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Are there any custom IoT wall switches designed using ZigBee, weave, Thread, etc. which have the ability to customize its use without forcefully imposing the use of a proprietary gateway or app?

I was thinking of using a RPI/Arduino solution to manage them instead. To turn them on and off yeah. Either via Google home/onhub or thru the custom RPI/Arduino.

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    Welcome to the IoT SE. Did you mean Z-Wave (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z-Wave) where you wrote weave? Can you elaborate a bit what you want to do? Just on/off? – Helmar♦ Jan 4 '17 at 20:13
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    @Helmar the OP probably meant Weave, the Google platform for IoT. – Aurora0001♦ Jan 4 '17 at 20:18
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    To turn them on and off yeah. Either via Google home/onhub or thru the custom RPI/Arduino. – Lester T. Jan 4 '17 at 23:28
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    What I see in the market now it all connected to a Hub. Eg. Smart things or third party brands which has their own hub or RF remote which is not exactly "open". – Lester T. Jan 4 '17 at 23:30
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    Do you prefer wired switches or wireless switches? Is this a new house / apartment that's being built, a house / apartment that's being completely renovated, or do you just want to add a switch to an existing house / apartment and link it do whatever is already there? – John Slegers Jan 5 '17 at 10:16
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The lightwaveRF lighting protocol is simple OOK at 433 Mhz, I think. It's documented, so you could use them. Maybe a little bit more expensive than other options though.

Here is an Arduino/Raspberry Pi library.

This is of course a solution with zero authentication or encryption, which ought to make it less attractive.

There also seem to be some WiFi switches coming out now, for example this WeMo one

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Z-Wave is a mesh networking technology commonly used for home automation that allows many different brands of products to interoperate with each other very easily. However, it is a patented proprietary protocol that requires a licensed Z-Wave chip, which are not generally available to the hobbyist at affordable rates.

To communicate, Z-Wave devices must be joined to the same Z-Wave mesh network. That means you need to have a primary controller somewhere, at least for the purpose of pairing. The primary controller does not have to be present when the scene executes; and the primary controller does not necessarily have to be connected to the Internet (but that's not very IoT.)

Some commercial Z-Wave switches are "scene capable", meaning you can install and use them as a typical wall switch, and they can trigger behavior directly in other Z-wave devices without needing to send a message to the primary controller. Usually this is fairly primitive, meaning you can have one light switch turn on several other light switches, but nothing more sophisticated.

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  • No one uses ZigBee or weave for home automation? – Lester T. Jan 12 '17 at 13:20
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    I wouldn't say "No one", but they're not as prevalent. Weave is a brand new higher level communication protocol that rides on top of TCP. It doesn't specify a physical media that must be used; because it's TCP it works over Wi-Fi. I expect Google will push it hard. But most installed home automation networks today use custom protocols (Crestron, Z-Wave, X-10) that are purpose-built, older, simpler, and much smaller than TCP. I expect a Z-Wave to Weave bridge will soon be forthcoming, if it doesn't already exist today. And ZigBee's never really taken off in the commercial marketplace. – John Deters Jan 12 '17 at 15:54

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