Maker Monday: Multiway Switches and Home Assistant

 Originally published on December 07, 2018 by Shaun Behrens
Last updated on March 03, 2022 • 3 minute read

In our newest Maker Monday, the man who is usually behind the camera, Patrick (our director and editor) shows us how he solved a problem he had in his own home with multiway switches. Basically: how to integrate switches with Home Assistant.

Before we start, it goes without saying (although now I'm kind of saying it, aren't I?) that if you are working with electricity, you better know what you are doing. It's best to get a certified professional to do any electrical work in your house. 

Most households have multiway light switches. For those who don't know how they work, we put together an introductory explanation here:

When you integrate a circuit with Home Assistant, you also have another problem: you can use Home Assistant to toggle a light on or off once it's connected, but Home Assistant is not aware of whether the light is currently on or off. In other words, it only acts as a toggle, and the UI cannot show you the current state of the light. If you're curious how we solved this conundrum, watch the first part of our multiway switches episode:

 

In the second part of the episode, we wire up a relay to act as a four-way switch, and clean up the Home Assistant user interface.

 

Have any ideas of your own how to achieve this? Or maybe better ways of doing it? Let us know in the comments!