I love the idea of this and have a couple of designs on the table for this kind of replacement switch next to the front door for status display and quick arming of security, etc. Mine uses a pi zero and a custom power and relay board that I built for this and one other project. The problem with any of these usually comes down to switch placement and the viewing angle of the screen used. I have wasted a lot of money testing screens only to be continuously disappointed by the narrow viewing angle when mounted on the wall at the height of a typical switch.
Great concept which will evolve. I am sure that others will develop a simular device with a higher capacity relay so Sonof better reconsider adding some more products.
Totally agree, great attempt so far. I didn't expect it to be perfect. A lot folks don't want to do some build your own kind of janky looking display on the wall so this fits that yet allows some open source work to go on.
Sonoff's switched are highly customizable AND look great... But that 1-gang thing is a huge stumbling block. I hace lived in two houses since getting into hime automation, one small, one large, and both were exactly what you said, the off one-gang for a stairways switch and thats pretty much it. This thing looks like it would make an awesome thermostat. My new place came with a Gen1 nest (*blagh*) and I'd really like to get a local control solution for that... But i really don't want 3D printed solutions and something that looks as professional as this would be perfect.
New Shit panel (in a good way). I would really like those in my house and have one big 10" tablet in a central part. I really like they are creating new content! Also, would be nice to see white panel.
No Such Panel. I like this as a decent screen in a nice package that I can install open firmware on. I'm disappointed by that 2 amp relay though. I literally don't know if I can wait for this thing. Hurry up Itead or I'll have to build my own. I wonder if I can connect a screen to a Sonoff mini?
NS (Nextion Screen) Panel It looks as if Itead combined the ESP32 and Nextion Screen boards into one PCB. My biggest worry is having individual access to the serial ports to flash the ESP32 with ESPHome and access to the serial ports on the screen to upload the Nextion Editor files that make up the UI and button press actions. I've ordered one unit, it looks promising.
@@digiblurDIY I did see in the FCC filing photos that there are two pads labeled TF_TX and TF_RX. I think these might be the serial connection required for uploading your custom Nextion Editor HMI files into the screen. The other serial connections you pointed out would be for flashing the ESP32. Time will tell.
I can understand about the maximum amperage being 2Amp. However It's designed for controlling light fixtures and modern LED lights. So for a example a 9watt LED bulb and divide it by the mains voltage that most electricians will use the 110 rule average it will consume 0.081 Amps. With four of those bulbs in say a group of can light fixtures or something you're looking at 0.327 Amps. Now I wouldn't want it to control a load such as a wall outlet, ceiling fan or anything like that. I've been working on a scene controller for my setup. I was planning to do something that looks like one of those zone/volume controllers. Has a little LCD and push buttons. The LCD displays the temp of the Room and the buttons to control scenes. Just something simple and not as advanced as the Sonoff.
I do get thing of not needing higher amperage for lighting these days but that becomes a problem when you put the cart in front of the horse that has the ability to push 15 amps or more. Because as exactly as you say, someone says I'll just put this in the dumb light switch spot that controls this outlet we never change. They connect like they think they are supposed to, turn on the relay, does the lamp work? Yep. So they leave the relay on then later on little Sally comes along and plugs in her 1800W hair dryer. If you had an inline fuse before it rated at 4 or 5A it would do the job instantly.
2 Amps sound pretty sufficient for a light switch to me. i am not aware of any lights in my house that would have more than 60 W (that are some legacy tungsten lights in my cellar), which is 0,25 A.
Hope you're planning on playing around with Tasmota on this thing. I'd love to see you do a video on it. I just got it flashed to mine but I'm a bit lost from there as to how to get everything working seamlessly. Seems like there will have to be a lot of commands to send commands to HA as well as back to the plate to update it etc.
I'm thinking combos like display water tank level with pump and heater controls, or display room temp/humidity with light and ceiling fan controls, or pool...
Hopefully once flashed you can use the physical buttons as virtual switches and ignore the relays. Even better if you can disengage the relays so no big click.
@@MatthewN8OHU there is some lvgl support on tasmota, but still early development. However that was not my question. I was wondering if I could control what happens with the display only with the esp32.
That's going to take a little time for the open source community to attack it at many levels. I was just showing the ability that it can be flashed so let the fun begin!
