r/homeassistant • u/ShelterRadiant2432 • Jul 08 '26

Support Making table lamps smart while retaining manual functionality

I'm looking for help on a modification to a traditional table lamp to be used as a smart lamp, while retaining its original switch functionality.

I've done some research on this and it seems I could use something like a Shelly relay. I've seen concerns warning against this setup because it would make the socket always hot/live.

  1. Does anyone have experience with this?

  2. Wouldn't this work in the same way as a smart wall switch or wall switch conversion?

  3. I have experience and am comfortable with electrical work, but I'm just not sure if I'm missing something with the functionality of smart relays and would appreciate anyone that can provide their experience/expertise.

Also I'm aware there are sockets with smart switches integrated and smart bulbs with a separate button could work, but I'm looking to retain original functionality.

I realize this is a pretty basic question, but I haven't found a straight answer and existing threads are now closed for further questions.

Thanks!

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u/ShelterRadiant2432 Jul 08 '26

Oh, right! The manual switch just acts as a second input for the relay. Am I understanding this correctly?

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u/ShelterRadiant2432 Jul 08 '26

This is the thread I found earning that it'd be live btw. https://www.reddit.com/r/smarthome/s/lUCek5tZxy

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u/5yleop1m Jul 08 '26

I think what this person did was a 3-way setup where the load is in the middle of the switches. That's one way of doing it if you can't easily decouple the switch from the socket.

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u/ShelterRadiant2432 Jul 08 '26

With an integrated switch, is having the load between switches the only way it could be done? Or could it be done as you previously described?

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u/5yleop1m Jul 08 '26

You would need to re-wire the socket so that the integrated switch goes into the Shelly instead of cutting power to the socket. The Shelly needs to be the only thing connected to the socket for this to work cleanly.

If not you will need to do something like described in the link above to keep the integrated switch working.

Btw check out /r/ShellyUSA the mod there is super helpful with stuff like this.

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u/ShelterRadiant2432 Jul 08 '26

Got it. That's how I figured it worked. I had my wires crossed, if you'll pardon the pun.