I bought 2 x two gang switch, each cost ~ RM40, just install recently so I can't confirm it is reliable or not
each button in the Broadlink e-control app has an entry in the RM tasker, you can create a macro to combine multiple button actions, then, you can create a Alexa device contain the macro, let say I create movie macro which to turn on TV and amplifier, and I create Alexa device name in RM tasker call Watch Movie, then, you can talk to Alexa like

"Alexa, turn on Watch Movie", Alexa will automatically execute the movie macro actions

Broadlink TC is 1 way communication, just like other IR devices. z-wave, zigbee, wifi are mostly 2 ways communication


world.taobao.com or www.aliexpress.com, aliexpress is more expensive but it is English interface and mostly free shipping

This post has been edited by Kiding: Jan 24 2017, 05:31 PM

my switch is just 5 meters away from the broadlink hub, so signal is good.

I don't have ceiling fan, I plan to control the towel fan, it is not difficult to control fan speed by asking "Alexa, turn on fast fan" or "Alexa, turn on slow fan" where "fast fan" or "slow fan" refer to the IR macro name which consist of IR command "high speed, medium speed, low speed"

Aliexpress - privacy film

US$380 per square meter, not cheap...

If you look at the spec in the link carefully, then you will not think it is a glass.

I can set the timezone to Asia/Kuala Lumpur in iOS Alexa App

No problem, Echo dot uses USB power adapter, 5V 2A, the power adapter is universal one which support 110-240V

yes, smartthings is awesome, it can almost integrate all IoT devices, so far I have successfully integrated

1. z-wave devices (GoControl motion sesnors, contact sensors, dimmer, switches)
2. zigbee devices (xiaomi motion sensors, contact sensors)
3. IP camera (foscam C1 cameras)
4. Broadlink devices (RM2, blackbean, TC2) to control aircond, lights, TV, projectors, media player
5. sonoff wifi switches devices
6. Yamaha receivers
7. Amozon Echo Dot (using echosistant to voice control all smartthings devices)
8. VLC media player for voice notification

No, I don't have. anyway, you can use broadlink TC1/TC2 RF switch to control lights, it doesn't need neutral line, it is best for direct replacement of current switch

Yes, you need to get same frequency controller, which is smartthings from U.S. I'm currently using U.S frequency as it has more selection for z-wave devices


I only use it to control lights which is less than 200W, it has been running for 4 months and so far so good.

For broadlink integration, you need RM bridge Android app to bridge broadlink to smartthings, I run the RM bridge app in the andorid VM in my ubuntu NAS server.
As for sonoff, there is a guy who write the smartthings device type handler so that smartthings can directly control sonoff, but the sonoff need to flash with customized firmware.

smart home is fun if you have controller and other sensors, for example,

1. Turn on car porch lights when some body in and only at night or sky is dark
2. Turn on lights/aircond when you come back home, and turn on amp to play classical music
3. Turn off all lights/appliances except fridge when nobody at home

Home automation is smart home key features

If you want it to be simple, you need to pay a premium price, control4, apple homekit probably will make it simple

Amazon echo (alexa) is not really a smart home hub, it can't do IF-THEN-ELSE, you needs IFTTT to integrate with Alexa. Amazon is a voice assistant, it simplify the trigger of series actions.

on the other hand, Smartthings has smart app that can do any logical operations that enable any kind of home automation.

1. It is possible to use broadlink without Android RM bridge, but, it needs to run python to send commands, and python integration with smartthings is not straight forward, so I don't use it.

2. It will remain off, for broadlink TC2, each on/off commands has different RF code, so when it is off, sending off command won't trigger it on, likewise, if it is on, sending on command won't trigger it off.

This post has been edited by Kiding: Apr 29 2017, 09:22 PM

What you said is partially correct, it is one way signal transmit, so the hub doesn't know the status, and if someone physically switched it off, the smarthome software still detect as on, but we were talking sending the command using software, not physically switched it off. actually I don't care what status the software report, if i wanna switch it off, I just send the off command to turn off the light, even the light is already turn off, it won't turn on.

the TC2 on/off command use different RF codes, I can confirm that because I hacked into the broadlink e-control app, and find out the RF code hex keys use by each RF commands.

You can use a single protocol (z-wave) to control supported z-wave devices, and everything will be very simple and easy just like what you see in the youtube, however. z-wave devices are DAMN expensive, a switch, motion sensor easily cost US$25-US$40, while xiaomi zigbee contact, switch, motion sensors just cost < US$10, also many z-wave light switch requires neutral line to work, while broadlink TC2 doesn't require. Logitech harmony hub is US$99 while broadlink RM2 Pro just cost US$20.

simply put, if poor man like me, then it needs to do more work to integrate all different devices from different vendors using different protocols. rich man can simply buy all devices from single vendor and have simple setup.

I think you misunderstand the RF code, it is not two different frequencies, it is code, not frequency, when you send RF signal to TC2 to turn it on, broadlink RM2 needs to send a specific frequency coding (433Mhz but in different coding like 0xe90a4200df0909160916091609160916091609160916160909160916091609160916091616091609160916091609091616090916091609160916091609161609160909161609), when TC2 receives this code, it turn on the switch, likewise, there is an off code to turn the switch off.

Even IR also has different coding for each device, Logitech harmony has ten of thousands IR codes in their database, so that harmony can control almost all vendor's devices

If the TC2 is turn on physically, the smart home controller doesn't know it is turned on, but it doesn't matter, I can build a logic so that if there is no motion in that area, turn off the TC2, or if no one at home, turn off all lights, RM2 controller will send "off" command to the TC2 and regardless what status it is, just turn off the switch.

The real problem is some IR device such as Samsung TV, it uses toggle to turn TV on/off, the IR code for turning on and off is the same, then this is difficult to handle.

too expensive, Taobao selling 5pc cost only RM80

smartthings is expensive if you use their sensors, but smartthing can work with most devices, including xiaomi zigbee devices, I have few xiaomi temp, contact and motion sensors working with smartthings, smartthings also work with Alexa, gogole home, IFTTT.

you better open and check your existing wall switch, does it come with neutral line or not ? if not, you need to get the last 3 in the picture.