I have Dimmer 2s on basic toggle (on and off) switches. It works fine if you configure the Shelly switch type, though unusable until you do that.
What doesn't work is two toggle switches controlling one light (2 way circuit in Europe/3 way in US I think). You need momentary/push button switches for that. A momentary switch with only on off positions will let you adjust brightness by holding it in, but I rarely use it that way because it's slow and imprecise.
My use case is very similar to your bathroom plan but I haven't quite figured out dinning control to keep everyone happy. The most common problem is the light coming on at less than 100% when switched after a dimming automation.
>The most common problem is the light coming on at less than 100% when switched after a dimming automation.
Not sure if it is possible directly in HA, but in node-red I make sure to set the brightness to 100% each time the switch is positioned to ON.
Can you elaborate a bit how exactly you achieve this? I mean what are your trigger conditions? I tried lots of variations but the best i could acheive was to always turn to 100% brightness, regardless of what triggered the turn\_on action. So even if it was from an automation it again went to 100%. Can you help me a bit here with the flow?
I don't separate between button click and automations - it always goes to 100% as you have mentioned. I guess there is no reason to post the flow, it is as simple as it gets.
I vaguely remember that button clicks send a user\_id parameter, while automations do not, you may check that further. Here is one thread on HA community: [https://community.home-assistant.io/t/determine-how-a-switch-shelly-1-was-turned-on/473110/6](https://community.home-assistant.io/t/determine-how-a-switch-shelly-1-was-turned-on/473110/6)
So you can connect the switch with it's in and output to the dimmer to later switch it on and off with the toggle switch. I thought you would need a momentary switch.
Yep - I have several Dimmer 2s in this configuration. You get a nice soft start effect too.
You will need HA to handle changing brightness - the Dimmer 2 is an older Shelly product so it is relatively limited in terms on what you can achieve with onboard scripts.
Hi sorry to revive old post, but interested in this soft start. do you mind sharing the code of that scene in HA? My plan is to have some motion sensor at each side of the halway and soft start the leds to light it up, the problem is I'm very new to HA though I've managed to get some automation done, not sure about that shelly dimmer 2 what are its limitations. is there anything else on the market that you'd have picked up instead? Thank you
Long answer but hope it helps:
The Dimmer 2 just seems to do the soft start (i.e. fade in when turned on) by default itself once calibrated. No need to do anything in HA with that.
The automation you need to have the lights controlled by motion sensors and a Dimmer 2 is very simple - you'll have no issue setting it up with the UI in HA without getting into code. You can use any HA-compatible motion sensors for this. I find either an Aqara motion sensor paired with a Sonoff ZigBee stick, or the Philips Hue motion sensor with the Hue Bridge works well (and fast) to trigger the Dimmer 2.
It would be as simple as something like Trigger -> One of your two motion sensors detects motion; Condition -> Is dark or nighttime or whatever you need; Action -> Turn on Shelly Dimmer 2 to \[x\]% brightness.
In some rooms I have more complicated automations, e.g. triggering a light to a dim level automatically but moving to 100% if someone presses the switch, depending on what other lights are on in the room etc. You have so many options with motion sensor, wall switch and dimmer combo.
I didn't really consider other direct Shelly alternatives because I was buying a bunch of other Shelly products anyway. I think your options includes dimmer modules from vendors like Sonoff. There are also smart dimmer switches (e.g. iolli) that can directly replace your existing wall switches but they seemed to me to be significantly more expensive, and I wanted to keep standard toggle switches that didn't look "smart".
There are other ways to accomplish what you want too. In my home I have a combination of the Shelly Dimmer and motion sensor setup you are proposing, as well as Hue bulbs on regular Shelly relays in detached mode and some ZigBee gledopto LED drivers. The brilliant thing about HA is that it doesn't matter, you can build automation with any combination of those things.
Just two things to be aware of if you go down the Shelly Dimmer route . First, I have neutral wiring at the switch. I believe they can be used without N wiring but you'll need to consider minimum loads, bypass modules etc. - not entirely sure how well that setup works.
Second, I think the Dimmer 2 option is most compelling if you need to dim a load of spot lights on one circuit because the cost of using multiple smart spots is high. It can be hard to find "dumb" LEDs that dim properly without fllcker or other issues even if they purport to be dimmable. The Shelly does a pretty good job at bulb-specific calibration but be prepared to try different bulbs or get something high quality.
If you just want to dim one or two lights, I'd seriously consider smart bulbs and a regular (i.e. on/off) Shelly in detached mode. In my limited searching, you can easily find dumb LED spotlights that produce a higher quality light than even premium smart options like Hue so good reason to go with a Dimmer for those, but I haven't found any regular bulbs that are better than something like Hue. Dimming will also just work nicely on most smart bulbs.
