In the UK most house light switches are wired with a live (from power source) and switched live (to the light fitting) only, no neutral. So, you can't easily retrofit most smart switches that require live and neutral. The S-Mate solves this problem, that's all it is designed to do. Very clever move although I can envisage space being an issue as many switches are mounted wall boxes that aren't that deep.
Think it's designed for situations where you don't have a neutral at the switch (pretty common here). Especially when you have more than a single light that is a pain. Think the battery is there instead of having to deal with bypasses or minimum loads. ITead doesn't seem to want to mess with that. But it seems like it doesn't use wifi for communication, think it's just 433 / 868 MHz. Can be fine but without details about the protocol it sucks. And the modules are just SOOOOOOO big! The whole idea of having a input only device (just like the Shelly i3 or Hue Wall switch) is pretty cool. Even the main-battery hybrid like this. But I would like an open protocol for that. Aka Wifi with Tasmota or just Zigbee. And no bigger than the good old Mini (R1).
The user manual for the S-Mate states: This is a module with "eWeLink Remote" that can connect with the ordinary rocker or pulse switch. The smart device will be cut off and out of control when the ordinary switch is off. S-MATE is specifically used to deal with t his issue. After connecting with the rocker or pulse switch, smart device like MINIR3 can be controlled through "eWeLink Remote" of the module. -- Looks like it is supposed to be connected to the 3-way switch with no neutral, and maybe acts like a "smart bypass".
Correct, lets say your WIFI goes down, no control, thus the battery, Its smart when it needs to be? Thinking of adding some scene controllers around the house.
The s mate is useful for homes where there’s no neutral in the switch box So you can wire the mini 3 directly to the box and wire the s mate to the switch to have both the mechanical switches and smart switch features for old homes It’s actually genius
Great video. I just bought a heap of MiniR3's, they are near useless. Like you said, no ESP, the same size almost as a Dual R3 and no remote triggering.
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I have a theory. I think the use case is when you have no neutral in the switch box. You connect the first one in the light fixture and the second one (s-mate, I guess is "switch mate") behind the switch in the wall, without any additional changes to the wires.
I thought the same thing but I don't see why that would require a second box. It would just need a battery.
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@@digiblurDIY I'm just guessing, I don't have them. Maybe it's just feeding itself from the line going through and the actual regular switch it's not getting 120V, so the switch mate ( in conjunction with the sonoff from the light fixture) it's acting like the sonoff mini but has more inputs for additional switches which can be programmed?
@@digiblurDIY In some countries, like brazil, the neutral goes through the main distribution directly to lighting circuits, while the hot wire goes to the switch boxes, then to the lighting fixtures. Here we call them "return" wire. It's mainly a way to reduce wiring costs, but kinda sucks to retrofit for smart switches.
My thoughts are as follows... The S-Mate has 2 functions. One controls the normal switched live wire to the ceiling rose. The other function is a direct RF link to the eWeLink app. Sonoff are not very open about the details, preferring to call this "eWeLink-Remote". My understanding is that this uses the Bluetooth BLE protocol to automatically pair/control the S-Mate remotely. This is powered by the CR2032 button cell. They say this RF link enables the smart control to be local and active even if there is no internet, I assume the eWeLink app now also uses BLE? So the "benefit" is that the user can operate the wall switch the old fashioned way to turn on the lights. And the eWelink app can operate in one of two ways; if there is an internet connection, then the 2.4GHz wifi can action the MINIR3, or without internet the app can send the "eWeLink-Remote" signal directly to the S-Mate and toggle the lights. I will be sticking with my ceiling rose mounted MINIR2's. My internet doesn't go down very often.
Same Here in Asia and Middle East we are facing issue like Eu and American Companies producing 120 Volts products like Klein Tools and other companies. We cannot use lot of their products here in Asia and Middle East. 🤣🤣🤣
There is a community effort reverse engineering BL602 chip although it seems to have stopped. It was an interesting chip, because it had a RISC-V architecture before espressif introduced their own RISC-V chips.
just watching your video, I would say that part could be intended to read several pre-installed switches on your walls turning them into wireless controller switches. Just to control an intelligent lighting system, for example. As a way to have several inputs and spare the use of several relays or an expensive part for that. I haven't searched any info beyond the pics here and your explanation, so I might be totally wrong.
