Trying to make dumb lighting... Smart

[Midwest]

And your solution for his problem is??
I have suggested aurora because it will work alongside Philips hue and can also be integrated via alexa and others..
I also asked if he's competent to be making alterations to the fixed wiring and if not get a sparky in..

Looking forward to reading your solution

Sounds as if the OP is looking to replace the sealed units with down lighters & Hue Lamps. He could use some Hue switches in that case, for doming etc as well as the multitude of apps. It depends on how much he wants to spend and how much he new stuff he’s wants to chuck out. I could tell him to speak to Collingwood Lighting, they also do some very good quality kit, but more expense.

If he’d started off with Aurora, I wouldn’t be advising switching over to Hue.

 

[Charlie_]

He doesn't need to switch over, they are interoperable with each other.
One in line dimmable unit installed before the first light on the circuit and can be controlled either by a switch or alexa. This would negate the need to take down and replace any of the light fittings.. The op said he wants to keep his existing fittings.

 

[123]

Quite a few products out there that will achieve what you're after..
Shame you have already gone through the expense of Philips hue but then it's ideal for diyers; no taking switches apart or interfering with wiring..
The best product imo for retro jobs is Aurora One Smart lighting products; full range of lamps, linear led, light switches similar to the hue ones, traditional type switches with smart units inside and best of all for you; inline control units that are installed just before the 1st light fitting in ' a ring'..
AOne™ - Aurora Lighting - https://aone.auroralighting.com/
Now you obviously you need to consider your competencies, I recommend you get a sparky in to do the work

Does the AOne need it's own hub or is it compatible with any Zigbee hub? The Echo Plus has a built in Zigbee hub for example, is this suitable/compatible with AOne?

 

[Charlie_]

You do need a separate hub for the Aone but all the AOne kit is ZigBee, when I last spoke to aurora they said that a 'skill' was in the pipeline for alexa.. Most are compatible but unfortunately it comes down to licensing issues between manufacturers

 

[Midwest]

He doesn't need to switch over, they are interoperable with each other.
One in line dimmable unit installed before the first light on the circuit and can be controlled either by a switch or alexa. This would negate the need to take down and replace any of the light fittings.. The op said he wants to keep his existing fittings.

But he already has some 'Smart devices' or lamps. Will the Hue Bridge operate these new devices your suggesting?

 

[Anthony_cF1]

Hi all, interesting stuff. thanks for your replies.

I currently have a hue hub, connected to some Alexa speakers around the house. So I think going by your advice is to have a neutral wire requiring switch that can either work with Zigbee or Alexa.

I dont want to change the down lighter units as I have 3 downlight light rings in total in the house (two of which are on this switch), all of which have 6 downlight units on each ring. that woudl mean replacing 18 units! That will get expensive.

- The aurora is just what I want- but they dont do a 3-gang.
- The Den stuff looks interesting, but my initial search shows that their three gang switch is wide. you can see my 3 gang switch is a standard narrow size. I am a mech Eng, so would rather not go down the route of cutting the wall up and fitting a wider back box.
- I have done a quick Amazon search and found the V-tac smart switch, 3 gang. This is the right size. Although it looks like it will be quite thick and take up more space in the already crowded back box. I'd also rather have mechanical switches.

Does anyone know of any simple, std size 3gang switches?

 

[Midwest]

You could trawl through this thread;
Philips Hue - UK Gang sized wall switch - https://www.avforums.com/threads/philips-hue-uk-gang-sized-wall-switch.2088230/
#131 & 177, might be of interest.

There’s also this that’s been posted there;
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07PHRX...5b80b-5950-11e9-aa0f-87b717443da8&tag=av0c-21

Not sure if the later is what your trying to achieve?

 

[john waters]

have a look at the click smart range it may do the trick

 

[123]

Does the AOne need it's own hub or is it compatible with any Zigbee hub? The Echo Plus has a built in Zigbee hub for example, is this suitable/compatible with AOne?

You do need a separate hub for the Aone but all the AOne kit is ZigBee, when I last spoke to aurora they said that a 'skill' was in the pipeline for alexa.. Most are compatible but unfortunately it comes down to licensing issues between manufacturers

I asked my wholesaler rep to ask Aurora about this. Aurora have said to him the likes of the Echo Plus would be suitable, and a separate hub would not then be required