silver loom
I'm upgrading my home to smart lighting, which means many of my traditional wall switches become “useless” because the lamps need constant power and shouldn’t actually cut the circuit anymore.
I’d still like to use those switches as inputs — basically as button triggers for Home Assistant — but without relays or actual load switching.
Space in the wall boxes is limited, so it needs to be compact and ideally powered from 230V (no battery devices).
What I’m looking for:
- Very low-cost solution
- Fits behind existing wall switches
- Zigbee or Wi-Fi
- Only needs to read button presses, no relay required
- Mains powered, not battery
Curious how others solve this:
Do you repurpose existing hardware, use cheap modules, flash something with ESPHome, buy ready-made Zigbee button interfaces, or something else entirely?
I’d love to hear how you’ve dealt with wall switch retrofits for smart lights — hardware suggestions, photos, or approaches welcome! 💡🔧