Am I missing something? EDIT2: I think the wiring diagram is a bit of a red herring. It looks like a remote control that goes in your wall that works without a network.
Its like they saw the Shelly1 and Shelly 2.5 that even got UL certs, then they said lets do the Dual like that with the switch inputs! Genius! Then they got drunk and made this as the mini?
Here are my thoughts on this device. Doesn't s-mate stand for switch mate. And the relay module gets connected to the lamp and the s-mate behind the switch. If you have mains power behind your switch you can connect it there. But if you don't you can use the battery. This allows you to always switch your light even if there's no wifi or hub active.
Super super edge cases from what I can come with as well. They should have done what I said and just copied their own design of the dual with the mains switch inputs. Then they could have also offered this smate device to hit it via BLE in those odd cases. Would have been a great device.
I think it solves the problem of you have a powerplug that isn’t connected to the light switch in the room, but you want it switched by the light switch
maybe instead of making a video without doing any research on the product and asking what it is used for, do that research yourself and provide those answers to your viewers. otherwise your video does not add any value at all.
In the UK most house light switches are wired with a live (from power source) and switched live (to the light fitting) only, no neutral. So, you can't easily retrofit most smart switches that require live and neutral. The S-Mate solves this problem, that's all it is designed to do. Very clever move although I can envisage space being an issue as many switches are mounted wall boxes that aren't that deep.
I get that but there are better ways to do this like in the rose like you see the Shelly.
Think it's designed for situations where you don't have a neutral at the switch (pretty common here). Especially when you have more than a single light that is a pain. Think the battery is there instead of having to deal with bypasses or minimum loads. ITead doesn't seem to want to mess with that. But it seems like it doesn't use wifi for communication, think it's just 433 / 868 MHz. Can be fine but without details about the protocol it sucks. And the modules are just SOOOOOOO big!
The whole idea of having a input only device (just like the Shelly i3 or Hue Wall switch) is pretty cool. Even the main-battery hybrid like this. But I would like an open protocol for that. Aka Wifi with Tasmota or just Zigbee. And no bigger than the good old Mini (R1).
Yes the modules are huge!
The user manual for the S-Mate states: This is a module with "eWeLink Remote" that can connect with the ordinary rocker or pulse switch. The smart device will be cut off and out of control when the ordinary switch is off. S-MATE is specifically used to deal with t his issue. After connecting with the rocker or pulse switch, smart device like MINIR3 can be controlled through "eWeLink Remote" of the module. -- Looks like it is supposed to be connected to the 3-way switch with no neutral, and maybe acts like a "smart bypass".
Correct, lets say your WIFI goes down, no control, thus the battery, Its smart when it needs to be? Thinking of adding some scene controllers around the house.
S-mate uses cr2032 battery, I wonder how long the battery life is
The s mate is useful for homes where there’s no neutral in the switch box
So you can wire the mini 3 directly to the box and wire the s mate to the switch to have both the mechanical switches and smart switch features for old homes
It’s actually genius
I don't see it better than doing a Shelly1 which doesn't take any batteries. Such a weird design.
It feels like a no neutral switch - Switch Mate ? So the battary powers the radio when the light isn't on
Great video. I just bought a heap of MiniR3's, they are near useless. Like you said, no ESP, the same size almost as a Dual R3 and no remote triggering.
I have a theory. I think the use case is when you have no neutral in the switch box. You connect the first one in the light fixture and the second one (s-mate, I guess is "switch mate") behind the switch in the wall, without any additional changes to the wires.
Are there not two wires looping to the switch from the light junction in cases like this? One going and one coming back?
I thought the same thing but I don't see why that would require a second box. It would just need a battery.
@@digiblurDIY I'm just guessing, I don't have them. Maybe it's just feeding itself from the line going through and the actual regular switch it's not getting 120V, so the switch mate ( in conjunction with the sonoff from the light fixture) it's acting like the sonoff mini but has more inputs for additional switches which can be programmed?
