Ez2wire

[reader2580]

Just how often do people change switches or outlets? And doing so with a currently available good quality replacement is not difficult. Five dollars and 15 minutes is what it takes.

A lot of people are replacing switches with smart switches, or receptacles with ones having USB ports. I think that is the market Ez2Wire is going after. The technology with smart switches changes pretty quickly.

I agree that this is not needed.

 

[Steve from Socal]

The idea seems to me an answer looking for a question. There are modular connectors in the market now. The novelty of the standard plug concept doesn't rise to the 'world changing' event. IEC systems are intrinsiclly safe now and most NEC the same. How much time would these really save Vs cost of materials? Then the risk of another 'system' beta Vs VHS?

 

[Bert_]

Listed to a lutron rep give his spiel for a couple of my continuing ed hours last month. According to him we shouldn't even be pulling wires for 3 ways/ect. Just use wireless.

There were a few guys that said they are using it. But they also admitted to still pulling the wire most of the time, just for piece of mind.

I've never installed any of it. I like proven stuff that just works.

 

[American Locomotive]

Just how often do people change switches or outlets? And doing so with a currently available good quality replacement is not difficult. Five dollars and 15 minutes is what it takes.

I am not seeing the need or benefit In reinventing this wheel.

Think bigger. Switches and outlets get destroyed all the time in commercial and industrial settings. Custodial staff being able to pop-in a new switch or outlet after John-Q-Public massacres it is a game changer compared to needing to call in a sparky to do it.

Many (most?) homeowners are not comfortable doing that work, so being able to do it safely and easily could be a plus. I bet builders might like it, too.

 

[The Cobbler]

I've never installed any of it. I like proven stuff that just works.

I like wireless for things that can't be wired easily, but I prefer wired internet, wired printers, wired light switches etc.
but I am old fashioned, and all this wireless stuff is not a lifetime or lasting technology . it's all adding to the landfill , throw away society that we're in. anyway, my rant is over for now

 

[billconner]

I like wireless for things that can't be wired easily, but I prefer wired internet, wired printers, wired light switches etc.
but I am old fashioned, and all this wireless stuff is not a lifetime or lasting technology . it's all adding to the landfill , throw away society that we're in. anyway, my rant is over for now

I can't imagine wiring an old house for Internet when Wi-Fi is so simple and cheap. And it's not like today's wired network is going to be what's needed in a few years. It took minutes to set a T-Mobile gateway up and now several computers, tablets, TVs, printers, and cell phones are connected. No cost, no time, nothing to replace or throw out.

I do prefer old fashioned power wiring, but I don't ask much of it, and respect those who want and use whole house control.

This ez2wire will sink or swim in cost. If it's really less expensive to plug in a device rather than wire nuts and screw terminals, it will probably be used by some.

 

[reader2580]

I can almost assure you the price of Ez2Wire devices will not be cheap. How could they be with having a socket instead of a box, and a plug on the other side? The money savings will be for those who don't do their own electrical and call an electrician to do anything electrical.

I don't see the need for smart connected switches or receptacles. Are we that lazy now that we need to use our phones to turn something on or off instead of just walking over to a switch?

 

[CJ7VFR]

......I don't see the need for smart connected switches or receptacles. Are we that lazy now that we need to use our phones to turn something on or off instead of just walking over to a switch?

Do you have kids and/or a wife?

Both seem to love to turn on every light in the house and then "forget" to turn them off. Or worse, they will leave outside lights, or lights in the garage or lights in the basement on all day long and waste electricity.

I have been using WIFI plugs and receptacles, WIFI switches and WIFI light bulbs for years now and they have been a godsend in lowering our electric bill. We have indoor and outdoor lights put up during holidays, little village displays with lights in them on hutches and mantels, shed lights, front door lights and a bunch of other lights around the house that I use the WIFI plugs, receptacles, switches and bulbs for. This gives me the ability to not only turn them On and Off manually (via the switch for example) but to also set timers for them to turn On and Off automatically when we want them on and off.

That, and I can look at the app for these things when I am away from home and see if anything was left on during the day by someone in the house. If they were left on, instead of wasting the electricity with them being on all day I can use the app to shut those things off remotely from wherever I am.

These things work great, save electricity and most of all save the constant arguments with family members forgetting to shut things off. Sometimes there is no amount of yelling and screaming at your wife and kids that will get them to learn to shut off the lights when they leave a room or whatever, so you do what you can to do it yourself. If I am home I will go around and shut things off that others have left on, but it is really nice to have the ability to also do that when you're not home and able to do it in person.

Jim

 

[Stuart in MN]

I've been watching a video series about a fellow who's restoring an old abandoned villa in France. The walls are probably 18 inches thick and are built from solid stone. To retrofit electric lighting to the structure, he's using wireless switches so he doesn't have to run surface mount conduit or wireways everywhere.

 

[mike93lx]

Do you have kids and/or a wife?

Both seem to love to turn on every light in the house and then "forget" to turn them off. Or worse, they will leave outside lights, or lights in the garage or lights in the basement on all day long and waste electricity.

