Smart switches for beginners

There are so many things you need to know before buying a smart light switch.

I cover:
00:00 - Intro
01:00 - What are smart light switches?
01:33 - When to use smart light switches
03:14 - Choosing a smart light switch
03:36 - Understanding Neutral Wires
06:00 - Smart switch features

[RickFarris]

I tried a few different switch-brands until I hit upon the Lutron Caseta switches and I have never gone back. The Lutron switches always work, under every condition. All other switches that I tried were at one time or another "No response." Yes, I use the Lutron hub.

[tekjoey]

Apreciate the phrase "im gonna tell you everything I know..." vs the more popular and sensationalist "everything you need to know". Minor difference, but the former is more honest imo

[Tony-ikuz]

Recently got into home assistant and home automation. I find your content informative and easily understandable. You got my sub mate

[stiw]

Very nice introducing explanation for beginners, but I would add one thing. Regarding neutral required yes or no, somewhere on 03:52. Yes, most of the houses have no neutral in switch junction box, but on the other hand, most of them have 3 line or 4 line cable from up junction box to switch junction box, where at least 1 wire is not connected to anything, so you can use that wire to bring neutral from up junction box to switch junction box (at least, this is the case here in Serbia). When house/apartment is building, electricians have no so much time to pull of the coat from cable and use exact number of lines/wires they needed. No, they are using 3 lines or 4 lines cables to connect up junction box with switch box, as I said before, so most of the time you have 1 free line. Even if this is not the case (I had one such an example in my new house), you can e.g. get 3 gang switch for 2 different ceiling lights. Then connect both ceilings to one gang, just to have physical switch for emergency case where you are toggling both, and rest two gangs you can use trough HA automation for ceiling 1 and ceiling 2 separately (of course you need smart bulbs for this as well).

[anotherledfreak]

I've used both sonoff and yagusmart switched (no neutral) and BOTH have pros and cons. One thing you don't mention is that if (when) your internet goes down the WiFi light in the switch flashes.... Annoyingly! Especially at night in a bedroom (I know from past experience). One way of getting rid of this is by using HA with tuya local (obviously your switches need to be Tuya compatible). Good video and thanks to your dad for the electrical help.

As an electrician it's always worth asking for help. Electricity is a silent killer... It sits there not warning that it's going to bite and potentially kill.

[EsotericArctos]

Just as a note on the Capacitor for no neutral. Often this needs to be put across the load, not in the wall box. The theory is to provide leakage current to keep your no neutral switch working. Just wanted to mention that as this is the more common setup, rather than having the capacitor in the box. I use Aeotec Nano Dimmers, which are wired no neutral and they have the capacitor across the load. I quite likethese, although they are Z-Wave, as from the outside it still looks like your old standard switch, but on the inside it is a smart dimmer with power monitoring capabilities. Thanks for all the great infromation. I look forward to following your journey with your new home this year.

[terryrigden]

Very interesting and informative, thank you

[christianbottger]

An alternative to 2 or 3 way smart switches ist using a Shelly Switch device to control the existing dump switch.

[ChechuBeauty]

You got my sub, really Good explanation for everything

[train]

This helped me, hugelly, im a spark by trade, but av never used this gear before, my goid freinds health is getting, far worse, and were looking into this gear, im from the uk myself, , i found it very overwhelming, but you sir, have made it easy to now, understand thanku loads

[andyhume]

I have LightwaveRF switches/dimmers in my house (no neutral), and while they look nice and work well enough you need to get the right LED bulbs to avoid flickering and poor transitions. They support Homekit though which is my primary platform. One frustration there is they can't be used as standalone switches in Homekit - you can only trigger via turning the light on/off itself (haven't looked into Homebridge/Homeassistant options yet).

[chefkocher]

I use Shelly devices behind my dumb switches and sockets in order to achieve a consistent look across all rooms and therefore higher acceptance and compatibility with guest and my partner. They offer a vast range of single relais, roller shutters and 2-gang relais, dimmers and LED controllers.

But I have to admit that I've installed prosumer grade WiFi at home to manage the 25 devices and IP-adresses

[bogorad]

The only ones that fit in my apartment are Sonoff T3-US. I really dislike the feel of sensor buttons - but realistically, the switches are only there for programmatic access; no one ever touches them :) I really wish Sonoff made a model with properly clickable buttons in this form factor.

[nabunbs]

If your switch gang doesn't have a neutral wire you install the smart switch in the fixture gang. The wiring example for no neutral is a bit misleading since both hot and neutral come in at the fixture gang and the hot is traveled to the switch and then returned to the light. So you install the switch in the light fixture and use the traveler to connect the switch terminals on the smart switch.

[christophostermayer]

I am using homematic smart switches. Plus side is they are working independently of any smart home solution. You always can turn light on and off.
Same argument is also a down side since you cannot block or disable the switch if you'd like to.
But they are very reliable and work great with home assistant over my homematic ip gateway.

[allan.adimoolah]

Excellent video that gives us that piece of critical info relating to the neutral wire being present or absent in your home wiring system... My home has no neutral wiring to the switches, can you recommend some zigbee or z wave switches that doesn't require the neutral that I can use?

[PersonXes]

Good video. Here's some aspects you didn't cover: some smart switches replace the button itself. Others are kust installed behind it. Some smart switches are huge, others tiny. Compatibility with LED lights (many have trouble with LEDs... The ones that work best for me have a feature called zero point crossing or something like that). Also the ways it can work with bistable switches variés widely (with the best ones you can choose whether up=on&down=off or whether whenever you push the toggle it should switch the light)

[JokerGermany]

I miss in this count, the possibility to make it smart in the background. When you socket is deep enough you can use your existing dumb switches and use them as normal and still can automate ist. e.g. with shelly

[TripOnSpot]

I have the old sonoff nspanel and its amazing. Flashing it with esphome was a game changer.

[LifeWithMatthew]

I use the zigbee ZBMini behind my existing light switches for most my lights, but on rooms where I want the lights to dim, I use a light switch that came pre-flashed with tasmota that connects with wifi then use Home Assistant to control the lights. In both cases my Home Assistant application could explode and I'd still be able to turn my lights on and off which is kind of an important thing.