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10 месяцев назад
Cameron, your content is good, but it would be better if you would talk slower or more articulate, i am non native english speaker and it was hard to understand you at certain moments. Content wise, it is 9/10 👌
English is my first language and I agree with your comments. An easy work around is to tap on the YT gear wheel icon and set playback speed to 0.75%. It’s a very unusual problem, but easily solved 😊
I think your style is spot on mate. Nobody should be watching this with the intentions of doing this work if they dont understand what you're talking about anyway. This is ideal instruction for someone who is competent with electrics to fit smart home relays and modules.
Thanks, that was the sort of balance I was aiming for. I want to avoid people who'll blindly go "he put the brown wire there and the blue wire there" and then cause themselves issues.
Even out of the box, those shortcut commands for lowest and highest brightness level are very handy. My mother had her bathroom renovated recently, and as part of that, a pushbutton light switch with a dimmer function was installed, it's a momentary pushbutton which you press and release to turn the lights on and off, and you press and hold to brighten and dim them, sadly, Mum's switch doesn't have those quick set shortcuts, so there's no quick way that I know of to turn the lights on at the lowest or highest brightness setting, that said, the pushbutton has a blue LED on it which indicates at a glance whether the lights are on or not. Yes, the LED is blue, I don't know why.
I use them as a input when pressed once to send a signal to home assistant to conrol my Hue bulbs. The bulbs are always powerd. However in case HA is not working or some other issue. A triple click will toggle the relay so i maintain local control. Shelly is the goat, other companies should really do more like they do. Edit: ah i just got to the part where you explain the same.
I tried to hookup a Shelly 1PM switch yesterday to a existing dumb light switch. The terminal inputs on the Shelly were not able to adequately clamp onto the existing solid copper 14 ga. wires. These solid copper wires are very stiff and need a very strong terminal strip to provide a good connection. And considering that at least 3 connections are required (5 if you want to include the existing manual switch), a much stronger terminal strip is needed. The Shellys definitely need much stronger terminal connections on them. I was not able to install the Shelly in this light switch box.
They may be rated to 240V but what is there Current rating...? I would have thought that they would fine for lighting but not for high current items like Heaters...?
That feature to reset to factory defaults only is enabled a few minutes after power is restored then it turns off automatically. So the only time you can accidentally reset it is after power is restored and you also flip switch 5 times. I’ve left that feature on and enabled here in my house. Never accidentally reset one because power is not often cut.
You’ve convinced me - I’m going to get a couple of the RGBW2 units to control some basic RGBW strips I have at home with those rubbish IR control boxes on them. I’m also finally going to start running home assistant to tie them in to my existing, years old Ikea Tradfri bulb
Thank you for this, gave me enough of a prod to extend my Shelly usage. 6 PM1 mini and 2 2.5 PM installed over the weekend. Some fun two-way switching with a PM1. Just need to find a decent looking spacer to give some breathing room in the backbox.
Once again another great video. I am in Australia and waiting for the Plus 1 Mini to be certified here. I have lots of space in my switches, but I don't have a neutral! I plan to install the Mini in the light / ceiling rose where there is a neutral.
Hi, does it automatically start working as a dimmer out of the box with the functionality described in the video for the Varilight retractive switch with no config needed? Or did you need to go into the Shelly web interface to set the switch type to "Momentary: (Button only) - Set Shelly device to be Momentary switch. Push for ON or Push for OFF." to make it work with the Varilight Retractive switch? Looking to do a big install and want them to work out-the-box as normal switches without any configuration before I play around with the smart features.
Not a fan of wifi stuff for home automation - Shelly does have "proper" z-wave variants of these now, I believe they bought someone up. Either z-wave or zigbee for me, thanks... zigbee probably being the cheaper option.
To me it depends on what I'm doing. Generally I lean more towards Zigbee devices (all of my smart bulbs are Zigbee for example) but I don't mind using WiFi devices as long as it works purely over a local network, runs on an isolated VLAN and where the WiFi version gives more functionality. In the case of Shelly devices - while they do offer Zwave devices, they don't have a complete range (no dimmers, LED controllers.etc) and they don't support a lot of the features that the WiFi versions offer - e.g. the scripting which allowed me to set up my "fallback switch" for my smart bulbs. WiFi devices get a somewhat bad reputation thanks to cheap smart devices that require a cloud connection and don't work without it, this isn't the case for any of the WiFi smart home devices I use.
One trick I did to control two sets of lights with one switch: press quickly- local light toggle. Press 1 second, remote light on. Press 2 seconds, remote light off. I did this to control both my bedroom lights and hallway lights from the same switch. This way I didn’t have to install a new switch. My bedroom has table lamps with smart switches. But no wall switches. So what like using the hallway buttons for that as a dual function via ha automation.
Seems like an excellent solution Cameron! I do wonder why MK thought writing "press" on those light switches was necessary, though, surely that's just implied? Haha
Thanks! The switches are available in both printed and non-printed versions. However the "Push" ones were easy to pick up in Toolstation whereas the non-printed ones cost double the price and were only available from electrical wholesalers. I suspect the printed ones are useful in certain situations such as door bells or door release buttons since they imply "push this" rather than people thinking they're just a light switch. Personally I don't mind them - it almost helps to visually justify a switch that looks like it's off when the lights are on.
