Shelly Relays & Smart Bulbs - My lightbulb moment!

In this video I demonstrate how you can use the Shelly "Detached" Button Type to make the most out of your smart bulbs; by letting you use your existing switch without losing remote/app control of the light bulb itself.
You can find the blob post here tomasmcguinness.com/2021/09/0...
I've also written a post which discusses the wiring tomasmcguinness.com/2023/04/1...
Please take care when dealing with electrics. If you don't know what you're doing, seek the advice of a professional electrician.
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Video Notes
==========
Filmed this in the evening, so I'm under the lights of my office and you can tell. I also used my iPhone as a remote camera, filming the top down sections. I'm using OBS for all of this and the more I use that piece of software, the more I'm impressed by it! They have an iOS app that will turn the camera into a remote one and that's what I used. I didn't pay for it, hence the watermark, but if I find myself using it again, I'll sign up (it's expensive at £10 a month!).
00:00 Introduction
00:18 Demonstrating smart bulbs and the problem of switching them off
04:00 Exploring my solution using the Shelly detached button type
09:35 Adding the automation
12:34 Wrapping up

[@AndrewFroude]

Thank you Great overview of how to integrate a Shelly Relay into a Home Assistant SmartBulb implementation

[@tomasmcguinness]

Glad you found it useful!

[@paveldundr6390]

I’m about to start building a smart home and I can’t believe how hard it is to find solution for this problem! You mentioned your reasoning was mostly esthetic, but for me far more important is I want my parents, coworkers or any other guests being able to operate lights in the home without handling them a manual… I was shocked how few people actualy have a problem with this.

[@tomasmcguinness]

I know, right!!! Light switches are obvious and *everyone* knows how to use them. I don’t understand People that cover light switches or use only voice control.

[@dodger7565]

Iv been looking for something like this for a long time.: thank you mate .. new sub for sure 👊🏾👊🏾

[@tomasmcguinness]

Thanks for the sub!

[@TheNicomachean]

This was just what I was looking for! I ended up buying 6 more Shelly 1 Gen3 mini's to control the switches connected to lamps, etc. that I have Philips Hue bulbs in. This has really changed the game for me. It's also prompted me to look at moving more control to Home Assistant. I had no idea it was this powerful!

[@tomasmcguinness]

Great to hear!

[@the-papaw]

I am looking for a small, thin smart relay switch that will work with 12v DC LED lights, any suggestions?

[@Josifbg]

You just made my hole day! Thank you very much for the video and the provided solution! I am in a process of building my new house and your video just popped up in the right time 😊 About the backup solution I am considering using a simple script which checks every minute or so if the HA is up and running and if not than falls back the Shelly to relay mode…. And when the HA is back on to toggle detached mode to all the relays. It will be useful not only when the HA is off for some reason but in case you decide to update it and at the same time some one wants to turn on/off the wall switch 😊 Once again Thank you!

[@tomasmcguinness]

Awesome! Glad this was helpful!

[@danmarm5357]

Great video, very helpful! Thanks

[@tomasmcguinness]

Thanks for that :)

[@gildaslefur2435]

Very good video, well explained. I liked and I subscribed. 😊

[@tomasmcguinness]

Thank you!

[@misteraon]

The Shelly Plus i4 might be another option to look at. It is inputs only with no relays. You would just wire the socket live all the time and the inputs would send state changes in a similar manner. I have one I use in a remote location to control Shelly wall dimmers in a three way configuration directly via Shelly’s http triggers. The other i4 I use as a scene controller. It sends MQTT commands that trigger HA automations. Very useful and affordable devices.

[@tomasmcguinness]

I’ve been using an i3 to detect calls for heating and hot water and it’s worked very well. I didn’t think about it using in a lighting scenario! Thanks.

[@user-un3xu3mg1v]

You can also write a small script in shelly, which makes a mqtt (or http) call to your bulb. In case of an event -state on-, i send a mqtt message to my bulb which set the state on and vice versa. In Home Assistant you do not have to use the shelly entity, but just the smart bulb. In this way, even if HA cannot be reached or so, your wallswitch will be functioning normally, and the direction of switch shows always the correct one. Btw. i did not use the new i4, since i may need a relais in the future. My shellyMini1 is in detached mode, and on top of my script i make once a shelly.call with "switch set on". So it behaves like a direct wiring of bulb. I think this is the best setup with minimal effort for possible future changes.

[@tomasmcguinness]

Thanks for sharing! I have not yet looked at the scripting you can use with a Shelly. I really should because it sounds like it would might enable some more powerful control. Can you recommend any good resources aside from the Shelly documentation?

