House rewire - use wireless lights?

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Hey all,

The house we own requires a rewire and i`m wondering if its worthwile using wireless controlled ceiling lights. something like these http://amzn.to/2yDxKMy

Thinking it would probably save a bit of money not having to rewire all the light switches in the house.

Anyone tried something like this?

Thanks

Paul
 
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Don't do it.

Aside from the general advice to never use a wireless connection for anything if wired is a reasonable option, these sorts of devices are prone to causing and suffering from interference with other devices, I doubt a single second of thought is given to security, and that particular device comes direct from China, and therefore cannot be relied upon to even be safe, or legal to import or use here.

If you're having a rewire done, the "extra" cost of normal switching will be trivial.
 
Thanks, but still interested in the idea. actually been looking around at these wisqo lights http://amzn.to/2gT5cFe . Seem to have decent reviews and uk links, even their install video is from the uk. I could fill my house with them for about £250. I`d probably save £500 from not having all the light switches rewired in the house. Maybe i`ll get one and give it a go. Then i could just have the lighting circuits rewired with them and not worry about the light switches.
 
Anyone tried something like this?

Yes. and it does NOT work as well as the manufacturers would have you believe.

The main and increasing problem is the signals from switch to lamp can be easily blocked or corrupted by other equipment operating on the same radio frequency.

Anothe problem is the spurious radio frequency radiation from electronics in the lamp can disrupt the wireless communication to the receiver. Lamp off, no sourious so the ON command is received and the lamp is turned ON. Now there is spurious radio frequency from the lamp and hence the OFF command cannot reach the receiver. Lamp stays ON. ( some better quality units will time out and switch the lamp OFF if wireless comms are blocked. )
 
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Well, we did it, mainly because we have an Edwardian house with a range of original (ish) Lincrusta friezes above the picture rail and terrazzo floors in the hall. I know other safe zones are available, but the straight up-down variety - which I feel most comfortable with - are not for us. Previous incarnations of the wiring had thankfully not damaged anything, but had compromised by running lighting cables all over the place.

We mainly went with one of the products that uses a battery-less switch and does not connect to the internet - MK Echo. It works fine. I have never experienced any form of interference with our other wireless devices (433 and 866 will be pretty noisy in our house), presumably as the switching protocol is very simple. I don't own a tin foil hat so haven't ever twitched my curtains to see if the Russians are out front in a van trying to jam the signal or turn my lights on for me.

We have tried one of the smart device types - Lightwave RF - and simply cannot recommend it. You get what you pay for and it is, to say the least, flaky. I work in IT cyber security and the risks of someone hacking it don't keep me awake at night. However, about 20% of the time the lights don't respond to commands and the plastics on the switch plates (they all have plastic bits, even the metal ones) go yellow after a couple of months.

Be aware that if you go the wireless route you'll inevitably be putting a receiver (dimmer, relay, etc) somewhere in a ceiling void. It needs to be suitably mechanically protected (in an enclosure) and to be accessible or maintenance free. You can be certain that this gizmo will be bigger than an average ceiling rose.
 
I want to change our bathroom and toilet pull chords, will have to have a look at the Echos!.
 
How does that work then? The MK website talks about harvesting energy. Sounds like snake oil to me.

Please don't take this personally (I am not intending to go on the attack), but if you were a practising domestic electrician your question would frustrate me - not because you don't know how the thing works, but because the wording implies you were simply unaware that such a product existed.

I am a DIY-er (with no particular claim to competence) and one of the things that really frustrates me when calling on 'the trades' is meeting people who learnt a product set X years ago and have made no effort to keep up to date with the market since then. I have no objection to professionals saying "I am aware of that product, and I think it is rubbish so wish to dissuade you from using it", "I am aware of the product but believe you have not thought through your requirements", or even "I am aware of the product but refuse to work with it, as is my choice".

However, I cannot abide professionals who appear to have made no effort to keep abreast of things for - at least (as we rewired in 2011) - the last six years.

As I started by writing, please do not take offence - my frustration is aimed in general, not at you personally (not least because I do not know you).
 
, but if you were a practising domestic electrician your question would frustrate me

I'm not. But I am curious as how it works. Can't see how piezoelectric would give it enough power to transmit 30 metres. If there is a detailed explanation out there I would like a link please.
 
I'm not. But I am curious as how it works. Can't see how piezoelectric would give it enough power to transmit 30 metres. If there is a detailed explanation out there I would like a link please.

Sorry, can't help with that. I am strictly an end user, so while I glibly understand that it uses piezoelectrickery to turn the kinetic energy of my paddle press into an RF signal, I haven't delved further. I'd even be happy if it relied on pixies running back and forth with Post-It notes, or snake oil, so long as the lights turned on or off when I pressed the switch (as they do, 100% of the time, in my house).
 
How does that work then? The MK website talks about harvesting energy. Sounds like snake oil to me.
As stillp has implied, no more snake oil than, say, many a gas igniter.

MK have been selling their Echo range for a decade or so, and I think any snake oil would have shown itself by now. The underlying EnOcean technology has been around for a fair bit longer

Kind Regards, John
 

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