Posted on 6 Comments

SuperHouse Vlog #61: Light switches for sale

I finally, FINALLY, got around to putting the parts for my home automation light switches up on the new SuperHouse online store. I thought it would be easy: just put up four products, with 1, 2, 3, or 4 buttons. But then I realised that Australian wall plates don’t suit many people, so I have to make them available as kits to fit into different types of wall plates. Then I realised that people may want different colour buttons, so I have to separate the breakouts from the buttons.

So it got complicated.

Oh well.

For all the details see the light switch page.

6 thoughts on “SuperHouse Vlog #61: Light switches for sale

  1. Jon – did I see a version of the light switch in the video that had an onboard relay?

    Is there some version of the switch with POE and onboard relay? Then we could fish a CAT5 into the wall plate and use that without needing a neutral wire.

  2. In a previous video I briefly showed a couple of prototypes of a light switch with onboard relays, a Spark Core or ESP8266 module, and a switchmode power supply. With that one, there’s no re-cabling required at all. It fits directly onto the mains in place of a regular light switch, but it does need a neutral wire unfortunately. The reason I didn’t go ahead with that switch is that I’d need to get all the regulatory approvals for it, which would probably cost me about $10k. I can’t afford it 🙁

    I think I understand what you’re describing but I haven’t made a switch that’s exactly like that. It would be something like a combination of my very early switches (with Ethernet and PoE) and a local relay controlled by the microcontroller.

    1. Do you have some details on which momentary switch to use with the ESP8266 as the driver? I would like to try and build a lightswitch using a sonoff, but I have concerns that the LED current draw will exceed the max current that can come from the GPIO on the chip (12mA according to ESP).

      I would also like to use PWM0 & PWM1 to change the brightness of the external switch LEDs depending on state but don’t know if the sonoff can handle that with CFW such as Tasmota. Do you have any experience with hacks like this?

  3. Enjoy your videos as I’m currently studying Electronics and Communications.
    One thought for your switches.
    Id’e put a feedback line from the load side of the relay to drive an LED on the switch plate next to the button being activated. Couple of benefits is those used to a mechanical switch can see straight away whether the relay is activated or deactivated and hence if the load is on or not.
    Diagnostics would be easier as if the LED is indicating on and the load is off it is the load that has malfunctioned.

    Wiring is already in place with the Ethernet cable so retrofit is no big deal I would assume.

  4. Great work Jonathan.

  5. Hi Jonathan,

    Will 2 triple breakouts fit into a single Australian plate? Just wondering if I can have 6 buttons on a single switch.

    Do you expect I/O Breakout To RJ45 in stock? Want to purchase a complete kit as a single order to assemble the light controller.

    Thanks

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