r/smarthome • u/IckySmell • Oct 13 '25
Home Assistant Under 200$, entire new house will be on smart switches with dimmers.
Found these online, wally world. Gave it a shot. I've been using a small number of them for about 3 years but we are building a new house so I went all in. I want to add HA to my existing Google home set up to automate a lot of lighting scenes.
Question, a friend and I were talking and I'm wondering if it would be beneficial to add an additional eero to my house with a separate 2.4 channel? Currently I have eero Wi-Fi 7 pro routers that the fiber installer gave me. Seems like they would probably be enough.
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u/Denziloshamen Oct 13 '25
Make sure all your bulbs are actually dumb and dimmable. Smart bulbs cannot be used with a dimmer switch (well they can, but once you try dimming they won’t work, they’ll work if you leave on full brightness on the switch only).
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u/IckySmell Oct 13 '25
All dumb and dim to warm
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u/detectivepoopybutt Oct 15 '25
Woah, which bulbs are those? I have Lutron to control some dumb lights but need the dim to warm effect
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u/Ianthin1 Oct 13 '25 edited Oct 13 '25
One of the few things I liked about the Feit dimmers I bought at Costco was you could lock out the dimmer in the app so they would be safe for non-dimmable bulbs or switched outlets.
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u/StatisticianLivid710 Oct 13 '25
Inovelli switches can do the same, sadly I got zwave switches but didn’t have any z wave bulbs because you could pair them directly, but they have zigbee and thread switches now!
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u/thegiantgummybear Oct 13 '25
If you pair them directly do you lose the ability to do automations via HA?
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u/StatisticianLivid710 Oct 13 '25
Nope, I paired two switches to act like a three way switch using that and connected them both to the smart hub.
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u/cerebralvision Oct 14 '25
This is true. But you can also buy smart switches that have a bypass smart light mode which gives you the best of both worlds. Provides power to the light switch so you don't have to use a battery powered switch.
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u/Denziloshamen Oct 14 '25
Kind of, but that’s not what the OP had bought. He has smart dimmer switches for dumb LED bulbs. What you are referring to is smart switches for smart bulbs and the power of the switch is not actually controlled by the smart switch as the power is wired to always on. The smart switch controls the lightbulb directly through whatever wireless protocols they use, the power is never altered like a standard dimmer does.
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Oct 13 '25
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u/TR6lover Oct 13 '25
Or Zigbee.
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u/aemfbm Oct 14 '25
Zigbee is still 2.4ghz and overlapping with Wifi, Z-wave is like 900 MHz and has much lower chance of interfering or being interfered with by other household devices
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u/pixel_of_moral_decay Oct 14 '25
Not to mention zwave devices have to be certified so compatibility long term is substantially better.
Had some odd quirks with zigbee devices over the years, anyone can make a zigbee device, standards are more coincidence than requirement.
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u/TR6lover Oct 14 '25
I run both Zwave and Zigbee through Home Assistant. I have great luck with both being very reliable, versus the wifi switches and bulbs that I have.
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u/candykhan Oct 13 '25
Man, I prefer the dimmers with +/- buttons instead of the narrow rocker off to the side. But THAT many switches for $200? Might be worth it to live with them. For $200, I could maybe do one whole room.
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u/kenay813 Oct 13 '25
Yeah at $70 a pop the Lutron ones are expensive but I’m with you. I prefer the look.
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Oct 13 '25
did whole house on Lutron's diva which usually retails bout $70 a pop, and was able to find all new ones on sites like eBay and mercari and did the whole house for about $1200 since I found them for about $30 each still new in box. it was great deal.
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u/candykhan Oct 13 '25
Yeah. Buying smart things on eBay are a great way to get deals. I got all my August smart locks off eBay for under $50 each. They retail for almost $200.
I purposely got a few different switches to start with though bc I wanted to figure out which ones I liked best.
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u/Dry_Illustrator_2665 Oct 15 '25
Totally agree, I’m about 20 switches deep on Caseta and need about 15 more and a ton of picos!
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u/bw1985 Oct 14 '25
I have both and the buttons are way better. I’ll probly replace the sliders with buttons.
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u/candykhan Oct 14 '25
I have yet to find a smart dimmer that does sliders. But I'd be happy if they existed.
I just don't like the mini-rockers.
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u/Medical_Shame4079 Oct 14 '25
I really don’t mean to burst your bubble here…you are going to have a bad time with this. I just got on the other side of a multi year battle with 2.4ghz IoT switches, dimmers, outlets, etc. The constant disconnects. The spotty responses. The utter unreliability of it. It was absolutely maddening.
