More IoT stuff: Deta GridConnect smart switches
Since we’re probably (at some point) going to replace my office fan with a Skyfan DC fan, and we’ll put one in the master bedroom at the same time, and they have a Tuya interface that’ll work the same way as all Sabriena’s internet-of-shit lights, I might as well embrace it and get those too (they’re not expensive and they just slot in).
But one of my more “boomer” tendencies is I like being able to just hit something on the wall as I walk in the room to activate the lights. How can I do this? It struck me that if I can find HomeAssistant-compatible switches, I can get them wired in, and use them as sensors to activate the light or fan as I want.
So I decided to splurge $60AUD on an experiment and bought a dual-gang Deta GridConnect “smart switch”, which as it turns out is more repackaged Tuya stuff. I have the “series 2” one which isn’t compatible with Tasmota (yet), but no matter, I’ve had really good luck with the localtuya stuff so far (though admittedly it hasn’t been very long).
In a fit of gross negligence of OH&S I wired it up to an extension cord to power it up, paired it with the Tuya Android app, then swallowed the keys from it and connected it to HomeAssistant locally. And I am indeed able to set up an “automation” (or a pair of them) to force a second device to sync with the state of a given switch.
My plan hinges on two assumptions. First, can I legally have my electrician connect the fan up without a switch, using only the smart bullshit to control it? Or do I have to have a physical switch on it for some safety purpose? Second, is there a neutral wire behind where the light switch is in my office? The GridConnect stuff requires a neutral wire to power the smart bits, it won’t operate without it, and I’m not sure how trivial it will be to run things. I’ll have to wait for the electrician to come have a look before I get answers to either of those.
I’m very impressed with the response time of HomeAssistant using the localtuya module though, I don’t believe it’s any slower at all than using the RF remote on the fan controller I blew up. I’m not sure if I like the feeling of the Deta stuff - the buttons are just dimples that are touch-activated, there’s no sort of physical feedback to indicate the switch has been thrown. I’m suspecting I might like something like the Clispal Iconic buttons instead, but they’re substantially more expensive and I’d be back to square one trying to work out how to get them into Home Assistant without an open websocket to a cloud provider for each button.
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