Ubiquiti WiFi in-wall switches and dimmers
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BraveSirRobbin
Moderator
Wow, if the price is reasonable, this could be a game changer! Plum better hurry up with its product! 
drvnbysound
Senior Member
BraveSirRobbin said:Wow, if the price is reasonable, this could be a game changer! Plum better hurry up with its product!
I couldn't agree more.
Having said that, the reason that I continue to stick with my Zwave network is because it offers more than lighting control (a la UPB for example)... door locks, dead bolts, thermostats. It's because of these latter devices, [specifically the locks] that I "need" a Zwave network.
I'd also want this system to be controllable outside of their eco-system, which I'd hope would happen over time.
tmbrown97
Senior Member
MSRP is $59 for both.. They're not showing in stock in US distribution yet - but price isn't bad at all. That said, I wasn't impressed with the early mFi products and for a long time they seemed like they died on the vine so it'll be interesting to see how these work. They do have some pretty cool power strips that'll track power consumption and give you individual outlet control even via rules/logic.
Quick review of the specs - the outlets are good for 15 amps (all the UPB ones tend to limit to 12A) - the switches are configurable for dim or relay operation. Neutral is required, and there's no mention of scene switches or even slave switches for 3-way operation yet.
Still - wifi switches with a central controller will be big; I presume these are intended for commercial use first but will eventually get the additional features needed for residential use.
Quick review of the specs - the outlets are good for 15 amps (all the UPB ones tend to limit to 12A) - the switches are configurable for dim or relay operation. Neutral is required, and there's no mention of scene switches or even slave switches for 3-way operation yet.
Still - wifi switches with a central controller will be big; I presume these are intended for commercial use first but will eventually get the additional features needed for residential use.
All Zigbee switches and controls measure power as well. I have one on my pool pump and it tells me the power used. The problem with using Wi-Fi for switches is that each one would need a local IP address. If you have many other Wi-Fi devices, you could run out. The Wi-Fi LIFX bulbs I have get around this problem where only the first bulb connects to Wi-Fi, then that bulb connects to the others through an 802.15.4 mesh network. So far, its worked very well, but I only have 4 bulbs so far.wuench said:
tmbrown97
Senior Member
yeah that was one of my warnings when the Ube/Plum was commonly talked about; that and the nature of Wifi in how even if the devices have very little to "say", the traditional access point won't handle more than 30-50 devices connected to it MAX and it'll seriously slow down the overall wifi infrastructure because the radio still has to dedicate time to address every connected device, and the more you connect, the less time there is for all this "talking" to happen. Carving out a separate SSID on an existing AP will do nothing to help this, as even multi-SSID AP's still have to split the time with the same radio. You can add more AP's but then you get into the fun game of RF engineering to keep hotspots small and low powered and staggering them appropriately so you get adequate coverage in a small cell without creating interference between the other AP's given the very limited selection of non-overlapping channels.
If you can handle all that though, throwing together a separate subnet just for your lighting should be easy enough to accomplish. Besides, these mFi devices are really geared toward commercial spaces first; we'll see if they ever mature enough to be viable for home use. That said there are plenty of hardcore ubiquiti fans on their forum that try to shoehorn mFi devices in so many places where there are already much cheaper and more established solutions, so who knows which direction they'll push.
If you can handle all that though, throwing together a separate subnet just for your lighting should be easy enough to accomplish. Besides, these mFi devices are really geared toward commercial spaces first; we'll see if they ever mature enough to be viable for home use. That said there are plenty of hardcore ubiquiti fans on their forum that try to shoehorn mFi devices in so many places where there are already much cheaper and more established solutions, so who knows which direction they'll push.
Any device that acts as a server is a security vulnerability waiting to be discovered (e.g. the thread next door http://cocoontech.com/forums/topic/26834-crypto-weaknesses-in-smart-bulbs/ ). These appear to require Java enabled in your browser to use their web interface, which is another security vulnerability that has been exploited over and over again.
The documentation lists Java Runtime Environment 1.6 and Flash Player 10 as system requirements. See page 3 of their documentation:
http://www.ubnt.com/downloads/datasheets/mfi/mFi_DS.pdf
http://www.ubnt.com/downloads/datasheets/mfi/mFi_DS.pdf
tmbrown97
Senior Member
jdale said:
That'd be for the mFi server that the devices communicate to - not the web administration page you'd be visiting from another PC (generally speaking). Their mFi server can be made to run on pretty compact linux appliances or simple VM's if desired. That said, of all the Ubiquiti stuff I've run, mFi got the most out of hand with data storage eating up drive space. I think they have a lot more purging added in now to limit how much history is kept.
I used to browse the web interface from my iPad and IIRC most everything loaded just fine - I think the Map was flash based but again it's been a while. It's based on UniFi and I have a UniFi controller in my data center that I can poke around with - I know the majority of it loads fine even on my iPhone.
BraveSirRobbin
Moderator
Why in the world would they first come out with black before white?
FlyingDiver
Member
BraveSirRobbin said:
Because it's targeted at the commercial marketplace, where black is more prevalent?
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