It would be cheaper to buy a bunch of old smartphones and stick them on the wall.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
'Brilliant' Aims to Replace Your Home's Light Switches With Touchscreens
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Really neat technology that is not needed by anyone. I grew up in a house with intercom panels in each room connected to a central station that included AM/FM radio. It was almost never used beyond the novelty factor. Many houses in the neighborhood were built at the same time and had the same devices. None of my friends used them either. All the teenagers opened them up and disconnected the wires so that they knew that parents could not listen in. One friend told me that his parents removed wires from intercom panel in their room for the very same reason (Builders all put the central stations in a common room).
Up/down light switches with dimmer is just fine, reliably work and have zero compatibility issues have have been around for decades. Don't have to be concerned with technology needing to be updated or outdated and replaced.
Saving money and keeping things simple is not a crime.
Up/down light switches with dimmer is just fine, reliably work and have zero compatibility issues have have been around for decades. Don't have to be concerned with technology needing to be updated or outdated and replaced.
Saving money and keeping things simple is not a crime.
ZolakJHS
Lutron Caseta will work - put the main switch in the one location and mount the decora sized pico remote in the other. Alternatively, if you just want on/off, you can use their 6amp switch in one location and your existing switch in the other.
http://www.lutron.com/en-US/Products/Pages/SingleRoomControls/CasetaWireless/Overview.aspx
[doublepost=1486585246][/doublepost]The lack of homekit support is almost a non-issue since nearly everything (Elgato and iDevices are a few exceptions) that is homekit compatible is also compatible with Echo, Smarthings, Wink etc.
I can set the temperature on my Ecobee, adjust my Philips hue lights or turn on my iHome switch via Alexa, Siri, or smartthings and nothing ever gets mixed up. Lutron just announced smartthings compatibility will be available in a few months which means nearly all of the major homekit players can be controlled by Alexa and Smartthings.
This is likely to work for nearly anything out there either directly or via a smarthings or Wink hub, and likely to be much easier to control than any smart phone app.
Lutron Caseta will work - put the main switch in the one location and mount the decora sized pico remote in the other. Alternatively, if you just want on/off, you can use their 6amp switch in one location and your existing switch in the other.
http://www.lutron.com/en-US/Products/Pages/SingleRoomControls/CasetaWireless/Overview.aspx
[doublepost=1486585246][/doublepost]The lack of homekit support is almost a non-issue since nearly everything (Elgato and iDevices are a few exceptions) that is homekit compatible is also compatible with Echo, Smarthings, Wink etc.
I can set the temperature on my Ecobee, adjust my Philips hue lights or turn on my iHome switch via Alexa, Siri, or smartthings and nothing ever gets mixed up. Lutron just announced smartthings compatibility will be available in a few months which means nearly all of the major homekit players can be controlled by Alexa and Smartthings.
This is likely to work for nearly anything out there either directly or via a smarthings or Wink hub, and likely to be much easier to control than any smart phone app.
Last edited:
So we have smart switches everywhere so that we don't have to shift our butts from the couch and at the sane time our iPhones count our steps towards the mythical 10,000 mark and our watches tell us to get up every our (and don't forget to breathe!)
It does not make sense!
I really don't need or want a complicated wifi enabled network just to turn the light on! I'll bet a lot if people will be ripping these our in s few years time when they start going wrong and putting back in regular switches!
I'm not a Luddite, I have 2 macs? iPhone, 2 iPads but technology should serve a real purpose (other than creating income for tech companies)
I love my Lutron lights switches. The ability to have them go on and off on a timer, go on and off based on my location, etc is something I really like not only for myself but for the family. Never having to go into a house that is pitch black is nice. Or forgetting to turn on the outside light.
Do I need this type of switch for every switch in the house, no. But there are plenty of area's I do and I am glad I can do it.
Do I need this type of switch for every switch in the house, no. But there are plenty of area's I do and I am glad I can do it.
So that the light switch consumes more electricity than the bulbs themselves?
With the advent of LED lighting, I was able to save a lot, replacing 20W fluorescent light bulbs with 5W LED ones. The switches themselves are mechanical, so presumably eats less than 1W of power due to resistance.
Now with touch-screen, light switches consumes ≅ 10W (assuming iPad-level power). And this energy is consumed whether the lights are on or not.
Brilliant.
With the advent of LED lighting, I was able to save a lot, replacing 20W fluorescent light bulbs with 5W LED ones. The switches themselves are mechanical, so presumably eats less than 1W of power due to resistance.
Now with touch-screen, light switches consumes ≅ 10W (assuming iPad-level power). And this energy is consumed whether the lights are on or not.
Brilliant.
Could this thing be any uglier? I'll be damned if I'm going to put up some stupid touchscreen in every room of my house.
[doublepost=1486593248][/doublepost]
[doublepost=1486593248][/doublepost]
If someone puts a product out on the marketplace, it's completely fair game to critique that product. It's not like they're giving these things away for free, is it?
I didn't realize we were not allowed to critic or criticize a product or offering, let alone products that are talked about on the internet. I must have missed that memo.
Excellent observation. These cool gadgets will increase the use of electricity which is generated through most of the US with fossil fuels. Its the perfect purchase for those that are into conspicuous consumption and too lazy to flip a switch.
