1. You have to do one bulb at a time. If you plug in multiple bulbs and try to pair them, it won't work. I don't know why.
2. You will need a portable lamp - or some other way to bring the bulb as close as possible to the hub.
3. Open the Hue app, go through the "Add Device" sequence.
   • The app changes regularly and may be different depending on your phone.
   • Get to the screen which says "Searching for lights".
4. With the lamp off, plug in the bulb to the lamp.
5. Turn on the lamp.
6. After the light has come on, you need to rapidly switch it off then on again 6 times.
   • This means 12 switch flicks in total. Off, then on.
7. After flicking the switch 12 times, the bulb should be on.
8. The bulb should start to dim then brighten. It will keep doing this.
   • If it doesn't, switch it off. Then switch it on. Wait a moment, then repeat the rapid toggle.
   • Try doing more than 6 toggles.
9. Bring the bulb as close as possible to the Philips Hue Hub - touching it if possible.
10. After a moment, the bulb should stop pulsing and go to full brightness.
    • If it doesn't stop pulsing, use the app to "Add Device" again.
11. All being well, the app will tell you that it is paired.
    • Continue the set up in the app.
      • Once done, you can switch off the lamp.
    • If it doesn't work, switch off the lamp, have a drink, try again - making sure to read all the instructions thoroughly.
12. Repeat for all other bulbs.

Once done, the Trådfri lights work flawlessly. The colour is good as is their dimming curve. They are very expensive. Personally, I'd go for the ultra-cheap ZigBee lightbulbs from eWeLink.

FAQ

juST use A ligHTswiTch

Our kitchen is big. The lightswitches are far away. Also, I don't want them covered with cake-batter when I'm cooking.

gEt a sMarT LIGhtSWItCh

Most UK homes don't have a neutral wire to the switch. That makes it hard to use smart-switches. The ones which work without neutral don't work with dimmable bulbs.

PRIVaCY AnD secuRItY is iMpORtAnt

Yes it is. ZigBee bulbs don't have a way to "phone home" and are relatively resistant to being hacked.

Previously on my smarthome adventures, I kitted my house out with LIFX Bulbs and some WisQo Switches. I've moved home and none of my bulbs are compatible with the existing sockets!

What else am I going to do except BUY MORE LIGHTBULBS!

As much as I enjoy LIFX, they're bloody expensive. A single GU10 bulb is FIFTY QUID! Our new kitchen has 17 bulbs. Even if bought in bulk, that would cost me £765. Forget that noise!

So, I've gone with the Philips Hue system. The hub was just under £50 on Amazon. The bulbs use Zigbee rather than WiFi - which makes them cheaper and more energy efficient.

But Hue's GU10 bulbs cost about £20 each - that's still quite expensive.

Luckily, Zigbee is an open protocol, and there are loads of manufacturers of compatible bulbs. I found a fourpack of Zigbee GU10 for £40 - a tenner per bulb. A fifth of the price of LIFX. Would they work together? Yup. I don't have anything to rant about. I configured the hub, installed the app, plugged in the bulbs, and - boom! - they were instantly discovered and started working.

There are three very minor niggles.

1. Amazon Alexa went absolutely bananas. Discovering all those bulbs at once prompted her to keep saying "I have discovered a new light bulb. You can use it by saying..." Imagine that close to 20 times.
2. The Innr bulbs don't support firmware updates unless you have the Innr hub. That's probably not a huge problem. Their website says: "so far it has never been necessary to do a firmware update. All Innr lamps have the latest firmware approved and certified by Zigbee Alliance." I guess I'll buy and return a hub if necessary.
3. The dimming curve is slightly uneven. Using the Hue app's manual control, I can fade the lights out gently. When I turn them off, they dim quickly to about 25% brightness and then shut off. Bit weird, but not a dealbreaker.

If you can recommend a cheap supplier of Zigbee lights - or any other Zigbee gadgets - please let me know.

The app

The Android app looks good - although a little rough around the edges, but it's easy to set up a bulb and control it.

Controlling the colours and brightness is a little odd. You have to slide your finger over the whole screen. Vertical for brightness and horizontal for colour.