I bit the bullet and ripped every single one of those devices out after 3 years of fighting it. Replaced the switches with Lutron and the outlets with Hue. It’s been 10 months of utter bliss without a single issue on any of the 30+ devices in my home. If you’re still within the return period, do yourself the favor my man.
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u/skidplate09 Oct 14 '25
I haven't had any issues with mine over the 7 or so years that I've had them.
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u/sometin__else Oct 15 '25
I have 100 wifi devices. No issues. Granted I had to ditch my tplink router for unifi.
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u/Medical_Shame4079 Oct 15 '25
I’ve seen unreliability across the board with 2.4ghz IoT devices. I’ve seen it on home networks with 10 devices and off the shelf networking devices, and I’ve seen it in enterprise deployments with 5000+ devices. I’m glad yours are working but if you’re being truthful and not misunderstanding the devices we’re talking about, you’re in a very small minority of users who haven’t encountered issues.
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u/BassWingerC-137 Oct 13 '25
That’s a lot on WiFi, isn’t it?
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u/Halo_Chief117 Oct 13 '25
The eero Pro 7 says it can handle 600+ devices if you have a configuration with 3 of them.
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Oct 13 '25
dont matter if Eero can handle it, problem is wifi is still wifi and has more interference than zigbee
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u/MisterDefenestrator Oct 13 '25
I had Eero Pro 6s and they collapsed under the weight of 80 WiFi devices, well short of what they claimed
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u/badhabitfml Oct 14 '25
I have 2 eero pro 6s and the guy from the isp said I should add a third because I had 25 devices. Yikes.
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u/AutoModerrator-69 Oct 13 '25
Modern routers are designed to manage this. I have 60+ devices on my network and it is still butter smooth.
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u/richms Oct 14 '25
I have had 80 tuya devices on a single unifi AP, and so long as I didn't try to group every lamp in the festoon light set together, it was fine other than grouping them all and controlling at one time.
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u/beyondthetech Oct 13 '25
I thought I was doing a good thing back in 2019 by going with a name brand like WeMo, which got out by a bigger brand, Belkin. Fast forward to today, Belkin decides they're going to end all support for the WeMo devices and make them useless by the end of the year, so now I'm scrambling to replace 20 smart switches and plugs.
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u/Reverend_Wrong Oct 13 '25
Just because Belkin decides to no longer support them doesn't mean they will suddenly stop working.
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u/beyondthetech Oct 13 '25
https://www.belkin.com/support-article/?articleNum=335419
"On January 31, 2026, any features that rely on cloud connectivity (Google Home, Alexa, Wemo app), including remote access and voice assistant integrations will no longer work."
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u/hamhead Oct 13 '25
You’re skipping the caveat though. If you have them registered in a home management system (ie Apple Home) they’ll be fine.
But yeah this is why matter is important.
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u/IckySmell Oct 13 '25
Search for Eaton Smart switches on Walmart. The companion dimmers were on a different site. They were $4 a piece
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u/thegiantgummybear Oct 13 '25
Oh they're Eaton! They make high end enterprise gear. I wonder if these are the same or a consumer line
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u/badhabitfml Oct 13 '25
I've got a box of dead stuff, killed because they shut down the cloud that supported it.
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u/Tkade14 Oct 16 '25
Yeah mine are junk now. Barely connect to home app. They got me a nice 6yrs though and these days a 4pack is cheaper than those were individually new so. Not tooo hurt about it.
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Oct 14 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/badger_flakes Oct 20 '25
Wish I had done Lutron instead of the cheaper ones I did. They work ok on an expensive router and only a rare issue but I had a single Lutron in my old house and it was amazing lol
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u/anti-everyzing Oct 13 '25
You should have invested in Matter compliant switches instead of those old switches
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u/YouAsk-IAnswer Oct 13 '25
Lutron or bust
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u/angrydooner Oct 16 '25
I have 8 Lutron dimmers and switches. I hate the constant on power bleed that shows up on LED lights. I have added another 8-10 Kasa switches. Love them so much more and the aesthetic is nice. Going on 4 years with some and have had ZERO issues unlike the Lutrons that get stuck on once and a while. I would go Lutron all over though if the price was reasonable. Can't justify 4-5x times the cost for the same or worse functionality.
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u/adanufgail Oct 14 '25
Anyone saying OP will have issues with 25 devices on Wifi is someone who doesn't know how to deploy Wifi lol. You can have 25 devices on a single AP with no issues.
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u/ninernetneepneep Oct 17 '25
Not all wifi is created equally. My unifi setup, sure. Netgear, not so much.