Another iGizmo solution in search of a problem.
Ideal for the more money then brains crowd.
Gonna be a huge success.
"Trevor, check out my amazingly cool new light switches..."
Ideal for the more money then brains crowd.
Gonna be a huge success.
"Trevor, check out my amazingly cool new light switches..."
um, is he smoking something? must be the 'wrong' pilots they are working with.
Why not just have these switches communicate with your phone, you have that almost always on you and one does not have to duplicate the technology. These smart switches just need to take commands for a mobile device, why duplicate to a limited degree, this is redundant and not well implemented. No requirement for the camera, screen, mic, etc this is all available on your smart phone to control thing, this should really be a light switch bridge/hub with an app to do all these functions.
It seems like home automation is a real dividing line, even among the corps of normal early adopters (I almost said "so-called" but have now stricken that phrase from my vocab).
Having been a technophile and bleeding edge early adopter ever since my youth, starting with handheld games and early consoles, to Vic-20, and Apple II, II+, IIe, and on into mac ever since, I wonder how much of the resistance to home automation is simply user fatigue.
I'm tired of new devices and gadgets that promise more and deliver less. I'm tired of updating and configuring. There needs to be a real and pressing problem now for me to bring more technology into my life.
[doublepost=1486610363][/doublepost]
Hilarious. Totally takes me back. I hacked an old land line and connected it to the intercom system in our house. It only broadcast, I never got the microphone aspect working. But it was hilarious when my parents were out of town. My nerd friends would come over and we would crank call people, broadcasting it all over the house.
Having been a technophile and bleeding edge early adopter ever since my youth, starting with handheld games and early consoles, to Vic-20, and Apple II, II+, IIe, and on into mac ever since, I wonder how much of the resistance to home automation is simply user fatigue.
I'm tired of new devices and gadgets that promise more and deliver less. I'm tired of updating and configuring. There needs to be a real and pressing problem now for me to bring more technology into my life.
[doublepost=1486610363][/doublepost]
Hilarious. Totally takes me back. I hacked an old land line and connected it to the intercom system in our house. It only broadcast, I never got the microphone aspect working. But it was hilarious when my parents were out of town. My nerd friends would come over and we would crank call people, broadcasting it all over the house.
I do the same with my watch. Every room has Hues and I always wear my watch. It's pretty slick.
So, with the cheapest Series 1 Apple watch priced at $199 (on sale at Target this week) all you need is one Watch and your entire house is under control.
And the watch does a ton of other cool stuff. So you get that practically for free.
It's cool that you got him to respond to you. But he's either lying or stupid. Not including HomeKit compatibility alienates one of the largest swaths of the market who can afford $200 light switches: Apple fans.
[doublepost=1486614568][/doublepost]
Agreed! And with the upcoming SiriKit improvemts to watchOS, Apple Watch will only get better.
Brilliant won't see any kind of market penetration until the price of their glorified light switches comes down 75%.
I have insteon and isy994i with home bridge. Insteon support 3 way.
But there is also caseta which I don't own but according to this they work.
https://www.lutron.com/TechnicalDocumentLibrary/0301710a_Caseta Advanced Instructions.pdf
Lot's of frustration about HomeKit. Received a reply from one of their PM's.
First, about the n-way switches:
Now for HomeKit:
I also asked about the camera and how people of different heights would use it:
Lastly, doorbells:
First, about the n-way switches:
"The Brilliant Controls available for pre-sale today will definitely support multi-way switching if you are using all Brilliant Controls. We are working on 3-way support that works with other switches, but that is likely down the road. If you wouldn't mind sharing your current configuration, it will be very helpful for our future designs!"
Now for HomeKit:
"No, we do not support HomeKit in this initial release. There are some hardware requirements that make it prohibitively expensive. We are, however, planning to release a HomeKit version in the future."
I also asked about the camera and how people of different heights would use it:
"The camera is a wide-field unit and works well for most people, kids included!"
Lastly, doorbells:
"We are also working with smart video doorbells so that feature will function well."
I am not sure what the use case would be for HomeKit since this integrates with other existing smart home devices which can be directly accessed via HomeKit. I guess the only thing would be to act as a bridge for non-homekit devices.
Agreed, but they seem to be in the ballpark.
The webpage says "typically takes .75KHz per month", which puts it at 1Watt continuous. That doesn't add up, so they must be turning off the screen when not fully active.
Here is sunny southern california, with >20cents/kWh, a house full (e.g. 5) of these would add less than a dollar onto the electric bill. In theory you save by automating lights on a schedule, but there are cheaper ways of doing that without being "Brilliant". (Z-Wave here).
The NuBryte Touchpoint already does all this, and more! It's been out on the market since March 2016 and with an easy 5-10 minute installation, gives homeowners instant smart lighting, home security, intercom, and several family hub features. No monthly fees or subscription costs. New integrations regularly (Nest, Alexa, Phillips Hue, IFTTT), and product expansions coming soon! It's for sale on NuBryte.com, Amazon, and soon Best Buy!
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
I wish this worked with Lutron (I couldn't find anything on their site that says it does). I like the look of this a lot!
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.