livolo Glass Panel Touch Light Wall Switch + arduino 433Mhz

[Nca78]

Hello, for those who have it, can you please confirm if it contains a CD74HC238 like I have in the US(AU) sized switch ? (same PCB for 1 and 3 switches). Chip marking on my chip is HJ238. It then feeds a darlington array chip (marking UN2003A on mine) to trigger the relays.
These would be the 2 ICs in the middle of the last picture from @DJONvl
Would be interesting to know as it would mean the touch PCB for both types of switches would be very similar.

[Tigroenot]

@Nca78 The euro version doesn't. Just the ULN2003A.
Unfortunately, I can't attach images for some unknown reason.

Finally
That's a single button switch.

[frankie]

@Tigroenot this is a picture of the EU dubble switch version.
image url)
But what I am looking for is how to connect the arduino to this PCB
The picture of DJONvI is a good start, but I want to know if the SMD components which where added are resistors or a before I blow up the PCB

[frankie]

I just found this diagram on the web, have to check it but a first look looks prommising.

[Tigroenot]

@frankie This diagram shows how a guy fixed his switch that didn't change the rele. But it is quite right. You need to add an optocoupler to connect to the sensor pin with 5,1 pF con to ground and connect the LED to the arduino sensor pin through resistor for the status read. I'll try to find the diagram later.

[Tigroenot]

The upper part is connection to touch sensor, the lower to status (red LED).

[Nca78]

Thank you very much for the pictures @frankie and @Tigroenot !

No 74HC238 on the single switch which can be understood as it's not necessary, with one switch there are enough pins to drive the relay. But it's nicer in the US(AU) world as they are using the same PCB for both and just mounting one relay and one sensor.

On the Russian schematic it is not matching the board you have photographed @frankie as it has a 12 pins connector (2x6) instead of 14 (2x7) on yours (and mine, too). From what I see your board is very similar similar to mine with the 74HC238 and the pins are different than on the schematic. I'm a bit confused with this as this schematic seems to manage 2 buttons/relays.

HC238 will decode value sent by 3 pins on the connector, and set HIGH one of it's 8 outputs based on the binary value. For example, if input is 000 then output 0 is high, if input is 010 then output 2 is high, etc. All other outputs of the 74HC238 are low.
This is done because they are using bistable relays. For each relay there is a SET latch to switch on, and RESET latch to switch off. When it's not switching, the relays stays in it's state without consuming any power. This is a smart way of doing the board to keep it low power, but you need 2 pins for each relay which the PIC controller on the sensor board doesn't have. As they use the 74HC238 they can command up to 4 relays.

I used my multimeter and datasheets for the 2ICs to find out how they were connected and this is what I found out for my switch, US(AU) with 1 or 3 buttons/relays. I'm not saying you have the same mapping, you should check the datasheets to find out the input pins on the 74HC238 and verify with your multimeter to which pin of the connector they are connected.

Pinout (only for the pins I'm interested in...). Big squares at the top are the mains connectors.

Pinout of the 74HC238 :

Values on the connector pins to switch on/off the relays:

[DJONvl]

https://geektimes.ru/post/258366/ здесь описание библиотеки для эмуляции радио протокола, если получится ее использовать то можно будет подключиться к светодиодам для получения статуса, а управлять с ее помощью

[DJONvl]

новая схема силовой платы

[hek]

@DJONvl

Could you run your texts through google translate before posting please.

[jirm]

Too I´m start working to provide a universal way to feedback status (for HA) to all my Livolo switches. My main concern is how can get enought supply current to my radio circuit (actually im thinking on ESP8266) from a standard connected switch (only the live AC wire avaible for supply on switch wall case) because needed about 3/5 V with 300 ma (peak when wi-fi are at full work) and I cannot see how the supply circuit in the livolo switch can provide that enough amount of power to supply this element.
I cannot see nothing clear how can draw that amount of current trough "any" load connected over the switch...

@DJONvl or anyone had well tested what amount of power supply (3V or 5V,) can "secure" draw trough standard connected Livolo switch ?

Can any confirm if that circuit arduino+nrf24 have self power supply (additional) and how need connected and mainly how much current drawn arduino+nrf24 when they are full working ?

That guys https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ny8Rt75he0A had working a circuit (comercial purposes) but seems use aditional power supply for that.

Regards

[Tigroenot]

Those guys have an additional 12 v power wire in the switch mounting, the wire fore 12v power has been put there during the construction.
The power supply in livolo switches is capable to make up to 250mA current. So I suppose it is not possible to feed the esp8266, but more than enough to power the 328p and Nrf24 radio. Currently I have one double button livolo switch running for a week or so with no issues whatsoever. But you have to change the BOD fuses to 1,8 v. Running at 2,7 bod causes reboot at sending data.
Drawing more power from livolo power supply is not hard, but your load has to be at least 40w light bulbs.