Can you link me to the locally run script you mention/flashed up please? This is exactly what I want to do for rooms with smart bulbs, but not sure where to start. Can't find much on the Shelly forums.
Thanks for the recommendation! I've been meaning to set up some sort of automatic colour temperature adjustment but never got around to it thinking I'd need to implement something manually, will need to check that integration out!
One thing that frustrates me with adaptive lighting is if you e.g. turn the light on at 8am full brightness, then you next turn the light on at 11pm it first flashes to 100% brightness as thats its previous state, then goes to the correct dimmer light. There's nothing built in to fix this afaik.
I havent encountered that problem. I have my smart bulbs always on with the shelly acting as a detached switch. That could be the reason why, but my lights always turn on at the correct brightness
Mine are always on too (as in powered, not lit), unclear why you don't get because AFAIK no LED bulbs give you control of brightness while they're unlit. I have Hue, they don't suffer from this while under the hub due to some fancy software magic. But if you take them off the hub with Zigbee2MQTT or whatever its a problem.
@@Whoop0I think this depends entirely on your setup. My smart bulbs have a brightness parameter that can be optionally sent when turning the light on, so it turns on at the correct brightness and there is no flickering.
These Shelly dimmer relays look fantastic. I have avoided things like 'smart bulbs' until now, but having network-linked relays at the physical switches is very appealing. Do you use regular (i.e. non-smart) bulbs in conjunction with these relays? Did you consider using a '2-way and centre off' retractive switch? For me, this would make 'on' and 'off' and 'dim up' or 'dim down' feel a bit more natural. How intuitive/usable is the system to those who aren't you? We have a 6-bedroom home and regularly have a load of guests staying with us so need the lights to be easy for anyone to use without instruction. One of the beauties of a simple 2-way switch (or a rotary dimmer) is that everyone knows how they work. I'm keen not to lose that.
I use regular bulbs in the hallway but I use smart bulbs in the living room and bedroom with the Shelly being used as a switch input to turn them on/off. I like using smart bulbs as they allow me to change the colour temperature based on the time of day and dim individual bulbs - I have downlights so it's nice to be able to dim different rows to different levels. That said, I strictly use Zigbee smart bulbs that can be controlled over the local network and have the Shelly override I demonstrated towards the end of the video - I'm not going to use smart bulbs that require a working internet connection! A centre off switch would be nice but wouldn't have been practical with my existing hallway wiring. I have a 3 core cable going between the two switches where the permanent supply loops in and out of one switch and the light is connected to the other switch. Therefore, the 3 core cable needs to carry both a permanent live and neutral leaving only a single unused core that I could use as a switched live. If I wanted to use centre off switches at all positions in the hallway, I'd have needed to add an additional Shelly to the switch by the front door which didn't really seem worth it for something as minor as hallway lights where all I really care about is "full brightness" and "low brightness" As for ease of use by others - this is a major aim for everything I do with my smart home setup. Anywhere I have smart lighting has a physical, regular looking switch on the wall. Sure, they're retractive so when someone first goes to use one they might find it feels a bit weird, but when the lights turn on they very quickly get the idea! For rooms with more complicated smart lighting (smart bulbs, RGB/CCT.etc) I have a small touch screen above the switch with very obvious buttons/sliders such as "Brightness" "Colour Temperature" and some shortcuts "Warm," "Cool," "Nightlight". I feel this is much more intuitive in comparison to being forced to talk to a voice assistant.
@@camerongray1515 Thanks Cameron. Appreciate your response. That all makes sense and sounds good. I may have to give these a try! I also have a Texecom Premier Elite 24 panel so my mind is whirring with fun use cases :)
Good video and shame to hear about the Quinetic switches! Don't know if I missed this but: if I just installed these and did nothing else (no WIFI, no internet, no anything) would they still work as basic on/off switches? This was a big plus for the Quinetic for me!
It looks like those original switches have been put on by a hamster . Before fitting new switches I would of tidied up the wiring and stripped the outer insulation to look nice and neat . Also fit small earth sleeving
great video. im looking into using a 2way retractive switch with the shelly dimmer module 2. up to turn on and increase brightness. down to turn off and decrease brightness. i wanted to know if anyone has done this and learn of any tips and pitfalls to avoid? please.
Hi Cameron, I believe you're using the MK grid plus switches. Does your installation use standard one gang back boxes in conjunction with MK grid plus mounting frames? Because I see there's a special MK back box but they're expensive!
I am, however I'm using them with the MK Dimensions range of faceplates where the modules clip into the front plate itself rather than using the separate mounting frame that you'd use with the Logic Plus range. You can use the mounting frame with a regular back box but it's a bit of a pain to get everything fitted properly since you need to tighten the screws for the mounting frame only part way and then screw the front plate on so that everything sits flush and secure. If you were to tighten the mounting frame up all the way it would sink back into the wall and sit far too far back from the front plate. It just takes a fair bit of tweaking and adjusting until everything sits properly, but it's definitely possible.