I have been using WIFI plugs and receptacles, WIFI switches and WIFI light bulbs for years now and they have been a godsend in lowering our electric bill. We have indoor and outdoor lights put up during holidays, little village displays with lights in them on hutches and mantels, shed lights, front door lights and a bunch of other lights around the house that I use the WIFI plugs, receptacles, switches and bulbs for. This gives me the ability to not only turn them On and Off manually (via the switch for example) but to also set timers for them to turn On and Off automatically when we want them on and off.

That, and I can look at the app for these things when I am away from home and see if anything was left on during the day by someone in the house. If they were left on, instead of wasting the electricity with them being on all day I can use the app to shut those things off remotely from wherever I am.

These things work great, save electricity and most of all save the constant arguments with family members forgetting to shut things off. Sometimes there is no amount of yelling and screaming at your wife and kids that will get them to learn to shut off the lights when they leave a room or whatever, so you do what you can to do it yourself. If I am home I will go around and shut things off that others have left on, but it is really nice to have the ability to also do that when you're not home and able to do it in person.

Jim

With all my lights being LED, I've stopped worrying about a light being on. It's just not worth it and spending money on wifi switches will never pay back on saved power

A $35 switch would have to cut 25,000 hours of usage on a 9w bulb at average electric rates.

That's not worth yelling and screaming over, at least to me

 

[cybrdyke]

I've been watching a video series about a fellow who's restoring an old abandoned villa in France. The walls are probably 18 inches thick and are built from solid stone. To retrofit electric lighting to the structure, he's using wireless switches so he doesn't have to run surface mount conduit or wireways everywhere.

Careful, you'll get run out of GJ!!
I've suggested such things before and the good ol' boys who dont understand such voodoo just aren't having it.
Too expensive, too unreliable, too complicated, too fancy, uses batteries, allows hackers in, allows Putin to watch everything I'm doing, allows Alexa to hear it when I fart, and so on and so forth. Just pure hilarity of ignorance.
CD

 

[CJ7VFR]

With all my lights being LED, I've stopped worrying about a light being on. It's just not worth it and spending money on wifi switches will never pay back on saved power

A $35 switch would have to cut 25,000 hours of usage on a 9w bulb at average electric rates.

That's not worth yelling and screaming over, at least to me

True. But we are not talking about someone leaving a single 9 watt light bulb on all day.

I am talking about leaving up to 20 9 watt LED bulbs a day on in the house, as well as the 10 two tube 4 foot long light fixtures in the basement that have 15 watt LED tubes in them. And sometimes the 10 two tube 4 foot long light fixtures in the garage, with the same 15 watt LED tubes in them are left on as well. There were days on end where all of that was left on all day long. The house would look like a damn Christmas tree all lit up when I would get home.

So, using my math that would be up to 780 watts of electricity an hour for all those LED bulbs and tubes being on. If they are all on for the 8 hours a day that they sometimes are on for, that would be over 6200 watts of electricity a day going out the window for no reason. Times that by my current rate of electricity, which in my part of NJ is 14 cents per kilowatt hour and adds up to almost a dollar a day.

I don't know where you are getting your WIFI switches, but you can get them for less than half what you mentioned on Amazon for some good quality Kasa brand WIFI switches, which is what I have. I also buy the WIFI light bulbs and outlets that you plug into the wall to control non-smart light fixtures, all for less than what you mentioned. Sometimes you can get the plug in outlets for $25.00 for a pack of 4 of them and the smart bulbs for about the same price for a 4 pack of them.

By using the smart technology I have cut our electric bill by as much as $25.00 a month. That might not sound like a lot, but when you figure that I have been doing this for a few years now the savings can be very good.

And as you said, no more yelling and screaming over it.

Jim

 

[eejack]

I am all for it.

Think of the massive amount of rewiring by professional electricians to existing structures just to allow amateurs to update their smart devices. It will be an industry unto itself.

And to think, this will have to be a world wide standard - no more varying voltages and hertz. The amount of infrastructure upgrading that will be necessary will dwarf the structure rewiring.

Even better, this will end up uniting all of the peoples of the earth, imagine all of the varying industries and companies and standards associations, regulatory agencies, governments all settling on a set of common protocols just so Joey Homeowner can update his lighting dongle at his own whim.

You will be able to bring any appliance anywhere in the world and plug it in!

The shear brilliance of it brings tears of joy and happiness.

So which version of usb will it use?

 

[mike93lx]

So which version of usb will it use?

Obviously the best version.

Micro

 

[AntonLargiader]

I've never installed any of it. I like proven stuff that just works.

As wireless stuff goes, Lutron pretty much is the proven stuff that just works. That said, I totally get wanting wires... I have some Lutron switches but they are hardwired to work normally without any smart anything. I can control them wirelessly as well. I have some other brand switches as well but they will probably get migrated over to Lutron over time.

 

[Bert_]

As wireless stuff goes, Lutron pretty much is the proven stuff that just works. That said, I totally get wanting wires... I have some Lutron switches but they are hardwired to work normally without any smart anything. I can control them wirelessly as well. I have some other brand switches as well but they will probably get migrated over to Lutron over time.

