Smart light switches?

I had previously purchased the Liftmaster MyQ garage door controls (888LM & 828LM), so I added their light switches (823LM). They have their own app that allows you to control everything, and you can set a time for your lights to turn on and off.

The one you linked works with Amazon's Alexa devices to give you voice control, and does not require a hub. If you think you might want to expand your home automation in the future, you may want to look at the ones that work with the Wink hub.

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So the best thing to do would be get the wink hub and compatible light switches?

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It all depends on how much you want to do in the future. If this is all you want to do, you can go a little simpler by using the hub that comes with bulbs/switches, or getting a switch that's integrated directly with Alexa or Apple HomeKit or a Wifi based app. That way a 3rd party hub is not required.

If you want to expand it and use other options, a hub such as Wink or SmartThings makes this easier.

I use a Wink Hub 2 and GE Z-Wave switches. But this is to prepare for future expansion of the system.

Wemo switches are nice.

Until you develop more "smart home use cases" you might want to stay away from a hub-based system, and buy wifi connected solutions.

Wifi switches will cost a few bucks more (maybe $5), however I'd start there until you do more research regarding hubs, and zigbee/zwave devices.

I attended the international builders show this week and the leading players in the switch market seem to be lutron and EATON, so you may want to look into pricing for those. EATON uses z-wave tech and lutron is stand alone I believe.

Also heard that some other prominent manufacturers may soon enter the smart switch space. (6-12 months out)

Good luck with your build.

i should do an update on the 3 smart switch brands i installed 2 years ago.

Levtion, GE/Jasco and Lutron all perform flawlessly from the app controlled /schedule/trigger/etc standpoint. No issues there.


--- LUTRON -----
*only* the Lutron has been 100% trouble-free since installation. Both the GE and Levitons have gone 'offline' for short periods of time (zwave range issues?) so i give the nod to Lutron for being a rockstar performer always.

Also Lutron has the best UI on the switch itself having a little led ladder on the side to see how bright your lights are even if you can't see the lights themselves. A great feature since its controlling floodlights and where the switch is, I can't see the floods.

Finally Lutron included a 'pico remote' which allows you to 'fake' a second switch if you have a 3-way (two wall switches control the same light) so you can avoid installing a cover over the other switch or some other hack.

And the Lutron looks professional as hell. The switch is expensive because it IS professional as hell.

Lutron, while the most expensive, but its the most well-thought out, executed, best-looking and reliable of the 3.


-- LEVITON --
The Leviton comes in second. The weird thing about it is you don't have a traditional rocker, but you always press the bottom to turn the switch on and off. It also has a little 'led ladder' but its not always accurate in that if WINK is controlling the dim level, the led ladder doesn't reflect the proper level on the switch itself.

Finally the Leviton only being controlled by pushing down on the bottom half of the rocker has caused problems because if you push down TOO HARD on the top part, it OPENS the switch which could result in the switch being factory reset.

You can get used zwave levitons all over ebay for like $25 so at that price its HALF the cost of the Lutron and if you're doing most of your control via the app, those issues are not as annoying.


--- GE/Jasco ---
This little fella has gone offline on me a few times. It does use both top and bottom rocker with a little blue LED at the bottom that is BRIGHT AS frick. You can use a trick to disable that, but that brings me up to my next problem.

If you 'hold down' too long on the switch when turning it on (easy to do because the damn switch slowly faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaades the lights on and faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaades the lights off) you end up setting the brightness level to something less than 100%.

Very annoying. This is on my front floods and wife/guests tend to switch it on when leaving the house and don't see the lights come on right away and end up turning them on at 10% or something crazy. Think of when your automatic window on the car is going up and you hit the switch again and it freezes and you get the idea.

Always 10%. I come home from work at night and see the lights barely shining and realize the wife messed with it.

Its not her fault. That delay is a problem. The switch UI is flawed. GE 6 sigma my arse.

Also when you turn it off you expect to see the little blue LED come on..no no..it takes a good 4-5 seconds before it lights up indicating the lights are TRULY off because its doing the laaaaaaaaaaaaazy fade shite.

If you're not careful and hit it again thinking the lights ignored you, you'll 'freeze' them at that level..again with the 10% floodlights


So, there you have it. CAD doesn't always recommend the most expensive but I'd be an even bigger fraud if I wasn't honest and admitted Lutron is operating at much higher level than GE & Leviton.

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We agree on something!

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its really hard to hate on lutron

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Why would you have front flood lights on dimmer switches? That seems a bit excessive.

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they also cover the pool and its annoying as frick when they're on all the way if we're night swimming but people still need to see how to get back to the house because i'm on a hill and the boardwalk has multiple steps.

by having them on a dimmer i can just turn them up from the pool all the way after LAST CALL

10-4.

The GE's do dim to off slowly. But i've never had the other issues you state. I also don't use the switch exclusively. Unless I'm right next to the switch i use the Google Home. I only have dim lights switches in the kitchen and living room. Not the bedrooms.

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Please tell me more about 3-way switches. The way my house is set up, most of my non-bedroom lights are on 3-way switches. This has kept me from installing more smart switches than the 2 that I have.

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It shouldnt. With the GE's you just install an add-on switch that are like $15-$20 bucks.