There's also the option to set "scenes" - the ability to toggle multiple actions at once. You can also set timers.

There's also a widget which can also control other Meross devices.

Voice to bulb

The Alexa integration is tricky to set up - same as all Alexa skills - but works quickly. Very handy as you walk in to the house to ask your virtual butler to switch on lights.

With the Alexa app, or voice, you can set colours and brightness. Again, as is normal for Alexa's Artificial "Intelligence", you have to be precise in the commands you give it.

The downsides

These bulbs are around £24 - which is half the price of LIFX bulbs - but you do have to compromise a little on quality.

• The bulbs are slightly larger than the LIFX, which may make them tricky to fit into tight areas.
• More disappointingly, the colour and brightness transition isn't smooth. There's a noticeable "jump" between the states, which you can see in the video.
• The app is quick to respond, but it isn't as intuitive as the LIFX service.
• Finally, there's no API that I could find. Although there is a comprehensive set of IFTTT services for the Meross range.

Verdict

A nice little addition to the smart light family. The Alexa integration is good, and the app is solid, if not particularly great.

There was a firmware update waiting for me once I switched it on, so hopefully there'll be more in the future.

As with any smart home device, you should check that it works easily for all your household members and stay vigilant around security.

You can buy the MSL120 for around £24 on Amazon. Readers of this blog can get 20% off using the code GIYT2HRO until 2018-10-4 23:59.

Enter the new WisQo smart lightswitches. The company claims that they'll work with the UK's "unique" wiring designs. They've kindly sent me a set to review - adjust your bias filters accordingly.

The good news is they actually work! The bad news is that the app is tedious to use. The good news is they work with Amazon Echo! The bad news is they're fairly insecure!

This review will show you how to fit them, and get them working with your voice assistant. I'll also take a brief look at their lack of security.

For more information, please visit https://www.wisqo.com/

Unboxing

Depending on which kit you buy, you'll get a variety of boxes.

The base kit contains a light switch, a relay, and a WiFi gateway.

The switches and relay work on 433MHz - I'm not sure what (if any) security they have. Switches need to be paired with relays. Plug the relay into a USB power source, then hold down the reset button until a LED starts flashing. Press your lightswitch and the two should pair. That was the easy part!

The switches are portable - they can be screwed to the wall, or stuck on with the included adhesive. They aren't battery powered though - as per their FAQ:

The switch does not require power supply, it utilizes the kinetic energy from the pressing force.

Nifty!

Installation

Unlike other IoT lighting solutions, you don't need to re-wire your existing switch. The relay needs to be installed in the ceiling rose. Here's mine, before installation.

The WisQo kit comes with terminal blocks so you can wire in fairly easily. WARNING electricity is dangerous. Make sure that you've turned off the circuit at the consumer unit. If in doubt, get a qualified electrician to help you fit everything.

I had more neutral wires than the kit accounted for - but they managed to squeeze into the provided couplings.

There's a handy video in case you get stuck.

Everything wired in just fine - although the relay was slightly too large to fit inside the existing covering. I used the provided sticky pad to keep it flush to the ceiling.

The white wire is the antenna.

With that done, and my wiring double checked, I turned on the power and was able to use the light switch!

Terence Eden is on Mastodon

@edent

Replying to @edentI'm *pretty* sure this is wired correctly. Although I've one more neutral wire than they've accounted for. pic.x.com/4biw6yxnys

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Terence Eden is on Mastodon

@edent

Replying to @edentOMG! It works! Next step, connect my light switches to THE INTERNET! pic.x.com/nol6eeytoe

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Connecting to the Internet

There's a WiFi-RF gateway which comes with the kit. It is USB powered and fairly small.

WisQo claim their hub can connect to 200 devices. I don't have that many light switches - but it worked perfectly well with two.

There are no mounting holes, sadly, but it is unobtrusive enough to be tucked away. It's 2.4GHz only, so won't work with your 5GHz networks. It is WiFi only - which I found a bit annoying. I'd have preferred to wire it in to my LAN. As it is, you have to download the app to send it your WiFi credentials.

