Bought a sonoff switch to control some external fairy lights. I wired one end to a standard plug and the output side to a moulded plug socket, so the assembly is now general purpose and reusable.
The sonoff does the job but the app strikes me as very primitive.
From what I can see the rules are simply on / off and lack smarter settings such as knowning about the time of sunrise / sunset.
As a result of this I had to create 4 rules
- morning switch on
- morning switch off
- evening switch on
- evening switch off
So basically this is no different to a standard old fashioned mechanical plug in timer, but with the following advantages.
- time kept in sync by a remote server so no need to pull out furniture to reset the clock in the event of a power cut
- echo integration
Can the sonoff switch use IFTTT ? It would be good if they could be integrated with say a contact / read switch on a door so that when you open the front door in the evening a light is turned on in the porch and hallway. I have a light on a sideboard which has 3 bulbs, Phillips Hue bulbs and their ilk are all very modern looking, I prefer old fashioned looking bulbs.
The light is like the one below, but is on the top of a sideboard. What would your recommend to control this based on motion and/or door opening.
Sonoff switches are made by ITEAD, which is a Chinese company. You won't get anywhere with integrations with IFTTT, a nicer app, etc. Most stuff I've gotten from China has had pretty poor software along with it - the Chinese are great at hardware but their software development is abysmal. UIs are poor, apps are buggy, could really do with a native English speaker doing a translation, etc. Generally it's only the larger companies that do it right - TPLink for example, and Xiaomi.
Honestly, I'm surprised there's Echo integration, but I guess Amazon are just about big enough for it.
The only way to improve the Sonoff support is to flash it (thankfully, can now be done without needing to open it up) with a third party firmware that enables MQTT support. Then you can use it with other systems that support MQTT - I use Home Assistant personally, but if this is your only automation that may be overkill.
As for the front-door thing, you'll need something like Home Assistant or a hub to bridge technologies. You're getting into the world of DIYing it now as the DIY home automation systems are the ones that generally can handle a wider variety. There's some work being done to get Sonoffs working with SmartThings mind you.
Personally, I have a Tado so I'd use the location service from Tado on Home Assistant and have it turn the light on when I'm in the vicinity of my home. You can also do this using a multitude of location services.
Pre-warning: this is techy territory now, HASS at least requires knowing how to edit YAML files, use Linux, etc. If that's not your cup of tea you'll need to find a home automation hub like SmartThings that'll fit all your needs. Good luck.