Question

Can anyone recommend a smart light switch brand? I would like for it to be compatible with Smartthings and Alexa, and reasonably priced if possible. Thanks!  

Answer 1

I will recommend Hubitat. It will also work with Lutron (if you’re so inclined). Has great google and Alexa integrations, and is compatible with Zwave and Zigbee devices. I personally prefer hubs with either/or Zigbee and Zwave integration, to keep my WiFi clutter free

Comments

@pact76450 I bought some Zigbee and Zwave items from AliExpress, and they work fine. Most of my Iris (former user) transferred over. Generally, if Hubitat team did not create drivers, someone else did, I think they can also work with some WiFi devices as well. My internet is spotty now, so I can’t verify, but Hubitat forums should have drivers and instructions for your WiFi devices

Answer 2

I only use Lutron Caseta. They are a lil more pricy the. Some other brands but the dimmer is beautiful with led indicator on it. Also, they work fantastic with Alexa

Comments

I’m not too sure to be honest. I always purchase a starter kit which typically includes a dimmer a pico dimmer (wireless that can be installed in place of a 3 way) also includes the bridge. It’s comes out to less than 1/2 the price of purchasing the bridge by itself. I’ve heard through some of these pages using Lutron Caseta with SmartThings hub alone will work. not sure sure of the functionality though

Answer 3

I have homeseer zwave light switches.  
https://homeseer.com/lighting/

Answer 4

Don't spend any money on hubs. (You don't need one. No one does. ) TP-link has Wi-Fi switches (~$25) that work with Amazon Echo. TP-Link makes smart switches, dimmers, and 3-way switches. TP-Link smart switches come in colors other than white. TP-Link is very reliable. A SmartThings hub costs ~$100. Homeseer costs $150. Why would anyone ever have two hubs? For $110 you can get an echo dot (~20), 3 TP-link switches ($75), 3 Lutron faceplates (~$10) and a small spool of AWG 12 or 14 wire in white (~5). Once you set up the first TP-link switch, Echo will auto-discover the others - no set-up. I use We-Mo (~$45) dimmers, but they are about twice the price of TP-link. In my office and my wife's, I have TP-link switches because the faceplates go better with black switches than with white. I use Lutron's faceplates because the standard plastic or steel faceplates don't are too shallow for smart switches. In my house, the neutral white wire is in the switch box. But I need to run a neutral to the smart switch from the neutral bundle. A 6 inch piece of AWG 12 or 14 wire does the trick.  

Comments

@illassorted don’t need a hub until you have 74 smart devices on your wifi network and everything crawls. wifi devices are the WORST for clogging your wifi, they rely on cloud connections and accounts in order to function. The whole point of using a hub is to move away from wifi dependency and not cause congestion in the wifi networks. Amateurs use wifi devices.  

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@quartzite 74 or even 150 smart devices will not clog a Wi-Fi access point. With the exception of cameras and perhaps a few others which should use PoE. A 2. 4 GHz Wi-Fi AP can handle 400-650Megabits per second. If you had a 150 HA devices each could send 2Mbps. Smart switches, lights. are sending 1 or 2 packets but mostly just sitting there not sending or receiving. Hubs were great technology five years ago. But they are no longer needed. I have 53 devices connected to one Wi-Fi AP. No issues. High-speed devices, like Laptops, cell phones, e-readers, and tablets should connect to the 5GHz AP. And the whole local control thing is nonsense. Isn't one of the primary benefits of HA being able to remotely control and monitor your home? If your Internet connection goes down on a regular basis, then get a new ISP. Do you ever use Wi-Fi at Starbucks, McDonald's, The Home Depot. stadiums, or airports then you might be using the Wi-Fi my team develops.  

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@illassorted I have 25 devices and Roku TV on WiFi and no problems.  

Answer 5

I've been using the ones at walmart for $16. 99 and they work great. No hub required

Answer 6

Most hubs house their own set of intelligence and routine capabilities and actual automation. That's on a small scale. On the larger scale EVERY big name automation company uses hubs we just call them processors. Not everything is wifi controllable. Using a hub will give you far greater options of what you are trying to accomplish. Then there's zwave and zigbee protocols that require hubs making all those communicate together is going to require a hub