This made me wonder, are there any mechanical switches that can be switched by a smart something? As in, a regular switch where the user always has mechanical control, even when the smart system is down, but that optionally can be switched by a smart sytem, state reading is optional.

[–] hessenjunge@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 2 days ago

Yes

[–] Giloron@programming.dev 1 points 2 days ago

Most of them. The up and down are buttons behind the normal looking switch. It works manually before pairing to the network.

Shelly also makes a small module that wires in with the existing switch. Up and down lose meaning and just signal to change state.

[–] xav@programming.dev 1 points 2 days ago

I'm using Sonoff switches. They work very well with HA but they also operate independently if it's down. So I always install the behind a physical switch, that way I always have a backup in case something's wrong (and I know it will happen).

[–] gajahmada@awful.systems 1 points 2 days ago

If my brief research for HA sometimes ago is correct many popular brand have it, at least for electrical switches like lamp, also garage door opener conversion but the few I watched looked like a pain to set up.