App

All the boxes have QR codes pointing you to the app.

The Android app is basic - too basic really - but it doesn't request insane permissions. Once installed, the app is very quick to respond - a tap on the light and it toggles instantly. But, oh! It is a pain to set up.

You may have noticed the QR codes stuck to the relays. These are needed to pair with the app. But first, you need to create an account and sign in.

Sometimes you open the app you have to type in a password. Why? My Lifx bulbs and my WeMo switches don't require that level of security. Annoying. The app occasionally crashes on opening. Frustrating when you need to use your lights.

Pairing the relays with the app was tricky - I'm still not sure how I did it. Lots of button mashing. Anyway, you've opened the app, typed in your password, now how do you switch on the light?

First, go to the home that your light switch is in. I'll just be using this in my main home - so a bit of a pain to have this step.

Then choose the room your light is in. (I only have one room - why do I need to do this?)

Here's the light. Is it on or off?

Tap it and it changes.

The app works whether you're on WiFi or not. So you can toggle the light switches when you're out of the house.

There's also rudimentary support for timers.

The app works, but it is slow and annoying to use. Hardware manufacturers find software difficult. If only there was a better way...!

Alexa...

The WisQo works with Amazon's Echo - the smart voice assistant. Personally, I've never seen the use for one. But I guess it would be useful to be able to shout "Computer! Lights!" and have a mechanical slave do my bidding :-)

I picked up the £50 Amazon Dot - I could write a whole blog post about how bad it is - but here's how it works with the WisQo lights.

1. Find the settings page

Tucked away in the Alexa settings is the option to connect "Smart Home Skills".

2. Connect your account

You need to connect your WisQo account to Amazon. This involves going off to a dodgy looking 3rd party page and entering your details.

Is it safe? Who knows?! Why can't it use the WisQo app to provide authentication? Who knows?!

3. Success

Because you do the account linking in a web browser, you have to close that and return to the app. Isn't there an easier way?

4. Discovery

The app presents a button which promises to kick off discovery. It doesn't work.

My WisQo account knows all the devices I own - but I still have to manually "discover" them in the Dot's app. Again, this is the sort of thing which should just happen automagically.

5. Discovered!

It found them! Can I use them? Not quite yet!

6. Groups

Scrolling back up the page (seriously - why isn't this in a logical order?) we can add the lights to a named group.

7. Naming the group

Give several lights one name.

Now I can say "Alexa, turning on the kitchen lights" and she will obey.

Proof!

Bit of a palaver to set up - but works well enough!

The Alexa Skill is available in English and German. I'm still trying to find out whether I can just bark "Alexa, Kitchen" and have it understand me. The Echo's documentation is poor - there's a lot of trial and error involved to see what commands work.

Cost and Conclusion

A Switch, Relay, and Hub costs £60 on Amazon. You can buy a switch and relay for £36, and a switch by itself for £20.

Those prices are in line with other smart lighting solutions. A single Lifx bulb will be between £30 - £70 depending on which model you want. Similarly, a pair of Philips Hue bulbs and a Hub is around £60.

Lifx and Hue are simpler - just change a light bulb, no rewiring needed. They're bigger companies - so hopefully have decent support and well tested apps. They also work with Alexa, IFTTT, and have open source projects around them.

WisQo works with physical switches - that's its big advantage. Because they're wireless, you can stick them in a convenient location. It also means they'll work if your WiFi goes down, or if your phone is out of battery.

Your existing switch needs to stay in the "on" position permanently to provide power to the relay. I ended up sticking the WisQo switch to the wall above my normal switch.

It isn't ideal - I might rewire the black switch so it is permanently shorted. Then put a blank face plate on it.

For me, the big advantage is that it wires in to my existing ceiling rose. As you can see, I've got a light which takes 4 bulbs. If I had to replace each bulb with a Lifx, I'd be looking at well over £150! I've got two of them in my kitchen - basically WisQo saves me £300!

Hacking & Security

Of course, it wouldn't be a proper review without some security poking. Here's what I found.

