I’m building a new house (move in June 2024), and was planning to use Inovelli blue 2-1 switches throughout. We are iPhone/iPad owners and want to use Siri to control the lights. To test, I have a zigbee-connected raspberry pi running Home Assistant. It seems to do the trick – I can add the switches to HomeKit via Home Assistant so I can control the lights with my voice, and I can create complex automations in Node Red.
But now I see these White switches that are HomeKit enabled and use Matter/Thread. If I’m planning on running Home Assistant anyway, is there a benefit for me to hold out for the White switches over the Blue? And especially if the Blues will be updated with Thread/Matter anyway?
Going to be hard to say as I wonder how many features will be available in the Matter version. Simple on off will work, but how about scenes or notifications. You may need to wait to see.
I’m very active in the Home Assistant Matter/thread community. In the past month the HA developers have fixed two big Matter/IPv6 bugs that I discovered. I’d love to beta test and coordinate with the HA developers if needed. I also have Apple Home, and currently using about 20 thread/Matter devices.
This is very true! Matter v1.2 still doesn’t have energy monitoring, which the white series is said to support. Eve smart plugs that use Matter have a proprietary extension that can provide energy monitor information. Home Assistant will be adding those extensions in Dec. The spring version of Matter looks like energy monitoring/reporting is being added, if you peruse the CHIP GitHub repo.
I’m building a new house and planning to go all-in on thread/matter. I’ve preordered the thread 2-1 switches, but I’m curious what the current recommendation is for handling fans. My main concern with mixing in the blue series fan switches is that I don’t have any other zigbee devices, so I’m worried that I don’t have critical mass to build out a stable mesh of devices.
I’ve seen the discussions around eventually supporting flashing the blue series to support thread/matter, is that also the case for the fan switches? Or does it make more sense to just leave them on basic switches for now, and hold out for a dedicated white series fan switch?
Inovelli is in it’s infancy with thread/matter. So while the Jonagold will likely come out some time next year, and while Inovelli will likely follow with a fan switch if it’s successful, I wouldn’t expect it anytime soon. So you’ll likely be waiting a long time for a thread/matter fan switch that may or may not materialize.
Regarding flashing, that capability is still being determined. While flashing has been in the blueprint from the beginning, Inovelli has yet to say whether that will be possible.
Got it, thanks! In the near term, I’m leaning towards using something like the Sonoff iFan, wiring up a 2-1 switch without a load, then have Home Assistant control the iFan based off the 2-1 switch events. That’s a lot more moving parts than my ideal end goal, but I think it should do the job while thread/matter adoption ramps up.
Quick update: We’re on schedule to receive beta units in a couple of weeks (they’re shipping them out next week and they should be here the following) so I’m excited to start testing and providing early feedback!
If you happen to need any more beta testers, I would be happy to help. I am a software engineer with some experience in embedded, but mainly work on mobile applications.
Your house will likely be built before Matter has matured to the point that it is a viable ecosystem of products and has the functionality expected in Smart Home devices.
Should I still hold out any hope at being able to flash my zigbee 2-1s to thread?
I’m also a software engineer with some hardware experience so no big deal if the firmware flash is a complicated process, and I’d be happy to beta test for y’all still need folks. I have a homepod and use home assistant.
@jakeholland@colinwins – I think we’re full on this one already, but I should know more once I send out these beta samples. I’ll keep you guys on the backup list!
Regarding flashing Zigbee to Thread, it’s still on our roadmap, we’re just working through the logistics as the Matter stack has grown substantially since we were first told it was possible. I should know more once we get an answer from SiLabs. They’ve been a bit wishy washy with details which makes me nervous.
Had a little bit to play with the samples and wow, they are awesome. Pair quickly to Apple Home, Amazon, and SmartThings. Had some hoops to jump through with Google Home, but eventually got it.
From a software side, it doesn’t have all the bells and whistles as the Red and Blue Series, but I’m sure in the future once Matter/Thread supports them, we’ll add them.
It has multi-tap scene control, which is really nice, but it does not have animated notifications (we’re working on at least being able to change the LED bar color based on certain events, but I can’t promise that for the initial release).
Also, a lot of the parameter changes will have to be done via the switch itself since they aren’t able to be changed via your hub.
Still a lot to work through, but we should be moving quickly now that beta samples are here!
Hi, just joined, very interested in this product. One of the stated goals was a “slim design”, but I’m not seeing where the dimensions wound up. What is the expected (final?) depth? Most of my boxes are pretty shallow, so wondering if I even have a chance of being able to use this.
Also curious, with a 1960’s house that has a mix of no-neutral light switches and some renovated areas with neutrals, when the “bypass” is used what sort of impact does that have on the power consumption of the circuit? Is that added power when the light is off or on (or both?)
This product will use the same hardware as our Blue and Red Series 2-1, which has the following dimensions: Depth = 1.2" (3.0cm), Height = 2.8" (7.1cm), Width = 1.6" (4.1cm)
Regarding the bypass – another great question. I’m going to have to get back to you on this one. @EricM_Inovelli do you know the answer to this?
Project Update: Most, if not all, beta testers have the beta units in hand are are helping us test. First impressions are very positive with everyone talking about the smooth integration with Apple.
I’m hoping to get the first round of firmware feedback to the manufacturer the first week of January, with the goal of wrapping everything up by the end of January, so we can submit it to the CSA (Connected Standards Alliance) for approval.
UL and FCC/IC Certifications are in progress and they’ll be quickly completed since we’ve already gone through the hard part with our Blue Series switch which uses the same hardware as this switch. This is simply a formality.
More to come!
PS - If anyone is curious, I wrote up some tutorials for Apple Home so you can get a sneak peek of what it may look like.