Great video and neat little devices but I see one important problem with these... They are not rated to 500V therefore will have to be removed (and Wago'd out) for Insulation Resistance Testing on EICRs approx. every 5 years... If the electrician didn't know that these were installed (and you were at work when he came so couldn't tell him) then he would damage all of these units when he performs his IR tests... If he knew that they were there, then he could perform a 250V IR test but this isn't the best for checking the insulation of the actual cables buried in your walls etc. As with USB sockets, one is supposed to remove them (or turn them off as in the MK ones), test at 500V to thoroughly test the cables, reconnect them and then test again at 250V to test the actual sockets as well.... I wander what Shelly's answer to this problem is?
That's fair, although realistically the only real option is going to be to either disconnect them or to only perform an IR test by connecting L&N together and then testing between those and the CPC. It's also sensible to initially IR test at 230v and only then ramp that up to 500v once the reading shows that the circuit is clear. That way you'd find out about any connected loads before you cause any damage. Even if they were 500v tolerant, you still wouldn't get any sort of usable readings with them in circuit. Although as you've said, this isn't really any different to USB sockets or other hardwired devices such as smoke detectors or integrated LED downlights. As for unattended EICRs, fortunately I own my flat so I don't have to deal with regular, unannounced EICRs and to be honest, I tend to test circuits myself whenever I'm doing things so don't really have any plans to get a complete EICR done any time soon, and I definitely wouldn't be having that done while I'm not at home! In a situation where regular EICRs were required, I suppose you could at least connect the Shelly in using a couple of Wagos to make it easy to link out while testing or as I had with my previous setup, install key switches to allow the Shellys to easily be disconnected. I suppose Shelly could also include some sort of isolation switch on the devices although they're already so small and densely packed, I suspect that'll be unlikely. It's probably also not a bad idea to leave a clear label on the consumer unit stating which circuits have hardwired electronics on them and not to IR test them without disconnecting them.
When using Shelly relays is the physical switch capable of turning a light on/off if the home WiFi were to fail or lose signal? I'm concerned that I can't control the lights if my WiFi fails.
Many automations can run on the shelly itself. As such they don't need wifi. If you set the mode to toggle or follow the switch will still work locally.
That's a great setup Cameron, I like it. I've had an idea. Could you not configure your alarm such that, assuming there's a PIR motion sensor in your hallway, the lights automatically turn on when you walk into the hallway and your movement is detected? I was thinking you could set the system up such that the lights automatically turn on at low brightness if you get up in the middle of the night for whatever reason, and it could then turn the lights off after, say 5 or 10 minutes. Is your system able to potentially do that?
I technically could use the alarm PIRs to trigger lights - however my PIRs are wireless and sleep for a period of time after detecting motion so they may not be ideal for controlling lighting. I do have plans to look into some sort of automatic lighting but for that I'd likely use a human presence sensor - they're relatively affordable nowadays and can also detect people when they are sitting still vs a PIR which can only detect motion (and generally this motion needs to be pretty significant).
@@camerongray1515 Ah, that did occur to me, I assume the sensors go to sleep to preserve the batteries. It's interesting, I've seen other alarms do that. How long do they sleep for once motion has been detected? In terms of presence sensors, how do they differ in terms of operation and detection from a typical passive infra-red motion sensor? I have a little battery powered nightlight in my hallway, and it uses an infra-red motion detector on it, it works beautifully and has been in service for nearly 9 years, I love it. Maybe you could replace your wireless motion sensor in your hallway with a wired one for the purpose of controlling the lights, but you've already said you're considering using an occupancy sensor. I'm looking forward very much to what you do with this setup in the future.
I don't "feel" the way you implement the hall night light (long pressing when the light is off) Node-red has access to local time. Why not set up your NR to switch the light to a certain (low) brightness at night? (And a long press or a double press if for some reason you still need bright light at night)
I already have plans to implement time based control across all of my lighting as a larger project but until then I decided that long pressing the switch was the way that I wanted it to work for now.
I haven't measured but I'm pretty sure they're 47mm boxes and are also set back a fair bit from the surface of the wall, at any rate there's plenty space.
Faceplates are from the "MK Dimensions" product range and the switches are just regular MK grid switches. They're available from larger electrical wholesalers - CEF, Rexel.etc. That said, you should be able to get suitable retractive grid switches for most electrical accessory ranges - personally I prefer to find out the range that all of the other electrical accessories in the property are and buy the grid system from that range so everything matches.
Does anyone have experience using a Shelly relay to force on( via an app) a LED motion outdoor security light. Normal dumb function means you must toggle the wall switch to get it to illuminate, otherwise it sits in motion activation mode. Thoughts?
Quick question about dimmer2 and 2 way switching please. Can it work on a 2 way switch and retractive switch? I tried but switch only stays on when pressed. Got it working fine 1 way switch. The sparky telling me it won't work because something to with the common wire? If anyone can help with this would really appreciate it. It's hallway switch at front and then another near stairs for context all new wiring everything connected in back boxes with wagos. Many thanks
You'd really neeed to have two retractive switches, both switching live to the switch input on the shelly so that when either switch is pressed it'll momentarily switch live to the shelly's switch input. If your issue is that one of your switches is a regular 2 way switch because it's part of a multi-gang switch plate, you'd need to look at getting some sort of grid switch which would allow you to mix retractive switches with regular switch modules on the same plate.
@@camerongray1515 using click mini grid and swapping them out regular switch. But sounds like would need to change all the switches on the connection to retractive.
