RB3rg
commented
5 years ago You don't have to replace the relays, they are 12VDC. You might be asking about why to power with 12VDC instead of the regular 110VAC. The downside of 110VAC:
- Need more time to tweak the firmware as the step down/conversion from 110AC to 12DC is very dirt causing a lot of problems with the timers for the capacitive touch. (we don't have the original Livolo code)
- A minimal load is needed to power the circuit, this is a huge problem with the new LED low power lights
- Serial comm from pic will be very unstable. The Pros of 110VAC
- No much circuit mod needed
- No extra 12V power wire
On the other hand, Downside of 12VDC
- Extra wire
- Need circuit mod Pros of 12VDC
- It works
- You can switch anything on/off no matter the load
- If you want to replace the 3.3V regulator for a 5V regulator you will get a nice bright blue/red light in the Livolo panel (yes it works, the PIC can handle up to 5V).
Hi, could you explain why this creates the limitations of no parasitic power supply and the need to replace relays with 5v ones.
I am a bit confused why these are different since we are not changing the wiring (or are we?).
I'd really love to introduce this to my house and use ESP8266 and MQTT interface as I can not run data wires to the locations.
Also, have you tried this with the newer TRIAC (non-relay) based ones?