Default passwords

The WiFi gateway asks for credentials before you can use it. On a whim, I tried the trusty "admin" as both username and password - and got straight in!

Everything is in Chinese - but there is an English option.

There's nothing particularly interesting - although there is this serial port control screen.

A quick nmap shows that only port 80 is open - that's a good thing!

Nikito thinks that the server is Microsoft-IIS/5.0. I don't think that can be right.

It appears to be running Linux - although no GPL licence was included with the product - that's a bad thing!

The HTML is a bit outdated (marquee tags!) but there are no obvious security flaws.

Reverse Engineering

Digging deeper into the app, we find some very disappointing news.

Email addresses and passwords are sent in the clear! The server returns a token which is used to "authenticate" calls to turn the lights on and off. I couldn't see a clear indication that calls were signed. I'm not sure if it is possible to switch off others' light switches.

It looks like it will be fairly easy to reverse engineer the calls to write your own controller.

The main server appears to be:

public interface Server {
    public static final String host = "47.88.22.30";
    public static final int port = 10100;
}

It appears to be a Linux box (good!) with exposed MySQL ports (bad!) running on Alibaba's cloud infrastructure (good!) but an old version of nginx/1.6.0 (bad!). So a bit of a mixed bunch!

Images from the app are downloaded over http - so there's some information leakage there.

Like most IoT devices, security is very much an afterthought. There's a limit to the amount of damage an attacker can do with access to your light switches (burn out your bulbs? Induce an epileptic fit? Send Morse code?). You also need to install a box on your network which makes a permanent connection to exotic IP addresses.

At the moment, there's no good way to design a network for IoT devices which is simultaneously usable and secure. So sit back and hope they don't get hacked.

Final thoughts

The WisQo smart light switches work very well and are fairly easy to install. The voice control is handy. They're let down by a lacklustre app and poor security.

You can buy WisQo smart lightswitches on Amazon UK.

Here's a demo - fair warning, my vocal prowess is "limited".

OK, here's how to do this.

• I recently got a bunch of Lfix bulbs as part of a bug bounty.
• There's a full API for the Lifx bulbs.
• My mate Ruth has written a great demo on the Chome Web Speech API
• So, speech + Lifx = awesome.

This was a 5 minute hack, so my code is quite shameful, but here are the basics.

Firstly, we need an HTML page with JavaScript to detect the speech. At the moment, this only seems to work in Chrome (AKA the IE6 of 2016).

var red  = ["red", "read","ret"];
var yellow  = ["yellow", "yell", "yeah"];

// new instance of speech recognition
var recognition = new webkitSpeechRecognition();
recognition.lang = "en-GB";

// set params
recognition.continuous = true;
recognition.interimResults = true;
recognition.start();

recognition.onresult = function(event){

  // delve into words detected results & get the latest
  // total results detected
  var resultsLength = event.results.length -1 ;
  // get length of latest results
  var ArrayLength = event.results[resultsLength].length -1;
  // get last word detected
  var saidWord = event.results[resultsLength][ArrayLength].transcript;
  saidWord = saidWord.trim();

  console.log(saidWord);
  xmlhttp=new XMLHttpRequest();

  if (red.indexOf(saidWord) >= 0)
  {
      console.log("sending red!");

      xmlhttp.open("GET","lifx.php?colour=red",true);
      xmlhttp.send();
  }

  if (yellow.indexOf(saidWord) >= 0)
  {
      console.log("sending yellow!");

      xmlhttp.open("GET","lifx.php?colour=yellow",true);
      xmlhttp.send();
  }

If it detects one of our magic words, it sends it to a server component. I just don't trust JavaScript with my API keys. The server page is a simple PHP script.

$link = "https://api.lifx.com/v1/lights/all/state";
$authToken = "";
$colour = htmlspecialchars($_GET["colour"]);
$data = array("color" => $colour, "duration" => "0.5");
$ch = curl_init($link);

curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST, "PUT");
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS,http_build_query($data));

$headers = array('Authorization: Bearer ' . $authToken);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, $headers);

$response = curl_exec($ch);

Take the colour and send it to the bulb. Make the transition time fairly quick (half a second). The "Rainbow" command just sends random colours with a much shorter transition.

