grog68
VIP Member
A few weeks ago I picked up a couple of little wifi Sonoff switches (not wall switches) that can be put inline of the power cable to then switch on the item remotely, set timers etc. I wired one up to an extension lead which was simple enough and now I can turn on whatever is plugged into it from the other side of the world if I wanted to.
I was then thinking what the hell, I could connect these up to the main lights. Again I thought simple enough to put them inline before the power gets to the ceiling rose. But then I wasn't happy with that idea as the light switch must be on for them to work so I started to look at smart wall switches. I'm on a tight budget so don't want to spend £100's on them
What a nightmare that idea is. In most cases simple on/off smart/wifi light switches require a neutral feed going to the light switch, which isn't standard for houses in the UK (apparently some new builds do now). You can get smart dimmer switches but then this means you need to make sure you have dimable bulbs and their not cheap to get here. Why is it so complicated here. I've since found that you can use rf light switches which have their own battery and don't even need to be wired up to anything so I am thinking of going down that route.
In the end, I've ordered two smart bulbs, Phillips in B&Q are £30-£50 each, or get Sonoff ones from china, dimmable, colour changing etc and 2 E27 Sonoff smart bulb sockets (for use with normal bulbs) that just screw into the ceiling rose with no wiring . All of which can be operated from the same app on the phone, no smart hub required etc. I plan on adding the rf switches later, once I have played with what I have ordered but by introducing rf I then need an rf hub (I think) to link them to wifi.
At this point, on 4 smart lights and 2 switches for other devices I have spent less than 2 philips smart bulbs would cost.
The phone app that is used for Sonoff devices stores all timers etc on cloud storage. To some this causes a concern that maybe the Chinese will use the info to hack into your system and grab information you don't want them to have. Sonoff devices are flashable and can be flashed with your own code and their is stuff out there that can be flashed onto them. I'm tempted to have a go at flashing them but it's not a matter of plugging a usb stick in and rebooting LOL, you need to solder header pins onto the PCB and via a small device plugged into your computer flash them and add your own code. Some do it because they are paranoid and don't want to use the cloud, others do it because it gives them more flexibility, ie the app only allows for 8 timers to be set or something.
Now I am after peoples thoughts/experiencies, I've bought from china before, had phones from there more than once, so the paranoia side of things does not really concern me to much, but I was wondering if anyone used Sonoff devices? have they flashed them and if so what benefits have they gained from doing so?
I was then thinking what the hell, I could connect these up to the main lights. Again I thought simple enough to put them inline before the power gets to the ceiling rose. But then I wasn't happy with that idea as the light switch must be on for them to work so I started to look at smart wall switches. I'm on a tight budget so don't want to spend £100's on them
What a nightmare that idea is. In most cases simple on/off smart/wifi light switches require a neutral feed going to the light switch, which isn't standard for houses in the UK (apparently some new builds do now). You can get smart dimmer switches but then this means you need to make sure you have dimable bulbs and their not cheap to get here. Why is it so complicated here. I've since found that you can use rf light switches which have their own battery and don't even need to be wired up to anything so I am thinking of going down that route.
In the end, I've ordered two smart bulbs, Phillips in B&Q are £30-£50 each, or get Sonoff ones from china, dimmable, colour changing etc and 2 E27 Sonoff smart bulb sockets (for use with normal bulbs) that just screw into the ceiling rose with no wiring . All of which can be operated from the same app on the phone, no smart hub required etc. I plan on adding the rf switches later, once I have played with what I have ordered but by introducing rf I then need an rf hub (I think) to link them to wifi.
At this point, on 4 smart lights and 2 switches for other devices I have spent less than 2 philips smart bulbs would cost.
The phone app that is used for Sonoff devices stores all timers etc on cloud storage. To some this causes a concern that maybe the Chinese will use the info to hack into your system and grab information you don't want them to have. Sonoff devices are flashable and can be flashed with your own code and their is stuff out there that can be flashed onto them. I'm tempted to have a go at flashing them but it's not a matter of plugging a usb stick in and rebooting LOL, you need to solder header pins onto the PCB and via a small device plugged into your computer flash them and add your own code. Some do it because they are paranoid and don't want to use the cloud, others do it because it gives them more flexibility, ie the app only allows for 8 timers to be set or something.
Now I am after peoples thoughts/experiencies, I've bought from china before, had phones from there more than once, so the paranoia side of things does not really concern me to much, but I was wondering if anyone used Sonoff devices? have they flashed them and if so what benefits have they gained from doing so?