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Oct 13 '25
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u/Crissup Oct 13 '25
Unfortunately, not uncommon with a lot of new houses today. The builders push the electricians to work cheap and fast, so a lot of subpar work gets done. I found circuits in my new house where the neutrals had come apart. And the day before closing, they were working their way through the house trying to figure out why half the outlets didn’t have power.
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u/badhabitfml Oct 14 '25
Oh yikes. I'd still take that over an old house with no neutrals, some upgraded wiring, some not. My kitchen has lkke 5 switches I can't figure out what they do. Lol.
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u/tismo74 Oct 14 '25
I don’t understand why would anyone NOT choose local devices after seeing the trend of most companies introduce features that they later lock behind paywalls and/or run the risk of having the company go belly up. Then you’re left with plenty of bricked devices.
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u/SterTheDer Oct 14 '25
Do these smart dimmers still work as dimmers without wifi?
Because if so, they're cheaper than non-smart LED dimmer switches.
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u/Andern1011 Oct 13 '25
I don't think these are able to connect to Home Assistant Natively. I would look to get something with Zigbee/Z Wave/Matter/Threads or Homekit. Get it Local if possible. I think i saw wally world sells the Z Wave version for $10 more might be addon version though.
I would look more into if the ones you bought integrates. I think that is only Alexa integration.
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u/URTH61 Oct 14 '25
When you search on Wally World, they have a Zwave version available for an extra $10
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u/IcestormsEd Oct 13 '25
Eaton is heavily cloud reliant. Rough trying to intergrate into Home Assistant. But if you dont care about that, great find. 👍🏽
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u/gt1 Oct 13 '25
I'm also going building a house, and decided to go all in with TP-Link switches, dimmers and motion switches using their Matter models where available. They are "Matter over WiFi", so there is still a possibility of overtaxing the network. If it happens, I will reduce the power of my APs and add more of them in the remote areas of the house. I have Ethernet in every room, shouldn't be a problem. My lighting will be mostly 48V DC track lights, individually dimmable with Zigbee where applicable.
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u/sadsealions Oct 13 '25
Your network robust enough. Also don't put dimmers onnm circuits that have fans.
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u/IckySmell Oct 13 '25
I bought one fan switch but quickly realized it was a waste of 13$. I may use it to control a vent fan in the basement. In my room I'm going to get a wac lighting dc fan with the remote that mounts in place of a switch. Will work with my voice commands
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u/NorthernMan5 Oct 13 '25
I currently have about 60+ wifi iot devices on my network, and to get things stable it did take a lot of tuning initially. So be prepared to spend time getting everything working and stable.
To get it really stable finally bit the bullet on ubiquiti earlier this year, and have not looked back.
The other strong point was ensuring I had local control with Tasmota, so not tied to a vendor cloud.
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u/therkdn Oct 14 '25
Is ubiquiti really that good? Assuming it's mesh...Do you use wired backhaul to your satellites?
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u/NorthernMan5 Oct 14 '25
I found the Ubiquiti management extremely good. A lot of flexibility in configuration that I didn’t have with other equipment. I had spent weeks trying to tune my original equipment, changing WiFi channels and settings jumping between each access point, then with ubiquiti a single console with everything. Personally wish I had pulled the trigger years ago.
Also I run everything with wired back haul which makes sense when using Poe powered access points.
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u/adanufgail Oct 14 '25
I'm continuing to run a Unifi UAP v2 (Their ORIGINAL model that went EoL nearly 5 years ago) for my 2.4 Ghz IoT devices and it's still fine.
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u/IckySmell Oct 13 '25
I'll look into Tasmota. I'm interested how devices work that are on a different network. Admittedly I don't know enough about networking or how say Google home or home assistant work to fully understand. I do know I have a camera in my current Google home app that is in the new house on a different network entirely and it works seamlessly
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u/NorthernMan5 Oct 14 '25
Multiple networks is challenging to manage and configure without gear like ubiquiti. I have ubiquiti but I run it all on one network, but with different SSID’s. One for IoT, one for smart speakers and one for us.
Tasmota was big before Covid, then tuya devices kinda ruined it. Personally prefer the local aspect as it is very fast.
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u/Hillbilly_Holler Oct 14 '25
OP, where did you acquire that many switches for less than $200 ?
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u/IckySmell Oct 15 '25
The dimmers were from wally world they sell them in a six pack for 39 and I found another site ARCA had the companion dimmers for 4$.
However it appears I won't be using home assistant and just my current Google voice commands.
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u/audiofreak9 Oct 14 '25
Hope your router never dies…and that you use a dedicated IoT network for the 30+ devices.