Given the switch at full brightness and both relays on only used about 2-3 watts. An inline fuse holder that supports the amperage/voltage of the circuit. I've used something like this before and given it had a lot of spares I was able to test it out. amzn.to/2YD5mcE
Looks super promising if: Tasmota, MQTT, and a higher amperage rating. I could see myself buying 7 or 8. But, if it lacks any of these things, I think I'd be looking elsewhere unfortunately. 🤷♂️
I really like the design! I think I'll order a few for my new house. Hopefully it does get picked up by the community. 2A is a bit low indeed but I will probably not use them. Really like dimming.
Interesting. I guess you could always 3D print a 3 gang face plate for it. It would be better if the relays were usable. Then you could print a Decora/Blank/NSPanel to give yourself more room.
@@digiblurDIY ah darn! Silly to only protect the power supply though. Otherwise you're going to melt relays/traces. A breaker isn't going to trip before it does.
That would be against electrical code making it worse. Mixing low voltage with mains voltage in the same box isn't a good idea especially from two different sources.
@@digiblurDIY Depends on the code. In my area, for example, it is fine for low and high voltage to share the same box if the low voltage cable insulation is rated for high voltage. An Ethernet PoE option would be great if one is to just use it as a scene controller and skip the relays for those areas that can't mix voltages.
I'm trying to understand the 2 amp problem. If my kitchen lights pull say 60W in total you up with .5A. Now obviously if the rating were higher it would be better but (perhaps being ignorant) I'd say this would work for me. Please anyone kindly explain.
It's not about the planned amperage pull its about when things go wrong. If everything happened as planned electrically we wouldn't need breakers/fuses in the world. The problem is you always want the breaker to be the weakest link in the chain. If you have a 7 amp draw/short for some reason and the breaker is 15A it won't trip. The 2A rating is now the weakest link in the chain so it will pop into smoke now potentially causing a fire. This can be remedied by placing a 2A fuse before the switch as now that is the weakest link in the circuit.
Unfortunately, like many things, it supports all the usual worldwide voltages (100 to 240V) and frequencies (50 and 60Hz) but only has European *electrical* (CE and UKCA) certifications... It has FCC which is a US radio frequency certification, not an electrical one...
The relay itself has the RU/UR UL logo to show that it is a UL Recognized Component for both Canada and the US but that does not make the whole device UL certified...
@@digiblurDIY Still it is better than nothing especially considering CE (and I believe UKCA which replaces it for UK since Brexit) is a European self-certification, devices are not tested by a third party, they are only "certified" to meet the specs by the manufacturer of the device... I know, there are plenty of devices tested per UL or CSA standards by NRTLs (or their Canadian equivalents) which turned out to have safety issues but still it is better than solely rely on the claim of the manufacturer that the device is safe without having it tested by a third party... This device is more DIY so it will probably end up being installed by hobbyists in their own home but if it was not a DIY type of device, with no proper certifications many electricians would refuse to install those..
Certification is only a defense against the insurance company in case there is a fire (even if not caused by the device). As standards go, it is a VERY expensive process to apply for and if it fails, you have to go through it all over again.
Thats exactly what they did. Those traces are more then suitable for a intermittent use around 10A.. they are just adding an excessive headroom for load spikes, and trying to keep temps in check if things were pushed beyond for a lengthy time.. With that said, these will more then suit 99% of all applications such as simple light setups. if your switching heavy loads, there are alternative devices out there for things like heavy restive or induction loads.
The standard height of U.S. wall plates is too low for a screen. Mount it higher in a box with just power and use the switches as triggers in Home Assistant, so the 2A rating wouldn't matter. The European version (landscape mode) would look better at a higher mounting level.
En Germany I can already see the name is not going to be popular... NS reminds of some bad stuff from the past (i.e. Nationalsozialismus). I've seen a few comments in the German FB page from Sonoff with people complaining about it...
in my honest opinion, 2 amps per switch, is more then enough when it used as a light switch, (these days) just use bulb from last years and you want have any problems, it seems you are more and more telling things that are not 100% real, not all people are electrical engineers, but for most people with just a few "new"bulbs behid 1 scwitch, thwy wont run into problems
@@digiblurDIY As a Splunk employee, that is the ONE shirt, I don't have 😅 One of these days, I'll share my home automation setup and how I use Splunk to monitor and work with HomeAssistant.