[jirm]

@Tigroenot Thank you for your quick reply.
I think additional power supply is not the right path for that, because needed modify all house wiring is a real pain and most costly solution.

If 250ma drawn current is avaiable from livolo switch I think is really so close for the "calculate" needs for a esp8266, so maybe is time to real test it and see what happends but If esp cannot not work properly it does not matter because you say have stable working arduino+nrf24 that is equal good solution or in some cases maybe better than an alone esp.

Maybe we always easily can add one parallel capacitor at loads (any 0,47nf X2 400V rated or livolo can provide someone too) to increase load current drawn if we find that some switch cannot drawn enough power from his load?

Regards

[Viciousman]

Hello Tigroenot, you have the EU version of livolo correct?
Can you please post a schematic on how you performed the Boost to the power supply? I'm using mysensors+nrf24 so I just need arround 20ma power.
Thank you.

[jirm]

@jirm
@Tigroenot .The BOD fuses you mean that we need forced to work the 328p at 1.8V and not at 2.7V as default is usually done?
How do you power the arduino + nrf24 circuit?
From what voltage of the switch livolo and since what "pins" ?.
I am not able to see exactly where to extract the feed (in the real circuit board) of the plate on the livolo (I use the version 2016 EU of switches).
You could put some schematic and / or pics regarding how to connect the feed on the livolo board because in the posts I have seen above I am not able to verify it in what correspond at least to my EU version switches?
regards

[Tigroenot]

I have the pictures, but I have to resize them so the forum engine accepts. I will do it at work tomorrow.
In two words you need to bypass the big resistor that feeds the transformator and decrease the resistance of the voltage divider that controls the mosfet in the primary coil of the trans. I'll provide the pictures.
Can you please show the lower board of the 2016 model switch?

P. S. And by the way I didn't find a proper way to control the esp switch in domoticz. I need to have two dummy switches - one for state and one for changing state. I used espEasy and Lua scripts both but no luck... With MySensors it is IMHO the proper way

[jirm]

@Tigroenot Ok I wait your pics. I half understand that you say we need to do but better "see" how do it that not suposse because is easy to kill the switch if that is not do it propperly.
I have same problems than you to post here pics from my switch boards and so on (I have all my house with livolo´s... near 40 switch) and need too some time to take good pics and feet to post it here, but tomorrow can upload some of them.

See you

[jirm]

@Tigroenot Sorry I dont know Domoticz, and only few little steps in Home Assistant and in past some on Openhab...but I belive that any people there in Domoticz forums can help you for sure to make that work.
I only "ear" that easyesp is so "easy" to make it work with domoticz and for sure you know is trivial for setup easyesp to work a simple relay with any easpeasy sketch for that.
I dont know your exactly issue and how to help you better and also I'm a real newby in any home system, just starting now only with some few steps starting to try to make work livolo's like I want with a realiable (and hope easy way) to provide a good feedback status from them hope universal for any home automation system.
We need some look, but seems close to have some good results.
See you

[Nca78]

Are you saying that you can draw up to 250mA but when you transmit with NRF, which should consume less than 25mA, the power supply is already on it's knees and the voltage drops ?
It doesn't sound like a good idea to make any changes to the main voltage board to achieve this. Have you tried using a ceramic capacitor (100uF or more) to help the power supply when power consumption increases too quickly ?

[Tigroenot]

It's not just that. In the off state the switch is powered through a standby power circuit. When radio activates it draws power and the same moment the pic of the switch draws power, and the rele changes state to on also drawing a lot of power. All together it is a significant amount of power. So the voltage drops from 3v to 2,7-2,6 causing the brown out.
And the 250mA is in theory. With the trans used.

[Tigroenot]

And yes, I have a 47uF cap for radio and 100uF aluminum electrolytic cap for power input on the mcu.

[Nca78]

I see...

Maybe it can be a good idea to sleep arduino and radio for a short time after button touch to let the relay change state and transmit state to controller only after sleep ?

[Tigroenot]

[Tigroenot]

@Nca78
Well, now it's working fine for almost two weeks, no issues. I'm always trying to modify the sketch to work even better but it ends up that "the best is an enemy of the good"

As for connections: as you can see on the photo of upper board I have connected 5 wires (actually later I added sixth). They are ground, two wires to leds for reading status (through 4k7 to pin 5 and 6), and wires to touch sensor pads (through optocoupler to pins 3 and 4, the other side of coupler to ground through 5nF cap) . I showed schematics earlier. With the sixth wire I took 3v from the drilled holes at the bottom of the board, as I remember the central hole. You can make sure with the multimeter.

