Robin will be able to best answer the questions about Fibaro as he has now done two complete houses all with Fibaro kit. I will say that one of the things to remember about any in wall micro is that it doesn’t have to be right behind the switch physically, it can be anywhere on the same circuit branch. Sometimes that means people put it in the ceiling rose, sometimes it can be put in a junction box elsewhere. So you are not restricted just to the size of the back box itself.

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Also, in some cases you can use one “dual” micro which can handle two switches and then a single micro for the third switch. That way you only have to be able to fit two rather than three. But it does depend on the exact wiring and load specifications.

There are several good brands of micros, I believe the aeotec nano line is the smallest but there are new models coming out all the time, so do you check the dimensions.

One question we do need to get out of the way since this is an older switch: are there neutral lines coming into the switch box? If so, there is a much wider variety of smart switch options available. If not, you’re pretty much limited to either the lightwave RF, the aeotec nano dimmer, or the Fibaro dimmer in some models. But of course if you move a micro to elsewhere on the line there may be a neutral there.

Also, I wouldn’t shy away from the lightwaveRF just because it has its own hub. That’s not really much different than using Phillips hue bulbs with the Phillips hue bridge, for example. Those are nice devices, they have an official integration with smartthings, they don’t require a neutral, and most people find the aesthetics good. Usually people look for an alternative because of the cost, not because they require an additional hub.

All in One Options

In addition to lightwave RF, there are some other all in one multigang options, where you just swap out the 3 gang smart switch for the dumb switch, and in theory, this should be easy as long as you have neutral lines at the switchbox. (I believe all the brands except lightwave RF require a neutral.) There are available three gang Z wave and zigbee switches.

Unfortunately, the smartthings platform has never implemented what are called “multi channel“ or “multi endpoint“ devices very well. That’s where there’s a single physical device but it has three or four or whatever individually controllable options. So the ones that you would expect to work, often don’t. And there isn’t really anything we can do about it.

There is supposed to be an upgrade coming on the platform side for Z wave multi channel devices, but it’s not here yet.

WiFi Switches

So… That leaves Wi-Fi devices. if you go to Amazon.co.uk you can find lots and lots of three gang Wi-Fi smart switches. They vary in quality and in safety certifications, but Sonoff and Meross are two good brands.

All Wi-Fi switches will have their own app, typically Chinese, and they work fine with that app. The question is how do you get them to work with smartthings? They don’t typically have an integration and there’s no industry standard for home automation devices for Wi-Fi the way there is for Z wave and Zigbee so many of these only work with their own app.

So now you have to start looking for a “man in the middle” to deliver integration. That could be IFTTT, it could be Amazon routines, there are a couple of ways of doing it.

SONOFF

People with strong technical skills used to be able to “flash” the firmware on sonoff devices To allow them to be used with smartthings without Requiring going through the Chinese servers, but I’ve heard that that no longer works with the newer models. If you’re interested in that, you can check the forums for the most up-to-date information

IFTTT

IFTTT can work well as long as The Internet is available, IFTTT is working, and the smartthings cloud is working. But that’s a lot of points of vulnerability for a light switch. You may be fine with that if it’s a situation where you’d be happy to go over and press the switch on the wall if the automations weren’t working. But it’s something to be aware of.

Also, some models offer two way communication and some don’t.

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With one way communication, you could use smart pthings as the “IF” at IFTTT and the Wi-Fi switch as the “that“ and you would be able to turn the switch on and off from SmartThings. But if someone turned on the switch at the wall, smartthings would not know that the state had changed.

With two way communication, the Wi-Fi switch can be either the “if“ or that“ so you can create rules where if the Wi-Fi switch is turned on at the wall then smartthings gets notified of the change in state.

It’s up to each individual device manufacturer whether any given model has one way or two way communication, so you just have to check each one that you are looking at.

Amazon Routines

Amazon routines can give you some integration with devices that would otherwise be unavailable to smartthings, but it’s almost always one way. So it may be useful, it may not. And again, you’ve added a lot of points of vulnerability for a light switch.

Summary

As of this writing, LightwaveRF Remains the easiest way to do this. Their switches don’t require a neutral, they’re reliable, they’re safety certified, they have an official two way integration. It’s just that they are expensive compared to cheap Chinese devices.

There should be quite a few zwave or zigbee alternatives, such as the ones from MCO home or Schneider, but unfortunately, the smartthings platform just doesn’t handle this configuration very well at this time. They may do better in the future, or there may be some individual models which work OK. Hopefully if anyone has one that does work, they’ll add to this thread.

Aurora One has an official U.K. integration for a two gang zigbee dimmer, but don’t offer a three gang.

So that leaves Wi-Fi switches. There are lots of these, but most are not very well engineered and don’t have safety certifications. And they don’t have official integrations with smartthings. But there are two brands, Sonoff and Meross, Which are better engineered with more safety certifications and which have been fairly popular in the community. The Sonoff offers the most integration options, but only for some models and you have to have some good technical skills to implement it.

Otherwise, regardless of the Wi-Fi brand, you have to start looking for a “man in the middle” option. IFTTT is usually the easiest of those, but may only offer one way integration.

38 Three and four-way switching

Aaron Lee

When a light is to be controlled from two different locations, such as the top and bottom of a set of stairs, or a room with more than one entrance, we use a pair of single-pole, double-throw switches to create a 3-way switch loop. If we need to control the light from more than two locations then we simply install a 4-way, or double-pole, double-throw, switch in between the two 3-way switches.

As a rule, we must always install 3-way switches in pairs, and then as many 4-way switches as necessary. For example, if a light is to be controlled from four different locations we would need two 3-way switches and two 4-way switches. If a light was to be controlled from ten different locations, then we would need two 3-way switches and eight 4-way switches.

Each 3-way switch comes with three terminals: one common terminal and two traveller terminals. When installing 3-way switch loops all switching must be done in the ungrounded, or “hot” conductor. The first 3-way switch will have the constant hot connected to its common terminal, then the two traveller terminals will be run to the second 3-way switch, where they will connect to the two traveller terminals. From the final 3-way switch the common terminal is connected to the switch leg which then feeds the lamp load.

When controlling a light from an additional location a double-pole, double-throw, or 4-way switch is inserted in between the two three-way switches

Three and four-way switches are never to be used as disconnection means.  If electric loads that are controlled in this manner need to be serviced, power must be safely disconnected at the source.  Always observe proper lock-out techniques when working on electrical circuits.

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