Needs software panel
Oooooooo.... perfect!
I love the idea of this and have a couple of designs on the table for this kind of replacement switch next to the front door for status display and quick arming of security, etc. Mine uses a pi zero and a custom power and relay board that I built for this and one other project. The problem with any of these usually comes down to switch placement and the viewing angle of the screen used. I have wasted a lot of money testing screens only to be continuously disappointed by the narrow viewing angle when mounted on the wall at the height of a typical switch.
maybe you should consider an e-ink solution ( m5paper like )
Great concept which will evolve. I am sure that others will develop a simular device with a higher capacity relay so Sonof better reconsider adding some more products.
Totally agree, great attempt so far. I didn't expect it to be perfect. A lot folks don't want to do some build your own kind of janky looking display on the wall so this fits that yet allows some open source work to go on.
@@digiblurDIY Agree, let's see where this leads.
A few suggestions for "NS":
* Not Safe
* Not Suitable
* Needs Software
* No Support
* Nice Screen
* No Smoking
NS stands for Nextion Screen. Itead is the company behind Sonoff and Nextion
@@taylorlightfoot I get that but Travis wanted comedy 'Suggestions' - So these were mine. 😉
Sonoff's switched are highly customizable AND look great... But that 1-gang thing is a huge stumbling block. I hace lived in two houses since getting into hime automation, one small, one large, and both were exactly what you said, the off one-gang for a stairways switch and thats pretty much it.
This thing looks like it would make an awesome thermostat. My new place came with a Gen1 nest (*blagh*) and I'd really like to get a local control solution for that... But i really don't want 3D printed solutions and something that looks as professional as this would be perfect.
I got mine this week.. Still no 'Widgets' available in the App :(
Seems weird to me especially now.
New Shit panel (in a good way). I would really like those in my house and have one big 10" tablet in a central part. I really like they are creating new content! Also, would be nice to see white panel.
No Such Panel.
I like this as a decent screen in a nice package that I can install open firmware on. I'm disappointed by that 2 amp relay though. I literally don't know if I can wait for this thing. Hurry up Itead or I'll have to build my own. I wonder if I can connect a screen to a Sonoff mini?
You can connect a screen to a sonoff switch
NS (Nextion Screen) Panel
It looks as if Itead combined the ESP32 and Nextion Screen boards into one PCB. My biggest worry is having individual access to the serial ports to flash the ESP32 with ESPHome and access to the serial ports on the screen to upload the Nextion Editor files that make up the UI and button press actions.
I've ordered one unit, it looks promising.
My same worry as well is how locked up is the screen. I'm hoping we can do something it.
@@digiblurDIY I did see in the FCC filing photos that there are two pads labeled TF_TX and TF_RX. I think these might be the serial connection required for uploading your custom Nextion Editor HMI files into the screen. The other serial connections you pointed out would be for flashing the ESP32. Time will tell.
I can understand about the maximum amperage being 2Amp. However It's designed for controlling light fixtures and modern LED lights. So for a example a 9watt LED bulb and divide it by the mains voltage that most electricians will use the 110 rule average it will consume 0.081 Amps. With four of those bulbs in say a group of can light fixtures or something you're looking at 0.327 Amps. Now I wouldn't want it to control a load such as a wall outlet, ceiling fan or anything like that.
I've been working on a scene controller for my setup. I was planning to do something that looks like one of those zone/volume controllers. Has a little LCD and push buttons. The LCD displays the temp of the Room and the buttons to control scenes. Just something simple and not as advanced as the Sonoff.
I do get thing of not needing higher amperage for lighting these days but that becomes a problem when you put the cart in front of the horse that has the ability to push 15 amps or more. Because as exactly as you say, someone says I'll just put this in the dumb light switch spot that controls this outlet we never change. They connect like they think they are supposed to, turn on the relay, does the lamp work? Yep. So they leave the relay on then later on little Sally comes along and plugs in her 1800W hair dryer. If you had an inline fuse before it rated at 4 or 5A it would do the job instantly.
2 Amps sound pretty sufficient for a light switch to me. i am not aware of any lights in my house that would have more than 60 W (that are some legacy tungsten lights in my cellar), which is 0,25 A.
