In this review, we look at an inexpensive smarthome product from Shelly and the Shelly ecosystem with app and smarthome capabilities, Shelly Cloud – An Affordable home automation based on WiFi.
In the field of home automation systems, the choice has expanded considerably in recent years. Not only with regard to brands and specific products, but also the way in which they communicate with each other. In addition to Zigbee and Z-Wave , WiFi is also gaining in popularity, especially because products based on WiFi can be produced more cheaply and more compactly. Shelly is a company that focuses entirely on WiFi-based home automation and in this review we take a look at the ecosystem and the functionality of the platform.
What is Shelly Cloud?
Shelly is part of Allterco Robotics, a Bulgarian company that has been making progress in smart home land for some time now. The company focuses entirely on smart products that communicate via WiFi and can be controlled and set via the Shelly Cloud app. In addition to its own app, Shelly offers the option of having all products work with its own software and systems through MQTT, http requests and a REST API. The Shelly products are relatively affordable but require a little more knowledge for installation and use than, for example, Philips Hue .
The range of Shelly products has expanded considerably in recent months. The company has various built-in dimmers and switches in its range. You place these behind existing switches and thus make it possible to control your lighting (or other connected equipment) remotely or automatically. With certain Shelly relays you can also measure energy and other models can be used to make devices smart. In addition, Shelly has a number of plug-and-play solutions, such as a smart plug, smart lamps and a button with which different products can be operated. In terms of sensors, Shelly has temperature and humidity sensors, a water sensor, a smoke sensor, a gas sensor, and a door / window sensor. In short, with the Shelly range you could make almost your entire home smart.
For this review we used the Shelly H&T temperature and humidity sensor (25 euros), the Shelly 2.5 relay (25 euros), the Shelly 1PM relay (20 euros), the Shelly Dimmer 2 (22 euros), the Shelly Button 2 (22 euros) and the Shelly Door / Window sensor 2 (22 euros). In this review we mainly look at the total ecosystem and do not dive into the details of the specific products. We do this in a follow-up review.
Design and installation
Most Shelly products are intended to be concealed behind a switch, in a meter cupboard, in an appliance or behind a socket. Shelly has therefore ensured that the dimensions are very compact so that the built-in modules fit in both old and new flush-mounted boxes without any problems. Depending on the model and application you want to operate, the dimensions can be slightly larger or smaller, but we were able to install all the modules in an existing house (1970s) without any problems. For example, we used the Dimmer 2 for the lighting in the bedroom and the Shelly 2.5 for operating the shutters. They are all plastic built-in modules that are not very exciting. After all, they just have to work. If you do not understand electricity, it is advisable to have it installed by an electrician. Installation is not very difficult, but safety comes first and you need to know which wires to connect to which inputs and outputs. Once connected, push the built-in modules into the flush-mounted box and place the switch or socket back in place.
The Button 2, Door / Window sensor 2 and the H&T are products that can stand or hang in sight more often. All are again made entirely of plastic and not the tightest sensors or buttons we’ve ever seen, but given the low prices, we don’t complain about that. The Door / Window sensor 2 is easy to place on a door frame and can be used immediately. The H&T is a bit more difficult to place since you cannot stick it somewhere quickly due to its round shape. The sensor is therefore intended to be placed, for example on a cupboard. The Button 2 is a simple button that you can place on your bedside table, for example. Please note that all these products are supplied without batteries. You still have to purchase this yourself.
Shelly Cloud app
The Shelly app is the starting point for all novice users. This free app for iOS and Android lets you link all Shelly products and act as a hub to control and set the products. Please note that the app is not yet available in Dutch. So you are assigned to the English version.
To use the Shelly app you need to create an account. This also ensures that you can operate the products remotely, via the Shelly Cloud. Incidentally, all settings and scenarios are stored locally, on the Shelly devices themselves, so an internet connection is not a must for everything to work.