The only downside is you can have EITHER local control with MQTT OR cloud... not both. Cloud is useful for connecting to Google Home for voice control - but I'd also like the live power data to be sent over MQTT - this doesn't appear to be possible.
From my testing, shelly has the worst idle power draw since its using old tech esp8266 or esp32(old version). Overall, I think all those shelly devices in idle 24/7 can power a raspberry pi 4 perfectly fine. That's how bad its power draw is. Zigbee is the best in terms of power consumption. But newer esp32-s6 or esp32-c6 have awesome tech in them that has excellent sleep function that uses almost 0 power. I doubt shelly will use esp32-s6 or esp32-c6 anytime soon.
I already have plans to properly measure the power consumption of these and in particular take a look at their eco modes to see how much this helps things. Obviously lower power consumption is better, but given how good the functionality of the Shelly devices are, I"m happy to deal with the relatively small power increase over a Zigbee device which is minuscule in the overall scheme of things. Even if these 5 shelly devices drew 2W each (which is a massive overestimate), they'd cost less than £2/mo. To me, they're well worth that cost. Generally I do tend to lean towards Zigbee devices but they don't offer all of the functionality I wanted here such as the scripting I'm using on the Shelly Plus 1 Minis.
I find WiFi itself isn't really the issue as long as you have decently reliable access points. The issue with cheap smart WiFi devices is generally their reliance on some sort of cloud service which can be unreliable. With this setup here, everything operates over my local network so is extremely reliable. Lutron is also a good option, but for me I want the ability to control smart bulbs (adjustable colour temperature, ability to dim individual bulbs) so if I were to go down the Lutron route, there would still need to be some level of local network involvement anyway to handle those. I did consider using Pico remotes as inputs to my smart home system instead of Shellys and using them to control smart bulbs, and it's something I'd be interested in trying in the future, but at least in the UK, Lutron's RA2 Select system is extremely expensive when you scale to any sort of reasonable level.
@@justintemp I have, however it was only so I can try different things and produce videos on them, there is still nothing wrong with UniFi and I still continue to recommend and use it, I'll even be releasing a video that involves some UniFi hardware this week. I just like to also make sure that I cover other options as well as I feel like RUclips has become saturated with content that makes out as if UniFi is the only option for running a high end network.
@@justintemp That's true although equally, the same applies for most other vendors unless you're looking to explicitly pay for a support contract. Sure, Ruckus has commercial support but as a home user who isn't willing to pay for a support contract, I'm also stuck with community support and at that point, the UniFi community is likely a better option due to its sheer size.
That's just how I talk, I'm not going to start putting on a fake accent for my RUclips videos... Trust me, I try to speak as clearly as possible, but I'm not a professional speaker and it's not something that is easy to do when talking for an extended period of time while also trying to do everything else that comes along with producing a RUclips video. If that's an issue, then there are plenty of other smart home RUclips channels that talk with a more familiar accent for you to watch...
Agreed. And I don't think you need to apologise for saying that - it's constructive criticism not just complaining. I'm a native English speaker but I've had to slow the video down to follow it. It's an interesting video so I'll stick it out but I can see how other people would just click away. It's something that can be (and should be) easily fixed for future videos too.
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Cameron, your content is good, but it would be better if you would talk slower or more articulate, i am non native english speaker and it was hard to understand you at certain moments. Content wise, it is 9/10 👌
English is my first language and I agree with your comments. An easy work around is to tap on the YT gear wheel icon and set playback speed to 0.75%.
It’s a very unusual problem, but easily solved 😊
The Shellys having mqtt out the box is brilliant. Such an easy setup for node-red etc. they're brilliant!
I think your style is spot on mate. Nobody should be watching this with the intentions of doing this work if they dont understand what you're talking about anyway. This is ideal instruction for someone who is competent with electrics to fit smart home relays and modules.
Thanks, that was the sort of balance I was aiming for. I want to avoid people who'll blindly go "he put the brown wire there and the blue wire there" and then cause themselves issues.
Bit concerned the people complaining about you "talking too fast" are willing to fiddle with electrics but not the playback speed of the video...
I think it’s fine 😂 I still watch it x2
Thanks for telling me about the double press for full brightness. I just tried and it worked. Never knew that before.
Even out of the box, those shortcut commands for lowest and highest brightness level are very handy. My mother had her bathroom renovated recently, and as part of that, a pushbutton light switch with a dimmer function was installed, it's a momentary pushbutton which you press and release to turn the lights on and off, and you press and hold to brighten and dim them, sadly, Mum's switch doesn't have those quick set shortcuts, so there's no quick way that I know of to turn the lights on at the lowest or highest brightness setting, that said, the pushbutton has a blue LED on it which indicates at a glance whether the lights are on or not. Yes, the LED is blue, I don't know why.
I have Shelly devices in nearly every wall switch in my house. Great product!
Welcome to the cult of shelly mate, I have 50+ of them.
Just bloody awesome.
I use them as a input when pressed once to send a signal to home assistant to conrol my Hue bulbs. The bulbs are always powerd. However in case HA is not working or some other issue. A triple click will toggle the relay so i maintain local control. Shelly is the goat, other companies should really do more like they do.
