“eWeLink-Remote” is a local remote control solution available in the eWeLink smart home eco-system, a proprietary Bluetooth Low Energy based protocol.
SONOFF and eWeLink platform implemented it as an optimization of the traditional 433MHz RF control. It provides a more convenient, more reliable, and longer-distance control way for home appliances. While RF433 supported typically 15-25 meters (outdoor) transmission, while eWeLink-Remote supports up to 70-100 meter (outdoor).
Just as in case of RF433, eWeLink-Remote also has the concept of a unit with a transmitter and another unit with a built-in receiver, also called as an eWeLink-Remote sub-device (transmitter) and an eWeLink-Remote gateway or hub (receiver).
The concept of eWeLink-Remote
The main feature of eWeLink-Remote is to add wireless remote control for Wi-Fi smart home devices. At the moment, eWeLink-Remote is usually only available for devices with Wi-Fi connectivity, so devices with Zigbee protocol support normally do not support eWeLink-Remote.
It can be used for adding wireless switching to relays and smart wall switches, and also they can used to make traditional (single-live-wire, no neutral wire) traditional wall switches smart.
eWeLink-Remote implementation by SONOFF
SONOFF was the first eWeLink brand to release smart home devices with eWeLink-Remote protocol compatibility. The first device with az eWeLink-Remote receiver and gateway was Sonoff Mini R3, already discontinued, and S-MATE as a sub-device (transmitter), also already discontinued.
By now, several new devices were released with eWeLink-Remote receiver and gateway, such as Sonoff Mini R4, Sonoff Basic R4, Sonoff Dual R3 relays, Sonoff M5 and Sonoff TX Extreme (also called as Sonoff TX T5) wall switches. Expectedly many newly released Sonoff devices will probably support this feature from 2024, in general. On the eWeLink-Remote transmitter side, Sonoff S-MATE R2 module and Sonoff R5 wireless switches support this feature.
Sonoff now offers a full, push-button wireless switch (with 6 buttons), called Sonoff R5, to remotely control up to 6 different smart home devices or scenes from this wireless wall switch.
With eWeLink-Remote transmitter modules such as Sonoff S-MATE R2, it is easy to add wireless switching capability to traditional wall switches, customers just need to install an S-MATE R2 module into the wall box, behind a traditional switch.
In households with traditional wiring, where there is no neutral wire in the switch mounting box, the combination of a relay with eWeLink-Remote receiver/gateway capable relay and an S-MATE R2 transmitter is an easy solution to make the lights smart.
S-MATE R2 module is coin cell battery-powered, and it can be considered as a remote control when connecting with the ordinary switch. When the switch is turned on/off, the S-MATE R2 connecting with the switch triggers an “eWeLink-Remote” Bluetooth signal, and the relay with eWeLink-Remote receiver/gateway receives the signal and changes the relay status, even if there is no Internet connection, because eWeLink-Remote remote control works fully locally.
The SONOFF implementation of eWeLink-Remote technology supports eWeLink-Remote gateway/hub devices with a Bluetooth receiver and eWeLink-Remote sub-devices with Bluetooth transmitters.
After pairing the eWeLink-Remote sub-devices with the eWeLink-Remote gateways with the help of eWeLink smart phone APP, users need to create a local eWeLink scene in the APP to tell the eWeLink gateway which device to switch when triggered by the sub-device. Users may decide:
to switch the gateway device itself (and set up a simple Bluetooth based remote control), or
may configure the scene to switch another device, and instruct the gateway to connect with another eWeLink device through the eWeLink Cloud and make another device switched. With this method, any eWeLink compatible device, even without an eWeLink-Remote receiver, can be switched from a Sonoff eWeLink-Remote compatible wireless switch via the eWeLink-Remote gateway.
All such Sonoff devices with eWeLink-Remote support at ewelinkstore.com are categorized as eWeLink-Remote (hub) connection type.
eWeLink-Remote implementation by other eWeLink brands
Other eWeLink brands, such as SmartWise, are using another, much simpler implementation of the eWeLink-Remote (Bluetooth) protocol, a direct remote control.
In such a cases, smart Wi-Fi devices with an eWeLink-Remote receiver can pair directly with a wireless eWeLink-Remote transmitter device (such as a SmartWise BEREM1, BEREM2, BEREM3 wireless switch, a 1-gang, 2-gang, 3-gang switch, accordingly).
As these devices are directly paired for remote control, such a wireless switch will wirelessly trigger the unit with a receiver (a relay or a smart wall switch) change on/off status, there is no need to create a scene.
As SmartWise devices with an eWeLink-Remote receiver do not have Bluetooth gateway / hub feature, the remote control is only possible to switch directly the devices with the Bluetooth receiver, there is no way to switch any other devices.
Most non-Sonoff eWeLink-compatible devices with an eWeLink-Remote protocol support at ewelinkstore.com are categorized as eWeLink-Remote (direct) connection type.
Compatibility between eWeLink-Remote devices of Sonoff and other eWeLink brands
As Sonoff devices mostly support the eWeLink-Remote gateway/hub + sub-device concept, and other eWeLink brands as SmartWise support the direct remote control concept of an eWeLink-Remote transmitter and receiver, they are not compatible with each other.
It is not possible to pair a SmartWise eWeLink-Remote (Bluetooth) wireless switch with a Sonoff smart device with an eWeLink-Remote receiver (like Sonoff Mini R4, Sonoff Mini Basic R4, Sonoff Dual R3 etc).
Also, Sonoff R5 wireless eWeLink-Remote switch or Sonoff S-MATE R2 cannot be paired with a SmartWise B6 or SmartWise T6 smart switch or a SmartWise Mini BT relay.