Add shelly devices
Once you have created an account, you can create rooms. Via the app you select ‘Add room’ and go through the settings to design the room. You can create a section for every room in the house. The next step is to add Shelly products to the app, via ‘Add device’. The devices you have connected or activated create their own hotspot and are searched for via your phone. When a device is found, you can ‘include’ it and the Shelly Cloud will be contacted to register the device. Things can often go wrong here. In 50 percent of the cases, one of these steps failed, but persistence wins. You keep going through the process until a device has been added. Then you have to wait 30 seconds and the device should appear at ‘Discovered devices’. This also sometimes happens and sometimes it doesn’t. And sometimes this window can be conjured up and sometimes not. Restarting the app or the device itself works as a solution in many cases. The installation is therefore not completely smooth. It can be quite frustrating here and there to get a device added.
But, once visible in the app, everything remains visible and accessible. You add the devices to the desired rooms and can operate them immediately. With a switch you can turn the button on or off directly and with a dimmer you can dim immediately. The status (on / off, temperature, open / close, etc.) can also be viewed from the home screen of the room in question, including (if applicable) the energy consumption.
Timers, schedules and scenes
Operation via the app is nice, but you naturally want to make your home smarter. Every WiFi device from Shelly is simply a controller and can therefore save and execute rules. You can get started with timers, schedules and scenes via the app settings.
A timer is a simple way to switch a device or lamp on or off after an X number of seconds. A schedule is an option to turn a device or lamp on or off at a specific time on a specific day. You can also choose sunrise or sunset. You can create scenes to automate things even further. For example; when it is dark (after sunset) and go to buy a door (door sensor), switch on lamp X (Dimmer 2). There are many possibilities to design your own scenes, but it remains quite basic without the possibility to use variables.
Shelly Cloud homescreen
The home screen of the Shelly app provides an overview of all rooms, with an extra tab for groups and one for scenes. If you click on a room, you will see the devices of that room and also tabs for groups in that room and scenes in that room. From the scenes tab, you can manually activate a scene by clicking on a scene and tapping the play icon. There is no way to quickly start a scene from the home screen. It also takes some getting used to is the way you adjust things. You do this by going to the drop-down menu and tapping the pencil. Please note that you can only adjust things that are currently visible on the screen. If you want to adjust the spaces, you have to do this from the home screen.
Settings
Where it becomes a bit more cluttered and difficult are the settings per device. There are so many that, as a novice user, you have to look carefully for what you actually need. There is no manual for the app, so be sure to read forums and use Google. We will highlight a number of important matters.
First of all, the home screen of each device. here you will find the data that immediately shows you the status. Depending on the type of device, this is, for example, the power consumption, dimming level, humidity, temperature and the status of open or closed. Data such as power consumption and temperature are displayed using handy graphs. You can also see the battery status in this screen. At the bottom of the home screen you get access to all settings. Again depending on the device, these are the sensor settings, timer, weekly schedule, night mode, application settings, internet / security settings, the Actions and the general settings.
In the sensor settings you can calibrate the sensors and indicate what the change should be per sensor before an update is given. You can also disable certain sensors if desired. The application settings allow you, among other things, to exclude events of the device from the log or to exclude devices from the total power consumption. In the internet / security settings you can give each device a fixed IP address (recommended!) And you can make every device a WiFi Access Point. With the Actions you can have updates sent via http, for example to your own home automation system. The general settings give access to firmware updates, a reset and the information about the device. In addition, for dimmers / switches you can find options for calibration, warm-up, the type of button (push button for example) and the standard start mode. For actors you also have settings for timers, schedules and a night mode. So there are a lot of settings, most of which you will not adjust as a novice user. For those novice users, a simple manual would be a welcome addition.
Ease of use
Although Shelly has affordable products that can meet almost all the needs of a smart home, it is a somewhat tricky and sometimes frustrating system for the novice user. The user interface does not make sense in places, some options are difficult to find, installation often does not go smoothly and the large amount of advanced options can quickly be frightening. Creating a fixed IP address can already be a challenge for some users. Partly because of this, Shelly is mainly aimed at do-it-yourselfers with at least a basic knowledge of home automation and networks.