Edit: ah i just got to the part where you explain the same.
I tried to hookup a Shelly 1PM switch yesterday to a existing dumb light switch. The terminal inputs on the Shelly were not able to adequately clamp onto the existing solid copper 14 ga. wires. These solid copper wires are very stiff and need a very strong terminal strip to provide a good connection. And considering that at least 3 connections are required (5 if you want to include the existing manual switch), a much stronger terminal strip is needed. The Shellys definitely need much stronger terminal connections on them. I was not able to install the Shelly in this light switch box.
These Shelly devices come in such fun colours, it’s really cool! 😂
Great project as well 😊
Yep I've used Shelly devices for a couple of years now to control electric panel heaters via MQTT - they work really well!
They may be rated to 240V but what is there Current rating...? I would have thought that they would fine for lighting but not for high current items like Heaters...?
That feature to reset to factory defaults only is enabled a few minutes after power is restored then it turns off automatically. So the only time you can accidentally reset it is after power is restored and you also flip switch 5 times. I’ve left that feature on and enabled here in my house. Never accidentally reset one because power is not often cut.
You’ve convinced me - I’m going to get a couple of the RGBW2 units to control some basic RGBW strips I have at home with those rubbish IR control boxes on them. I’m also finally going to start running home assistant to tie them in to my existing, years old Ikea Tradfri bulb
Thank you for this, gave me enough of a prod to extend my Shelly usage. 6 PM1 mini and 2 2.5 PM installed over the weekend. Some fun two-way switching with a PM1. Just need to find a decent looking spacer to give some breathing room in the backbox.
The Shelly dimmer has a night mode built in. Just set the start stop time of day and the brightness desired. No need to implement externally.
Once again another great video. I am in Australia and waiting for the Plus 1 Mini to be certified here. I have lots of space in my switches, but I don't have a neutral! I plan to install the Mini in the light / ceiling rose where there is a neutral.
Most houses here in the UK have no neutral in the light switch box. I have a few sonoff/Tasmota Basic devices installed in the ceiling.
@@reg2590 they introduced it as a standard here in 2000. Typically my house was built in 1999!
Approved equipment.erac.gov.au/Public/Profiles.aspx?ApplicationID=9340db79-7bea-489d-a98c-cff1da474111 The PM Mini too.
what is the touch screen model and manufacturer? do you have a link for purchase?
Hi, does it automatically start working as a dimmer out of the box with the functionality described in the video for the Varilight retractive switch with no config needed? Or did you need to go into the Shelly web interface to set the switch type to "Momentary: (Button only) - Set Shelly device to be Momentary switch. Push for ON or Push for OFF." to make it work with the Varilight Retractive switch? Looking to do a big install and want them to work out-the-box as normal switches without any configuration before I play around with the smart features.
Not a fan of wifi stuff for home automation - Shelly does have "proper" z-wave variants of these now, I believe they bought someone up. Either z-wave or zigbee for me, thanks... zigbee probably being the cheaper option.
To me it depends on what I'm doing. Generally I lean more towards Zigbee devices (all of my smart bulbs are Zigbee for example) but I don't mind using WiFi devices as long as it works purely over a local network, runs on an isolated VLAN and where the WiFi version gives more functionality. In the case of Shelly devices - while they do offer Zwave devices, they don't have a complete range (no dimmers, LED controllers.etc) and they don't support a lot of the features that the WiFi versions offer - e.g. the scripting which allowed me to set up my "fallback switch" for my smart bulbs. WiFi devices get a somewhat bad reputation thanks to cheap smart devices that require a cloud connection and don't work without it, this isn't the case for any of the WiFi smart home devices I use.
One trick I did to control two sets of lights with one switch: press quickly- local light toggle. Press 1 second, remote light on. Press 2 seconds, remote light off. I did this to control both my bedroom lights and hallway lights from the same switch. This way I didn’t have to install a new switch. My bedroom has table lamps with smart switches. But no wall switches. So what like using the hallway buttons for that as a dual function via ha automation.
great video. Would have appreciated some diagrams for the lights however. Otherwise nicely done!
Hi Cameron great video very informative, thank you.
What alarm system brand is able to talk to the Shelly system?.
Seems like an excellent solution Cameron! I do wonder why MK thought writing "press" on those light switches was necessary, though, surely that's just implied? Haha
Thanks! The switches are available in both printed and non-printed versions. However the "Push" ones were easy to pick up in Toolstation whereas the non-printed ones cost double the price and were only available from electrical wholesalers. I suspect the printed ones are useful in certain situations such as door bells or door release buttons since they imply "push this" rather than people thinking they're just a light switch. Personally I don't mind them - it almost helps to visually justify a switch that looks like it's off when the lights are on.
Great Video, i have few Shelly 1's and love them! Been looking in to the Shelly 2PM as want to control two switches in same box
Can you link me to the locally run script you mention/flashed up please? This is exactly what I want to do for rooms with smart bulbs, but not sure where to start. Can't find much on the Shelly forums.
Great video and explanations
Shelly , hue, and what about Tado for radiators or just Shelly?? Does it work with home assistant. I want to make a HA server like yours
You should look into the adaptive lighting integration in home assistant. I rarely manually dim my lights now.
