Sonoff NSpanel
Here is one of the most anticipated products of the year. There has been a fair amount of hype around this product among the smart home communities since this product was announced earlier this year and it has finally been released.
This is the NSpanel from Sonoff.
First off I would like to start by saying a big thank you to Sonoff for sending me this unit for review and what a great product it is.
The NSpanel is essentially a smart dual gang light switch with a small touch screen panel to enable control of other smart home devices directly from the switch. Initial impressions are good. The unit itself is well built and feels robust and comes in a smart matt black/grey finish. The NSpanel comes in EU and US versions in order to cater for different shape light switches and requirements.
Installing the NSpanel was straightforward however as with all electrical installations please get a professional electrician to fit the unit if you do not feel confident to do it yourself. It is also worth noting that a neutral wire is required with this switch.
After installing the NSpanel and replacing the existing light switch I proceeded to pair the device with the ewelink app. Again this was a straightforward process using Bluetooth to the device initially. Once the device is found all you have to do is select your WiFi network, enter the password and the app will do the rest. The switch connects to your WiFi network so no requirement for a hub.
Pairing the NSpanel is as simple can pressing a few buttons in the app. Press the blue plus button in the center at the bottom of the home screen. This will bring up the “Add Device” screen. Select “Bluetooth Pairing” from the options.
This screen will then be displayed where you need to select the “indicator blinking correctly” check at the bottom of the screen before you can continue.
Once selected the check mark will turn blue as show in the screenshot below.
After pairing the new device it was time to configure the NSpanel and see what it can do. Configuration of the panel is done through the ewelink app. In the app you can configure "widgets" which are basically other devices you wish to control from the panel.
There has already been several third party integrations added to the NSpanel which makes interfacing with products from manufacturers such as Philip hue a breeze.
The NSpanel also has a thermostat for the control of heating or cooling smart devices. The thermostat can be configured to control on of the physical switches on the NSpanel or other smart devices in the ewelink app depending on a set temperature.
The NSpanel also has the ability to control sonoff led strips which is a really nice feature. From the touchscreen you are able to set the brightness and the colour of the LED strip. This makes adjusting brightness and colour very convenient. Unfortunately, i do not have any Sonoff LED strips so i can’t show you the interface for these lights.
Naturally, the NSpanel also integrates with Alexa and Google home to be able to control the physical buttons on the NSpanel using voice commands if you wish. Siri shortcuts can also be used with the NSpanel.
As with many other sonoff products the NSpanel comes with pin holes on the main board to allow the device to be flashed with different firmware, such as Tasmota, if you wish to do so. However currently there is no firmware available to modify the screen aspect of the switch.
The NSpanel also has local lan control allowing for faster control from the ewelink app if required.
All in all, the NSpanel is a good, solid product and a welcome addition smart homes that may have perhaps be lacking in an easy to use and install control panel. The is certainly a hole in the market when it comes to wall controllers for smarthomes and Sonoff has done a good job at filling this gap. I hope that in the future we will see updates to the NSpanel to allow even more integrations with other sma home products as well as the ability to modify the touchscreen options and perhaps allow custom displays, layouts and background images. Personally I would love to have the ability to display a URL on the touchscreen to allow for control of Home Assistant dashboards or other Web contents.
If you would like to get your own NSpanel the link below will take you to Sonoff's itead website where they can be purchased.
