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this post was submitted on 17 Nov 2023
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Home Automation
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Home automation is the residential extension of building automation.
It is automation of the home, housework or household activity.
Home automation may include centralized control of lighting, HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning), appliances, security locks of gates and doors and other systems, to provide improved convenience, comfort, energy efficiency and security.
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Yes, my one wall switch has a neutral wire. I'm not a caveman.
And what's wrong with the no-neutral required smart switches that are currently on the market?
Zero I just fit a Shelly one in the light fitting and leave the switch as is
0 have a neutral, I'm a caveman.
UK based and 10. You'll find a big market for no neutral here.
Alot of light fittings can't fit devices here and also a number of 2 way switches don't even have a live at the fitting.
UK here and zero.
New build house that is using loop @switch i.e. the live goes switch to switch and the light fitting gets a single cable to the rose providing the switched live power from the switch.
It has made 1,2 &3 way lights really easy to convert.
Still uses ring rather than radial for sockets annoyingly.
I have found I can fit sonoff minis into both metal and plastic 35mm boxes. However, removing the box, wiring up in a maintenance free box with wago lever clips, put that in the wall cavity and feed a new cable for the switch only back into the box and doing it back up is a god solution.
Alternatively, put a single gang box at the same height as extraction fan isolation switches (almost roof) with a blanking plate and intercept the wiring there.
I've also installed sonoff mini's at the switch but I've used the no neutral version.
I'm guessing you've been lucky enough to have neutral's at the switch then?
My house is 2 year old and annoyingly no neutrals rang to any light switches!
Yeah the loop@switch basically puts the feed from switch to switch, which is now almost universal to new builds because of how much it benefits downlight installations and how popular they are.
Only the switched live goes up to the roof.
In older houses, loop @ rose was common as a single twin & earth could go to the switch, with red/brown taking a live current to the switch and the black/blue taking a switched live back to the light. These should be marked with brown sleeving over the blue to indicate it's a switched live line.
In these instances (as commented by others) you can take down the ceiling rose and access the permanent live & neutral as well as switch wires from there instead.
Sounds like your house builder was very much "the old ways" though as it's really uncommon in new builds to still do it at the ceiling rose.
Yea, I was rather disappointed when we moved in to find it this way!
Outside the U.S., no neutral and 10. Shellys are a brilliant stopgap but for those of us with spotlights/downlights it’s impossible to get to the neutral at the fittings. Bonus points for 2/3 gang no neutral switches.
Yes they all have neutrals. 1
If anything I want a micro dimmer that has some sort of 2 wire compantion switch to get dimming far more than trying to make it work with bypass. Bonus points if multiples can do N way on the same 2 wires.
no neutral, but it's easy to pull one from the central box on the ceiling.
Canada - older house, no Neutral for most of my house, 10
Here in northern europe we have a lot of non neautral situation but few non neutral devices are sold....at least in the smart space
So many are using leds which are way below the requirement min load for non-neutral dimmers. As soon as you need bypass and have to deal with the flicker/flimmer consequences which non-neutral devices are more sucepteble of.
Most installers install neutral, either pulling new wire or installing the devices in the roof socket and using wireless buttons instead.
But most light dimmer installations are done as part of renovation so pulling a new cable is done in most cases anyway.
I have some zigbee switches with neutral and some without it. There is literally no difference between them, they work all the same. BUT a big warning; zigbee switches with neutral wire work as a router in zigbee network but the no-neutrals are just end devices, you cannot use them as routers. So 8 for with neutral for me.
I have a very old home and over half my boxes are no neutral. A good no neutral switch that is affordable and reliable would always be welcomed.
10
Have a big old house with very few neutrals at light switches.
10
1, no need
US, old house, no neutrals anywhere, 10. Most of my switches are no-neutral Zwave with a few Lutron Caseta where I wanted dimmers. A couple of them are still the original Despard switches because there's no room for a 4-gang box between the door and window, so those have Zigbee bulbs.
You can’t dim a fixture that needs phased dimming with a neutral without a neutral properly.