Project Update + Housekeeping:
We just received the beta samples yesterday, so we still need to test them. I have us finishing that around early/mid-March. The good news with Zigbee/Z-Wave is that we can submit everything for certifications earlier than we can with Matter, so we don’t have to wait until the final firmware to do so. The caveat is that we can’t add anything new once we submit it, so I like to go through a couple rounds of firmware testing first so we can add things as we’re testing.
–
Here is a video of me testing out the Zigbee Bindings with the switch last night. I apologize for the kids in the background.
I haven’t had a chance to test the Z-Wave version yet, but will install it today and test over the weekend.
Here is my setup:
- Samsung SmartThings
- Switch is a remote only (e.g., not connected to a load – it used to be a switched outlet that I just put the line/neutral into and made the outlet always hot and the switch is just a remote)
- The three bulbs in the distance are Hue bulbs that are connected directly to SmartThings (not the Hue bridge)
- I have the three bulbs group bound to the Zigbee mmWave switch
It’s hard to tell from the video, but I’m about 2-3’ behind the switch when I walk out of the room and then maybe a foot in front of it (to the right) when I walk in. It looks like I’m halfway in the room, but I’m about an arms-length away from it.
When I leave, there’s about a 15-20 second delay, which can be adjusted. When I enter, there is a 1 second delay, which can be adjusted.
–
More testing to come, but so far, so good. I haven’t played with the zones or anything yet as @EricM_Inovelli hasn’t received his switch yet, so he hasn’t been able to write the full Edge Driver.
Here are some pics:
Blue Series is on the left, Red Series is on the right.
–
Housekeeping:
In regards to the timeline and communication, here’s what I’ve implemented that I will be testing over the course of the next couple months to ensure this is up-to-date and you all have the latest information:
Website: On the product page, there is a Phase chart that will show you exactly where we’re at, what the Phase is all about, and gives an estimated timeline.
Forum: Whenever a date is changed, there will be an auto-post that will show up that gives the date change for both the Phase we’re in as well as the overall delivery date. If it’s a large change, I will also post additional context separately. It will look like this:
Email: Whenever a Phase change has happened (e.g., Tooling to Beta Testing, Beta Testing to Certifications, etc), you will receive a mass email if you’ve subscribed (and double-opted-in) to our product notifications. If you haven’t already, feel free to sign up here (on each product page - or on any page on our site at the very bottom):
–
I know I’ve always struggled with updating things in various places and this has been a blind spot for me, so I spent the entire month of December and January working on ways to improve and make things more automated.
How the above works is that I have a main Google Sheet that has all of our products, the Phase their in, and dates and whenever that sheet is changed, it will automatically send that information out to the above platforms.
As I’m not a coder, there will undoubtedly be some mistakes, so bear with me on it.
Yes, the overall timeline has been pushed back a couple months. Long story short, the new manufacturer thought we already had this ETL Certified (as that’s what I told them bc I was under the impression we were too from our original manufacturer) and then they uncovered that it wasn’t and there needed to be a hardware change in addition to the sensor in order to meet safety standards with the mmWave sensor. There was also some interference issues that needed to be resolved that they weren’t aware of and upon testing our original switch, they saw what was causing it and it took some time to fix.
–
But, I do feel confident in the new timeline and now that we have the samples (and they seem to be performing really well in my early testing), I feel much better. Fingers crossed.