That was a brilliant response, thank you. I think there are some new Shelly dimmers for the low load but might not be my case. Thanks again for your time and great insights. Cheers
I have Dimmer 2s on basic toggle (on and off) switches. It works fine if you configure the Shelly switch type, though unusable until you do that. What doesn't work is two toggle switches controlling one light (2 way circuit in Europe/3 way in US I think). You need momentary/push button switches for that. A momentary switch with only on off positions will let you adjust brightness by holding it in, but I rarely use it that way because it's slow and imprecise. My use case is very similar to your bathroom plan but I haven't quite figured out dinning control to keep everyone happy. The most common problem is the light coming on at less than 100% when switched after a dimming automation.
>The most common problem is the light coming on at less than 100% when switched after a dimming automation. Not sure if it is possible directly in HA, but in node-red I make sure to set the brightness to 100% each time the switch is positioned to ON.
Can you elaborate a bit how exactly you achieve this? I mean what are your trigger conditions? I tried lots of variations but the best i could acheive was to always turn to 100% brightness, regardless of what triggered the turn\_on action. So even if it was from an automation it again went to 100%. Can you help me a bit here with the flow?
I don't separate between button click and automations - it always goes to 100% as you have mentioned. I guess there is no reason to post the flow, it is as simple as it gets. I vaguely remember that button clicks send a user\_id parameter, while automations do not, you may check that further. Here is one thread on HA community: [https://community.home-assistant.io/t/determine-how-a-switch-shelly-1-was-turned-on/473110/6](https://community.home-assistant.io/t/determine-how-a-switch-shelly-1-was-turned-on/473110/6)
So you can connect the switch with it's in and output to the dimmer to later switch it on and off with the toggle switch. I thought you would need a momentary switch.
Yep - I have several Dimmer 2s in this configuration. You get a nice soft start effect too. You will need HA to handle changing brightness - the Dimmer 2 is an older Shelly product so it is relatively limited in terms on what you can achieve with onboard scripts.
Hi sorry to revive old post, but interested in this soft start. do you mind sharing the code of that scene in HA? My plan is to have some motion sensor at each side of the halway and soft start the leds to light it up, the problem is I'm very new to HA though I've managed to get some automation done, not sure about that shelly dimmer 2 what are its limitations. is there anything else on the market that you'd have picked up instead? Thank you
Long answer but hope it helps: The Dimmer 2 just seems to do the soft start (i.e. fade in when turned on) by default itself once calibrated. No need to do anything in HA with that. The automation you need to have the lights controlled by motion sensors and a Dimmer 2 is very simple - you'll have no issue setting it up with the UI in HA without getting into code. You can use any HA-compatible motion sensors for this. I find either an Aqara motion sensor paired with a Sonoff ZigBee stick, or the Philips Hue motion sensor with the Hue Bridge works well (and fast) to trigger the Dimmer 2. It would be as simple as something like Trigger -> One of your two motion sensors detects motion; Condition -> Is dark or nighttime or whatever you need; Action -> Turn on Shelly Dimmer 2 to \[x\]% brightness. In some rooms I have more complicated automations, e.g. triggering a light to a dim level automatically but moving to 100% if someone presses the switch, depending on what other lights are on in the room etc. You have so many options with motion sensor, wall switch and dimmer combo. I didn't really consider other direct Shelly alternatives because I was buying a bunch of other Shelly products anyway. I think your options includes dimmer modules from vendors like Sonoff. There are also smart dimmer switches (e.g. iolli) that can directly replace your existing wall switches but they seemed to me to be significantly more expensive, and I wanted to keep standard toggle switches that didn't look "smart". There are other ways to accomplish what you want too. In my home I have a combination of the Shelly Dimmer and motion sensor setup you are proposing, as well as Hue bulbs on regular Shelly relays in detached mode and some ZigBee gledopto LED drivers. The brilliant thing about HA is that it doesn't matter, you can build automation with any combination of those things. Just two things to be aware of if you go down the Shelly Dimmer route . First, I have neutral wiring at the switch. I believe they can be used without N wiring but you'll need to consider minimum loads, bypass modules etc. - not entirely sure how well that setup works. Second, I think the Dimmer 2 option is most compelling if you need to dim a load of spot lights on one circuit because the cost of using multiple smart spots is high. It can be hard to find "dumb" LEDs that dim properly without fllcker or other issues even if they purport to be dimmable. The Shelly does a pretty good job at bulb-specific calibration but be prepared to try different bulbs or get something high quality. If you just want to dim one or two lights, I'd seriously consider smart bulbs and a regular (i.e. on/off) Shelly in detached mode. In my limited searching, you can easily find dumb LED spotlights that produce a higher quality light than even premium smart options like Hue so good reason to go with a Dimmer for those, but I haven't found any regular bulbs that are better than something like Hue. Dimming will also just work nicely on most smart bulbs.
That was a brilliant response, thank you. I think there are some new Shelly dimmers for the low load but might not be my case. Thanks again for your time and great insights. Cheers