And... err... that's it! The Lifx API lets you send colours as strings, hex codes, HSB, etc, so it is fairly flexible.

Sure, I could have bought an Amazon Echo (not available in my country) or a Google Home (not launched, will be abandoned next year) or a Raspberry Pi (too easy to lose) or built an app for my phone (just too much hard work) - but I'm quite happy playing around in the browser.

Here's the video again, if you like watching things on Twitter.

Terence Eden is on Mastodon

@edent

My Lifx bulbs now react to my (*atrocious*) singing. Forgive me!

Source Code: github.com/edent/Harry-Po… pic.x.com/s8lxbjh9w7

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If you enjoyed this blog post, buy yourself some Lifx bulbs or you could send me something from my wishlist.

As I've explained previously, swapping out all my existing light bulbs with Smart Bulbs would be hugely expensive and has the disadvantage of not working when the switches are off at the wall.

A WiFi light switch (theoretically) allows me to control the lights from my phone - and anyone else to use the physical buttons on the wall. That helps avoid this scenario:

Cate

@c8ters

When you're house sitting for millennials and ask how the lights work pic.x.com/xli7zdzehw

---

WiFi built into the switch means I don't need to use a hub to control my devices - I can connect directly to them and not have to worry about hardware incompatibilities.

The UK has a unique way of wiring houses which doesn't lend itself well to automated control. The switches which work in the USA and EU, simply won't work in a UK set up. This makes switches rare and expensive.

I've gone for the Lanbon WiFi Light Switch - £50 on Amazon - or around £35 direct from China. For more technical information (although not much) take a look at the L5-HSGT1's product page.

What's In The Box

The switch itself is pretty good looking:

The back is slightly weird - this is obviously a fairly generic design which can be re-purposed for multiway switches.

As for the rest of the kit...

Yup! A pair of mounting screws - that's it! No fitting instructions, no glossy leaflet, nothing! Oh well, how hard can this thing be to install...

Wiring In

Working with electricity is dangerous. Remember to switch off the power to your lights at your consumer unit. If in doubt, get a qualified electrician to help. I followed this guide to replacing UK light switches.

Wiring the switch is trivial - as long as you can remember which wire is which. There's just one small problem... The depth of the pattress box is insufficient to contain the switch! Obviously microchips aren't quite a tiny as necessary yet.

OK, I can try drilling that deeper later - let's power up this baby and see if it works!

Blinken lights! Touching the light icon provides a satisfying "clunk" somewhere inside the switch, but didn't change the state of the lights. Perhaps it needs to be set up first?

The App

Remember when I said that the package didn't come with any instructions? That wasn't quite true - there are some QR codes on the side:

A quick scan and...

Hmmm... Do I really want to download an app from China over HTTP? Guess I don't have a choice!

Interestingly, the Lanbon website offers a more recent version of the app to download. This obviously isn't an organisation set up with high-quality "it just works" in mind.

I prepared to install the app - when I was hit by this:

Terence Eden is on Mastodon

@edent

My WiFi light switch has arrived!
No instructions in the box. How hard can it be?
lanbon.cn/product_show.a… pic.x.com/9dtnupqhzb

---

Terence Eden is on Mastodon

@edent

Replying to @edentThese are the permissions my Light Switch app is requesting…!
Think I'll install on a dummy device first! pic.x.com/dxvuepdj0u

---

Those are some ridiculously scary permissions! I can understand wanting microphone access (voice control) and maybe GPS (turn lights on when I get home) - but why does this want to send SMS or place calls? Why does it need my contacts and the ability to take photos?

A quick virus scan showed nothing overtly malicious - but I decided to offer up a sacrificial tablet to run the app on. No way am I risking my main device with this software!

The software is of the usual sub-standard quality I've come to expect from cheap electronics. No set-up wizard, just dumped into a complicated screen.

Pressing the "User Manual" button gave this monstrosity:

I held down the light switch button until the WiFi indicator started flashing. I then connected my tablet to the WiFi (a separate network - I didn't want to risk sticking this on the same network as everything else yet). I clicked the "Auto Search" button and, somehow, the tablet found the switch and set it the network's details. Result!

