SonOff Low Cost Wifi Switches for Home Automation

GryKyo · 01-01-2018 08:20PM

There is not normally any neutral where your light switches are placed in the wall. The neutral usually just daisy-chains from one light fitting to the next. It is important that the neutral that is used for the light switch is on the same MCB circuit as the line you switch with the Sonoff as using a line from one circuit and neutral from an other will almost always start causing nuisance tripping of your circuit breakers. 40mA current difference between live and neutral on one circuit breaker is all it takes.

HTH

Garry

durtybit · 01-01-2018 08:43PM

The Black Oil wrote: »

Would be interested in this for the boiler. Wouldn't have a clue on the electrical side, though.

Just added mine a good few weeks ago and placed the cables according (like for like) to the new positions on the Sonoff. Works great also integration out of the box works with Amazon echo. (All this for less than the price of a new heating timer)

lochdara · 01-01-2018 09:18PM

GryKyo wrote: »

There is not normally any neutral where your light switches are placed in the wall. The neutral usually just daisy-chains from one light fitting to the next. It is important that the neutral that is used for the light switch is on the same MCB circuit as the line you switch with the Sonoff as using a line from one circuit and neutral from an other will almost always start causing nuisance tripping of your circuit breakers. 40mA current difference between live and neutral on one circuit breaker is all it takes.

HTH

Garry

Thats why i suggest take off his switch first. I had my neutrals behind the switch. A bit odd i know but i asked a few and some say they shouldn't be there and some say it doesnt matter. It worked nicely for me. Im going to use a light switch to switch my heating because they look nice. Ii have just added a 5amp switched fuse spur to replace my existing one. Currently a sonoff basic is there.

afatbollix · 02-01-2018 09:40PM

Is the server still down for people?

lochdara · 02-01-2018 09:55PM

afatbollix wrote: »

Is the server still down for people?

Working for me,

Maybe try reprogram

Dermobrickie · 02-01-2018 09:56PM

If ur using a 2 or 3 gang switch how many neutral wires do u need?

lochdara · 02-01-2018 09:59PM

Dermobrickie wrote: »

If ur using a 2 or 3 gang switch how many neutral wires do u need?

Im not electrician and havent seen the 2 gang, There maybe pic online to tell you.

lochdara · 02-01-2018 10:06PM

Here is a pic.. Looks like 1

kenmc · 02-01-2018 10:41PM

What I can see from pics is that you need a neutral and live to power the switch itself, and then the live is also switched through to the relays to control the lights . So for the 3 gang you would need 5 wires I think. A live and a neutral, and then 3 going to the live of each light or lighting circuit. Neutral for the lights themselves goes directly there.

(I'm not a sparks, have ordered a switch to verify the above)

lochdara · 02-01-2018 10:45PM

kenmc wrote: »

What I can see from pics is that you need a neutral and live to power the switch itself, and then the live is also switched through to the relays to control the lights . So for the 3 gang you would need 5 wires I think. A live and a neutral, and then 3 going to the live of each light or lighting circuit. Neutral for the lights themselves goes directly there.

(I'm not a sparks, have ordered a switch to verify the above)

yeah 1 neutral and live in.. and the rest live out. same as single switch

kenmc · 02-01-2018 10:49PM

lochdara wrote: »

Thats why i suggest take off his switch first. I had my neutrals behind the switch. A bit odd i know but i asked a few and some say they shouldn't be there and some say it doesnt matter. It worked nicely for me. Im going to use a light switch to switch my heating because they look nice. Ii have just added a 5amp switched fuse spur to replace my existing one. Currently a sonoff basic is there.

Hang on, they're only rated at 2A per gang according to
https://www.itead.cc/sonoff-t1.html

lochdara · 02-01-2018 10:57PM

kenmc wrote: »

Hang on, they're only rated at 2A per gang according to
https://www.itead.cc/sonoff-t1.html

I can reduce the fuse, Burner and pump only runs at 250 watt, thats around 1 amp. If it fails i'll swap it out. I have 2 arriving soon so i can do a quick test and see how it goes.

JaCrispy · 03-01-2018 11:15AM

afatbollix wrote: »

Is the server still down for people?

Still down for me, cannot perform remote switching at all even though the sensors are reporting back fine.

CGI_3 · 03-01-2018 11:57AM

or 'network unavailable'

Probably third time in the last week.

You'd be wondering why.

They say it is hosted on AWS.

That has an ongoing cost. How's this paid for I'm wondering?

Fair enough, they'll have factored in a cost on the initial purchase cost to us,

But the AWS fees will always keep rolling in...

lochdara · 03-01-2018 12:00PM

EWELINK posted on facebook their servers are getting hammered with new devices so are implement more storage space.

JaCrispy · 03-01-2018 12:28PM

lochdara wrote: »

EWELINK posted on facebook their servers are getting hammered with new devices so are implement more storage space.