Quality
Although we do not dive into the details and possibilities of every Shelly product in this review, it must be said that the quality of the products is fine. The Dimmer 2 switches and dims lights smoothly and quickly, but keep in mind that you may need a bypass, depending on the wattage of the lamps and / or the transformer used. If you do not use them, lamps may flicker or not dim properly. Compared to other dimmers that we have mounted, including the Fibaro Dimmer 2 and Qubino Mini Dimmer, it is striking that the Shelly Dimmer 2 is more sensitive to different types of lamps and therefore has problems with dimming or flickering. Inquiry with Shelly results in the answer that this is indeed correct, but that the Shelly Dimmer is also a lot cheaper. The Shelly 2. 5 ensures that the shutters open and close smoothly, or can be set to a specific position. The wireless devices, including the Shelly Button and Shelly Door / Window sensor, respond quickly to changes / input but can sometimes be a bit unstable due to a bad or lost WiFi connection. Of course, the latter partly depends on the quality of your WiFi network.
Smarthome integration and advanced options
No shortage of Smarhome integrations with Shelly. The company makes almost anything possible. For experienced users with their own home automation systems (such as Home Assistant) there is the option to communicate via the Rest API or http requests. You can also link Shelly with MQTT. For those who want to control everything by voice, there is support for Google Home and Amazon Alexa. We activated Google Home within 1 minute by adding Shelly Cloud and logging in with your registration details. You can then operate devices, lamps and groups using voice commands. Finally, there is the option to add Shelly products to the Homey smart home hub via a dedicated app.
Conclusion – Shelly Cloud
Shelly is a relatively new player in the smart home market, but that does not stop the company from going full with a very complete range. The Shelly products are of excellent quality, cost a lot less than comparable products that use other protocols, are flexible in use, are ideal for the do-it-yourselfer and can be used without a hub. On the other hand, it is not the best system on the market in terms of installation and ease of use. This can frustrate you as a user. The number of advanced options without clear explanations can make you dizzy, but on the other hand, there is a lack of advanced options to automate with variables, for example. In addition, the connection is not always stable due to the use of WiFi and we attribute the quality and reliability of the much more expensive Zigbee and Z-Wave products somewhat higher. However, they must also be connected to a hub and are not as smart as a Shelly product in themselves. Shelly’s smarthome integration is doing very well. Both the Google Home fan and the do-it-yourselfer with their own home automation system can enjoy it. In short, are you looking for affordable products with which you can quickly make everything in your home a lot smarter without the use of a hub? And are you not averse to some Googling and finding out for yourself? Then Shelly is a great choice. they must therefore be connected to a hub and are in themselves not as smart as a Shelly product. Shelly’s smarthome integration is doing very well. Both the Google Home fan and the do-it-yourselfer with their own home automation system can enjoy it. In short, are you looking for affordable products with which you can quickly make everything in your home a lot smarter without the use of a hub? And are you not averse to some Googling and finding out for yourself? Then Shelly is a great choice. they must therefore be connected to a hub and are in themselves not as smart as a Shelly product. Shelly’s smarthome integration is doing very well. Both the Google Home fan and the do-it-yourselfer with their own home automation system can enjoy it. In short, are you looking for affordable products with which you can quickly make everything in your home a lot smarter without the use of a hub? And are you not averse to some Googling and finding out for yourself? Then Shelly is a great choice. are you looking for affordable products that can quickly make everything in your home a lot smarter without the use of a hub? And are you not averse to some Googling and finding out for yourself? Then Shelly is a great choice. are you looking for affordable products that can quickly make everything in your home a lot smarter without the use of a hub? And are you not averse to some Googling and finding out for yourself? Then Shelly is a great choice.
Positives
- Cheap
- Much choice
- Active community and support
- Excellent quality
- No hub required
- Good smarthome integration
Negatives
- WiFi connection is sometimes unstable
- Slightly less reliable than Zigbee / Z-wave products
- No batteries included
- Not very user-friendly and sometimes frustrating
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