I recently, maybe foolishly, replaced our apartment lights with some Matter bulbs. They’re mostly great, but yesterday the SO needed to turn on a light and it was such a chore for her. It’s had me thinking how I can make it work without voice. I’m guessing I’ll need a whole new setup, which sucks. I considered making a fancy Siri Shortcut to help her control things from her phone. Maybe a smart button on top of the switches? I’m a bit confused, if I’m being honest.
Any ideas on this are appreciated!
That’s a great topic!
For family members unfamiliar with smart products, traditional switch control remains the most intuitive and straightforward method. However, the convenience brought by smart lighting systems, including multi-light control, scene setting, and dual control, not only greatly enhances lighting convenience but also meets the needs of modern households.
It’s important to note that relying too heavily on cloud services or gateways for smart lighting control can lead to delays or other malfunctions, causing inconvenience.
To address this, we have developed a smart lighting system that supports the Matter protocol while utilizing the standard Zigbee 3.0 “binding&group” control features for gateway-free control. This system is set to launch on Amazon soon. If you’re interested, you can search “Xsky” in Amazon, I am more than happy to share further details and look forward to discussing it with everyone.
Here is the link of starter kit, and the switch kit will coming soon:
There is rather a lot of language in the NEC on the subject of residential lighting and light switches. Here is the main part of it:
NEC 210.70(A)(1) Habitable Rooms. At least one wall switch–controlled lighting outlet shall be installed in every habitable room, kitchen, and bathroom. Exception No. 1: In other than kitchens and bathrooms, one or more receptacles controlled by a wall switch shall be permitted in lieu of lighting outlets.
Accordingly, people expect the light switches to be present, and to control the lights. That is a reasonable expectation. So I use smart switches for the switch-controlled lighting, and the switch over-rides the automation. If a guest operates a switch, the light must behave as expected.
A switched outlet is allowed, instead of or in addition to a ceiling fixture. And, where a lamp is plugged into the switched outlet, it is still allowed to turn the lamp off manually. But the wall switch must be present, and must control some kind of lighting outlet (either a fixture or an outlet). And, it is usual (though not required) to leave the lamp turned on.
All of this is actually about safety, not just design. Without lights, people trip and fall. I don’t want my guests getting injured in my house. So I make sure there is light, and that the conventional controls do work.
I will present an answer different from most of the other responders of how I was able to integrate automation in my home.
While I am pro-automation, my spouse was less excited. So I started small. I already had an echo dot in a room with the main light switch in an inconvenient place. Using a smart plug activated by voice command was accepted by her as an clear improvement.
After a year, I installed smart bulbs into my garage lights. Again, the original physical switch was in an inconvenient location so the activation by voice was accepted.
I have since replaced many bulbs and setup routines. My spouse only uses voice, and will not use the app.
My smart switches add functionalities, as if my Wi-Fi is down, I can still turn on my lights by using the light switch themselves.
I don’t use smart bulbs.
Papa smart button over the switches. However, in our house, most of our built-in light fixtures are not smart yet.