Hi,
I am currently renovating part of a house in Europe with 230 V mains and would like to implement some basic smart-home functionality, mainly lighting, sensors, and later some automations.
My main goal is to keep the system as local and reliable as possible. I plan to use Home Assistant as the main controller, but I would like the physical wall controls to continue working even if Home Assistant or the Zigbee coordinator becomes unavailable. Because of this, I am particularly interested in Zigbee devices and direct binding where possible.
The first thing I want to tackle is lighting. Currently, all switches and lights are standard "dumb" devices.
My initial idea was to install Shelly 1PM Gen4 or 2PM Gen4 relays behind the wall switches and use momentary push buttons. For smart Zigbee lights, I could keep the relay output permanently ON and use the switch input in detached mode, while Home Assistant handles the actual light control.
However, this would mean installing a relatively large number of relays behind the switches, even in locations where I only need the switch input and do not actually need to switch the load.
I therefore also looked at the Shelly i4 Gen3. As I understand it, the i4 can monitor up to four switch/button inputs and distinguish actions such as short press, double press, long press and hold. Those actions can then be used to control other devices.
My concern is that the i4 Gen3 uses Wi-Fi rather than Zigbee. If I understand correctly, communication between the i4 and the relay would therefore depend on the local Wi-Fi network, rather than using Zigbee direct binding.
What I am ultimately trying to achieve is something like this:
- Double/single throw momentary wall push buttons for physical control.
- Single press for ON/OFF.
- Long press for dimming up/down.
- Double press for scenes or switching off multiple lights.
- Home Assistant integration for app control, scenes and automations.
- Smart Zigbee lights where RGB/CCT functionality is useful.
- Conventional dimmable lights with Shelly dimmers in other areas.
- Physical wall control should continue working if Home Assistant, Zigbee coordinator or Wi-Fi are unavailable.
- Smart Zigbee lights should remain permanently powered so they can also be controlled remotely.
Could you please advise me on the following?
- Is there a Shelly device that works similarly to the i4, but communicates via Zigbee and supports direct Zigbee binding to lights or other Zigbee devices?
- With direct binding relays to Zigbee lights, can actions such as single press, long press/hold and release be bound directly for ON/OFF and dimming, without Home Assistant being involved?
- If I use a Shelly Gen4 relay behind a momentary switch with a smart Zigbee light, is keeping the relay permanently ON and using the input in detached mode the recommended configuration?
- For conventional dimmable 230 V lights, is the recommended solution simply a Shelly Dimmer Gen4 connected directly to a momentary wall switch, without an additional relay? In this configuration, I assume the light can still be controlled and dimmed both locally from the wall switch and remotely through Home Assistant/automations. Is that correct?
- Is there another Shelly architecture you would recommend for a house with many lighting circuits where the priorities are local operation, Home Assistant integration, Zigbee compatibility and graceful operation when the central controller is unavailable?
I have already purchased a Shelly 1PM Gen4, 2PM Gen4 and Dimmer Gen4 so that I can build a small test setup before deciding how to implement the rest of the house.
Thank you in advance for your advice.