Zigbee micro module and momentary switch (UK)

Here in the UK it is a requirement to use pull cord switches in bathrooms as this ensures isolation of the switch and a persons hand and hence protects against possible electrocution caused by having wet hands.

This is not something Americans will be familiar with as US lighting runs on 110v and therefore the risk is much less than here in the UK which uses 220v.

Since pull cord switches are not something common in the US solutions using them as part of smart lighting may also be something Americans are unaware of, however the most commonly referenced solution I have come across is as follows.

https://www.vesternet.com/knowledgebase/technical/kb-18/
and

In the above case a Fibaro Z-Wave micro module is wired to the light and a momentary pull-cord type switch. This is different to a normal pull cord switch which is a standard on/off.

Similarly momentary wall switches as opposed to the above pull cord switch can also be used. Such solutions work with both the above Fibaro, Aeotec, and other brands of Z-Wave micro module and also Insteon micro modules.

The above can then be successfully used with a Smartthings hub. However I am looking in this case for a Zigbee solution, the reason for this is that a Zigbee solution can be used also with a Philips Hue bridge and therefore should work via the Hue Bridge also with Apple HomeKit - which is not possible with Z-Wave products.

I found the following Zigbee module https://rgbgenie.com/?product=zigbee-3-0-plus-micro-controller-and-lamp-module-single-channel-trailing-edge-dimmer

This module seems to be very similar to the Fibaro module and in theory could therefore also be used with a pull cord momentary switch. Whilst the RGBgenie page does not mention a momentary switch their page for the same product on Amazon does.

As I am based in the UK the RGBgenie module is harder to get hold of although it seems to support both 110 and 220v. I was wondering if anyone here has any experience of it - particularly with momentary switches wall or otherwise. Does anyone have an electronic copy of a manual for this module?

RGBgenie do list it as being both (directly) Smartthings compatible and Philips Hue compatible.

1 Like

The hue bridge does not automatically expose all devices connected to it to HomeKit. So you will want to look into that first. For example, if you add a tradfri bulb to the Phillips hue bridge, it works fine with Alexa or with smartthings, but it won’t be visible to HomeKit. (By the way, the same thing is true if you add a Phillips hue bulb to the tradfri Gateway. Apple has very strict security requirements for bridges.)

https://www.reddit.com/r/HomeKit/comments/7om1w8/ikea_trådfri_on_homekit_via_hue/

@anon36505037 May have some additional thoughts.