I am considering options to connect existing light switches and buttons into OH2. The lights are already a mix of Philips Hue and Ikea Trådfri. This is an older house, where I would now like to remove relays and other redundant thick wires, while keeping the existing “retro” plates and switches.
When the Osram Lightify binding was announced, I asked in another post if the Lightify Pro PBC could be supported. That is a nice little box, which exemplifies what I am looking for:
- Input: up to 4 light switches or push buttons (I could also use 8 )
- Output: ZigBee or RS485/Modbus
- Size: small enough that it can be placed in junction boxes and wherever there were relays
Things you could do:
- Use a push-button, with the short press to switch a light on/off (legacy “relay” mode), and long presses to dim, etc.
- Reuse a legacy light switch, using any change of state (from on to off, or from off to on) as if it were a push-button action
- Act on presses from multiple buttons to change scenes (e.g. press two buttons = all 10 lights on/off)
- Use Up/Down button as an alternative way to control dimming
This is a narrow multi-floor unit, and I do not have enough space in the ducts to have all wires go to the main rack (even as they are going to be thinner than before, as they carry only on/off signal). However, as it already had boxes with (noisy!) relays in each floor, I would reuse that space for I/O modules. I am still not sure I trust ZigBee for the very long-term, so I would appreciate any tips that also take into consideration RS485 or some other bus solution.