WLAN light switches and smart light bulbs are intended to improve lighting in smart homes. The guide explains how you can do what you can and which product you should rely on.
If you want to refine your home with clever light, you have two options: Either you rely on smart light bulbs that connect to your home network, or you decide on clever light control, i.e. WiFi light switches. Both options have advantages and disadvantages, but both have in common that they increase comfort in the apartment or house and are even beneficial for safety.
For example, you can use both variants to set a timer when you are on vacation. This makes your home appear lively and can deter burglars. Of course, smart lighting also wakes you up when you want it to, or turns on automatically when you get home.
WiFi light switches and lamps
So there are enough reasons for smart lighting. However, when it comes to the nitty-gritty, you should choose one of the two variants. Everything else would be doubly moppeled. Let’s start with the advantages and disadvantages of smart light bulbs.
The pros and cons of incandescent bulbs
The best-known representatives of this genus are probably the lamps from Philips Hue. Lamps are a cheap alternative TP Link Tapo, hombli or Fritbox manufacturer AVM. They are the lightbulb of choice when you want smart lighting in your home retrofit want, because the installation is much easier than with the WLAN light switch. Turn the lamp into the socket, connect the bridge to the router. Complete.
Speaking of the bridge, it’s a small device that the lightbulbs connect to and then hoists the lights into the home network so you can control the light with voice commands or your smartphone. This is necessary because the lamps use the Zigbee wireless standard, which is simply more reliable and faster than WiFi or Bluetooth. Another advantage of the smart light bulbs is that they are dimmable or can light up in different colors.
The disadvantages of smart light bulbs
Their most serious weakness is the price. The purchase alone is expensive and then you also have to constantly draw electricity. This means that the light switch must always be on. Otherwise the lamps will not respond.
Which brings us to another disadvantage: our habit. Since childhood we have learned to turn the light on and off at the light switch. And getting that out of us is not that easy. Granted, turning off the light with a voice command is nice when you’re already in bed and don’t have to get up. Otherwise, the light switch remains the method of choice, despite the smart light bulb.
There are also dedicated light switches for smart bulbs like Philips Hue’s Tap Dial Switch. However, these are not light switches in the classic sense because they only control the light remotely. The lamps remain permanently under power.
The pros and cons of WiFi light switches
Let’s move on to the WiFi light switches, which are more in line with our habit, which is one of their advantages. They disconnect the current, just like normal switches do. This makes sense in a multi-person household because there is at least one Smart Home refuser in every family who simply wants to use their light as usual.
In addition, the WLAN light switches save money compared to the incandescent lamps because you can make a large number of incandescent lamps smart at the same time. This makes sense especially in the rooms where you have installed lamps that hold several light sources. The following applies here: the more light bulbs there are in the circuit, the higher the savings compared to smart light sources.
The disadvantages of WiFi light switches
Which brings us to their disadvantages. Not every WLAN light switch dims the lamps. The smart lamps have that advantage over them. By far the biggest disadvantage of the light switch, however, is its installation. If you have no idea about electrical engineering, you should definitely leave the work to a specialist.
And there is a reason for that: Not every house wiring offers the option of installing a WLAN light switch on it. Like the smart light bulb, the clever light switch also needs to be permanently supplied with electricity. And for that you need a so-called neutral conductor on the light switch. This is a rarity, especially in older houses.
There is a neutral conductor in the wall, but at the nearest socket. You can route it to the light switch, but you need an electrician to do it. And of course both have to drill out the wall and then fill it again.
And because that’s the case, WiFi light switches are more interesting for owners who are renovating or building their apartment or house. There are also smart light switches that work without a neutral conductor, but only in combination with lamps that consume more than 20 watts. More on that later.
Comparison of WLAN light switches
Now that we know the advantages and disadvantages of smart light bulbs and light switches, let’s take a closer look at the WiFi light switches, because there are differences here too. There are WLAN light switches that require a neutral conductor and those that do without. The ones with a neutral wire are usually the better solution because they work with all lamps.
The WLAN light switches without a neutral conductor need at least 20 watt lamps. However, if you have installed energy-saving lamps, there may be problems with the light. Specifically, the light flickers or it just stays dark. Nevertheless, let’s start with the light switches, which do not need a neutral conductor. The purpose of these devices is to make existing light switches smart. They are installed accordingly behind the switches in the wall box.
Shelly Dimmer 2
This includes the Shelly Dimmer 2, which promises to make your lamps smart and dimmable – if at least 20 watt lamps are connected. Otherwise the dimmer causes problems. According to the manufacturer, the Shelly Bypass V2 can handle this. This is a small intermediate circuit in case the minimum load of 20 watts is not reached with the Shelly.
According to the manufacturer, the bypass should also prevent the lamps from flickering. Many Shelly users report this in the official forum. The dimmer is also only suitable to a limited extent for Apple users. There is an iOS app, but it does not work with the Apple Homekit, but with Alexa and Google Home.
Aqara Smart Light Switch H1 EU
Also without a neutral wire comes Aqara Smart Light Switch H1 EU out of. According to the manufacturer, however, with drawbacks. Performance monitoring and other features – which the manufacturer does not reveal exactly – will not work. On the other hand, it is nice that the Aqara light switch works with Zigbee. We already know the radio standard from the smart lamps.
This means that you have to bridge the switch to your router. You should already use this if you decide to use the switch. But the Aqara H1 also works with Apple’s Homkit, Amazon’s Alexa and Google Home. According to the manufacturer, it is suitable for square and round wall boxes. And of course the light switch harmonises particularly well with other products from the manufacturer, such as the Aqara motion detectors.
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Bosch Smart Home – starter set light/roller shutter control
Bosch has developed one of the most sophisticated WiFi light switches. Important: It doesn’t work without a neutral wire. It’s nice that the Bosch switch both for light and for controlling the roller shutters, blinds or the garage door suit. You don’t need to swap out your old switches. The module is installed behind it.
Bosch also relies on Zigbee, which is why the associated bridge (the Bosch Smart Home Controller) is essential. The switches are also compatible with Alexa, Google Home and Apple’s Homekit. Installing with the Bosch app is a bit more involved because you have to choose exactly what the switches control. With blinds, for example, you can determine the inclination of the slats, which is why you also have to select a blind when installing it in the app. Otherwise the function is useless.
Eve Light Switch – Smart light switch
The is interesting for users of the Apple Homekit Eve Light Switch. What makes the light switch special is that it does not require a bridge. Instead of Zigbee, Eve uses Thread for his light switch. What is special about the standard is that every smart home device with a thread function represents an access point to the home network – similar to a mesh network. The smart home devices find each other and serve as access points to the network. Unfortunately, according to the manufacturer, the light switch is only compatible with Apple’s Homekit. Alexa and Google get nothing. It also needs a neutral conductor.
WLAN light switch: The remote controls
That leaves the WLAN light switches, which are actually not light switches but remote controls. Of course, it depends on which lamps you use. For the Philips Hue, for example, the is suitable Tap dial switch. Its four buttons can be freely configured via the Hue app, so you can control the light from four lamps or rooms.
It gets its power from a button battery. If you have bypassed the circuits of the lamps so that they always draw electricity, you can also easily put the switch where your old light switch was. By the way: This is suitable for the lamps from TP-Link Tapo TP-Link Tapo S220. It is best to make sure that you buy the light remote control in switch optics and lamps from the same manufacturer. This greatly simplifies installation and operation.
Sources: youtube.com/spielundzeug, youtube.com/spielundzeug youtube.com/techloupe, shelly-support.eu, pocket-lint.com
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