lightwaverf FAQ

bk · 19-11-2016 10:29am

Stoner wrote: »

open the front Gate

Very cool! You just need to add a smart door lock now and you can have the pizza guy deliver right to your sofa

Gadgetman496 · 19-11-2016 10:37am

bk wrote: »

Very cool! You just need to add a smart door lock now and you can have the pizza guy deliver right to your sofa

There you go!

oinkely · 22-11-2016 2:12pm

http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/lightwaverf-lw930-wifi-link-new-version-a23rx Doesn't seem to be available for online purchase. And its €95 in Dublin.........grrrrrrr

oinkely · 22-11-2016 4:02pm

then went off to the ebay store to look for the 5 socket bundle, and only available in chrome. I would be divorced if i tried to suggest chrome sockets at home.

Anyone have plain whit ones they would like to swap for chrome? I could buy the new chrome ones and swap then for your white ones ;-)

lgk · 22-11-2016 6:38pm

oinkely wrote: »

http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/lightwaverf-lw930-wifi-link-new-version-a23rx Doesn't seem to be available for online purchase. And its €95 in Dublin.........grrrrrrr

I was going to suggest the official site - thesmartshop.co.uk, but the site is currently down, and they're listing it at full price on their Facebook page. Parhaps contact them via that and see if they'll match the Maplin price?

Stoner · 22-11-2016 8:22pm

oinkely wrote:

Anyone have plain whit ones they would like to swap for chrome? I could buy the new chrome ones and swap then for your white ones ;-)

I might have three twins and a single . Might have some white twin dimmers too if you have chrome ones

Stoner · 22-11-2016 8:23pm

The 5 bundle was in white too a few weeks ago.

Btw I have eco command for a socket called lamp. It works very quickly every time however some of the commands as can take 90 seconds

oinkely · 23-11-2016 4:48pm

thanks Stoner and lgk,

fired a tweet to thesmartshop.

ordered two d-link wifi plugs at €25 each from mymemory in the mean time.

Stoner, if i get the bundle of chrome sockets i'll give you a shout.

Michael malone · 25-11-2016 9:33pm

Folks,have my echo all set up working a treat with tp-link sockets but I cannot get the lightwaverf skill on the exho app. Any ideas

Stoner · 08-12-2016 9:15am

Michael malone wrote:

Folks,have my echo all set up working a treat with tp-link sockets but I cannot get the lightwaverf skill on the exho app. Any ideas

Michael it was very easy for me. I just went into skills, my skills and searched fur lightwaverf. I was up and running in no time

wexfordman2 · 08-12-2016 8:03pm

Hi, this q and a might be of interest, again I think one of the rings to be aware of is the lack of two way interface/response

http://www.vesternet.com/resources/technology-comparison/lightwaverf-or-z-wave

bk · 08-12-2016 10:58pm

wexfordman2 wrote: »

Hi, this q and a might be of interest, again I think one of the rings to be aware of is the lack of two way interface/response

http://www.vesternet.com/resources/technology-comparison/lightwaverf-or-z-wave

Stoner would know this better then me, but I think this article is a little out of date. The lightwaverf protocol does in fact support two way comms. However to save on cost, most of the devices (plugs, sockets) only support one way comms, however some of the newer and more expensive products like the smart TRV's do in fact support two way comms.

It is certainly a trade off (cost versus two way reliability). One thing I notice is that lwrf seems relatively available in the consumer retail market (amazon, Maplins, etc.) while z-wave products seem to be much more expensive, speciality product, sold by home automation specialist stores and as such not really aimed as add on products for the general consumer.

I might be wrong, just seems to be that way from what I've seen, but I'd love to be proven wrong.

There seems to be a distinct lack of two way comms, affordable plugs, sockets and switches in the UK/Irish consumer market in the same way that we have Hue for lighting.

Stoner · 09-12-2016 2:15am

bk wrote:

There seems to be a distinct lack of two way comms, affordable plugs, sockets and switches in the UK/Irish consumer market in the same way that we have Hue for lighting.

Yes you are correct.

The sockets I have look well. The white ones are very good quality, the faces clip off for the screwless look. The brushed chrome are OK too, polished looks cheap but always does IMO

The only connectivity issues I have relate to needing an extender to reach some contactors in the attic.

I rarely if ever have connection issues,
Sometimes there is a time lag, lack of a mesh nw is an issue, but this whole two way thing is being oversold IMO my devices turn on when I want them to. I have it for years now.

wexfordman2 · 09-12-2016 3:56am

Stoner wrote: »

Yes you are correct.