@@digiblurDIY In some countries, like brazil, the neutral goes through the main distribution directly to lighting circuits, while the hot wire goes to the switch boxes, then to the lighting fixtures. Here we call them "return" wire. It's mainly a way to reduce wiring costs, but kinda sucks to retrofit for smart switches.
My thoughts are as follows...
The S-Mate has 2 functions. One controls the normal switched live wire to the ceiling rose. The other function is a direct RF link to the eWeLink app. Sonoff are not very open about the details, preferring to call this "eWeLink-Remote". My understanding is that this uses the Bluetooth BLE protocol to automatically pair/control the S-Mate remotely. This is powered by the CR2032 button cell. They say this RF link enables the smart control to be local and active even if there is no internet, I assume the eWeLink app now also uses BLE?
So the "benefit" is that the user can operate the wall switch the old fashioned way to turn on the lights. And the eWelink app can operate in one of two ways; if there is an internet connection, then the 2.4GHz wifi can action the MINIR3, or without internet the app can send the "eWeLink-Remote" signal directly to the S-Mate and toggle the lights.
I will be sticking with my ceiling rose mounted MINIR2's. My internet doesn't go down very often.
Same Here in Asia and Middle East we are facing issue like Eu and American Companies producing 120 Volts products like Klein Tools and other companies. We cannot use lot of their products here in Asia and Middle East.
🤣🤣🤣
There is a community effort reverse engineering BL602 chip although it seems to have stopped. It was an interesting chip, because it had a RISC-V architecture before espressif introduced their own RISC-V chips.
It's for installations that have feed at the light. You'd typically want to use this device when you're limited by RF & wiring constraints.
I don't get why they don't use the wires they have though? In what wiring scheme diagram would a shelly1 not work?
just watching your video, I would say that part could be intended to read several pre-installed switches on your walls turning them into wireless controller switches. Just to control an intelligent lighting system, for example. As a way to have several inputs and spare the use of several relays or an expensive part for that.
I haven't searched any info beyond the pics here and your explanation, so I might be totally wrong.
Somebody who has three sonof mini R2 installed I was so confused with this product watching this video makes me realize that I’m not the only one
No the R4 is out but only 10A...
@@digiblurDIY i don’t think it’s out yet for purchase
Where is bigclive when you need him? ..or diodes gone wild?
Am I missing something?
EDIT2: I think the wiring diagram is a bit of a red herring. It looks like a remote control that goes in your wall that works without a network.
I have no idea. I have looked at and looked at this.
@@digiblurDIYI'm wondering if some of the wires are more about some building code then function.
Its like they saw the Shelly1 and Shelly 2.5 that even got UL certs, then they said lets do the Dual like that with the switch inputs! Genius! Then they got drunk and made this as the mini?
Here are my thoughts on this device.
Doesn't s-mate stand for switch mate. And the relay module gets connected to the lamp and the s-mate behind the switch. If you have mains power behind your switch you can connect it there. But if you don't you can use the battery. This allows you to always switch your light even if there's no wifi or hub active.
Super super edge cases from what I can come with as well. They should have done what I said and just copied their own design of the dual with the mains switch inputs. Then they could have also offered this smate device to hit it via BLE in those odd cases. Would have been a great device.
@@digiblurDIY You are absolutely right. I hope they won't use different chips in future products like with the Tuya stuff.
Is it just a switch to RF that uses the existing mechanical switch...?
I guess but what's wrong with wires that should already be there?
@@digiblurDIY not all wires in the switch areas have all hot common and ground. Some only have hot or common I can't remember
I have done some Shelly1 installs where they are no neutral.
Very strange.. I don't get it either.
I think it solves the problem of you have a powerplug that isn’t connected to the light switch in the room, but you want it switched by the light switch
Thanks Travis. 👍🏻
WFT. sonoff S mate and his R3 companion sucks compared to shelly proucts...
maybe instead of making a video without doing any research on the product and asking what it is used for, do that research yourself and provide those answers to your viewers. otherwise your video does not add any value at all.
Yep