Internet Of Things / IoT / Connected Home / Smart Houses

Thanks both.

Found these which look like they might do the trick....

It's a two year old house so assuming (maybe incorrectly) that the necessary wiring is in place but will definitely take a peek later.

Assume the blue in the block is neutral?
Any way of testing?

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Yes. Blue is neutral.

I'm not a sparky, electricity is dangerous, and I may be talking bollocks.

I don't think that one of those is neutral - one is live (the brown one), one is switched live (the blue one, that should have a brown sleeve on), the other is earth.

The only way to be sure is with a volt meter.

You need a three core & earth, I think.

[Edit]

Just to highlight how little I know - I have no idea why that switch is wired like that, nor why that neutral is terminated. Unless the second cable is being used to create a proxy for a 3 core cable.

I'm not a sparky, etc.

Yeah, I'd expect the WAGO block blue is unconnected to anything at the other end (except hopefully another WAGO block rather than a dangling cable.).

As TW says, looks like they've used two sets of twin core and earth instead of a single three core and earth between this light switch and the other light switch.

It should have looked like the bottom one of this diagram:

With the brown tape indicating that all three wires are live/switched live.

Is there another switch that works the same light. There's probably a blue conductor unused there also

Yes. Haven’t opened that but would assume so.

I need a wifi switch for an immersion heater. The one I used previously whilst amazing is made by a company that no longer exist.

Any suggestions someone has used?

@soul I am a spark and this is likely* correct. Someone’s just done your garage on a Friday at 2pm and half assed it.

*I’d still prefer testing your system before I confirm. Buy a cheap miltimeter you’ll use it more than you know.

Tried utfs but no luck, possibly as I’m unsure of the correct terminology. Anyway, I’d like to find a wifi connected/app controlled circuit breaker to replace a super basic doorbell thing that triggers the electrical motor to open our garage door. Any suggestions?

Depends exactly how the wiring is but something like this may well work
https://microcosm.app/out/riBzi

Edit: I meant this https://microcosm.app/out/BG6xi

Are there any forum approved non Phillips (cheaper) Hue controllers etc?
Looking for a couple of switches and a motion sensor for an outdoor light (bulb will be hue).

Phillips are not super expensive but it all adds up so wondered if there were cheaper options out there.

Do you already have the Hue bridge? If so then home assistant plus a zigbee adapter and cheap, chinese zigbee stuff is probably your best bet (although will take a while to recoup the expense if you don't have a raspberry pi spare).

I normally just have ebay alerts set for Hue stuff, I got an outdoor motion sensor for £20 for instance.

I don't have a Hue Bridge yet but was going to get one for this. Currently 2 Hue bulbs on bluetooth controlled by Amazon Alexa (we have two echo dots) or the app. I was going to get a bridge and do the following:

Add a remote switch for one room where wiring is impossible.
Fit a porch light but with a hue bulb, remote switch and motion sensor.

I want to keep things simple as possible so will probably not be going down the raspberry pi route.

If you want it as simple as possible then I'd just stick with the Hue stuff and try and get it secondhand. The Ikea TRÅDFRI stuff is often compatible with Hue but lots of it doesn't seem to be available at the moment in the UK (and getting it to pair can take a few goes).

If you want to stitch together varied stuff then it's fairly awkward without using something like HomeAssistant or IFTTT (but that is a bit hamstrung now).

Smart TRV's.

Almost a year on from the last black Friday, how's everyone finding them?

I still think they'd be a useful addition to our place and recently we've struggled with the upstairs heating at night being insanely hot.

Black Friday is coming around, almost always deals on hue around then.

Are there any smart TRVs out there that aren't really ugly? It would be nice to fit some with me working from home now but I'd need something to go on radiators like this

I really like the Tado ones. I got 3 for £100 in April, now it's £210 for 3!

I've been using this - https://www.timeguard.com/products/time/immersion-and-general-purpose-timeswitches/wi-fi-controlled-fused-spur

App is a bit clunky but fine. Switch feels solid.

I don’t think these are rated to be used directly with an immersion heater, in fact I don’t think any current switches on the market are.

I’ve been planning out how to automate my central heating and immersion water heater over the past fortnight and the conclusion I’ve come to is that you should use a contactor to control your immersion heater, and use a smart switch/relay to control the contactor.

My plan is to get two Shelly 1pm relays and two matching Shelly 1 gang wall switches and use one relay in place of my apt time clock switch for the central heating, and one to control a contactor for my immersion.

I’ll then get a zigbee trv for every radiator, and manage everything through home assistant.

Are there any forum approved non Phillips (cheaper) Hue controllers etc?

Samsung Smarthings seem to be compatible with virtually everything.

However there can be a problem with updating hardware unless you have the hub specific to the kit.

Phillips is nice but expensive, Osram make cheap smart lights that are compatible but not sure you can update without the hub.

Smart TRV's.

Just get a Smart Thermostat and dumb TRV's.

Unless you are lucky enough to live in a 3 level plus or more than one heating zone system house then it's a little pointless.

Put the smart stat in the room you use the most, use the dumb TRV's to balance each room.

But that doesn’t achieve the goal of not heating the entire house while I’m working and only using one room from 9-5. In my mind smart central heating should save money rather than keep the entire house at a constant temperature.

I've been considering smart TRVs for that reason but I think it is probably cheaper just to turn off my central heating when I'm working from home alone and use a fan heater pointing at me.