[@geraldkrause8840]

I have an application in my ensuite where i have a very bright light fitting which illuminates the whole bedroom when you enter at night. (switch is on the outside of the ensuite due to it's size) I am going to fit a smaller night light but this will need another switch. Using the shelly with a detatched switch is great because i can use the same switch, create an automation to switch the night light on between certain hours or the main light during other hours. Main light is already on a dual relay one for the light the other for the extractor fan controlled by a humidity detector. Never knew shelly had done this.

[@tomasmcguinness]

That’s very clever! Same switch, two modes. Love it!

[@jameswestcott4191]

I haven’t looked in to it but could you take this a step further and if comms to HA is lost a script on the Shelly changes the switch mode so that the light switch still works?

[@tomasmcguinness]

I *think* that can be done using some script running on each Shelly, but I’m not sure. I will certainly take a look!

[@cutebutnotthatfly]

You mentioned lights always being on using power. Have you considered a second automation that turns them of during the day (when it's bright outside), when the house is asleep or when no one is home? It might not save you a lot but every watt counts

[@tomasmcguinness]

That’s a good idea!

[@paulhyland3528]

After re wiring my house with a lighting panel of shelly pro 2s to a central point, this is something ive been thinking about for the odd room. But my thoughts are using an esp32/esp home in another panel next to light sw to make scene buttons? Great vid subscribed!

[@tomasmcguinness]

I did this with my Kitchen extension! Two Shelly Pro 4s controlling all the lighting. It’s brilliant. Combination of normal bulbs and smart bulbs. Thanks for subscribing!

[@macartanmcquaid22]

That’s really handy and an absolute pain in the head here for me so that will be a godsend… My back boxes are quite shallow so wondering if it’ll fit for me, a Sonos relay wouldn’t previously… Anyway, thanks again 👍

[@tomasmcguinness]

I use the ceiling rose in my lights. I replaced the plastic ones with metal boxes, which have lots of room!

[@lilchinito00]

Can the device work behind the actual light fixture. I'm trying to find something that doesnt need a light switch.

[@tomasmcguinness]

Yes, they can. Of all the Shelly relays installed in my house, eight are in the ceiling roses. I did a blog post on it a few years back, which might help? tomasmcguinness.com/2020/01/24/shelly-1-relay/ If you don't need the light switch support, the Shelly Relay is probably more than you need.

[@lilchinito00]

@@tomasmcguinness I will definitely take a look at this. I'm trying to smart my RV. I saw the main site that sells these and they have so many. My lights are on a 12v system while most of my appliances are 110. Couple more questions. Can these relays work seperately once plug in above the light fixture since the way it's powered with one switch I have like 9 lights turning on for the main cabin that I would like to control a portion for one side and etc for the other side. Secondly which relay would I need since they got so many on the main website.

[@jensjensen1182]

What happens id you have the shelly in "detached Switch" mode and then turn off the Home Assistant? would it then operate as a "normal" switch? I have use case, where I want to have a switch but with a smart bulb. I wan't the switch to control the bulb, but if the Home assistant then I want it to work as a normal light..

[@tomasmcguinness]

In the video, I use the “input” sensor of the Shelly to tell me the state of the normal switch. When it’s flicked, home assistant will toggle the smart bulb. I’m not sure I understand the question completely.

[@jensjensen1182]

@@tomasmcguinness Thank you for your reply! But what happens, if you turn off the HA, how does the light then behave, when you flick the psychical switch? (sorry for any typos, English is not my primary language)

[@tomasmcguinness]

@jensjensen1182 if you set the automation to toggle when the input changes, the light would turn on.

[@jensjensen1182]

@@tomasmcguinness and is it the HA(Home Assistant) that does that? and what happens if the HA is turned off...

[@tomasmcguinness]

Then the light switch would cause the automation to toggle the light back on. With detached mode, the Shelly’s relay is always turned on, so the bulb gets power. The light switch is the provided as an input, so you’re really using home assistant to turn the bulb on and off and the Shelly relay is there to just read the state of the switch!

[@neispavan1]

Selotejp :) Dude where are you from?

[@tomasmcguinness]

Ireland :)🇮🇪

[@ProfessorCodemunkie]

It's a nice idea but it would drive me insane having the physical switch in the off position but the light being on! All the switches in your house will have a different position for off and on depending on their physical state vs their smart bulb state.

[@tomasmcguinness]

True, but at best all the switches would be on anyway, regardless of the smart bulb, so this isn't really any worse :)

[@Johan-bb4sy]

Maybe use a momentary switch that goes back to it's original position after push. There are momentary switches with connectivity too.

[@tomasmcguinness]

That’s a good suggestion! Any automation could listen for the pulse and toggle the lights. You’ve reminded me that I do have a momentary switch in my kitchen which I need to hook up (to turn out all the lights)