Thanks.
For reference : https://www.facebook.com/EWeLink-1194108247346790/

tweek84 · 03-01-2018 01:48PM

CGI_3 wrote: »

or 'network unavailable'

Probably third time in the last week.

You'd be wondering why.

They say it is hosted on AWS.

That has an ongoing cost. How's this paid for I'm wondering?

Fair enough, they'll have factored in a cost on the initial purchase cost to us,

But the AWS fees will always keep rolling in...

AWS fees will keep rolling in.....sonoff sell more and more devices you will probably see a subscription fee in the future when we become more dependent on them, i hope that doesn't happen but it would seem likely.

bk · 03-01-2018 02:01PM

tweek84 wrote: »

AWS fees will keep rolling in.....sonoff sell more and more devices you will probably see a subscription fee in the future when we become more dependent on them, i hope that doesn't happen but it would seem likely.

Thing is, for what they are doing, simple on/off commands, the amount of data and resources they are using are insanely small per device. Really no reason why it can't be built into the price of the device.

Even €1 a year sub would be high for this.

By comparison something like Google Home would use WAY more data and IP cameras like Logitech Circle would be another massive jump above that.

It sounds more like that they simply didn't write their server software with scaling in mind. I'd guess they wrote it as just a single server and now need to update the code and configs to support cross server load balancing, etc.

getoffthepot · 03-01-2018 02:32PM

So based on the above posts if I have a tp link smart plug and set a schedule on it, it is dependant on the tp link server?

bk · 03-01-2018 02:50PM

getoffthepot wrote: »

So based on the above posts if I have a tp link smart plug and set a schedule on it, it is dependant on the tp link server?

I don't believe so. I can't guarantee it, but it looks like the plug itself has it's own server and it is using p2p between the app and the plug. I'd say they are only using the cloud servers for dydns and IFTTT/GH integration.

getoffthepot · 03-01-2018 02:56PM

Thanks for the info. Are all sonoff switches dependant on a server?
i.e. is the basic switch as would hate to end up with unsupported switch down the road!

https://www.itead.cc/smart-home/sonoff-wifi-wireless-switch.html

lochdara · 03-01-2018 03:42PM

getoffthepot wrote: »

Thanks for the info. Are all sonoff switches dependant on a server?
i.e. is the basic switch as would hate to end up with unsupported switch down the road!

https://www.itead.cc/smart-home/sonoff-wifi-wireless-switch.html

They switch on and off manually in the house. You can customise firmware which many has done and get your own web interface. thats my next project so i dont have to rely in ewelink

CGI_3 · 03-01-2018 07:22PM

SuperHouse #27: Visit to the Sonoff factory

https://youtu.be/uZjZZKiKlNY

OldMrBrennan83 · 04-01-2018 09:47PM

This post has been deleted.

lochdara · 04-01-2018 10:01PM

Patww79 wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

you can turn on any device you like. i have one on heating and fridge that isnt used so much.
lots of tutorials if you are any way ok with electrics. but the server may be offline. my kit is offline anyway tonight. they still work manually. look up superhouse on youtube.

OldMrBrennan83 · 04-01-2018 10:04PM

This post has been deleted.

lochdara · 04-01-2018 10:09PM

Patww79 wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

you send commands via their app. To work on your wifi you will need to load a different firmware. That is more complicated but possible.

Mine works with alexa no problem. you add the sonoff through alexa app. I even have a robot vacuum working through alexa..

mcbobbyb · 05-01-2018 09:28AM

Here's an update on the server issues.

We'd like to give you some additional information about the service disruption that occurred in the European Union Region recently.
The cloud server was deployed on Amazon AWS Germany since mid 2015. With the rapid growth of users and devices, the servers load are under high load.
Upgrading the server and server shortly after the New Year holiday was planned. Unfortunately the server went down on 1st Jan, 2018.
When the servers came online again 4 hours later, millions of devices request https connection?n at the same time.
The servers were working under considerably high load. What makes it worse was the servers were under DDOS attack during these few days.
We found some bugs that cannot be found under low load. Coordinate mechanism between the server and the devices should be upgraded as well.

After been full tested, the EU server will be upgraded in Mid Jan.
Come along with More powerful AWS servers, upgraded server architecture, improved attack protection, and better coordinate mechanism.

Finally, we want to apologize for the inconvenient caused for our customers.
We will do everything we can to learn from this event and use it to improve our availability even further.

kenmc · 05-01-2018 10:25AM

If you reflash them with tasmota or espeasy, you're the master of your own destiny. And there's no worry about future subscription charges coming down the line

JaCrispy · 05-01-2018 10:38AM

kenmc wrote: »

If you reflash them with tasmota or espeasy, you're the master of your own destiny. And there's no worry about future subscription charges coming down the line

Would tasmota or espeasy allow you to reprogram the function of buttons on the sonoffs? I'm specifically thinking about programming the R1-R4 buttons on the 4 channel switch to perform a 1hr boost function for my boiler.

SonOff Low Cost Wifi Switches for Home Automation

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