The app presents this rather lazily designed screen. Only the blue icon on the left works as a switch.

Let There Be Light!

And, dear reader, can you guess what happened when I clicked it?

Terence Eden is on Mastodon

@edent

Replying to @edentOK, switch wired in, connected to WiFi, responding to commands but - crucially - not actually turning the light on. pic.x.com/gsmkhdhasr

---

Terence Eden is on Mastodon

@edent

Replying to @edentWell, here's the light switch in all its "glory". Going to try another socket tomorrow during daylight hours! pic.x.com/k4ikrttbnt

---

Yup - the square-root of bugger-all!

Under The Covers

Before trying it on another socket, I thought I'd crack it open to see what's going on inside. As I suspected, it's a generic unit which can be used for 1-, 2-, or 3-gang switches. No LEDs are soldered on to the spare ports. Interesting to note a different part number printed on the inside - L5 HSCL LB v16.

Remaining Neutral!

I made a telephone call to Prad - the Amazon seller who supplied me with the switch - he was incredibly helpful but sadly confirmed that the switch requires a neutral wire. Something which had unfortunately been left out of his listing.

It turns out that this lack of neutral wiring is a common problem.

The WiFi Plug Glass has this fairly prominent warning:

And Vesternet have an excellent page explaining the challenges of fitting smart switches to UK homes.

Short of rewiring parts of my house, it looks like the switch will be useless to me. So back it goes.

Decompiling the Software

Part of the problem with the software is that it is designed to work with a suite of products. It contains references to security cameras, home alarm systems, infrared controllers, fans, curtain controllers, and half-a-dozen other things.

There's no widget support - which is crucial for a lighting app. No one wants to find an app, wait for it to open, find the right light etc. I just want to put a simple toggle on my homescreen - in exactly the same way Lifx does.

As far as I can tell, there's nothing malicious in the software - it's just poorly constructed. Well… in this version.

Of course, with Android Lollipop's new permission model, I can deny the app access to anything that I'm uncomfortable with. During my brief use of the app it didn't ask for anything other than WiFi access.

API

As I didn't get the switches working, I didn't dive too deeply into the API. I did spot this curious activity though.

When the light switch wasn't connected to the WiFi, the app assumes that it is on a different network to the switch and tries to communicate over a cloud service.

That IP is hard-coded into the app.

whois 58.96.172.115? An unknown server in Hong Kong! The venerable nmap reckons the server is running Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1, Windows 7, or Windows Server 2008. Ok...

Right, it's communicating on port 80 - but let's see what incredibly secure authentication it is performing...

Hmmm... Some of those numbers look familiar...

Ah. So it sends a packet with the light switch's ID number in it. That appears to be all. I assume that the switch makes a similar persistent connection to that IP address so it can listen out for instructions. I was too scared to port scan the light switch.

I'm guessing, with a small amount of effort, you could toggle strangers' lights to your heart's content.

Verdict

It looks like I'm going to have to go for the hub and spoke model of smart switches. That is, a light switch which trickles enough electricity to power an RF receiver while keeping the lights off - controlled by a WiFi connected hub.

Hopefully one which is more secure than this!

Onwards!

I'm slowly building a Smart Home. I've security cameras emailing me when a cat has the temerity to walk past a window, a Roomba which tweets me, a thermostat which knows if I'm working from home, and a car which knows when to charge from my solar panels.

Now it's time to focus on something a bit more useful - lighting!

A few months ago I treated myself to a Lifx SmartBulb. It's a cracking bit of kit! There's a widget on my phone's home screen which turns it on or off instantly, it gently wakes me up in the morning, turns off when I leave the house, and has a nifty API.

But the bulb costs SIXTY QUID! A quick count of all the lights in my home... 21! I am not spending £1,260 on lightbulbs! Even if I just wanted them in my lounge, it's £120.

Lest you think I live in some sort of mansion, the previous owner of our house installed a couple of multi-way spotlights in the kitchen.