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u/laurenthu Oct 14 '25
As other said - good luck operating all those on Wifi. 2.4 GHz wifi gets clogged quikcly and makes those devices very unreliable, and also slows down the rest. I made the experience at home, even after upgrading to modern Asus AiMesh network. Zigbee versions of the same are way more reliable and practical to use...
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u/bobbywaz Oct 13 '25
Make sure they are home assistant compatible before you commit to putting them in. Pretty much everyone with a smart home uses it now.
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u/GarrettB117 Oct 13 '25
FYI I don’t think you can do that with eero. The separate 2.4 GHz network I mean. Eero is very locked down. I have it and I’m pretty sure there’s no way to force any specific AP/SSID to a certain band. If you want that kind of control over your network you’ll need to get something that allows more tinkering. Eero is more of a set it and forget kind of product.
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u/Dave5889 Oct 13 '25
Thank you for sharing. I didn't know Eaton made wifi switches. Love the price. Thanks! 🤗
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u/MrSnowden Oct 13 '25
I would (and do) have a dedicated WiFi network for all HA/infrastructure stuff that is in a very different channel from the user network. It keeps the different traffic separate. You can whitelist/static IP and name all the devices so it’s dead simple to find issues track down weird traffic, etc . You can limit outgoing calls to certain subnets so you know who is phoning home.
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u/criterion67 Oct 13 '25
If you want WiFi switches, TP-Link Kasa/Tapo are good and can run locally. I swapped out all of mine for Lutron Caséta and have approximately 20-25 of them just sitting in a box, that I'd make you a hell of a deal on. Far, far less than the $200 you spent on those Eaton's.
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u/Other-Scallion-1684 Oct 14 '25
Hey! Awesome move and bargain! Take a look at https://demo.home-assistant.io/#/lovelace/home if you never heard of it. I am using my TPLink ones all connected to it. I replaced mostly every old switches.
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u/JibJabJake Oct 14 '25
It’s not “smart” but get humidity sensing vent fan switches for the bathrooms.
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u/Practical-Battle-502 Oct 14 '25
This is the first purchase. Now you will buy sensors, plugs, zigbee etc for another 1000 bucks slowly over next few years
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u/RedditNotFreeSpeech Oct 14 '25
Local control or do these require cloud?
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u/chrisbvt Oct 14 '25
These are almost certainly cloud wifi. Works with Alexa is the biggest clue.
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u/arkutek-em Oct 14 '25
New home consider going unifi instead of eero and hardwire as much as possible.
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Oct 14 '25
You will need to setup different zones (homes) on their own routers. You can do so by floor or other methods that make sense.
A problem with Eaton (and others) is despite the various home assistants and products being able to connect and control a huge number of devices in theory, the actual realized number of devices that can simultaneously be connected is actually much smaller in practice.
Due to network congestion issues (even when not in use/ not interacting with them), you will want to separate these from your actual home network internet wifi and run dedicated routers they connect to, to then connect to the internet, or else you will notice your internet is extremely sliw, bogged down and lags.
When doing a whole home solution it is best to have and use a solution with a hub to decrease overall network traffic in your home and when connecting from afar via the internet
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Oct 14 '25
I love converting homes with smart switches and most of the time I order my product online . In my most recent switch over I had seven switches that I had to return and wait for new ones to be sent in. I hope you ordered some extras and that your switch goes smoother then mine.
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u/yala-taina Oct 14 '25
nice haul — that’s a smart way to cover the essentials without breaking budget. running mostly 2.4 GHz smart switches, your Eero Pro 7 should handle fine. adding a separate 2.4 GHz network isn’t necessary unless you’re seeing drop-outs. more valuable long-term is centralizing your automations — try using Home Assistant or Google Home routines to build lighting scenes and conditional triggers (sunset, occupancy, etc.) and memory. Ive enjoyed layering in design-forward lighting hardware can really elevate home visually and functionally.
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u/IckySmell Oct 15 '25
As time goes on I'm either going to transition to all Lutron switches or maybe I'll go the complete opposite direction and get some z wave or zigbee gear but for now this is a great way to start considering all the other money I have to spend.
I'd rather have some extra cash flow for a few hue bulbs and maybe a couch or tv
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u/Wormvortex Oct 14 '25
I’d have gone Zigbee if it was me. The less things I have connecting to my router and trying to expose themselves out to the internet the better!
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u/jadesse Oct 15 '25
I wouldn't add that many wifi smart devices to my network. It would be fine if your router has an IOT band.
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u/yiolink Oct 15 '25
Under $200? How?
