J.A. Russell. I purchased one of the Tuya dimming modules that I’ll use in the house, and went about trying it with the exact same model of downlights we will have in our ceilings.
Highly professional test box.
Just because we’ve got all lights being dimmable, it doesn’t mean we’ve got old fashioned rotary knobs all over the place. Most common around the house will be standard light switches. The electrical range that Jennian uses is Legrand Excel Life fittings, and that’s what most of the light switches will be. They will work the same as every other light switch you’ve used - flick the switch and it’ll turn on. The dimmability is achieved by fitting smart modules in the wall box behind the light switch.
A variety of dimmer modules I tested out.
So, if you don’t dim the lights using a dimmer knob, how do you do it? Using smarts! And here are the options:
In certain areas we will have manually dimmable lights. This will be in places where we will want to adjust the brightness more frequently, like in the lounge when you may want low lighting to watch a movie, or the main bathroom when you want that mood lighting for a relaxing hot bath. Rather than a knob, these are push button dimmers. A quick tap turns them on or off, but holding the button down changes the brightness level. They’re still fully integrated into the smart home, but just have the additional option of manual control.
The button style manual dimmer.
In semi-related news, a little while ago my wife and I went to visit my aunty Colleen down in Kapiti. It was really nice seeing her again and talking about my Dad. She reminded me of something about my Dad - before he was married, he went traveling. He went around the world twice, all with his good friend John Couchman. I remember all the stories Dad told me about this. How they slept in a car in Germany, and woke up being surrounded by police. He’d tell me how John would go into an interesting looking business or building very confidently, saying they were there for some professional reason. In reality, he just was being nosey and wanted a free guided tour.
Couchmans Electrical is the company that will be doing all the wiring for our house - the company founded by John Couchman back in 1953. It doesn’t mean anything materially, but it is a bit special for this house build to have that connection back to my Dad.