There's another issue - if the light is turned off at the switch, it can't be controlled from the app. Now, that's pretty obvious - no electricity = no WiFi. But it's a tad annoying if, say, your partner walks out of the room and absent-mindedly switches it off at the wall. Naming no names...

Terence Eden is on Mastodon

@edent

Welcome to the future - where every lightbulb needs to update its firmware.
For around thirty minutes.... pic.x.com/4an8zuturq

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Ok, so the obvious solution should be smart light switches, right? Flick the switch at the wall or toggle it from your phone. There are seven light switches I use regularly - controlling 12 light bulbs - which should reduce the cost significantly.

A Raspbery Pi Zero is tiny, cheap, and can contain WiFi. Surely there must be dozens of cheap and cheerful smart switches available?

No so much. They all seem expensive and incompatible.

Firstly, there's the choice of network topology.

1. Each light switch has WiFi and, therefore, its own IP address. Or...
2. A central unit has it's own IP address and connects to each light switch via z-Wave - or some other protocol. Or...
3. Each switch is controlled directly from the phone via BlueTooth.

If the central hub breaks you've lost connection to every switch. Using BlueTooth restricts the amount of smart automation you can do. So, for that reason, I'm drawn to having a direct IP connection to each switch.

WiFi Switches

It's worth pointing out that this comes with its own set of risks - having poorly protected smart gadgets can leak your personal information. But if someone has physical access to my light switches, it's probably game over for security.

Anyway, I can find literally only one WiFi light switch! The Lanbon single gang WiFi light switch.

The cost? Fifty quid! So not much cheaper than buying Lifx bulbs...

The Lanbon Android app has zero reviews and there's no sign of an API for it. And, if I'm honest, I'm slightly sceptical that it'd work with a UK lighting circuit.

*sigh*

Obviously, I'm not going down the Hue route - they have the same drawbacks as Lifx, and a despicable attitude to interoperability.

Ok, back to the hub-and-spoke model of (2).

Z-Wave Switches

There are Z-Wave switches for around £40.

I've already got a Z-Wave module for my Raspberry Pi, so that'll make the hub cheap. That said, the reviews for the switches look particularly poor. Some Z-Wave switches have wiring requirements which UK houses just don't meet.

It's possible to retrofit Z-Wave relays either behind the lightswitches or directly into the wiring. That's quite a lot of DIY and/or electrician effort. And they're around £50 each - taking the price even higher. Also, not exactly portable if we ever move house.

LightWave RF Switches

So, next up is British Company LightWaveRF

As much as I'd like to support a British company, I'm reluctant to trust a closed protocol. There is an official API - although you have to fill in a PDF(?!) in order to get access. It also says:

I agree not to disclose or distribute the API in any form to any third party without the express written permission of JSJS designs.

Which rather clamps down on any Open Source projects I might want to develop.

To get around this, some people have written well documented API documentation.

The prices are relatively cheap - £50 for a LightWaveRF Hub and around £20 for light switches. But the official app gets terrible reviews.

Onwards!

433MHz RF Switches

They're about £20 per switch, which is pretty good - and the hub is £25.

That's about the cheapest of all the options - and the reviews are fairly positive - but is it sufficiently secured and does it have an open API?

Well... Sort of! There are some attempts at creating an open API based on BroadLink's specification - but I'm not confident that anyone will make compatible switches should Broadcom decide to stop. Nor whether any 3rd party hubs will work with the switches.

Now What

My choices appear to be...

• £60 bulbs which can't be controlled when switched off at the wall.
• £50 WiFi light switches of dubious provenance.
• £40 Z-Wave switches with poor reviews.
• £30 LightWave RF switches running a proprietary protocol.
• £20 BroadLink switches, again running a proprietary protocol, with limited support.

That's not very satisfactory, is it?

There's a long discussion on the SmartThings message boards about the UK lighting options. Basically, the UK's unique way of wiring light switches makes finding compatible products somewhat difficult.

What a conundrum!

A little help please!

Have you wired up a UK home with smart lighting? If so, please do let me know what you chose - and if it's working well for you.