Thanks for the recommendation! I've been meaning to set up some sort of automatic colour temperature adjustment but never got around to it thinking I'd need to implement something manually, will need to check that integration out!
One thing that frustrates me with adaptive lighting is if you e.g. turn the light on at 8am full brightness, then you next turn the light on at 11pm it first flashes to 100% brightness as thats its previous state, then goes to the correct dimmer light. There's nothing built in to fix this afaik.
I havent encountered that problem. I have my smart bulbs always on with the shelly acting as a detached switch. That could be the reason why, but my lights always turn on at the correct brightness
Mine are always on too (as in powered, not lit), unclear why you don't get because AFAIK no LED bulbs give you control of brightness while they're unlit. I have Hue, they don't suffer from this while under the hub due to some fancy software magic. But if you take them off the hub with Zigbee2MQTT or whatever its a problem.
@@Whoop0I think this depends entirely on your setup. My smart bulbs have a brightness parameter that can be optionally sent when turning the light on, so it turns on at the correct brightness and there is no flickering.
These Shelly dimmer relays look fantastic. I have avoided things like 'smart bulbs' until now, but having network-linked relays at the physical switches is very appealing.
Do you use regular (i.e. non-smart) bulbs in conjunction with these relays?
Did you consider using a '2-way and centre off' retractive switch? For me, this would make 'on' and 'off' and 'dim up' or 'dim down' feel a bit more natural.
How intuitive/usable is the system to those who aren't you? We have a 6-bedroom home and regularly have a load of guests staying with us so need the lights to be easy for anyone to use without instruction. One of the beauties of a simple 2-way switch (or a rotary dimmer) is that everyone knows how they work. I'm keen not to lose that.
I use regular bulbs in the hallway but I use smart bulbs in the living room and bedroom with the Shelly being used as a switch input to turn them on/off. I like using smart bulbs as they allow me to change the colour temperature based on the time of day and dim individual bulbs - I have downlights so it's nice to be able to dim different rows to different levels. That said, I strictly use Zigbee smart bulbs that can be controlled over the local network and have the Shelly override I demonstrated towards the end of the video - I'm not going to use smart bulbs that require a working internet connection!
A centre off switch would be nice but wouldn't have been practical with my existing hallway wiring. I have a 3 core cable going between the two switches where the permanent supply loops in and out of one switch and the light is connected to the other switch. Therefore, the 3 core cable needs to carry both a permanent live and neutral leaving only a single unused core that I could use as a switched live. If I wanted to use centre off switches at all positions in the hallway, I'd have needed to add an additional Shelly to the switch by the front door which didn't really seem worth it for something as minor as hallway lights where all I really care about is "full brightness" and "low brightness"
As for ease of use by others - this is a major aim for everything I do with my smart home setup. Anywhere I have smart lighting has a physical, regular looking switch on the wall. Sure, they're retractive so when someone first goes to use one they might find it feels a bit weird, but when the lights turn on they very quickly get the idea! For rooms with more complicated smart lighting (smart bulbs, RGB/CCT.etc) I have a small touch screen above the switch with very obvious buttons/sliders such as "Brightness" "Colour Temperature" and some shortcuts "Warm," "Cool," "Nightlight". I feel this is much more intuitive in comparison to being forced to talk to a voice assistant.
@@camerongray1515 Thanks Cameron. Appreciate your response. That all makes sense and sounds good. I may have to give these a try! I also have a Texecom Premier Elite 24 panel so my mind is whirring with fun use cases :)
Where do you buy the switch faceplates? Mine look way to industrial for the house.
What switch module are you using the one which says press?
Good video and shame to hear about the Quinetic switches! Don't know if I missed this but: if I just installed these and did nothing else (no WIFI, no internet, no anything) would they still work as basic on/off switches? This was a big plus for the Quinetic for me!
It looks like those original switches have been put on by a hamster . Before fitting new switches I would of tidied up the wiring and stripped the outer insulation to look nice and neat . Also fit small earth sleeving
great video. im looking into using a 2way retractive switch with the shelly dimmer module 2. up to turn on and increase brightness. down to turn off and decrease brightness. i wanted to know if anyone has done this and learn of any tips and pitfalls to avoid? please.
Hi Cameron, I believe you're using the MK grid plus switches. Does your installation use standard one gang back boxes in conjunction with MK grid plus mounting frames? Because I see there's a special MK back box but they're expensive!
I am, however I'm using them with the MK Dimensions range of faceplates where the modules clip into the front plate itself rather than using the separate mounting frame that you'd use with the Logic Plus range. You can use the mounting frame with a regular back box but it's a bit of a pain to get everything fitted properly since you need to tighten the screws for the mounting frame only part way and then screw the front plate on so that everything sits flush and secure. If you were to tighten the mounting frame up all the way it would sink back into the wall and sit far too far back from the front plate. It just takes a fair bit of tweaking and adjusting until everything sits properly, but it's definitely possible.
Great video and neat little devices but I see one important problem with these... They are not rated to 500V therefore will have to be removed (and Wago'd out) for Insulation Resistance Testing on EICRs approx. every 5 years... If the electrician didn't know that these were installed (and you were at work when he came so couldn't tell him) then he would damage all of these units when he performs his IR tests... If he knew that they were there, then he could perform a 250V IR test but this isn't the best for checking the insulation of the actual cables buried in your walls etc. As with USB sockets, one is supposed to remove them (or turn them off as in the MK ones), test at 500V to thoroughly test the cables, reconnect them and then test again at 250V to test the actual sockets as well.... I wander what Shelly's answer to this problem is?