That isn't the problem of what you plan to load up on it. It is when the plan doesn't work out and 10 amps pulls across it.
@@digiblurDIY there what the on board fuse protects you from
The onboard fuse was only on the power supply to the switch, it was not in line with the "L IN" feeding the relays.
Love the Splunk T-Shirt!
Non-Specific Panel - "Do as you like" - Looks promising 😎
Hope you're planning on playing around with Tasmota on this thing. I'd love to see you do a video on it. I just got it flashed to mine but I'm a bit lost from there as to how to get everything working seamlessly. Seems like there will have to be a lot of commands to send commands to HA as well as back to the plate to update it etc.
I haven't been following much with it lately but might recircle to it eventually.
I'm thinking combos like display water tank level with pump and heater controls, or display room temp/humidity with light and ceiling fan controls, or pool...
New sonoff panel.... A very literal name!
Thanks Travis.
Hopefully once flashed you can use the physical buttons as virtual switches and ignore the relays. Even better if you can disengage the relays so no big click.
Does the display still work when you flashed Tasmota on it? (is there some second chip controlling the display?)
I don't think Tasmota 32 supports it yet. I know that the ESP8266 version probably doesn't.
@@MatthewN8OHU there is some lvgl support on tasmota, but still early development. However that was not my question. I was wondering if I could control what happens with the display only with the esp32.
That's going to take a little time for the open source community to attack it at many levels. I was just showing the ability that it can be flashed so let the fun begin!
@@Teixeira9870 If we're lucky it's a Nextion screen and driver chipset! But I don't see any storage on the little board, so perhaps not...
nice point about putting a fuse on the line for safety -- what would an inline fuse look like..?
Given the switch at full brightness and both relays on only used about 2-3 watts. An inline fuse holder that supports the amperage/voltage of the circuit. I've used something like this before and given it had a lot of spares I was able to test it out. amzn.to/2YD5mcE
Can this switch be used in landscape as well?
Yes it can.
Looks super promising if: Tasmota, MQTT, and a higher amperage rating. I could see myself buying 7 or 8. But, if it lacks any of these things, I think I'd be looking elsewhere unfortunately. 🤷♂️
NS Panel , Neat Sonoff Panel ?
Not Shelly Panel?
yeah openhasp would be cool. BTW is that the IKEA air sensor in the back? Off course upgraded with a Wemos mini inside ... right? :p
It might just be the Viking Sensor that a viewer near an Ikea so graciously sent to me. Wemos D1? I think not.
I really like the design! I think I'll order a few for my new house. Hopefully it does get picked up by the community. 2A is a bit low indeed but I will probably not use them. Really like dimming.
Mm, market price of $75,- only seems a beet steep :/
yeah I think they were $50 at first for the first alotment but went up for now I believe.
Well if can work without the Sonoff cloud and app it will be an awesome product otherwise it is not for me.
N= Nextion display & S=Sonoff, thus the name NSPanel
Interesting. I guess you could always 3D print a 3 gang face plate for it. It would be better if the relays were usable. Then you could print a Decora/Blank/NSPanel to give yourself more room.
New Screen?
There is a resetable fuse on the pcb connected to the line in. You can prob look up the part number and get the rating.
I saw that little fuse on there. Time for a test to see if it works? 10A load?
@@digiblurDIY make it blow!! 🥳
The onboard fuse was only on the power supply to the switch, it was not in line with the "L IN" feeding the relays.
@@digiblurDIY ah darn! Silly to only protect the power supply though. Otherwise you're going to melt relays/traces. A breaker isn't going to trip before it does.
I like the idea, but without Ethernet have very little use for this.
That would be against electrical code making it worse. Mixing low voltage with mains voltage in the same box isn't a good idea especially from two different sources.
@@digiblurDIY Depends on the code. In my area, for example, it is fine for low and high voltage to share the same box if the low voltage cable insulation is rated for high voltage. An Ethernet PoE option would be great if one is to just use it as a scene controller and skip the relays for those areas that can't mix voltages.
I'm trying to understand the 2 amp problem. If my kitchen lights pull say 60W in total you up with .5A. Now obviously if the rating were higher it would be better but (perhaps being ignorant) I'd say this would work for me. Please anyone kindly explain.
