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Yet another Chinese brand has emerged to bring HomeKit smarts to the party, which in this case is a company called Tesdon (or Dongguan Tesdon Lighting Technology Co.). Tesdon has introduced a new product they call the Smart Controller, which seems to essentially place a smart switch between a power supply and lighting sources.

Whilst it’s not entirely clear from their website exactly how it works as such, it would appear that the smart controller, which is basically an encased smart switch with power cables coming out of either side, acts as a bridge or relay between the power and the lighting it’s connected to. The power cables appear to have barrel connectors either end.

On the company’s website, it states that there are three versions of the Smart Controller; A black model, which only works with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, a grey model, that uses Zigbee, and appears to suggest it can connect to the Phillips Hue Bridge (and possibly other Zigbee bridges), and finally a white model that is designed to work with Apple HomeKit.

The page in question also explains that once added to HomeKit, the Smart Controller can be used to turn ‘dumb’ lights on or off. Tesdon makes a series of different lighting products, including wall lights, pendant lights, as well as bathroom lighting and light strips, so, in theory, their Smart Controller could be quite useful assuming you’re able to connect them via the barrel connectors already mentioned.

As regards the light strip, that is also HomeKit compatible, although it seems to only be available in a 1-metre strip, which is odd, although 1600W is quite decent, and the strip is capable of separate white.

Thanks to Bing-Feng Yeh for the tip-off.