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Dumb Question about Smart Switches

I have been reading about smart switches, this article mentions load control switches (master, should be one per light) and add-on switches (non-load controlling switches).

Let's say I want to put the load control switch into the ceiling (hidden) and just use the add-on switches as the 'physical' switches.

In the context of a 'dumb light', is my understanding correct:

  • not withstanding the need for a power supply, the add-on switches wirelessly control the 'master' switch in the ceiling?

  • putting the master switch in the ceiling is a dumb idea and I should used something designed for that purpose?

If my understanding is correct, can someone please point me in the direction of a device that I can put in my ceiling and the corresponding wall switches to control it.

SlowLearner
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2 Answers2

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in the ceilling you need a relay with a controlling board of somekind. For the "remote" switches one microcontroller reading a momentary or latching switch. the remote MCU sends a message (MQTT for example) to the relay MCU that activates or deactivates the load.

This is just one simple way to do it.

FR

José Rosa
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In 2024, you can buy these off the shelf. I am using Fibaro z-wave devices, but any Z-wave or Zigbee device will do the job. On most of them, there is no master device, you can configure them for multi-way switches. And these devices are designed to fit behind your wall switch.

They do require either a zwave or zigbee server or a stick to plug into your desktop. You can also link them to Alexa.

Two examples -

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Rohit Gupta
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