We would like to independently control two light pendants in our lounge and be able to control one of the lights with another switch located by the patio door. The pendants are currently wired to one switch. One (old school) electrician looked at this and said we’d need to run another wire to one of the pendants.

However I believe that we could do the same with a system like LightwaveRF.

One, is this possible, two, what do I need and three, is it DIY-a-ble? If not, I can work out what bits are needed I can get the electrician back in to wire them in.

Amazon Echo Dot & some hubless wireless bulbs?

No wires required and prob cheaper than an electrician.

hubless wireless bulbs

This is an option but it limits your light pendant/lamp shade choice. Plus we want physical switches with the “wireless” option as a benefit. The additional switch is to turn on one of the lights when you come in the patio door.

Amazon Echo Dot

Just got one cheap, thanks Sonos

You can get wall mount switches for them (they have a battery so no wiring required), also the wall sensor option (to automatically turn it on when you walk past) might work for you

I asked a similar question on here a few weeks ago regarding the lights in my garage. Ikea smart lights were recommended. Got some a couple of weeks ago and they’re excellent.

Might work for what you’re trying to do.

I think you’d still need to wire in a second Switch with LRF unless you use their fancy bulbs, was that what you were thinking?
LRF is ok, I use it to control my heating, garage door and garden sprinklers, plus I use it to turn on the electric heating in our holiday home. The gen 2 stuff seems much better but pretty expensive.

Thanks for the replies.

In my head what I’m trying to achieve is the same as putting switch inline at each light, but instead of the switch I’m putting in a rf controlled relay

Therefore what I need to do is bypass the existing switch so power goes the light pendants continuously. Then I need 2 of these, one at each light pendant, with the power bypassing at the first pendant so it supplies the second pendant independently. >Link<

And then two of these to control the relays from different locations >Link<

I’ve been quoted £420 for supply and install of similar, not clarified which RF relays they are intending to use though

Actually the switches is wrong, I need two of these

This would be considerably cheaper than £420 using fancy bulbs – C£100…
Starter pack http://amzn.eu/1AKaVcx

+ Dimmer switches 2x http://amzn.eu/bzvviXt
or
+ Tap switches 2x http://amzn.eu/bHJyukK if you want to do some sort of independent control of scenes.

I was going to make a post describing exactly what you’ve described, so I won’t! Couple of things – you need to be able to get at the relays to link them to the switches, so don’t bury them inaccessibly in the ceiling, and you might find it easier to use the smaller LightwaveRF relays which may even fit inside your light fittings.

Edit: easy DIY job if you’re familiar with electrics.

Yeah, those relays will take 3kw and also have a timed function, I use them for my garden lights, so I have them set to stay on for 2 hours. I use one for my garage door opener set at 3 seconds.
As said above, the other relay that takes 500w might be better for you.

Found another option – Fibaro

I’m not ruling out Ikea yet either. Can two Ikea switches control one bulb?

I’m not ruling out Ikea yet either. Can two Ikea switches control one bulb?

mmm I’m not sure. I use one switch to control 3 bulbs and pairing was simple. I’m not sure if pairing with one switch will wipe the initial pairing or not. Easy to return to Ikea though if it doesn’t do what you need it to.

Edit: just checked the Q&A section on ikea and doesn’t look like 1 bulb can be controlled by two ‘steering devices’.

I don’t have the gateway or TRÅDFRI app. What will happen if I add a second steering device to a light source???

The first steering device will unpair, or become disconnected, from the light source.

Philips Hue would do all of that for under £100.

Philips Hue would do all of that for under £100

Can Phillips Hue control one bulb with 2 switches?

Edit: just checked the Q&A section on ikea and doesn’t look like 1 bulb can be controlled by two ‘steering devices’.

I don’t have the gateway or TRÅDFRI app. What will happen if I add a second steering device to a light source???

The first steering device will unpair, or become disconnected, from the light source.

Thanks, that’s Ikea’s system ruled out then

Philips Hue would do all of that for under £100

Can Phillips Hue control one bulb with 2 switches?[/quote]

Looks like it can

Can Phillips Hue control one bulb with 2 switches?

Yes. But I think you need one dimmer switch and one tap switch or maybe two taps, which will be more than £100.

If you wait until Black Friday, last year all Hue products were about 33% off on Amazon.

Hue can control any number of bulbs from a single switch or a single bulb from multiple switches. The Hue switches are combined on/off and dimmer and they cost about £20 each.

Thanks

I think I am leaning towards the Philips Hue, especially with potential Black Friday savings being soon.

The LightwaveRF system looks good, but having read their forum it seems app support has not been great. They’ve just brought out a gen. 2 system, but no relays or dimmers yet.

If I do go with Philips Hue, I think I will change the existing light switch to a key operated one like this:

That way the “smart” system can’t be accidentially disabled.

I bought a Philips Hue system, 3 bulbs and a Bridge, from Amazon on Black Friday. I also got 2 dimmer switches. It all works brilliantly so far! Was a bit worried the Hue bulbs wouldn’t be bright enough, but turns out they’re brighter than what they replaced.

Just need to replace the light switch with a key switch or something that stops it being switched off too easily

Ikea lights cheaper than Hue.

Be wary of fitting any switch that you can’t quickly and easily isolate (can you guarantee that the little key will always be to hand?)

Ikea lights cheaper than Hue.

but lack some capability in comparison, see above

Be wary of fitting any switch that you can’t quickly and easily isolate (can you guarantee that the little key will always be to hand?)

Yes, this has crossed my mind. A switch with a cover might be better (if it exists), although the fuse box is about 2m away in the hallway

Ikea lights cheaper than Hue.

The ikea smart lights are great, I just bought some more last week to control two lamps in a spare bedroom. But they won’t do what the op wants – you can only use one controller.

Found the answer –

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Philips-Hue-Dimmer-Remote-UK-Light-Switch-Adapter-Cover-/263366307701

I installed a single ikea dimmer last night; I love the dimmer, it’s just a little magnetic disc that you can put anywhere and turn it to control the light. Right now it’s stuck to the main lightswitch, but it’ll spend most of its life on the radiator. It’s very clever and was fairly cheap.

I’d go buy a lot more of it if you could have multiple switches on one bulb; this is really common, so it seems odd that a “smart” system can’t do it. Hue is just too pricey for me…

Hue is just too pricey for me…

It was 40% off some stuff on Black Friday.

I’d go buy a lot more of it if you could have multiple switches on one bulb

I guess you can’t have cheap and additional features, and if I wanted more control I could use the ikae hub.

Found the answer –

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Philips-Hue-Dimmer-Remote-UK-Light-Switch-Adapter-Cover-/263366307701
One of these covers arrived today:

It took a bit of getting from eBay as the guy only puts a few on a day and they sold out fast.

I’d say it’s a reasonable solution to the problem. It doesn’t hold the remote quite as well as the Philips original though, mainly because the magnet is much lower. Therefore top of the remote pivots out slightly. This means when you press “I”, i.e. on, the remote moves in and out slightly. Also the magnet in the holder is attracting the battery, rather than the metal within the remote. With the battery out of the remote and the Philips holder still grabs it but the eBay cover doesn’t (not sure what effect a strong magnet will have on the battery?).

Undecided on it currently, might return and go with the key switch idea instead

Note: not my pics, they’re from here https://www.mayne.org/2017/08/19/philips-hue-uk-light-switch-converter/