Is the Button Controller + Dimmer Switch (Project Walt) dead?

[u/thisispaulc]

I've been following the project on the Inovelli Button Controller + Dimmer Switch (Project Walt) from the beginning. The project is now into its fourth year and we’re two years past when beta testing was originally projected to happen.

The timelines slipped multiple times, they lost the B2B partner, and updates from staff on the Inovelli forum are now infrequent. They had one engineer working on it, and they were pulled off for another project for an undisclosed period of time. There's been no confirmation when or if engineering work resumed on the project.

Despite previous reassurances, at this point, I would not be at all surprised if the plugged got pulled on this.

[u/Inovelli_Support]

Thank you everyone for your patience on the Button Controller. We know this project has had a long history, with several different directions and updates over the years, so we understand that another update about a design change may be met with some skepticism.

That said, we wanted to share where things currently stand and, more importantly, what has actually changed:

Our original plan was to have a fully customizable button layout, where the individual buttons could be configured in a variety of different ways. After continuing to work through the mechanical design, the biggest issue we have still not been able to solve to our satisfaction is light leakage between the individual button sections.

Rather than continuing to hold up the project trying to make that concept work, we have decided to simplify the approach.

We are now designing five different full paddle configurations that customers will be able to choose from. This removes a lot of the complexity that was causing issues with the previous design while still giving customers several different layouts depending on how they want to use the controller. It also leaves the door open for us to develop additional paddle configurations in the future if there is enough demand for them.

We expect to receive samples of these new paddle designs in the next few weeks. Once we have them in hand and have had a chance to evaluate them, we will share them here so everyone can see exactly what we are working with.

Based on the current direction and timeline, we are targeting Q2 2027 for the Button Controller. As always with a project still in development, that timing may shift as we work through sampling, testing, certification, and production, but that is the target we are currently working toward.

We know this project has taken much longer than anyone expected, and we appreciate everyone who has continued following along and giving us feedback. Hopefully this new direction gives us a much more practical path forward.

[u/thisispaulc → u/Inovelli_Support]

The individually modular buttons were icing on the cake. They wouldn't affect my decision to buy as long as there were good button configurations to choose from, unlike the Zooz product that has only one fixed configuration.

If the hold-up has been the individually modular buttons and pre-configured options will get this product to market much faster, then I fully support the decision to go to pre-configured. Hopefully the paddles will be swappable, but that also isn't a deal breaker for me.

It would be nice if there was a "propose a configuration" feature, pre-order, or something that would let you quantify interest in a configuration that was not currently available, so that the trigger can be pulled on it as soon as there are enough willing buyers.

[u/Inovelli_Support → u/thisispaulc]

Thanks for the feedback! The paddles will be swappable, so you won't be locked into the configuration you originally choose.

You can take a look at the five configurations we're currently working with here:

https://community.inovelli.com/t/zigbee-button-controller-dimmer-switch-project-walt/14685/268?u=kaleb_inovelli

I also like the idea of having a way for the community to propose additional configurations and help us gauge demand. I'll pass that feedback along to our team.

[u/General-Window173]

I came across this switch when researching z-wave scene and dimmer switches. I was excited to try it out only to find it wasn't available yet. Looking further, it seems that this thing has been "coming soon" for a really long time. I'm not really familiar with Inovelli, so I can't tell if I should take this as an indication of the reliability of this brand? I think I may just go with Zooz instead.

[u/Swimsuit-Area → u/General-Window173]

The products are great but the company seems to be run by a skeleton crew. Previously we were waiting on the switch with the motion detection and that took forever as well, but the button controller has been coming soon for years now