[jirm]

@Tigroenot

Thanks for the pics. I see now little much better how you wired and what is needed modify on switch board (wired bridges on red) to make it working. But form me still need added the schematic for understand all conections from/to arduino+nrf24 and Livolo to really see how all are working together.
So sorry yestarday but I stay so so busy to take pics from my switch´s, but I try today do my best to take some pics of them.

I think is so so similar connection like guys from smartsystems controllers are doing for her comercial project s you can see in schematic at min 2:30 on this youtube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNEE9tjnHR8

If it are so and are the same wired on both (your connections and smartsystems are doing to) I think the connection sources from livolo switch are well tested (over enough time and from diferent people) and is at this moment the better aproach to do that connections to livolo swith.
That is a great step.

I Still figuring how much current can drawn from livolo switch and how doing that in a secure maner and with a generical way to supply "any" radio system (better if can including esp) for provide livolo´s with feedback and additional remote way of control because for me still some dubts about that question. But like I say yesterday seems is time to test and test and not more throw more assumptions.

Regards

[jirm]

Sorry about the delay. So much bussy these days.
Pictures from my switch version:
3 first are from a dimmer, last are from swtich remote 1 gang - 1 way.
And a quick view I can see maybe only some little diferences comparing @Tigroenot version on main board mainly I see the antenna on mine and not on @Tigroenot and the central connection pad that seems he have on the rigth, but totally diferent on touch board I suposse because his pics are from a dual swtich version.
All my switch has ben purchased only 2 monts ago.

[Hugo Pereira]

Hello everyone,

I am really sorry if I am here making an entirely noob question, but did someone managed to get the light state from this light wall switch? If so is there any video or circuit showing how? I have doubts if i should or should not buy this for my entire house, but if this wall switch cannot send the state through rf i guess it is a no go.

Hope you can help me

[Nca78]

@Hugo-Pereira said:

Hello everyone,

I am really sorry if I am here making an entirely noob question, but did someone managed to get the light state from this light wall switch? If so is there any video or circuit showing how? I have doubts if i should or should not buy this for my entire house, but if this wall switch cannot send the state through rf i guess it is a no go.

Hope you can help me

Hello, by default it is not sending the status by radio (which is used for receiving only).
But I think with the modifications you can see earlier in the thread it can send and receive using nrf24/mysensors. These are based on the basic switch without radio, no use to buy the much more expensive radio versions when the radio will not be used.

I'm using a different approach which is to replace completely the PCB, so there are no modifications to do to the "main power" part, just plug the new touch PCB (that includes logic and NRF radio). I'm doing it for another switch format (US/AU) but the logic is very similar in EU format switch so if there is a demand I will adapt my PCB for this format later.

[Hugo Pereira]

@Nca78 Very interisting if the prices are the same and the design! You have a buyer Hope you ship to Portugal eheh I will be waiting for your solution for EU. Cause honestly i did not wanted to make too complicated adaptations on the circuit.

[Nca78]

@Hugo-Pereira said:

@Nca78 Very interisting if the prices are the same and the design! You have a buyer Hope you ship to Portugal eheh I will be waiting for your solution for EU. Cause honestly i did not wanted to make too complicated adaptations on the circuit.

I think you misunderstood
I'm making only the PCB (electronic board on which to solder the components). So you still need to buy Livolo switches (with no radio) and then get my PCB done and solder components on it. Then replace the touch PCB from Livolo switch with it.
It won't be very expensive (about 5-6$ of parts per switch I think) but there's some work to do

[mtiutiu]

@Nca78

Hi, I'm working on this one too. This Livolo stuff captured my attention a long time ago as I needed an in wall solution for controlling the lights(without using batteries and such). I wanted this to be integrated with the existing infrastructure also(the existing house electrical wiring for lights). I studied the power supply part before the Livolo switches era as I wanted to make one of my own but in the end it seemed not so an easy task because of the series circuit( to take power from the live wire only). Anyways if the power board from the existing Livolo switches will be capable of delivering the required power it will be really awesome(as the non radio switch is really cheap
).
In my case I'm using the rfm69 module(the CW variant as it's more compact) which requires a little bit more current(45 mA or so). I don't want to use the existing 3V line which the Livolo power board has because as I've seen from this thread pictures and schematics it uses a low current voltage regulator(30mA max or so from my investigations). This is fine for the nrf24l01 low power variant but for RFM69 it isn't. So currently I'm working on identifying the 12V line as my design uses a buck converter to get it as low as 3.0-3.3V.

