Aqara D1 Wall Switch Neutral / Non Neutral

The answer is simple and yet not so straightforward. Technically all our homes do not usually have a neutral wire at the light switches. There are some of us to who open up the light switch look at two different coloured wires and think that we have a neutral wire. But 99.99% of the time this is incorrect. The neutral wire is typically blue in colour and is often present in heater and aircon switches only. We usually see a brown wire which is the live wire and a green/yellow wire which is the Earth wire that is connected to the metal bracket. So at this point, the no neutral wall switch would be the solution for our homes, right? Unfortunately, the long answer is a big NO!. Read on.

Without a neutral wire, the No-Neutral wall switch will always continue to send a small current to your light fixtures so that it can keep itself powered (its wifi receiver and modules) and continue to listen for your instructions from you or the Gateway. Unfortunately, this also means that the lights could be building up a charge from the small current. When the charge is sufficient enough the lights could flicker or blink which can be irritating and sometimes freaky if it happens after midnight.

So what should you get? We recommend the Aqara Neutral Version switches. With the neutral wire, the wall switch can be self-powered. The live and neutral wire allows the switch to have a closed circuit to power itself while sending zero current to the lights. This way you do not face any light flickering or blinking. It is a solid workhorse. It also has a very low defect rate and much cheaper.

Having said this you will need to work with your licensed electrician to explore if he/she would be able to pull a neutral wire to your light switch for your home. If this is not possible our suggestion is to skip smart switches and get smart lights like Yeelight Smart Ceiling lights instead. Smart switches can only do ON/OFF, whereas smart lights can do brightness control, colour control and so much more.ProTip: Do not use Aqara Wall switches with devices that exceed the maximum power rating, if you do Aqara may not honour the warranty. For example, none of these switches can handle the 20Amps power draw by heaters and aircon, so never use them with these.

Note: Be very sure which type of switch you need and going to buy, once opened it cannot be returned for exchange or swapping to the other model.

If you are in doubt just chat with us, our friendly customer service reps are more than happy to answer your queries and quote you a bulk discount.