I’m renovating my house and currently deciding whether to keep the traditional wall switches or replace them with smart switches from the beginning.
My main goals are:
Control lighting more conveniently
Create automation scenes
Reduce unnecessary power consumption
Keep the system easy to expand later
I’ve been reading about smart lighting systems and found that the switch itself seems to play an important role, especially when integrating with motion sensors and automation.
I also came across this article that explains the overall idea quite well:
For those already using Aqara smart switches:
Did you replace all switches at once or gradually?
Any issues with wiring in older houses?
Would you recommend using smart switches instead of smart bulbs?
I’d love to hear your experience before making a decision. Thanks!
Hello, my experience shows that it is best to use switches with a neutral. If you have a neutral wire in the box, that’s great. In my house, the combined options are smart lamps + dumb switch, smart switch + dumb lamp. This choice is due to the presence of a neutral in the switch box. What I would not advise (this is my point of view) is a switch without a neutral wire.
Almost all the lights in my house are controlled by wireless switches.
If you don’t have neutrals, then use Tapo S210 or 220 switches with their cheap h100 hub. They are battery-powered, 2 x aaa batteries, but they will last over 2 years without a problem.
I have replaced all my switches with Aqara H1 (some are with neutral, some are no neutral because there was no neutral). Although maybe now I would go for the H2.
Quickly my smart switches proved to be convenient - a few weeks after installing them I’ve bought a couple of Aqara wireless switches. I wanted a more convenient access to the light switch and instead of having to do a renovation - I’ve just put those wireless switches on walls in places where it’s the most convenient.
Actually, one of the H1 smart switches is partially hidden behind a cupboard. In case of emergency, we can still access it, but I think it’s also an additional benefit of smart switches - if you want to use the extra room space for furniture, you can. You don’t have to consider access to the switch anymore.
1 - I actually replaced all of our home switches with CYNC smart sitches a couple year ago. I’ve learned a lot about wifi, thread, zigbee, etc. in that time. Biggest mistake I made was to install switches that connect directly through wifi. Those CYNC switches (close to 40 in total) really drug down the dedicated IoT 2.4 ghz wifi.
Moving to the aqara H2 switches, connected to my M3 and M2 hubs over Zigbee has been a night and day difference.
2 - I can’t speak intelligently about this one as my home is roughly 10 years old. I would put some thought into where 2 or 3 channel switches make more sense then 2 or 3 individual 1 channel switches. I combined the separate light and fan switches in each room to a 2 button 2 channel switch and used face plate blanks for the now empty channel switch. That cleaned up a lot of wiring inside each box.
3 - I use smart switches where there are switches and bulbs for devices that “plug in”.
I have replaced all switches with Aqara H2 switches which works pretty well.
Most of our lights are triggered by motion or presence which makes it pretty convenient.
I replaced them one by one stretched over a few months
Yes - you should keep traditional lighting controls for every resident (or future resident) of your home. So switches over bulbs at least, or using switches with a smart bulb (detached) mode to control your smart bulbs.
I’ve replaced most of my dumb switches with Lutron and Aqara switches. I love both. I had to use the two different brands because I wanted to make my dumb fans smart and had to use the Aqara relay + smart switch to accomplish this. Slowly replacing the remaining smart switches and fans.