The project and progress is posted here: https://www.openhardware.io/view/306/Livolo-EU-switch-Mysensors-integration. Depending on my free time I will continue to work on it but I don't know when it will be finished.

Keep up the good work and congrats to the Mysensors creators for this wonderful project.

[Nca78]

Hello, on the US/AU version there is a 12V pin on the 2*7 connector. It's opposite the GND

[DJONvl]

сегодня доделал Livolo+esp8266 пришлось помучаться с программой и схемой питания но все заработало[0_1485259118390_livolo_esp.mp4](Uploading 100%)

[jirm]

@DJONvl
Woow !
Livolo+Esp8266 working ??? ... sounds very good.
But we can not see the video seems you try to upload here ...

[DJONvl]

@DJONvl said in livolo Glass Panel Touch Light Wall Switch + arduino 433Mhz:

сегодня доделал Livolo+esp8266 пришлось помучаться с программой и схемой питания но все заработало[0_1485259118390_livolo_esp.mp4](Uploading 100%)

livolo+esp – 00:28
— Vlad K

[jirm]

@DJONvl

Yesss @DJONvl . Thats is !!!! .
You got it !!!

Please can you post all the details about how you are do it ??

How you are managed to achieve enough power from Livolo ??

How you wired the esp8266 and where on the livolo switch ??

You can post the schematic ??

Please, all details you can...

Regards

[aivs]

@DJONvl
Esp потребляет более 350мА.
Покажешь схему питания?

Esp consumes more then 350mA.
Can you show power schematic?

[Markhill]

For the AU/US plate, can anyone confirm that this is the correct wiring for
SW1 = Switch Right on/off
SW2 = Switch Left on/off
SS1 = Right Status on/off
SS2 = Left Status on /off
GND = Ground

[Markhill]

For power, I found these on the board. The 12V accutally read 14.86V for the two Switch gang and 14.10V for the 1 gang switch. This was me using the multimeter connecting with ground.

1 Gang Switch even have indication of the board

2 Gang Switch

[Nca78]

@Markhill for switching on/off the relays it's not that simple. On the 'main' board there is a decoder connected to 3 pins or the MCU and on the 2x7 header.
Check in one of my messages above for the pin out on the header.

[Markhill]

@Nca78 Hi, I was thinking of using this to connect to the switch. The guy sell this for about $15.00US each

The controller require external power 5-12v. I was thinking of using power from the switch.

[Nca78]

@Markhill it cannot work, this board needs external power because the ESP8266 he is using is too power hungry, the switch cannot provide enough power. And this board is sized for EU switch it will not work with US or US/AU switch.

I'm working on 3 buttons and 4 buttons version with atmega and nrf24, power from the swith is enough so it's just a plug&play replacement. I'm testing the 3 buttons switch at the moment (same layout than 1 button in which only the center button is connected). It will be cheaper than 15$ if you solder it yourself, if you don't want to do smd soldering we can probably find a solution for pre-assembled boards.

[Markhill]

@Nca78 I'm in. Plug and play, same size, no external power and cheaper too. When will it be ready?

Btw, your board will be able fit on a 3 buttons and 4 buttons too right? I got them.

Will it provide status feed back, control remotely on phone app or ioBroker and is there any coding required?

[Samuel235]

Keep us updated on your development, i'm working on a double relay module for lighting but i doubt its going to fit inside of a single gang wall box.

[Nca78]

@Markhill I have made 2 boards, one for 1/3 buttons, one for 4 buttons.
It will be a MySensors actuator so yes status feedback etc.

I'll make a script for basic switch function and probably a few extra things two. I'm planning to use 3 button switches in my home to command 2 light circuits with the top and bottom buttons, and AC with center button (not using the relay). I have included 2 extra leds on center button for that, to select different modes of AC.

The 4 buttons version uses sx1509 extender to have more advanced feedback like breathing/flashing LEDs but it's probably not in a final form yet, it will take more time to be ready.

[Markhill]

Here are pictures of the US/AU 2 switch main board

Here is a 4 gang US/AU

Here is a 3 Gang US/AU

[Markhill]

@Nca78 said in livolo Glass Panel Touch Light Wall Switch + arduino 433Mhz:

buttons version uses sx1509 extender to have more advanced feedback like breathing/flashing LEDs but it's probably not in a final form y

Can you send me the 1/3 buttons so I can test it?

The switch I use at home is a 3 gang 2 way. That is one light control by two switches. Will your board still work with these?

Thanks.