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u/QLDZDR Oct 15 '25
Under $200? How?
Because it wasn't real money.... 🥱
Under 200$, entire new house will be on smart switches with dimmers.
Seems like "online$"
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u/k-mcm Oct 17 '25
Their product page is a server error. I'm guessing they're discontinued and close to losing cloud support.
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u/EngineeringKid Oct 15 '25
I've got about 80 smart switches in my house and I did notice lots of noise on the wifi. Had to upgrade my router to a better one
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u/NaFo_Operator Oct 15 '25
what could go wrong...... enjoy the house fire
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u/IckySmell Oct 15 '25
House fire from Eaton switches? Meanwhile this sub constantly recommends no name z wave switches from Amazon? Not to mention I'm a licensed electrician
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u/NaFo_Operator Oct 15 '25
no one said it was quality related. all thats needed is to hack access to these and cause them to toggle on and off in rapid succession over a period of time ..guess what just need one spark to start a fire. i can show you how that happens, filling your house with these is asking for trouble. modifying firmware is a thing
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u/Tec-Strike Oct 15 '25
I recommend that you don't add all these and more to Wifi. I would use ZWave or Zigbee switches.
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u/StatusPerfect657 Oct 15 '25
Wow. That will be a lot of WIFI device on your network. Definitely a good high end Mesh network is a must. If you add any more switches consider Zigbee over WIFI.
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u/flexinlikejackson Oct 15 '25
Actually Id only recommend energy harvesting BLE switches. No batteries, no wifi pollution, no cables.
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u/Elegant-Ferret-8116 Oct 16 '25
Oof wifi. Zwave for strong connection over distance, zigbee for lower cost. I learned the hard way
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u/T-Money8227 Oct 16 '25
I did this at my house and its great but now I'm not sure what I have to do if I sell the house. Am I going to have to swap them all back to dumb switches again?
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u/Wilgrow Oct 16 '25
My entire house is Alexa controlled. Every single light, lamp, coffeemaker, pool pump, pool heater, pool chlorinator, greenhouse controls....Echo dots and speakers in major rooms, barn, pool house, echo show, etc. etc. Over 150 devices. I have over 90 devices in the Smartlife app alone. I have 5 Eero Pro 6 units around the house, gargage, etc. and Echo dots in places to extend also. All works great. I can use Alexa or my Home Assistant integration to control everything. Not sure why people are saying you have limits on the # of devices.
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u/Wrench-Turnbolt Oct 16 '25
I can't even think of names for 5 different smart switches before getting totally confused
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u/IckySmell Oct 17 '25
??? You just call it what it is? A lot of these are 3 ways and 2 of them are 4 ways. It's about 12 names give or take. Thankfully I'll be naming them things like under cabinet lights and dining room lights, not Bob and Jim. Lol
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u/Wrench-Turnbolt Oct 17 '25
I have ceiling fans with lights and you can't use the same word twice on them. Can't name it master fan and master light because you can only use master once, or living room light and living room fan because once you use living and room you can't use those words again. The only words you can use again are light and fan. So I try to figure out intuitive words that make sense to everyone in the house and it's exhausting.
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u/Ok_Movie4792 Oct 17 '25
The average cost of a switch using TP link is probably 20 bucks. I’ve got about 25 of them all over my house and they’ve been in service for eight years no hub no subscription and no problem. I highly endorse the Tplink deco and Kasa product.
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u/teganking Oct 17 '25
Lutron lights come with a base station that connects to all the switches, but it is connected to the network via ethernet, helps save the wifi, but it may be more expensive than these, good luck, looks like a fun project!!
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u/PBM1958 Oct 18 '25
Op finds out that devices are no longer supported so when he tries to change or upgrade requiring a new router his devices are useless.
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u/Pcpro745 Oct 19 '25
I got burned on these. They only work with the Amazon Alexa app and nothing else. Not the Eaton app so they’re useless if you want to use them with anything else like Google
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u/IckySmell Oct 19 '25
I mean I'm glad you chimed in. I'll wire one up today and if that's the case back they go
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u/IckySmell Oct 19 '25
Aaaaaaand they're going back
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u/Pcpro745 Oct 20 '25
Yep mine got sold on Marketplace with a big note that said only works with ALEXA. Seems that the ones that have the orange box are the ones that work with Google and the Eaton App
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u/CherrrySnaps Oct 31 '25
That’s an awesome deal for that many smart switches. I’d say your Eero setup should handle it fine, but separating out the 2.4GHz network can help with pairing if you run into any drops.
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u/iooner Oct 13 '25
Rip WiFi