This is all local or any cloud server involved?
Iām assuming (yep I know what that can make a person.
) the Sonoff switches will be flashed with a different firmware e.g. tasmota, Esp_Easy.
ā¦ which does not answer this newbie question.
by default the SONOFF switches are equiped with a firmware that heavily relies on the ITEAD Cloud environment. By flashing alternative firmware (e.g. Tasmota, or ESP easy) to those devices you free them from their native cloud and allow for full local control.
The Tasmota will keep you entertained for the remainder of the day 
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I use both but for some things I prefer Esp Easy (mostly with ESP8266 dev boards).
Info for Esp Easy:
https://www.letscontrolit.com/wiki/index.php/ESP_Easy_web_interface
https://www.letscontrolit.com/wiki/index.php?title=ESPEasy
@m0nKeY, are wires problem for you?
Iāve looked for such device and finally using scheme below:
- Usual contact switches for lights you liked from any shop.
- These switches commute 5V DC.
- 5v signal from each button is going to input pins of my Tinkerboard (with pull-down resistor to avoid false positive signal).
- Openhub listen these pins through GPIO plugin and control lights according to rules.
Benefits:
- You can use your switches as regular manual switches. At the same time you can control your lights inside smarthome with your rules, google assistant, etc.
- You can use any cheap contact switches you like.
- You can easily remove any āsmartā parts and return wiring to 220V AC.
I donāt quite know what exaclty is meant with ācontact switchā.
And also, you put 5V DC onto your 230V line and grab the 5V with an Asus Tinker Board at your fuse box?
I meant regular mechanical non-smart switches.
Iām using 5V DC from my power supply, this 5v is going to switch and back directly to my GPIO pins. There is no 220v here. Itās just like a trigger for openhab.
From another side there are relay modules controlled by GPIO also (in my configuration), but it can be any wireless device connected to openhab actually. These relays / devices assigned to specific input GPIO by openhab rules.
something like thisā¦
Just an idea to think about. Shelly devices have a nice function, detach the input from output.
Doing this, you can connect input to your old switches and reuse them for triggering openhab, while you still have the option to switch off power of your hue bulbs with the relay.
I am using this for my I-Fan02, control its power supply via openHAB while usin the input to control the light in my ceiling fan.
I use the Zwave.me Wallc-s switches. They have replaced my āoriginalā wall switches.
They support single, double and long press and release ( xiaomi aqara wall switch doesnāt have long release ). I use the single and double press for turning on/off single lights or groups. And the long press ( with release ) for diming.
Downside
- battery powered
- a small trigger delay
Under the āFriends of Hueā program several manufacturers have come up with Zigbee-based switches integrated with their respective product lines of switches, power outlets and so on. I have just started using the Busch-Jaeger variant which is available for several of their switch designs. They use energy harvesting (no batteries) and fulfill your requirements stated above. Since you already seem to have the required Zigbee infrastructure in place those might be your best guess. The old switches you could just remove and short-circuit the wires behind, closing the mount box with the new switch (screwing them to a standard mount is possible with the included frame). Alternatively, you can glue them to the wall anywhere you like. Downside is they are rather pricey.
Better value for money might be a Qubino Flush 1 Relay (Z-Wave!), provided you have other switches in the same or adjacent mount boxes. These have one relay to switch a hard wired load, either via attached switch or via openHAB. Additionally they have two inputs for switches which just send a trigger to openHAB without doing anything inside the module itself. On all inputs they accept momentary or toggle switches. I donāt think they will support long press, though. I am using a few of these in locations with two mount boxes adjacent to each other. One box holds the Qubino, all switches are replaced by dual toggle switches. Therefore, all hard wired switching functionality is retained while two additional switches become available to be used by openHAB for whatever is on your mind.
OK hereās an alternative solution. I have recently done the same thing, installed some Hue lights, which thanks to the need for a high WAF, I need to control from regular-looking wall switches that do what you would expect when you push them. My wife also wants me (or an electrician) to be able to put the house back to ānormalā wiring easily if I were to drop dead or something in the next few years because she has NO clue or interest in how OpenHAB works.
So, mostly I use Fibaro dimmer modules to control regular LED bulbs but in the dining room, where my wife also uses the dining table for sewing large quilts, I wanted to be able to both dim and change colour temperature to give the choice between a warm white for dinner parties and a bright daylight white for picking colours in a quilt. Enter Hueā¦ but how do I control them?
So, in the ceiling, I have rewired the mains loop so that the light fitting is permanently live - no problems with people switching it off. The two wires that go down to the switch (actually two-way switching but thatās a different story) were live and switched live but are now live and neutral.
In the switch box, a Fibaro dimmer unit (FGD-212) is powered (Live & Neutral) by the wires from the light fitting and its load is conected to a bypass (otherwise they donāt work reliably). The switches themselves are momentary switches from Retrotouch, which look nice (even in my 300 year old house) and are not expensive.
Then just control lights using simple rules based on scene updates from the Fibaro. You have single, double and triple press as well as long press to play with and two independent channels in an FGD-212 so I am controlling several lights and various scenes, dimming, colour temperature variations and other magic using just two momentarty switches.
The advantage of controlling the lights this way is that if you use Zigbee, you are controlling the Hue Hub, which OpenHAB has to poll to get updates so things donāt update immediately, especially if you want to control other things or play with rules. If the switch controls OpenHAB first via Z-wave, OpenHAB pushes the changes to the Hub and you get an instant response.
It works for me and Iām using well-established technology without any major rewiring that coudnāt be undone and the switches replaced with regular ones by any competent electrician in a matter of minutes. The Fibaro units are here to stay by the look of it, well supported by OpenHAB and seem reliable.
The disadvantage is that while most of my Fibaro units will work even if OpenHAB is offline (not that it ever is!) just without the extra OpenHAB magic, if either OpenHAB or the Hue Hub were ever to fail, the lights would not work at all.
I hope that helps.
Itās great to hear you are enjoying our switches Dan! Thank you!
-Brianna | Marketing Manager
Inovelli
I am and I just saw the dimmer on amazon so itās in my cart now!
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