The sockets I have look well. The white ones are very good quality, the faces clip off for the screwless look. The brushed chrome are OK too, polished looks cheap but always does IMO

The only connectivity issues I have relate to needing an extender to reach some contactors in the attic.

I rarely if ever have connection issues,
Sometimes there is a time lag, lack of a mesh nw is an issue, but this whole two way thing is being oversold IMO my devices turn on when I want them to. I have it for years now.

It's not so much the reliability of one way, I would say that when a command is fired to activate a device, it's pretty much guaranteed to get there, and if you are worried, then just fire off two commands.

I am coming from the specific issue with one way communication not allowing your network or hub to know if or when a device has been turned on manually/locally. This I think is a significant drawback. I base this on my experience with having a similar issue when I had my entire house working using x10 devices, which were all one way.

Reliability was not an issue, when a command was sent, the device activated, but the complete lack of any way to update your hub based on when a device was manually activagd was a severe limitation that I would not like to have again (I replaced/rewired my entire house to remove the x10 devices in place of a system that had two way comms).

Now I had x10 for about twelve years, and it was OK, it was good for its time, but the one way coms thing was the main killer for me, and I would be very reluctant to look at installing anything or any device that had only one way comms now, it's too much of a drawback and limitation.

If lightwave offer two way comms devices then thats great (in fact I would buy and use the sockets if they were two way).

Stoner · 09-12-2016 9:38am

wexfordman2 wrote:

Reliability was not an issue, when a command was sent, the device activated, but the complete lack of any way to update your hub based on when a device was manually activagd was a severe limitation that I would not like to have again (I replaced/rewired my entire house to remove the x10 devices in place of a system that had two way comms).

Very good. What rewiring did you have to do to remove X10? Had you the X10 wired sockets? They were expensive and manky looking.

I used X10 for years too, but as you know the network is over the power cables so not much rewiring, unless you had the lights and while they require some neutrals or maybe looping the feeds at the ceiling rises etc where would they need a rewiring afterwards ? Fundamentally the wiring would be completely functional no ?

The sockets don't have or won't to the best of my knowledge have two way communication, so I'd look elsewhere if you needed it.

But do you mind me asking you , what do you need it for. Are you using a layer of tech above this that you need this confirmation from? What level of automation or functionality are you losing as a result, in practical terms. I understand there's no comms back to the hub, but why does that bother you, is it simply because you don't have the feedback from the app to show something is on, like say a Philips hue lamp?

IMO the lack of a mesh nw is a bigger issue for lightwaverf.

It's biggest selling point is how nice the accessories look IMO. I really don't want a bag of inline units ever again. Fine behind the TV or in the attic but that's about it. I'd rather a nice looking unit with no feedback than an inline unit in a living room etc. The beauty of IFTTT anyway I'd that if I did need one I'd get a WeMo.

wexfordman2 · 09-12-2016 10:29am

Stoner wrote: »

Very good. What rewiring did you have to do to remove X10?

All my x10 modules were DIN rail, so the wiring was different to standard house wiring. I replaced my x10 with a system that had a similar wiring topology, which also had din rail modules, so the mains wiring was identical. All I had to do was run cat5 to the light switches.

The system I went for was velbus.

Stoner wrote: »

Had you the X10 wired sockets? They were expensive and manky looking.

No, no sockets, I could have used X10 din rail modules for this also, but I decided against it, I had a few plug in modules.

Stoner wrote: »

I used X10 for years too, but as you know the network is over the power cables so not much rewiring, unless you had the lights and while they require some neutrals or maybe looping the feeds at the ceiling rises etc where would they need a rewiring afterwards ? Fundamentally the wiring would be completely functional no ?

I did up a bit of a guide/overview on how I did it, see below if you are interested, it does go into the wiring and how I migrated from one to the other. Again, all my x10 modules were din mounted, so it was a star wiring topology, which suits velbus and other similar technologies.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B1zlDoqP2HdxUGVJdnY3WGtYamM

Stoner wrote: »

The sockets don't have or won't to the best of my knowledge have two way communication, so I'd look elsewhere if you needed it.

They do look nice though, I am impressed with the look of them

Stoner wrote: »

But do you mind me asking you , what do you need it for. Are you using a layer of tech above this that you need this confirmation from? What level of automation or functionality are you losing as a result, in practical terms. I understand there's no comms back to the hub, but why does that bother you, is it simply because you don't have the feedback from the app to show something is on, like say a Philips hue lamp?

