Philips Hue Good Wall Swap Module Evaluation

The Philips Hue wall swap module was launched a few years in the past and is designed to show your outdated dumb mild swap into a sensible swap.

The principle promoting level of that is that it avoids anybody switching the sunshine socket off utterly whereas permitting you to retain your current mild swap {hardware} for a cleaner look.

Whereas you may get a completely built-in good swap, these are almost all plastic and low cost trying. As compared, conventional mild switches can be found in a a lot wider vary of enticing designs, supplies and hues.

Different Philips Hue Opinions:

How does the Philips Hue Good Wall Swap Module work?

I should admit that I did not look into this product an excessive amount of earlier than getting it into evaluate. I simply assumed it was like most good swap modules.

Nevertheless, it really works a bit in a different way than others, and this may restrict the enchantment considerably.

The module itself just isn’t connected to your house lights wirings in any respect. You terminate the wires, after which the module is connected to your mild becoming and powered by a CR 2450 battery.

As a consequence of this design, the sunshine socket is left completely on, and the module then integrates along with your Hue set-up. This may solely work with Philips Hue lights.

Due to this fact, there are some things to contemplate when shopping for this:

• All lights related to the swap have to be Philips Hue
• The battery has a few 5-year life
• You will have to be snug with putting in issues onto your house wiring

Damaging Opinions

I’ve seen one scathing evaluate by Hibbert House Tech of this module because of the above. He’s not completely mistaken in his evaluation; the above elements will restrict the enchantment of the module, and there are different merchandise on the market which can be arguably higher relying in your wants and set-up.

I think he has made the evaluate extremely crucial for the elevated views, and I believe the module will work for lots of people completely nicely.

It will have been good if Hue had launched a correct mild swap that built-in with the system. Different choices energy themselves by way of the button presses, avoiding the necessity for a battery.

Nevertheless, the module design means you get to maintain your personal {hardware}, and you probably have invested cash into nice-looking mild switches, you’ll most likely not wish to exchange them with plastic white switches.

The usage of a battery is sort of annoying, however you might be solely changing it as soon as each 5 years. The modules is not related to your house wiring. You most likely ought to swap your lights off by way of the RCD when changing the battery as a precaution, however the alternative ought to solely take a minute.

The swap does have restricted performance, however I personally assume it does not have the whole lot I want. With wall switches, I simply wish to swap the sunshine on/off, and with this module, I keep away from anybody by accident switching the sunshine socket itself off.  

Assuming the sunshine swap is related to solely Philips Hue mild switches, I believe it does the whole lot I would like, however I respect everybody’s wants are totally different.

Set up

I had an electrician set up this as I used to be having my upstairs lights rewired. Nevertheless, once I eliminated the swap to take a look at the way it was put in, it seemed extraordinarily simple.

You principally terminate the prevailing wire with the Wago connector, then join the module as much as the sunshine swap with the included cables. It is likely one of the best good swap installations I’ve seen.

One factor that struck me about this module is how small it was. As a part of my rewire, I requested new deep again bins for good switches, however I believe I may have put in this within the current shallower again bins I had. It’s a lot smaller than different modules I’ve checked out earlier than.

Up to now, I had purchased a Fibaro Z-Wave module, however this was a lot tougher to put in, and it was too giant to suit into my outdated again bins, which meant I by no means put in it.

Philips Hue App & Set Up

With all of the Hue sensors and switches, you want a Philips Hue Bridge. I lined the performance of the Bridge compared to the Bluetooth management of Hue the opposite day. For my part, it’s a vital buy for any Hue lighting system.

Including a module to the Hue app is kind of like the opposite switches. The one distinction with that is that you might want to toggle the sunshine swap a few instances, and this may permit the Bridge to determine it and add it.

When you’ve added the module to your system, you will want to assign it to the room you might be utilizing it in.

In Use

The general performance of this module is sort of fundamental. As you may inform from the set up, the swap is not connected to your house wiring and the sunshine socket is completely wired to be on.

Due to this fact any lights related to the swap have to be Philips Hue, or they are going to be completely switched on.

In my workplace, I’ve a easy pendant ceiling mild with a Hue white and color atmosphere bulb, then two laps with the identical bulbs. With the module mapped to my workplace, the sunshine swap now controls each the ceiling mild and the 2 lamps.

The module permits you to map totally different scenes to the variety of swap presses. So once I enter the workplace, switching the sunshine on places it into shiny, then if I toggle it on/off shortly, the following scene is energised, and the third is dimmed.

It’s inferior to utilizing the dimmer or the faucet dial swap, however it works completely nicely.

Personally, I solely use the swap to modify my lights on/off. In my workplace, I exploit the identical scene all day, however within the residing space, I could change the scene relying on what I’m doing.

So if I’m watching a film, I could select one thing darker and extra comforting fairly than shiny, however I’m not going to stand up from my chair and toggle a lightweight swap. I’ll do that from my telephone, or extra just lately, I positioned the faucet dial swap close to the place I sit for simpler scene adjustments.

Value and Different Choices

The Philips Hue Good Wall Swap Module has an RRP of £40 and is accessible on Amazon for round £37.

It’s not the prettiest answer, however you may get Hue wall swap covers which let you mount both the dimmer or good button. These usually value lower than £10, and a dimmer swap is about £20, and also you obtain the identical factor, stopping individuals from switching off the sunshine and supplying you with management of the Hue bulbs. It’s considerably simpler to put in too.

There are a number of third-party choices which can be classed as Buddies of Hue/Works with Hue:

• Senic Buddies of Hue Swap – £60 – This could match on a again field, and also you’d must wire the sunshine swap completely utilizing an analogous Wago lever connection terminal to the one which’s included with the Hue module.
• Retrotouch Buddies of Hue Good Swap – £54 – That is successfully the identical because the Senic, only a totally different design.

Different Choices:

• Sonoff has a ZigBee Mini Good Swap module for simply £14, and that is wired into your electrics, so does not want a battery, they usually declare it really works with Hue.
• Aqara Good Wall Swap H1 – £39 – I personally have a number of of those Aqara switches round my dwelling, they’re nice for making dumb lights good. In case you use House Assistant or a sensible hub resembling Homey, you may then use these switches to manage your Philips Hue bulbs. You’ll be able to arrange the swap so the buttons not swap on/off the bulb and as a substitute perform automation (resembling setting a scene).

Total

I personally just like the Philips Hue good wall swap module. Within the one room I’ve it put in, it does precisely what I would like, permitting me to modify my Hue lights on/off with out powering them down utterly and avoiding the ugliness of faceplates to cowl my swap.

The necessity for a battery is a bit annoying, however I can respect why it’s there, and I do not assume will probably be an enormous annoyance in a couple of years when it wants changing.

There are alternatives out which can be superior in case you are blissful to switch your complete mild swap, however I believe Hue launched a module as a result of there have been already full mild swap merchandise. This module permits you to preserve your current {hardware} which shall be vital to some consumers.

Total, it is a little bit of a distinct segment product, interesting to a subset of Philips Hue customers. If you’re one of many goal clients, then it is a implausible product.

I’m a UK tech blogger and have been within the trade for over 10 years now, working Mighty Gadget and its sister websites and contributing to different websites across the internet. I’m enthusiastic about all tech, together with cell, wearables, and residential automation. I’m additionally a health fanatic, so I cowl as a lot health tech as attainable.

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Final replace on 2023-08-05 / Affiliate hyperlinks / Photos from Amazon Product Promoting API