What’s your switch recommendation?

I’m in a pinch. While I am technically savvy, my better half is not. It has to work every time, or it will be ripped out… And I can’t spend $50 on every switch in the house…

Right now, I have a kasa wifi switch on the porch lights. It’s basic, but it works.

My better half has asked me to automate the lights in the basement so she can ask Alexa to turn them off for her when our kids inevitably forget. I’m excited and terrified at the prospect of diving in headlong and hitting a wall, so here I am.

I have decent and reliable wifi through the house (2 Asus ZenWifi routers in mesh) , and decent internet. We have many Alexa’s through the house.

Requirements:

  • Must work with Alexa - so Wifi, Matter, Zigbee. Not interested in adding another smart hub.
  • We have Android devices. Not sure that matters too much. Will have a Home Assistant dashboard setup for the lights.
  • I have HomeAssistant, but given the voice component, I’m fine driving the automation commands from either (or both) platforms. ** Question then… If I get a non wifi switch, will I need to pay for the Amazon integration to get them into HA because the Alexa is the hub???
  • The lights need to be voice controllable
  • To start with, need 7-9 single pole switches and four 3-way zones (two switches each). So, it’s a lot to start with, and I hope for it to grow.
  • All the lights are LEDs, but they very in quality… Hoping we don’t get flickering on the dimmer.
  • Want them to be on a dimmer, so we can set evening brightness, etc. some of the lights are reading lights near the TV, so…

Have seen a lot of different types of $20 ish smart dimmer switches. Kasa, Tapo, Shelly, …, … I’m struggling to pick the technology. On one side, worried about having too many things on wifi. On the other, I have one working switch that has hiccuped twice in the 2 years we’ve had it (an acceptable failure rate that was quickly fixed by pushing the switch button…)

Thank you all!!!

  • adman-c@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    The zooz z-wave switches are the only ones I’ve seen that let you wire them into an existing 3 or even 4-way circuit with a single smart switch (leaving the other dumb switches in place). Other smart switches replace the master on the circuit and then you put what are effectively remotes (or actual remotes in the case of Lutron Caseta) to replace the non-master switch.

    Second the recommendation for Lutron Caseta if reliability is your #1 concern. Absolutely rock solid, but it involves another hub and the switches are pricey. Don’t have any zigbee switch recommendations unfortunately. Sorry.