Yep, you dont have the feedback is my main issue, when the device is controlled locally/mannualy, there is no way of reporting that back, so a lot of the logic you apple to macros etc have to try and guess the status of a device.

Stoner wrote: »

t's biggest selling point is how nice the accessories look IMO. I really don't want a bag of inline units ever again. Fine behind the TV or in the attic but that's about it. I'd rather a nice looking unit with no feedback than an inline unit in a living room etc. The beauty of IFTTT anyway I'd that if I did need one I'd get a WeMo.

Agree, anyhting I add now, has to have that built in look, and not some mesh of modules etc. I may just add more velbus modules, or I might hang on for something thats more of a like for like replacement, I think something like that can only be just around the corner fingers crossed.

Stoner · 09-12-2016 8:46pm

wexfordman2 wrote:

I did up a bit of a guide/overview on how I did it, see below if you are interested, it does go into the wiring and how I migrated from one to the other. Again, all my x10 modules were din mounted, so it was a star wiring topology, which suits velbus and other similar technologies.

Looks great. I never used cat5 in mine

I only had one dinrail unit on my external lighting cct

Had inline lighting units, a universal unit for a gate , a different universal unit I never used

Had the boiler switch too. That was a great unit looked ok too.

I run out of ideas of where to use them TBH. It becomes automation for the sake of it. I like the lightwaverf app as I've so much stuff in one place

But I've a bag of it now all mashed up with a hue lighting system.
I've decided to get a smartThings hub. I've a Sonoff unit in the post to mess with too , with such low wattage lamps around heat dissipation has has nearly disappeared as an issue.

I remember installing KWatts of dimmers into buildings

I out MK edge brushed chrome accessories everywhere in my place 12 years ago. Its very hard to move away from it to some of the stuff out there these days.

wexfordman2 · 09-12-2016 8:53pm

I was lucky as my house is a bungalow so I was able to pull the cat 5 down to the switches as we pulled out the 220v

The clipsal switches annoyed me after a while, they were quite stiff to press (although a lot if there rooms were in sensors) bit o replaced them with some lovely brushed steel momentary switches

I thought of keeping a few x10 modules in place bit TBH the tech was getting old so I just bit the bullet in the end. Have a box full of ad10 units and dimmers that have no purpose but can't bring myself to dump them. In fairness, they worked flawlessly for nearly twelve years with no hardware failures.

fergalom · 30-01-2017 11:46pm

Quick one - have a single gang Lightwave rf megaman LW400 dimmer (LED compatible)
6 x 4W GU10 dimmable Osram LEDs

Trouble is they wont all swtich off - two remain flashing when the dimmer switched off.

Anyone come across this?
Think I may need something like this or is there another solution?
https://www.downlights.co.uk/danlers-res-load.html

Stoner · 02-02-2017 12:46pm

Hi, There is a list of lamps that work on the different dimmers on the lightwaverf web site. I've had similar issues myself, either the switch does nothing or the lamps flash when off etc even when you are within the correct parameters (15-60W for LED )There are some philips branded lamps that work listed that are only about 5 euro

afatbollix · 06-02-2017 9:02pm

Im moving house soon and would like to install smart electric from the start.

I want to change the switches and plugs as I would rather upgrade the lamps over time instead of buying aload of bulbs.

In the sitting room I want it so that you can have mood lighting yet turn on the main lights and when leaving the room have a master off switch.

For the bed room I was going to use the wireless switches by the bed so we can turn off all lights when its time for sleep.

The only other thing I was going to add was a master all off switch by the front door and a door sensor so that when you arrive home it will turn on the lights depending if it is dark enough.

Any recommendations or ideas to make this set up better?

sharkman · 02-03-2017 2:03pm

Quick question Stoner , is there HomeKit integration ?

Stoner · 07-03-2017 2:38pm

sharkman wrote:

Quick question Stoner , is there HomeKit integration ?

No not that I know of. But they announced and introduced echo and IFTTT integration within a month

bk · 07-03-2017 2:46pm

sharkman wrote: »

Quick question Stoner , is there HomeKit integration ?

Stoner wrote: »

No not that I know of. But they announced and introduced echo and IFTTT integration within a month

Homekit has much higher performance and security standards then GHome, Alexa, etc. If they were to ever add homekit integration, it would likely require a new hub, as it did for Philips Hue, etc.

afatbollix · 25-08-2017 9:07am

Still havnt taken the plunge yet, Would the above set up work?

lgk · 25-08-2017 4:55pm

afatbollix wrote: »

Still havnt taken the plunge yet, Would the above set up work?