That's fair, although realistically the only real option is going to be to either disconnect them or to only perform an IR test by connecting L&N together and then testing between those and the CPC. It's also sensible to initially IR test at 230v and only then ramp that up to 500v once the reading shows that the circuit is clear. That way you'd find out about any connected loads before you cause any damage. Even if they were 500v tolerant, you still wouldn't get any sort of usable readings with them in circuit. Although as you've said, this isn't really any different to USB sockets or other hardwired devices such as smoke detectors or integrated LED downlights. As for unattended EICRs, fortunately I own my flat so I don't have to deal with regular, unannounced EICRs and to be honest, I tend to test circuits myself whenever I'm doing things so don't really have any plans to get a complete EICR done any time soon, and I definitely wouldn't be having that done while I'm not at home! In a situation where regular EICRs were required, I suppose you could at least connect the Shelly in using a couple of Wagos to make it easy to link out while testing or as I had with my previous setup, install key switches to allow the Shellys to easily be disconnected. I suppose Shelly could also include some sort of isolation switch on the devices although they're already so small and densely packed, I suspect that'll be unlikely. It's probably also not a bad idea to leave a clear label on the consumer unit stating which circuits have hardwired electronics on them and not to IR test them without disconnecting them.
@@camerongray1515 Awesome reply, thank you :-) That deserves a Like and Subscribe...
When using Shelly relays is the physical switch capable of turning a light on/off if the home WiFi were to fail or lose signal? I'm concerned that I can't control the lights if my WiFi fails.
Many automations can run on the shelly itself. As such they don't need wifi. If you set the mode to toggle or follow the switch will still work locally.
Do these work with Matter? Homekit?
Not yet.
Not out of the box.
Awesome whilst they work maybe, I've had 100% failure rate on the 5 Shelly devices I installed.
That's a great setup Cameron, I like it. I've had an idea. Could you not configure your alarm such that, assuming there's a PIR motion sensor in your hallway, the lights automatically turn on when you walk into the hallway and your movement is detected? I was thinking you could set the system up such that the lights automatically turn on at low brightness if you get up in the middle of the night for whatever reason, and it could then turn the lights off after, say 5 or 10 minutes. Is your system able to potentially do that?
I technically could use the alarm PIRs to trigger lights - however my PIRs are wireless and sleep for a period of time after detecting motion so they may not be ideal for controlling lighting. I do have plans to look into some sort of automatic lighting but for that I'd likely use a human presence sensor - they're relatively affordable nowadays and can also detect people when they are sitting still vs a PIR which can only detect motion (and generally this motion needs to be pretty significant).
@@camerongray1515 Ah, that did occur to me, I assume the sensors go to sleep to preserve the batteries. It's interesting, I've seen other alarms do that. How long do they sleep for once motion has been detected? In terms of presence sensors, how do they differ in terms of operation and detection from a typical passive infra-red motion sensor? I have a little battery powered nightlight in my hallway, and it uses an infra-red motion detector on it, it works beautifully and has been in service for nearly 9 years, I love it. Maybe you could replace your wireless motion sensor in your hallway with a wired one for the purpose of controlling the lights, but you've already said you're considering using an occupancy sensor. I'm looking forward very much to what you do with this setup in the future.
I don't "feel" the way you implement the hall night light (long pressing when the light is off)
Node-red has access to local time. Why not set up your NR to switch the light to a certain (low) brightness at night?
(And a long press or a double press if for some reason you still need bright light at night)
I already have plans to implement time based control across all of my lighting as a larger project but until then I decided that long pressing the switch was the way that I wanted it to work for now.
In the bedroom it looks like a 35mm depth box, how did you fit that all in there?
I haven't measured but I'm pretty sure they're 47mm boxes and are also set back a fair bit from the surface of the wall, at any rate there's plenty space.
FYI shelly just released a mini series that is a bit smaller.
Where do you buy the grid system from ? Switches and faceplates?
Faceplates are from the "MK Dimensions" product range and the switches are just regular MK grid switches. They're available from larger electrical wholesalers - CEF, Rexel.etc. That said, you should be able to get suitable retractive grid switches for most electrical accessory ranges - personally I prefer to find out the range that all of the other electrical accessories in the property are and buy the grid system from that range so everything matches.
What are the touchscreens?
Does anyone have experience using a Shelly relay to force on( via an app) a LED motion outdoor security light. Normal dumb function means you must toggle the wall switch to get it to illuminate, otherwise it sits in motion activation mode. Thoughts?
Anyone got UK links for the Shelly Plus 1 Mini that are in stock?
Quick question about dimmer2 and 2 way switching please. Can it work on a 2 way switch and retractive switch? I tried but switch only stays on when pressed. Got it working fine 1 way switch. The sparky telling me it won't work because something to with the common wire?
If anyone can help with this would really appreciate it.
It's hallway switch at front and then another near stairs for context all new wiring everything connected in back boxes with wagos.