I don't doubt lutron is making good stuff. I'm thinking more long term. I want to install stuff that's going to just work for 30 years. The wireless stuff just hasn't existed that long.

In my house I went with a little better quality devices. I don't want to touch it ever again except to turn the switch on and off.

 

[Steve_P]

The only way new ideas like this get adopted is if they save a significant amount of $ during construction- like PEX, which they mentioned. If they can convince the Toll Brothers types, the companies that build tens of thousands of new homes per year, that this is the electrical equivalent of PEX, and it'll save them thousands of $ per house in labor costs, it'll be adopted, and the smaller builders will follow when it's commonly found at stores. If not, then it will fail, or at best be a niche product. Essentially no one is going to retrofit this into an existing home or building unless they're redoing the entire electrical; the sales are going to be in new construction, and they need to get the big boys on board first IMO.

 

[AntonLargiader]

There are modular connectors in the market now. The novelty of the standard plug concept doesn't rise to the 'world changing' event.

I don't know the details about how the wiring works, but I think it's a bit more than just a modular connector. It's that, but built into the box so that there are no other connections. And the arrangement of the wires to that box/connector is presumably thought through in such a way that you can alter functions without reconnecting the box.

I think there will be a lot of resistance to using lanced connections for everything, but I suppose a manufacturer is free to design a similar box with setscrew or similar terminals.

Where can I find details on the wiring?

 

[cybrdyke]

The only way new ideas like this get adopted is if they save a significant amount of $ during construction- like PEX, which they mentioned. If they can convince the Toll Brothers types, the companies that build tens of thousands of new homes per year, that this is the electrical equivalent of PEX, and it'll save them thousands of $ per house in labor costs, it'll be adopted, and the smaller builders will follow when it's commonly found at stores. If not, then it will fail, or at best be a niche product. Essentially no one is going to retrofit this into an existing home or building unless they're redoing the entire electrical; the sales are going to be in new construction, and they need to get the big boys on board first IMO.

In my mind, the electrical equivalent of PEX is romex. Pex changed the plumbing industry because it was a better delivery system than steel, copper or pvc. In electrical, the delivery system is wire and this system doesn't change or improve upon that. Their comparison to PEX is a very bad reference, IMO.
These devices will still need to be connected to the wire. This changes nothing for the electrician.
CD

 

[acer66]

In my mind, the electrical equivalent of PEX is romex. Pex changed the plumbing industry because it was a better delivery system than steel, copper or pvc. In electrical, the delivery system is wire and this system doesn't change or improve upon that. Their comparison to PEX is a very bad reference, IMO.
These devices will still need to be connected to the wire. This changes nothing for the electrician.
CD

The link PCustoms posted in #30 shows boxes with devices like switches or receptacles preinstalled.
Which would also make a rough inspection faster.

Or are you referring to something else?

 

[PCustoms]

The link PCustoms posted in #30 shows boxes with devices like switches or receptacles preinstalled.
Which would also make a rough inspection faster.

Well that might be a different product.


The Ez2Wire guy seems to be stepping on a few toes...

 

[acer66]

Well that might be a different product.


The Ez2Wire guy seems to be stepping on a few toes...

Guess you can add me to the ones that got confused by the one too many similar named companies.

 

[cybrdyke]

The link PCustoms posted in #30 shows boxes with devices like switches or receptacles preinstalled.
Which would also make a rough inspection faster.

Or are you referring to something else?

Sort of... Pre-fab like those shown in that link are pretty common in commercial projects. Some contractors purchase them this way and other contractors pre-fab their own. Either way, it speeds up installations and also reduces costs by allowing apprentices to do the install. Most of the big device brands offer pre-fab of their products (Hubbell, Eaton, Legrand). You dont see this very often in residential wiring, though.
But, what I was trying to point out about the Ez2wire is that it still needs an electrician to connect their modular box thing to the branch wiring, typically romex. So, from an installation point of view, it's not much different time-wise, than connecting a switch or a receptacle.
CD

 

[popbigguy]

How do they do 3 way, 4way switchs? I can see someone putting in a single switch for a 4 way and wondering why their lights don't work.

 

[rabidsquirrel]

The idea seems to me an answer looking for a question. There are modular connectors in the market now. The novelty of the standard plug concept doesn't rise to the 'world changing' event. IEC systems are intrinsiclly safe now and most NEC the same. How much time would these really save Vs cost of materials? Then the risk of another 'system' beta Vs VHS?

It looks incredibly similar to office furniture connections, and I haven't seen a single one yet that made me say "This is a quality product".

 

[billconner]

How do they do 3 way, 4way switchs? I can see someone putting in a single switch for a 4 way and wondering why their lights don't work.

Presumably you still have to have the right number of conductors to the right box and the right switch. I would anticipate the pin configuration would sort out the connections.

 

[dave*99]

How do they do 3 way, 4way switchs? I can see someone putting in a single switch for a 4 way and wondering why their lights don't work.

I suspect a wired/wireless communications protocol is used. Supply power to the light through one of their devices. Program it to communicate with any of their switches anywhere on the premises. Or on an app on your phone.

Since that capability already exists in other products on the market, I don't believe they would rely on traditional 3 way or 4 way wiring methods.