It's not about the planned amperage pull its about when things go wrong. If everything happened as planned electrically we wouldn't need breakers/fuses in the world. The problem is you always want the breaker to be the weakest link in the chain. If you have a 7 amp draw/short for some reason and the breaker is 15A it won't trip. The 2A rating is now the weakest link in the chain so it will pop into smoke now potentially causing a fire. This can be remedied by placing a 2A fuse before the switch as now that is the weakest link in the circuit.
@@digiblurDIY ok thanks. You right. Safer that way
Nextion Sonoff Panel?
NSpanel: Naughty stuff panel
Unfortunately, like many things, it supports all the usual worldwide voltages (100 to 240V) and frequencies (50 and 60Hz) but only has European *electrical* (CE and UKCA) certifications... It has FCC which is a US radio frequency certification, not an electrical one...
The relay itself has the RU/UR UL logo to show that it is a UL Recognized Component for both Canada and the US but that does not make the whole device UL certified...
UL ...meh... definitely not what it used to be and so many things reflect this.
@@digiblurDIY Still it is better than nothing especially considering CE (and I believe UKCA which replaces it for UK since Brexit) is a European self-certification, devices are not tested by a third party, they are only "certified" to meet the specs by the manufacturer of the device... I know, there are plenty of devices tested per UL or CSA standards by NRTLs (or their Canadian equivalents) which turned out to have safety issues but still it is better than solely rely on the claim of the manufacturer that the device is safe without having it tested by a third party... This device is more DIY so it will probably end up being installed by hobbyists in their own home but if it was not a DIY type of device, with no proper certifications many electricians would refuse to install those..
I have seen some sketchy stuff installed by electricians so don't put it past many of the fly by night ones.
Certification is only a defense against the insurance company in case there is a fire (even if not caused by the device). As standards go, it is a VERY expensive process to apply for and if it fails, you have to go through it all over again.
networked switch?
New switch
I'm betting they derated based on lack of air flow and cooling inside the enclosure, inside an electrical box.
Thats exactly what they did. Those traces are more then suitable for a intermittent use around 10A.. they are just adding an excessive headroom for load spikes, and trying to keep temps in check if things were pushed beyond for a lengthy time.. With that said, these will more then suit 99% of all applications such as simple light setups. if your switching heavy loads, there are alternative devices out there for things like heavy restive or induction loads.
Network switch panel I think
no sheet panel
The standard height of U.S. wall plates is too low for a screen. Mount it higher in a box with just power and use the switches as triggers in Home Assistant, so the 2A rating wouldn't matter. The European version (landscape mode) would look better at a higher mounting level.
Needs Service panel.
basically, a very expensive dual light switch with an esp with one open output available....
En Germany I can already see the name is not going to be popular... NS reminds of some bad stuff from the past (i.e. Nationalsozialismus). I've seen a few comments in the German FB page from Sonoff with people complaining about it...
Cái này ở đâu bán vậy bạn
Links in description to their pages
in my honest opinion, 2 amps per switch, is more then enough when it used as a light switch, (these days) just use bulb from last years and you want have any problems,
it seems you are more and more telling things that are not 100% real, not all people are electrical engineers, but for most people with just a few "new"bulbs behid 1 scwitch, thwy wont run into problems
That isn't the issue with the 2A rating. If things always went SD planned we wouldn't need breakers or fuses in the world.
How did you get a Splunk shirt?
I picked it up a convention a few years ago.
@@digiblurDIY As a Splunk employee, that is the ONE shirt, I don't have 😅
One of these days, I'll share my home automation setup and how I use Splunk to monitor and work with HomeAssistant.
Interesting. They had a few there and when I saw it I knew I had to have this one.
Looking forward to it!
Someone need to ad different software to make it much better.
North South panel
NS-------NO SECRET
At what point do you think the sonoff people screamed "please don't open it up!!!!"?
Ha! Always a given with me I am sure. Been doing it since I was kid with all my toys and won't stop now.
new switch panel
Non-Starter, lol
Probably New Screen
Close, Nextion Sonoff
NSPanel = Nextion Sonoff Panel? …it does use a Nextion display
Not sonoff panel
Simple but yet so clever. I like it!
Idiot comments about current capacity....you would not want to use this or similar to switch high loads
Get to point of this product!
There isn't one unfortunately