the right profile. (Zigbee Home Automation 1.2)

Itā€™s battery-operated, so itā€™s not going to control the current load going to the fitting, but it could just be used as an on/off button for a smart bulb or some other networked device.

Does anyone else make anything similar (and wall mounted) that doesnā€™t require a bulk order from China?

I am prepared to consider it, mind :smiley:

Would this work with Smartthings? http://www.amazon.co.uk/LIGHTWAVERF-JSJSLW205-Lighting-Wire-free-Switch/dp/B00BFSJASO/ref=pd_bxgy_60_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=1KB3TWMNXT1XT9HKAS6M

Not directly compatible.

As mentioned in the first post, there are some people who are running their own servers between lightwave RF and SmartThings, but it requires considerable Technical expertise and is not a perfect integration. I believe @adamclark_dev has done the most on this.

[OBSOLETE] Lightwave RF Integration (UK)

Iā€™m going down the smart bulbs route and am using one of these http://www.vesternet.com/z-wave-me-wall-controller-set-with-frame to control a LIFX bulb and a power strip off of a z-wave power socket in my study, and will be using one in the kitchen to control a relay for the kitchen light (mounted in the light fixture), and one in my wifeā€™s study when her LIFX bulb comes in.

The rest of the house is only going to be using Hue white bulbs so weā€™ll use the Hue Dimmer switches in the other rooms.

To get those z-wave battery wall switches to work you need this excellent device type and smartapp by @AdamV - https://community.smartthings.com/t/release-button-controller-with-proper-dimming-whilst-buttons-are-held-for-z-wave-me-popp-devolo-wireless-wall-switches-and-key-fobs/

Iā€™m waiting for my 3D printed prototypes of light switch cover & blanking plate mounting frame to come in - theyā€™ll let me mount the battery powered switches on top of the normal light switches, or just put a cover over them and in both cases have it easily removable if I need to turn the socket off at the wall.

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Brilliant thread! Iā€™ve got a couple of Belkin wemo bulbs working but a much nicer solution is relay switches so that I can integrate wireless lighting control with the old manual way of switching off lighting. This comes in handy particularly where I have downlighting in place and led lighting.

My question is understanding a little more about this ā€œspareā€ 3rd wire that I can use. Where exactly is this? Can someone post up some pictures of what theyā€™ve done? Also, I am interested in placement of the relay. Could I use 1 relay in the loft and run wire from the relay to each of the bedroom and bathroom lights - so just have 1 relay to control the lights upstairs? And then out another under the flooring upstairs that handles all the lights downstairs?

These relays:

  1. do they ever require a soft reset (so could it become problematic if I bury it behind a wall?
  2. Do they need their own electric current or they just work off this 3rd wire you allude to?

Apologies if these sound like very simple questions!

Thanks