[Nca78]

I don't know about the 2 way switches so don't have one to check. But in my home I will just connect one side to a normal switch and use switch on the other side as radio switch only without the relay.

You want a 1/3 switch PCB ? Where do you live ?

[Samuel235]

Do you guys happen to know what the capacitive touch button part is called? I'm trying to look for some of these on the internet and getting nothing relevant coming up. Just the little glass/acrylic parts of the livolo switches that recognise your touch.

[Nca78]

@Samuel235 there is no "capacitive touch button part", the touch function is managed directly by the IC of the board.
So they just have an electrode (big circle of copper) connected to an IC pin and a plastic circle glued to it to have more even light from the led.
What I am using is TTP223N (N version is more sensible) which is both very cheap and very easy to use

[Samuel235]

Not sure I completely get what you mean, but I will have a search for how these little IC's work. Their datasheet looks pretty nice tbh, small, low cost, easy to get. Do they basically look for a 'press' on their input and then output 1 or 0 to a MCU, one on each button too, correct?

[Nca78]

@Samuel235 They just have one output. You can have them work in "toggle" mode (press to set output high, press again to set output low) or in "normal" mode (default behavior) then output is high when touch is detected.
So yes, one ttp223 on each button. You can use other ics (TTP224 with 4 touch inputs for example) but I prefer TTP223 as you can put it very close to the touch electrode to avoid interferences.

TTP223 is the IC that is used in all the cheap "one touch button" breakout boards on ebay/aliexpress/...

[Samuel235]

@Nca78 - These little beauties are perfect! I feel a light switch project coming on myself.... How is your development coming on?

Have you seen this: https://forum.mysensors.org/topic/4317/us-decora-style-wall-switch

Looks like it could be neat. But, not touch. Not sure what i would prefer tbh. Either way, i have myself a dual relay board that i'm in the finishing touches too before posting it up here and on Openhardware.IO.

How're you going about your switching, are you switching AC in the light switch, powering this from AC or DC or are you powering by battery and emitting wireless signals to the gateway to then switch relays not connected to this board?

[Nca78]

I'm keeping the relays from the original livolo switch. My goal is to still have basic switch functionality even if the controller box and gateway are switched off/dead. This is only possible if the switch and the relay are physically connected.

For the progress well I soldered all components on a first board and tested MySensors connexion and touch functions+led indicators and it's all fine.
Tomorrow I'll update the script to manage the relays and test on the real switch.

[Samuel235]

@Nca78 - Keep us posted with images too if you could. Rather interested in your module!

[achurak1]

@Nca78, does that mean I can send high from arduino to this electrode thus imitating the touch? If so, would it be easier to do that or send the high/low directly to the HC238 (to A0 - A2)? It seems that in the first case I can also easily control the dimming function by keeping high for a few seconds. Is there a way to control dimming directly through HC238?
And an unrelated question, will you be able to sell these replacement PCBs you're working on right now and when? I'm not sure I will have enough patience to solder arduinos/radios to dozens of the switches, so I'd rather buy your plug-n-play solution if the price is reasonable.

[Nca78]

@achurak1 said in livolo Glass Panel Touch Light Wall Switch + arduino 433Mhz:

@Nca78, does that mean I can send high from arduino to this electrode thus imitating the touch? If so, would it be easier to do that or send the high/low directly to the HC238 (to A0 - A2)? It seems that in the first case I can also easily control the dimming function by keeping high for a few seconds. Is there a way to control dimming directly through HC238?

I think you can simulate the press by setting the pin to a high level, it will cheat the capacitance measurement and should generate a "click". But I take no responsibility for that
I don't think the dimmer is using an HC238, which is a decoder that takes 3 pins as input and sets one of it's outputs high, it's convenient for the relays they use but not suitable for a dimmer. They are probably using PWM for that. I have no dimmer switch here, I ordered one but I still need time to receive it...
So if you want to control a dimmer livolo switch at the moment, try to simulate touches on the buttons and the mcu on their sensor board will do the job for you.

And an unrelated question, will you be able to sell these replacement PCBs you're working on right now and when? I'm not sure I will have enough patience to solder arduinos/radios to dozens of the switches, so I'd rather buy your plug-n-play solution if the price is reasonable.

I will be able to sell them if they work fine on the long term, but that will need at least one month in the wall to be sure, then another month to order and get the fixed PCB (got some improvements to make already...).
I want to get the dimmer swith also to have a look and if possible make a PCB compatible with both normal switch and dimmer.
For the price I have no idea, either I get them done in China but I don't think there will be enough volume and it takes a lot of time to prepare (but that's an interesting process to learn :)), or I make them myself which takes a lot of time and logistics to assemble, test, ship. BOM is already around 10 US$ so I don't think it could go below 20US$ for final board. That would make the final swith around 10$ more than the radio version of livolo switch, as with my pcb you can just buy the cheapest switches, without radios.

