White series • non-smart switch

[vladimir.korobov]

So, I just installed 10 White series ADD-ON (AUXILIARY) switches
Main reason was to use them as 3W, 4W and 5W in the places where I have pre-installed travelers not just save some $$, but not to make my ZigBee mesh even more busy.
This switch is like form different world - looks so cheep. Why not to include LED in this switch. It is not a lot of cost adder (no communication, not triac), but will have different look and will be much more attractive.
…On other thought maybe communication will be needed to configure LED. But still, no tric required
Am I missing something?

[harjms]

@vladimir.korobov

Why not to include LED in this switch. It is not a lot of cost adder (no communication

If you search, there was a concept for it; however, it just wasn’t feasible this time around. I believe there was a reason mentioned in the thread.

[Bry]

@vladimir.korobov

It is not a lot of cost adder (no communication, not triac)

It does require communications and adds cost. The thread that @harjms referred to is listed below. Inovelli considered it, but put the project on hold. Here is a summary of the reasons:

• We’d have to sell the LED aux switch for at least $28.50 to hit the bare minimum margins (and these are the minimum Inovelli margins, not the margins investors want us to hit) – whereas we could sell the non-LED aux switch for $17.50 and make acceptable margins).

• The switch still has to have some, “smarts” in it to communicate with the smart switch (to emulate the LED bar status level and also notifications) so there is room for failure here as it would require a hub that speaks ZigBee/Matter to work properly with our Z-Wave switches and we’re unsure of how good TouchLink works with ZigBee and how complicated it would make things in large houses

• We’re still unclear as to whether or not the LED bar would work (along with the secondary ZigBee chip) in a non-neutral setting

• Since this is targeted to mass market, their level of experience with technology is likely less than our current customer and we’ve found that our products can sometimes be too complicated for our current customers which are already tech savvy. Therefore coming out with an aux switch that has all these, “conditions” (ie: you have to buy a bypass in non-neutral, you have to bind it to the main switch via Touchlink, you have to setup an automation if you’re using our Z-Wave switches, etc) just doesn’t make sense and would likely lead to a bad initial experience with the brand.

• If you really want two matching switches, we would encourage you to purchase multiple smart switches as they will be able to detect another smart switch and would only be an extra $7 (I know it adds up, but in the grand scheme of things, it sounds like most people wouldn’t mind it).

Auxiliary Switch | Project Golden Rule

TLDR: This was initially concepted as an auxiliary switch with a matching LED bar, but it turned out to be too difficult to pull off from both a price-point and also feasibility standpoint (and we now know why most aux switches do not have an LED). To read more about the initial project, feel free to check this link out: Auxiliary Switch | Project Golden Rule (LED Version) Ultimately, we decided to put a design poll out to the community and went with the winner, which can be found here: Basic …

[vladimir.korobov]

Thanks for explanation.

@Bry

We’d have to sell the LED aux switch for at least $28.50 to hit the bare minimum margins (and these are the minimum Inovelli margins, not the margins investors want us to hit) – whereas we could sell the non-LED aux switch for $17.50 and make acceptable margins).

As I’ve mentioned my main reason was not $$, but Zigbee busy network, but still - I payed for the switch $22. Not sure you are talking about ASP or your cost.

@Bry

If you really want two matching switches, we would encourage you to purchase multiple smart switches as they will be able to detect another smart switch and would only be an extra $7 (I know it adds up, but in the grand scheme of things, it sounds like most people wouldn’t mind it).

Not sure what extra $7 you are mentioning here: $22 (AUX) vs $50 Blue 2in1, more like $28 :-). But again, main reason was not to make network even busier

But thanks for explanation