Zigbee 2-1 Switch (On/Off & Dimmer) | Project New Horizon (Blue Series)

Oy. How about some textured finishes? The smooth finish makes it difficult to tap Up, Down, Up, Down, Config, Config combo to unlock the Aurora Easter egg. If it was textured, it’d help nailing that combo down.

Maybe do some sort of carpentry or outdoor work to roughen up those smooth fingers of yours. That should help with your grip.

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So i take it that the red series dimmer color plates are not compatable with the co.ming blue series?

If not. Shout out for gray and black

Getting more and more excited for them to come.

No unfortunately not. It would be awesome if they were bc we have a lot of inventory left.

But since the Blue Series has a smaller depth, the current Red Series paddle will not fit.

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Thanks Eric!
The insight/feedback is appreciated.
Flag us when you’re ready for a pre-order of black.
I’m good for 30-40 of them out of your minimum buy.
-JD

Thanks for the update, Eric!

Is this their PNP for static sensitive devices? :smile:

A couple question:

  1. For early adopters who get the first run with the MG21 chip how difficult will the hardwire flashing process be when Thread/Matter is available?

  2. Does this model have any improvements for a setup with no-neutral + smart bulbs? I have a bunch of red series dimmers but they don’t work with smart bulbs in a no-neutral configuration even with multiple bypasses.

Super excited for these! The WAF will rise significantly with direct binding to the loads of zigbee bulbs I have. It’s quite low with the red series needing to relay through home assistant to control the lights haha.

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If I’m being honest, it’s kind of a pain to do. It’s better than nothing, but it’s not something I’d recommend everyone does. We’ll certainly make a YT video and try to explain the process as best as we can, but I’m really nervous at the amount of people who will fry their switch or something and then ask for a refund. It could really do a lot of damage to us from a risk standpoint. I’m trying to think of a compromise bc I do want ppl to have the latest and greatest, but at the same time, we’ve been through some tough times and are finally getting ahead. Last thing we need is everyone frying their switches and trying to get new ones lol.

The process requires a special wiring harness that has pins on one side and a USB on the other.

You cut power to your switch (this is where I think most ppl will screw up and leave the power on) and then plug one end into your computer and the other end into the switch (you’ll have to remove the paddle). From there you initiate the data transfer from your computer and it should be able to update the switch.

Turn back on the power after the data is transferred and and the wire is unplugged.

Hmmmm… I can’t say we put any special attention to improve the non-neutral mode, but I can say that I’ve tested non-neutral with a smart bulb and it works great. I can take a video next week if that would help?

Direct binding is amazing, I’m really happy with it :slight_smile:

Completely understand your concerns about incurring cost related to bricked devices. I wonder if there’s a sort of shared responsibility model to be found here. There are plenty of us who are totally comfortable with this level of technical operation, and would love the opportunity to try the upgrade, at the risk of things going sideways. For me, at least, given the choice between buying a new switch and performing a risky upgrade on my current switch, I’ll try the upgrade. Worst case, I’m buying a new switch either way!

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Yeah definitely. I’ll try to make the best YouTube video on the planet. Hire the best hand models and all!

@harjms - you in?

Kidding aside, we’ll try to make it a smooth process. Exciting times ahead!

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Can you say more about the harness? For example, where do I get one?

What tangible benefits will we actually get from upgrades? Why not just have ZigBee, zwave, and matter all coexisting. Plus hue is zigbee. I have like 20+ ZigBee devices in my home.

@Eric_Inovelli some of my questions seem to have been addressed in later replies to others but just tagging you in my post again to see if you missed it. Would love to hear your thoughts on the outstanding questions still, specifically around when the new chips will be available for order and whether or not future OTA upgrades for thread/matter will be available (or necessary?) after initial flash/installation via the wiring harness

Thanks!

Thanks for the details =)

What sort of wiring connector are we talking about? A standard usb->serial programmer kind of deal that can be done with jumper wires or something more specialized? Also, will this connector be easy to access or would we have to partially disassemble the switch?

About the smart bulb with no neutral – I just couldn’t make it work, even with several fibaro bypasses installed. Tried the aeotec ones too. I used a fixture with 5x sengled bulbs (also tried with hue bulbs) and no matter what the red series would lose power or continually reboot. I had to give up and reinstall a dumb switch at those locations.

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Absolutely.

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Just to be clear, Eric was referring to the Blue 2-in-1 working as a non-neutral with a smart bulb. Different switch internals.

Yeah, I’m in for some Blue series. I’ll just have to try them out to see if they work better than the red for me in that situation. Even if they don’t work there they’ll be fantastic in all my circuits with neutrals (which is most of them).

Maybe I should stop buying so much automation gear and save money to hire an electrician to replace the old circuits… but that’s not as much fun :rofl:

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Assuming it will be a usb to serial adaptor.

Something like this:

HiLetgo CP2102 USB 2.0 to TTL Module Serial Converter Adapter Module USB to TTL Downloader With Jumper Wires https://a.co/d/2G6suXM

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@Eric_Inovelli
Is there a possibility that you could provide a (paid) service when Thread/Matter becomes available. Where we can ship our switches running the MG21 chip to you, and you guarantee a 100% working upgraded switch?
I believe a lot of non-DIYers would pay for a service that would guarantee a 100% working upgraded switch running Thread/Matter, than worrying about trying to do it themselves and frying their own switches.

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Hey guys, I’ll go thru the thread and try to clean up the Q/A’s. Apologies if I missed anything. I’ve been scrambling to get the new site launched before the new billing cycle of our old site starts :rofl: (should launch this week).

Anyway, this is likely what the harness will look like. We use this on our LoRa switches to update before OTA was possible. The switch is the exact same switch as our Zigbee except for it’s LoRa.

Edit: Where to buy it? Not sure, it was sent to us from the manufacturer. I can see if there’s something similar online we could recommend. Or I would also be open to loaning them out when the time comes (with a deposit - we’ve gotten burned to the tune of thousands of dollars on lending out Z-Wave sticks :grimacing:)

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