[wallyllama]

@Nca78 if you search aliexpress hard enough you'll fund us standard plates only. Search "livolo glass plate -eu -uk"

[achurak1]

@Nca78, thanks! I'm going to try this touch simulation, probably tomorrow.
They use PIC16F690 chip for the dimmable switch versions: http://www.microchip.com/wwwproducts/en/PIC16F690
$20 seems reasonable, I paid $22 for the one gang dimmable switch, so the total would be $42.

[Nca78]

@wallyllama said in livolo Glass Panel Touch Light Wall Switch + arduino 433Mhz:

livolo glass plate -eu -uk

Maybe but I'm missing your point ?
I still need to buy the switch to have the box + main power/relay board.

@achurak1 said in livolo Glass Panel Touch Light Wall Switch + arduino 433Mhz:

They use PIC16F690 chip for the dimmable switch versions: http://www.microchip.com/wwwproducts/en/PIC16F690
They use the same PIC16F690 in all the switches but what is interesting is to know to which pins of the connector it is connected, and what is connected on the main/ac board to control the dimmers.

If someone has the 2 way switches I'm interested to know what ics are connected to the A and B connectors and to which pins those ics are connected to on the 2x7 pins connectors.

[wallyllama]

@Nca78 said in livolo Glass Panel Touch Light Wall Switch + arduino 433Mhz:

@wallyllama said in livolo Glass Panel Touch Light Wall Switch + arduino 433Mhz:

livolo glass plate -eu -uk

Maybe but I'm missing your point ?
I still need to buy the switch to have the box + main power/relay board.

Nope, I missed yours. Someone mentioned getting glass plates only, then i saw your comment about US plates, and I combined the two. I return you to your regularly scheduled project.

[Markhill]

@Nca78 I have 2 way switch for 1 gang, 2 gang and 3 gang. Will take a picture for you guys soon

[achurak1]

@Nca78 I have a probably very stupid question. Why is it every time I'm trying to solder my arduino in parallel to the pins A0-A2 everything basically stops working - the lights would go on, but not off, dimmer would stop working either or the lights would just start flickering like crazy. What am I missing here? Is that somehow related to pull-up/down resistors? I tried both modes on arduino, INPUT to just listen what's going on when I'm touching the button and OUTPUT to actually control stuff, but both gave me the same results - nothing

[Nca78]

Hello, just published my first version for the US/AU switch.
https://forum.mysensors.org/topic/6489/livolo-3-buttons-us-au-switch-adapter/2

Still needs some improvements, so no gerbers at the moment.

[Nca78]

@achurak1 said in livolo Glass Panel Touch Light Wall Switch + arduino 433Mhz:

@Nca78 I have a probably very stupid question. Why is it every time I'm trying to solder my arduino in parallel to the pins A0-A2 everything basically stops working - the lights would go on, but not off, dimmer would stop working either or the lights would just start flickering like crazy. What am I missing here? Is that somehow related to pull-up/down resistors? I tried both modes on arduino, INPUT to just listen what's going on when I'm touching the button and OUTPUT to actually control stuff, but both gave me the same results - nothing

Sorry I forgot to reply to your question...
I ordered a dimmer and checked it, it has another PIC on the "main" board so I think it's not that easy to control, I suppose the PIC on the "main" board manages PWM, and it receives instructions from the PIC on the "sensor" board, we need to know how they communicate.

[alexus]

@Nca78

hello. Is there a connection example with ESP?

[Nca78]

@alexus said in livolo Glass Panel Touch Light Wall Switch + arduino 433Mhz:

@Nca78

hello. Is there a connection example with ESP?

Somewhere on youtube it seems, but using external power supply. It doesn't sound like a good idea to try to draw over 100mA from a power supply that was designed to provide less than 10, especially when a MySensors board can provide exactly the same functionality as a plug-in replacement of the livolo sensor board.

[wallyllama]

My goal would be to connect an arduino to the data pin on the power board and use the library to control livolo direct without a radio. The problem I have is that when i connect ground to ground on an ftdi I get magic smoke all over. Inuse my. Volt meter and sure enough the gnd pin is connected directly to the live input. Im guessing gnd and +3v "float" around the AC in some fashion.

Has anyone sucessfully bypassed the radio? Im thinking t may work if i power the arduino off the livolo power supply, or from a battery, but then if i connect that to an rs485 or other device with a real ground, kapow! At least that is what i am thinking will happen.

