Testing the Shelly smart home platform: versatile and extremely compatible Shelly relies entirely on WLAN to network its components. This saves costs and makes it easier to enter the smart home world. 4:00 p.m. tech stage

Allterco Robotics smart home products (thematic focus) , known under the Shelly brand, are becoming increasingly popular. The Bulgarian company only recently reported a 37 percent increase in sales for the first half of 2022. The product portfolio primarily includes switches and relays that are installed in flush-mounted sockets of conventional switches and make them smart home-ready. Allterco also offers plug & play devices such as radiator thermostats (list of the best) , adapter plugs (guide) , switches and lamps. There are also a number of sensors such as motion detectors, water, smoke and gas detectors, door and window sensors as well as temperature and humidity meters.

On the one hand, the popularity of the Shelly solutions lies in the relatively low entry costs of the platform. Not only are they cheap, they also do not require a smart home center. Like many Tuya smart home components (test report) , Shelly devices are simply put into operation via WLAN.

On the other hand, another argument in favor of Shelly components is that they can easily be integrated into other smart home centers (top list) such as Homey Pro (test report) , Smartthings (test report) , Homee (test report) and via MQTT in open source solutions such as integrate ioBroker. They are therefore not only suitable for beginners who want to dive into the smart home world as inexpensively as possible without their own smart home center, but also for ambitious users who want to integrate Shelly components in their smart home.

And besides, it’s possible to flash many Shelly components with an alternative firmware like Tasmota or to configure them for Homekit .

For the commissioning of Shelly components, the manufacturer offers the mobile app Shelly Cloud, which is available for Android, iOS and macOS (devices with Apple processors). This connects the components to the manufacturer’s cloud so that they can also be accessed remotely and controlled via the web interface at https://home.shelly.cloud/ .

Since Shelly devices have an integrated web server, users can also exclude them from cloud operation and configure them locally. However, not using the cloud requires a willingness to compromise: This makes creating rules very cumbersome and access to historical data such as energy consumption is also not possible without the cloud. Without a cloud, you also have to do without coupling the Shelly components to voice services such as Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant, and you can’t group them without a cloud either. Beginners will therefore put Shelly components including the cloud into operation, as recommended by the manufacturer.

To use the app, you have to register with an email address and a password. Then click on the hamburger menu and tap on Add device. When delivered, Shelly devices are usually in pairing mode. This can also be triggered via a reset button in or on the device. The respective product description provides information on how to proceed. From a technical point of view, a Shelly device creates a WiFi hotspot in pairing mode, the app connects to the device and pairs it with the selected WiFi network. The component is now available in the app.

The Shelly Cloud app lets you group devices by type and also create automations for them in the form of if-then rules. In the Shelly app, these are called scenarios. To create a new scenario, tap on the symbol on the far right in the app, then on Add scene and in the next step give it a name like Switch on light with button on . A condition (if) is then selected, based on which the automation should start. This can be a trigger like the Shelly Motion Sensor 2 motion detector or a smart switch like the Shelly Button 2. Alternatively, there is also a time-based condition such as a timer , daily and weekly schedule or onceto select. In our example, however, we want to switch the Shelly Vintage bulb on and off with the Shelly Button 2. So we select the Trigger based option and the Shelly smart switch as the condition. Then we determine which keystroke should trigger the action. The choices are button 1x short press, 1x long press, 2x short press and 3x short press. Finally, you define whether the automation will run once, repeatedly, or whenever the thresholds change.

The next step is to define what should happen when the condition (key pressed) comes into effect. In the Shelly app, this section is called Make . Devices or notifications can be selected as actions. The latter offers the option of notifying the user via phone, email or Alexa. As a device action, the app displays actuators integrated into the system, such as the Shelly Plug S adapter plug and the Shelly Vintage illuminant. We select the illuminant and switch on as an option. In addition, the brightness with which the lamp should shine is set. Finished.

The Shelly app together with the numerous components is sufficient to get started with the Smart Home. However, if you are planning further automation with components from other manufacturers such as lamps from Philips Hue or the room climate with devices such as air conditioning (guide) , air purifier (guide)or would like to control air humidifiers and dehumidifiers will want to be able to connect the Shelly components to a powerful smart home center. This is possible with the variants Homey Pro, Homee and Smartthings. However, the integration does not work with every component. In the test with Smartthings, the integration works with the Shelly devices Vintage, Plug S, Motion 2, H&T and Flood. Shelly Gas, on the other hand, was not recognized. Homey Pro, on the other hand, recognizes all tested Shelly products.