Just buy a Zigbee stick and you don't have to change all your existing hardware.
Shelly works with Wi-Fi which I don't prefer personally.
this post was submitted on 28 Sep 2023
164 points (98.2% liked)
Privacy
31998 readers
986 users here now
A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.
Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.
In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.
Some Rules
- Posting a link to a website containing tracking isn't great, if contents of the website are behind a paywall maybe copy them into the post
- Don't promote proprietary software
- Try to keep things on topic
- If you have a question, please try searching for previous discussions, maybe it has already been answered
- Reposts are fine, but should have at least a couple of weeks in between so that the post can reach a new audience
- Be nice :)
Related communities
Chat rooms
-
[Matrix/Element]Dead
much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)
founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
Sorry this might be a stupid question but if I buy a Zigbes stick do I need to use Home Assistant? I have my Hue lights added to HomeKit now but based on the articles I’ve read Hue will still lock out HomeKit from control unless I create an account - so whatever I can do to avoid that would be great.
I’m running Zigbee2MQTT in docker. You could also run HomeBridge docker along side that, eliminating the need for Home Assistant. I still use Home Assistant as my front end but Zigbee is running on a Pi and HomeBridge is on my unraid server. Regardless, look into HomeBridge. It is very powerful for exposing non-HomeKit devices to that platform. I also have multiple Shelly devices and absolutely love them. I just didn’t want to replace my 9 Hue devices needlessly. I’ve been very impressed with the speed of Zigbee2MQTT over the Hue bridge so far.
Thanks - I tested out some of the Home Assistant and HomeBridge options previously I was just trying to simplify. At this point I have 4 light bulbs from Hue (used to have way more but they all were broken in a cross country move) and the Hue play bars. The rest of the lights are Vocolinc which seem to be just as good, so I just might swap out the hue bulbs remaining and then figure out something for the play bars. Preaching to the choir here but I am so tired of this trend in tech. I have Therabody compression boots that used an app to locally control the boots with settings beyond what you could do on the physical base. About 5 months into owning those I open the app to be greeted by a need for an online account to use the app. Just one of the many examples but just why?
Damn. Account requirements on clothing is a new low. I got my Zigbee hub for $25 so might be worth going that route over replacing 4 bulbs. Happy to help if you have questions!
Also yeah compression boots needing an account to control a local base is a new low. I don’t know what the hell these product managers are smoking but they can take a hike with this shit.
Thanks for the offer! I watched a couple of Home Assistant set up videos and honestly for $35 I can just swap out the remaining bulbs and the plus is I get to remove the Hue bridge from the network rack too! The only thing I am gonna miss is I am using the Hue Play Bars as bias lighting behind my monitors but I think I have a solution to that.
Home Assistant looks nice but I’d rather keep it all in HomeKit. I don’t ever use the Hue app and I’m a bit confused how they are going to lock me out locally. Based on the articles I’ve read the local APIs will stop working(?) but I feel like that would take an auto update.
You should also check out Hubitat, they make a excellent ZigBee + Zwave hub. Works with Google Assistant, has a REST API and can work offline as well. They give you a lot for free.
Yes I think you'll need Home Assistant for that. You can add any Zigbee device to Homekit if it's connected to Home Assistant; that'll bypass the Hue account requirement.
Gotcha thanks - I just re-did the whole network rack and pulled the pi out, and got the hue hub running off of Poe and now Hue pulls this. I did call into support about this whole roadmap last week and told them to please pass along that if this moves forward I’ll be getting rid of Hue lighting. It’s probably not gonna make a difference but still good feedback to send in.
I feel your pain, I wish pi's could be powered with PoE without modifications.
So the 4s can - there’s a POE splitter that splits it to usb c. Haven’t tried it but the Hue hub is working off of a similar splitter.
HomeAssistant can expose any device you want to HomeKit. I use it for Siri instead of going through the Hue hub.
Are there any reputable relay brands that work with zigbee? I prefer relays, but I agree that wifi based relays are basically like installing low power wifi jammers in your house lol (OK, that's an exaggeration, but it is an issue)
It certainly could be an issue, but I have 6 installed in my home and WiFi can still go over 200 Mbps. Maybe it could go higher, but I don't need that.
For me at least, it's not about speeds, but stability. Prior to installing relays, smart switches and whatnot in my house I could stream games from my PC to my phone/laptop flawlessly, but after installing them all it's completely unplayable due to stutters and latency. Download speeds are more or less the same though
Ultimately whether it matters will depend on your use case, like most things
The only streaming device that I use in that context is PS5, and it works the same as before. Lucky me!
Reputable? Eh, depends on your definition.
A lot of people make use of Sonoff and Tuya-relabled Zigbee relays. If you're able to control it at a wall switch (so not an actual relay) then your options greatly increase.
Wall switches are fine by me, I just don't like smart bulbs
I make use of the Aqara wall switches. Because I live in a 120 year old house without neutral wiring and with 120V lines, Aqara is one of the few that makes a no-neutral wall switch that fits in a standard Decora mount and also works when the Zigbee network is down.
WS-USC01 through WS-USC04
Comes in with- and without- neutral options as well as single and double rockers.
If you're not in the US they also make a much wider variety of switches, mix of touch and rockers, that work with 240V with and without neutrals.
I'm aware that Aqara is a Chinese company and you should probably never let them on your wifi network. But because it's Zigbee it's far less of a risk and they're plug and play compatible with all of the major Zigbee controllers.
Nice, I actually already have a few aqara accessories, so that works!
I have quite a few Shelly devices, mostly relays. I Like them very much but they are not ideal if your target is HomeKit. There are work-arounds out there but they do not specifically support Apple ecosystem.
There are also custom firmwares you can load on ESP8266s as well, but nothing beats a UL approved solution so you don't burn your house down 🤪
I have 4 Shelly Plugs:
- Two for LED accents in the living room that turns on at sunset and off at midnight.
- Two for my 2 3D Printers so I can remotely turn them off if I see print failures.
I rent right now, but in the future I hope to buy and get a few of their light switch and a bunch of relays to turn regular outlets into smart plugs.
Do you know if klipper can control your Shelly plug? I have a kasa for that reason. All local control.
I do not know. Sorry
I never tried, but Im sure it does. I have tasmota on klipper (mainsal) right now, but found this on moonraker:
type:
The type of device. Can be either gpio, klipper_device, rf,
tplink_smartplug, tasmota, shelly, homeseer, homeassistant, loxonev1,
smartthings, mqtt or hue.
This parameter must be provided.
Why is font so huge lol
Shellys are amazing. We use the pucks everywhere for anything that's not innately smart.
Some of our use cases:
- Kitchen cabinet lighting that syncs each strip with each other as well as the overhead lights. Or the cabinet lights can be turned on independently.
- Garage door opener, because MyQ sucks (it's hooked up to a real physical garage opener button and triggers the button for us)
- Outlet power monitoring (mostly for fun)
- Can be put in light switch boxes in lieu of something like Kasa switches, but the physical switch won't follow the light state any more. Similarly, smart wall outlets for power toggling
I want to use the shelly relays, but I've only got 2 wire switches and can't run without the neutral. Might be able to wire it at the fixture, but that's a lot of work.
I have been meaning to ask, can Shelly be used to turn existing light switches/circuits smart? I have four separate light switched each for a single light, and I'd love a simple solution so if I turn one switch on all four lights come on.
Yes.
This should be possible to mount in the wall switch hole behind existing switch. You can still use normal switch or automate to your liking. There are dual devices for dual switch as well. I never used one, but planning to get some soon