On a side note I have a regular, 2way, and remote switch, all the same revision and all US style, and from what I can tell the difference for 2way is a diode (d2) and a resettable fuse (r10). It lookes like there is basically a primative modem that sends/recieves the same data as the radio. (The radio is receive only, but 2 way has to be, well 2 ways). The "modem" is connected to "B" and "A" is connected to live and "gnd", which is why I think the dc voltage sort of floats on the ac.

[mtiutiu]

@wallyllama

In order to have isolation why not use an optocoupler from arduino to send logic high or low to the livolo relays board? This way they won't share the same gnd and no more issues of this kind in theory. But this means adding the optocoupler as an extra component..but I don't think this is a big issue and it should be cheap also.

[wallyllama]

@mtiutiu i usually need help with the obvious. Thank you.

[mtiutiu]

@wallyllama

What do you mean? You don't know how the wiring goes? I can provide a simple wiring diagram not a problem if that's needed.

[wallyllama]

I meant that using an optocoupler was an obvious solution, and I should have thought of it.

[Andrei Călin Tătar]

I managed to do some reverse engineering on the livolo dimmer switch. It seems that the touch MCU talks to the dimmer MCU via USART (idle: low, 19200 bps, 1 start, 1 stop, 8 data). Each 20 msec the dimmer MCU sends a byte that shows the level of the dimmer and the touch MCU replies with a byte that has bit 0 set to one if touch is present, rest of the bits are all 0 (except for each 10th reply, when all the other bits are 1).
Also the 433MHz radio signal is decoded by the touch MCU not by the dimmer MCU.

[wallyllama]

@Andrei-Călin-Tătar said in livolo Glass Panel Touch Light Wall Switch + arduino 433Mhz:

Also the 433MHz radio signal is decoded by the touch MCU not by the dimmer MCU.

The touch mcu does this for non dimming temote modules also. I think it uses mostly the same system for the 2way switches also.

[Andrei Călin Tătar]

I decided in the end to completely remove both MCUs and replace them with one mega328p, at42qt1010 and one nrf24l01. The problem is that it must be really power efficient. Once the light goes close to full power, the current drops significantly. I also noticed on the PCB space for a battery and a transistor that controls when it's connected to the power supply. Do the switches that come with RF modules have the battery location (B1 I think) populated?

[wallyllama]

@Andrei-Călin-Tătar b1 is the buzzer. When you hold a touch pad down for more than 5 seconds, the switch goes into learning mode and the buzzer makes a sound.

[Andrei Călin Tătar]

@wallyllama ah, that makes sense. thanks for the info!

[Andrei Călin Tătar]

OK, here is what I managed to get working so far. I didn't use mysensors in the end but the sketch can be adapted. I must admit it's not the cleanest code.
So, I removed both microcontrollers from the base and the touch panel. I added a AT42QT1010 for touch detection (10k resistor, 47nF cap) and also replaced the led resistors from the touch panel with 2.2k ones (the light was too dimm, now it's a bit too bright ).

Rest of the mods should be easy to see from the images. I didn't roll my own PCBs since I needed to adapt only 6 switches.

Features in the sketch: manual dimmer mode (works the same as the normal switch, just with control and brightness report); manual on/off mode (switches on/off on the start of a touch; the brightness can be set - default 100); manual disabled; when changing the brightness it goes through a ramp, it doesn't go directly to max or min. The modes, brightness, etc. can be changed via RF.

Base mod: https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZGojnlm2ocBEaucp2
Touch panel mod: https://photos.app.goo.gl/UpG2UuMtK2qa6q4h1
And the sketch code: https://github.com/andrei-tatar/SensorsNetwork/blob/master/LightDimmer/LightDimmer.ino

[achurak1]

@Andrei-Călin-Tătar - How did you solve the problem with the power? I tried powering arduino from the built-in 3V connection, but it only worked to turn the lights on. Once on, I almost couldn't communicate with the arduino anymore (like 1 attempt from 20 would be successful).

[Andrei Călin Tătar]

@achurak1 - I limited the max brightness. At full brightness, the triac is off for 2.9ms (out of 10msec for 50Hz). That gives enough time to recharge the circuit for the arduino but it limits the power delivered to the light bulbs to about 80-90%. If I would go more than that I would get unstable results. The circuit isn't able to keep it's 3V at full brightness without an arduino connected.

[achurak1]

@Andrei-Călin-Tătar - Understood, thanks! Why did you need a new touch sensor, could you reuse the existing one?