It will work, just don't invest in LightWaveRF until their second generation range (with 2-way comms) arrives in October

darrenheaphy · 31-08-2017 5:35pm

Their new products are out October 3rd, you can order now but ship on 3rd; 1 gang dimmer is £59, 2 gang dimmer is £99. I spent some time researching it but am going to adopt Philips Hue primarily.

bk · 31-08-2017 7:18pm

darrenheaphy wrote: »

Their new products are out October 3rd, you can order now but ship on 3rd; 1 gang dimmer is £59, 2 gang dimmer is £99. I spent some time researching it but am going to adopt Philips Hue primarily.

Do those prices include the hub too?

If not, then very expensive.

wexfordman2 · 31-08-2017 9:48pm

bk wrote: »

Do those prices include the hub too?

If not, then very expensive.

Depwnsa though, for example, of your room has multiple.bulbs on one circuit, then it could be cheaper than hue. I have a couple of rooms with six or seven low voltage gu10s.

I have a different system anyway, but for people looking at options, hue is very pricy for those scenarios.

If the new lightwave is two way, then it has potential, bit if not, i would stay well clear

darrenheaphy · 31-08-2017 10:15pm

bk wrote: »

Do those prices include the hub too?

If not, then very expensive.

No, that's without the hub! The Link Plus (the hub) is 129 GBP

donspeekinglesh · 03-10-2017 12:08pm

The Gen2 devices are on sale now.
£185 for the hub and a lightswitch.

afatbollix · 03-10-2017 12:34pm

It has 2 way too.

Will prob go for the gen 2 plugs for energy monitoring but gen 1 light switches.

Stoner · 11-10-2017 11:53pm

wexfordman2 wrote:

If the new lightwave is two way, then it has potential, bit if not, i would stay well clear

I know we've discussed this before.

But no two way is not the end of the world. Stay well clear is harsh. Some f the lightwave kit is really well made and looks very good

I'd rather have it (state aware). But the lightwave stuff looks well, I've very little issues with mine. Apart from the heating in the early days it's been solid as hell.

Every day I use my scene selection to turn on lights , TV etc. It's worked perfectly for 18 months now.

Compare this to smartthings zigbee two way, that's cheap and unreliable.
I'll call out a bad buy. I'm not attached to everything I buy.

I'm not a fan of clunky inline socket double adapter sized units.

I'll suffer lack of state aware sockets for the slick look they have.

As you say it will be great when it happens
Had terrible trouble switching LEDs (within the wattage ranges) with their switches though. I took those out.

Added the 3KW immersion switch recently, very good again no issues

Stoner · 12-10-2017 12:02am

afatbollix wrote:

Any recommendations or ideas to make this set up better?

One thing. The mood switches work differently to how I imagined they would.

Every item you attach to the mood switch will have a signal sent to it for every mood. So if you wanted the TV on and a lamp on you add them to the switch, turn them on and set a mood to that. You can't leave something out of a mood
you can't have lamps coming on and have the TV left out of the switching for one mood but not another,
it will be set to whatever state it was at when you programmed the mood.

So although you can add lots of items to the mood switch,it's limited enough.

Dazzy · 28-01-2018 9:19pm

Can anyone recommend an E27 LED bulb for use with the Gen 1 dimmer? The compatable list on the LightwaveRF site is a little out of date and its difficult to source some of the recommendations.

Stoner · 21-05-2019 4:49pm

I just did a refresh on lightwaverf on Google home, gained 10 devices, all my radiator are now my home assistant screen,

I have temp feedback from each one and can turn them on and off.

Delighted, nothing like a free upgrade.

To think when I bought the first set of these TVRs that Eco and Google home didn't even exist, now i have more or less all my iot devices on home assistant with very little input from me.

Hopefully it won't change when "works with nest" goes out the window, it shouldn't

Edit.

Full voice control too.

I get the current temp in the room, the temp I've set the TRV to in the lightwaverf app, then I have a heat mode drop down with "on and off " options.

Recently I got the nest gen 3 installed. So I took out the lightwaverf stat controller.

So I can't comment on it. I'm running nest and lightwaverf together, only issue is the voice control in the kitchen where there is a smart TRV and a nest stat. They both turn off when you turn the heating off as I've a Google home in there, the instruction is cut down and encapsulates both devices

comfort · 09-09-2019 3:26pm

Hi there,

I was delighted to see this thread and read with great interest.
I have eventually started adding Lightwaverf and purchased the starter kit which has the hub, Single light switch (dimmerable) and a double socket. I am using my small office as the test project for automation etc.