Many thanks
You'd really neeed to have two retractive switches, both switching live to the switch input on the shelly so that when either switch is pressed it'll momentarily switch live to the shelly's switch input. If your issue is that one of your switches is a regular 2 way switch because it's part of a multi-gang switch plate, you'd need to look at getting some sort of grid switch which would allow you to mix retractive switches with regular switch modules on the same plate.
@@camerongray1515 using click mini grid and swapping them out regular switch. But sounds like would need to change all the switches on the connection to retractive.
The only downside is you can have EITHER local control with MQTT OR cloud... not both.
Cloud is useful for connecting to Google Home for voice control - but I'd also like the live power data to be sent over MQTT - this doesn't appear to be possible.
This used to be the case. But at least with the plus model (gen2 and later) it is possible.
@@Felix-st2ue yeah I recently discovered this, buying some more now :)
Bro speaks at the speed of light.....
From my testing, shelly has the worst idle power draw since its using old tech esp8266 or esp32(old version). Overall, I think all those shelly devices in idle 24/7 can power a raspberry pi 4 perfectly fine. That's how bad its power draw is.
Zigbee is the best in terms of power consumption. But newer esp32-s6 or esp32-c6 have awesome tech in them that has excellent sleep function that uses almost 0 power. I doubt shelly will use esp32-s6 or esp32-c6 anytime soon.
I already have plans to properly measure the power consumption of these and in particular take a look at their eco modes to see how much this helps things. Obviously lower power consumption is better, but given how good the functionality of the Shelly devices are, I"m happy to deal with the relatively small power increase over a Zigbee device which is minuscule in the overall scheme of things. Even if these 5 shelly devices drew 2W each (which is a massive overestimate), they'd cost less than £2/mo. To me, they're well worth that cost. Generally I do tend to lean towards Zigbee devices but they don't offer all of the functionality I wanted here such as the scripting I'm using on the Shelly Plus 1 Minis.
I am done with the wifi "smart" dimmers/switches. Off to lutron as wifi is just too much of a hassle for any of these systems.
I find WiFi itself isn't really the issue as long as you have decently reliable access points. The issue with cheap smart WiFi devices is generally their reliance on some sort of cloud service which can be unreliable. With this setup here, everything operates over my local network so is extremely reliable. Lutron is also a good option, but for me I want the ability to control smart bulbs (adjustable colour temperature, ability to dim individual bulbs) so if I were to go down the Lutron route, there would still need to be some level of local network involvement anyway to handle those. I did consider using Pico remotes as inputs to my smart home system instead of Shellys and using them to control smart bulbs, and it's something I'd be interested in trying in the future, but at least in the UK, Lutron's RA2 Select system is extremely expensive when you scale to any sort of reasonable level.
Is that a unifi on hallway ceiling?
I'm now using a Ruckus R650 access point if that's what you're referring to? Or the round thing next to it is a smoke alarm.
@35.48 have you moved away from unifi now? And how come?
@@justintemp I have, however it was only so I can try different things and produce videos on them, there is still nothing wrong with UniFi and I still continue to recommend and use it, I'll even be releasing a video that involves some UniFi hardware this week. I just like to also make sure that I cover other options as well as I feel like RUclips has become saturated with content that makes out as if UniFi is the only option for running a high end network.
Agree. I find a lot of unifi is done via the community. There's no official support as such
Good APs but expensive hobby
@@justintemp That's true although equally, the same applies for most other vendors unless you're looking to explicitly pay for a support contract. Sure, Ruckus has commercial support but as a home user who isn't willing to pay for a support contract, I'm also stuck with community support and at that point, the UniFi community is likely a better option due to its sheer size.
Thanks, this is a useful video but your presentation would be improved if you spoke around 20% slower.
Slow the video down with the playback speed.
Too much talking mate. You should have maybe explained while doing it a speak more sloooowly. After more than 20 mins nothing happened.
your videos are informative but can I say, you speak too quickly - I have to play your videos half speed
This video needs subtitles
Then turn them on! 😂
Cameron talked too fast. This coupled with the technical content of the video made it very difficult to follow.
I am a native speaker of another dialect.. could you please swallow a little fewer consonants?
That's just how I talk, I'm not going to start putting on a fake accent for my RUclips videos... Trust me, I try to speak as clearly as possible, but I'm not a professional speaker and it's not something that is easy to do when talking for an extended period of time while also trying to do everything else that comes along with producing a RUclips video. If that's an issue, then there are plenty of other smart home RUclips channels that talk with a more familiar accent for you to watch...
Not UL Listed . So no
They have UL versions on their US store.
Narrator talked too fast. Had a hard time keeping up. Sorry.
You can just change the speed of the video.
RUclips app allows any speed from 0.25x to 2x in 0.25 steps plus subtitles
Agreed. And I don't think you need to apologise for saying that - it's constructive criticism not just complaining. I'm a native English speaker but I've had to slow the video down to follow it. It's an interesting video so I'll stick it out but I can see how other people would just click away. It's something that can be (and should be) easily fixed for future videos too.
Agree.
It's his accent lad
You sound like you are racing with Ben Shapiro. Nobody needs to race Ben Shapiro.
Rubbish I don't know what kind of person would prefer a retractive switch to a rotary dimmer
You need to reduce your speed and accent.