[Andrei Călin Tătar]

@achurak1 do you mean the AT42QT1010? seemed easier for me. I could've added touch detection in the sketch.

[achurak1]

@Andrei-Călin-Tătar - can you please explain all of your jumper wires. US version looks differently obviously so it's really hard to figure out what you did there based on just the pictures.

[Andrei Călin Tătar]

@achurak1 I added some details over the photos:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/S7VxIrn58z99HRMp2

[maxtox]

@DJONvl

very COOL...you user ioBroker with VIS!!!!

[MystX]

@wallyllama said in livolo Glass Panel Touch Light Wall Switch + arduino 433Mhz:

On a side note I have a regular, 2way, and remote switch, all the same revision and all US style, and from what I can tell the difference for 2way is a diode (d2) and a resettable fuse (r10). It lookes like there is basically a primative modem that sends/recieves the same data as the radio. (The radio is receive only, but 2 way has to be, well 2 ways). The "modem" is connected to "B" and "A" is connected to live and "gnd", which is why I think the dc voltage sort of floats on the ac.

I have tried adding these parts to a non-2-way switch and used it as 2-way but it's not working. I suspect the firmware is different? I have managed to get an ESP8266 powered from the switch in some cases, so I could make a switch 2-way with software. But the livolo switch will not stay on without a load connected (if you have no light connected to the 2nd switch on a 2-gang).

[MystX]

Guys, I see a lot of struggle trying to get devices powered from these switches. Maybe I missed it, but has anyone tried replacing the 3.3v regulator in the switch? I replaced mine with a switched-mode version, which gives you a lot more power to play with. The original linear regulators effectively have a 8.7v drop across them.

With that + a livolo LED adapter I've managed to get a ESP8266 powered on as little as 2x 13W LED bulbs (I've tried 2x 10.5W and it doesn't work). I've tried some of the jumpers people have posted here to get more power, but I'm unsure if they help.

[Nca78]

@MystX said in livolo Glass Panel Touch Light Wall Switch + arduino 433Mhz:

With that + a livolo LED adapter I've managed to get a ESP8266 powered on as little as 2x 13W LED bulbs (I've tried 2x 10.5W and it doesn't work). I've tried some of the jumpers people have posted here to get more power, but I'm unsure if they help.

Why would you want to use an ESP8266 when there are solutions using only a fraction of the power that you can connect to an ESP8266 via a radio link if you really need wifi ? With the wasted power you could run a screen, RGB leds, radar module, ...

[MystX]

@Nca78 So that I don't have to run a radio link and an esp elsewhere

But my post was really about the switching regulator.

[Nca78]

@MystX yes the switching regulator is much more efficient, there's a board using it already. And now the new versions have 12V available on the "touch" board so it's much easier to set it up.

[Teo Bartulovic]

Let me explain my problem in details, I need classic impulse switch to trig lights on stairs and hall and it is available in this form factor but the problem is that this push switch isn't available with remote control functionality so my idea is to use either simple one gang switch, or curtain or 2 Gang 2 Way but of course I have to somehow 'hack' them to work as momentary switches...

[Camposmansi]

Wow what a great project, this week I'll see if I get it with 2 way 2 gan

[Camposmansi]

Well yesterday burn a livolo

[Nca78]

@camposmansi said in livolo Glass Panel Touch Light Wall Switch + arduino 433Mhz:

Well yesterday burn a livolo

What did you do ? Wire the 2 way switch the wrong way ?

[Camposmansi]

@nca78 said in livolo Glass Panel Touch Light Wall Switch + arduino 433Mhz:

@camposmansi said in livolo Glass Panel Touch Light Wall Switch + arduino 433Mhz:

Well yesterday burn a livolo

What did you do ? Wire the 2 way switch the wrong way ?

If I burn to the computer, in the end I made a sketch and I will use only the keypad, now I'm designing the PVC

[ady_e_n]

Hi All,

I'm trying a different approach, on how to use just the top (sensor) part of the livolo touch switch, but at the moment, i'm stuck at the PIC16f690 microcontroller functions in order to power up the LED.

I'm using a Livolo VL-C601-2 model and based on the wires on the top part, i tried to make a diagram to batter understand the schematics. (Please note that i'm missing some wires and that i have not drawn all the wires from all the pins as i could not see all of them. If something is wrong, please let me know.)

What i don't understand from the diagram below, is how does the PIC16F690 controls the two LEDs (red and blue) using only the RB4 (13) pin.

From the datasheet link here i can see that the Pin 13 (RB4) has: RB4/AN10/SDI/SDA and supports IOC

Can someone please explain to a noob in electronics how does this work and how does the pic switches from one LED to the other ?