The main product we are offering at the moment is our WiFi Smart Switch. Here is what we like about it:
Tactile buttons - Most people have grown up with some type of physical switch on the wall that turns the lights on and off. We all understand the touch and feel of a light switch and the physical action of turning on a light. There are other styles of switch on the market these days such as glass touch panels which work great and can add a certain modern look to homes. Touch panels can also look out of place and can be confusing for people who are not used to them. Vision impaired persons might also appreciate a more tactile feel of a physical switch.
Discreet LED indicators - LED indicators are a great way to let you know which switches are on and off at a quick glance. What people don't always realise is that often to make them more visible during the day these LED indicators are quite bright and/or large in the case of touch panels. The downside comes at night where these indicator lights will light up your whole room. Not so bad for areas where a little light is welcome, but not so good if you are trying to sleep and it feels like a torch is on in the room. Some models have the ability to dim the indicator lights at night but even dimmed they can be quite bright so it's something to watch out for. The indicator LED's on our WiFi Smart Switches are relatively small and discreet and not too bright at night. I would advise if you do put these in your bedroom or somewhere else and want the LED's completely dimmed, then when installing get your electrician to remove the face plate by removing the 2 sets of internal screws and put an overlay or electrical tape over the LED's on the circuit board to reduce or block out the light completely.
WiFi - I have written a post previously about my thoughts on the main communication protocols (see here). For most people WiFi is something they already have in their homes so there is no need for any extra hubs or dongles. I like the simplicity of a tried and true protocol.
Retrofit or New - This links in nicely with the fact our WiFi Smart Switches can be retrofitted or installed new. They work with regular existing home 3 wire lighting wiring, which is present in most homes except for some older homes. No need for extra expensive cabling or anything fancy, you just swap out the old 'dumb' switches for 'Smart' switches and you are up and running.
Cost effective - You can also control multiple lights from one switch. In the kitchen in my home I had a series of 10 bulbs as downlights. I was able to control all 10 by just replacing the one wall switch instead of having to buy 10 separate smart bulbs. Admittedly if I wanted to control each bulb individually I would still need to buy extra smart bulbs or wire them in groups, but I don't need that solution so I'm happy with how it works and all for the price of a single switch.
Easy voice integration - These switches work great with the main voice control players in the game Google and Amazon. They are quick to set up and give you extra control in no time. We are selling Google Nest Mini's and Amazon Echo Dot's to help get you started.
SDoC - We have a Supplier's Declaration of Conformity (SDoC) for these switches showing compliance with relevant New Zealand safety standards. Just ask and we will supply one with your purchase.
We will be looking to add more products shortly, trust me that we here at Lykalyte don't just want to sell any old product and a lot of thought and testing goes in to it first. Which is part of our motto and values; Smart home and home automation solutions that are easy so that you can enjoy all of the benefits without the complexity, frustrations or expense. Cheers Luke