I am already confused with regards to fitting the light switch. I turned off the power to light switches and opened up the light switch in the office and see 3 brown wires (2 going to common and one going to L1) now my confusion is that the Lightwaverf light switch as a Switch Live Wire Out, Live wire In and Neutral Wire In - So which goes to which ? (Help?)

I have stopped immediately and put everything back to the way it was (wasn't much done to start with anyway

)

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Regards

darrenheaphy · 09-09-2019 6:51pm

Here be a YouTube video

Hope it helps

comfort · 09-09-2019 9:06pm

darrenheaphy wrote: »

Here be a YouTube video Hope it helps

?? No link

darrenheaphy · 09-09-2019 10:06pm

Oops! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6451o5-7r4

Stoner · 09-09-2019 10:21pm

The two cables that are currently together should stay connected together, it's the loop feed.

The other cable on its own is the switch wire.

Lighrwaverf switches are supposed to work without the neutral.

I tried the light switches and although I liked the look of them, I could not get them to work with my lights. I've older ones.

comfort · 10-09-2019 9:08am

Stoner wrote: »

The two cables that are currently together should stay connected together, it's the loop feed.

The other cable on its own is the switch wire.

Lighrwaverf switches are supposed to work without the neutral.

I tried the light switches and although I liked the look of them, I could not get them to work with my lights. I've older ones.

Many thanks for the reply - and while informative not really clear. So the two cable together (common), which do they go to ??

The switch wire (currently L1) is that a switch wire in or switch wire out ??

This is my dilemma

Regards.

comfort · 10-09-2019 9:10am

darrenheaphy wrote: »

Oops! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6451o5-7r4

Lol no problem. I watched the video but it was t really informative as for one the wiring was old and it didn’t really go into it as would have like a bit more detail.

Also the lightwaverf switch in the video must have been for the connect series as the symbols were slightly different.

Thanks again.

comfort · 10-09-2019 11:04am

Hi Stoner,

Just re-read your comment - you couldn't get them to work because you have older ones ??

What do you mean by older ones - wiring, lights ?

Regards

comfort · 10-09-2019 11:21am

Hi all,

I also sent email to lightwaverf themselves this morning and they came back to me instantly (good service). So the guy has told me the following:

L - Permanent Live
x - Switch Live
N - Neutral and as Stoner has stated and also the documentation also states that this is not always needed.

So this would mean that I would do the following:

Current Socket - Lightwaverf
L1 - Brown to L
Common (2 browns) to x
N (not used) - N left empty

So that the plan now.

But guess what happens when I turn the trip switch for upstairs lights to OFF
The house alarm goes OFF - WTF !!!!

Regards

comfort · 10-09-2019 4:35pm

Well I connected the lightswitch as per previous post and everything worked fine using the manual usage.

My only
Problem now is getting the lightswitch to link to the hub!
I notice that when I put it into Link Mode (flashing blue/red) and I go through the process in the lightwave app everything seems ok. I then notice the the app says it has added the accessory but yet the lightswitch continues to flash blue/red and then flashes red only and then stops on red. This I believe is telling me that the link failed even though the app says it has connected.
Needless to say when I try the light settings on the app nothing happens with the light.

Interesting times ahead and sent of email to lightwave support. Wonder what the reply will be.

Stoner · 11-09-2019 12:06am

comfort wrote:

What do you mean by older ones - wiring, lights ?

Older models of the switches. The led lights I have didn't suit them

Stoner · 11-09-2019 12:08am

comfort wrote:

I also sent email to lightwaverf themselves this morning and they came back to me instantly (good service). So the guy has told me the following:

Their service is second to none imo.

If you call them they will stick with you on the phone too.

comfort · 11-09-2019 1:25pm

Contacted Lightwave via chat.

Chap I spoke to was brilliant.

Found that the reason the light switch did not connect was my own fault in my eagerness to get it working I had set it up as 'Connect' rather than 'Smart'.

All working now.

Next to install the LightwaveRF 2-gang Socket which will do tomorrow. So far things are going very well.

Stoner · 11-09-2019 11:42pm

comfort wrote:

Next to install the LightwaveRF 2-gang Socket which will do tomorrow. So far things are going very well.

Sockets are easy.

The best looking smart socket by far imo. Mine are in years, older stock not state aware but they've outlasted much smarter units due to
A, being a fixture
B, the lightwarerf iftt channel is so good

lightwaverf FAQ

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