[OldChubbyKnuckle]

The Shelly RGBW PM is only spec'd to control switch up to 24V. My Starlink Mini is 48V - assume your Gen2 is also? Maybe that was part of the flakiness?

Other thing to note on RGBW PM is 4A per channel max and 10A combined across all 4 channels. I've had to change to the Shelly Plus 1 UL for a few items due to the current limit. For my Starlink Mini, I'm using a Shelly Plus 1 UL to turn on/off 12V power to the 12V-48V converter. I've got nothing else 48V so effectively it's a Starlink on/off wifi switch now.

I have a couple ESP 8266 sitting here waiting to be flashed for pwm fan controllers for each utility cabinet. Supposedly they can read each cabinet's Ruuvi tag directly through BLE so they would still work even without HASS up. I'd rather do this since i have them already vs having to wire up a small temp sensor like the DHT20/AHT20 to the ESP 8266 directly.

 

[gregoryx]

The Shelly RGBW PM is only spec'd to control switch up to 24V. My Starlink Mini is 48V - assume your Gen2 is also? Maybe that was part of the flakiness?

Other thing to note on RGBW PM is 4A per channel max and 10A combined across all 4 channels. I've had to change to the Shelly Plus 1 UL for a few items due to the current limit. For my Starlink Mini, I'm using a Shelly Plus 1 UL to turn on/off 12V power to the 12V-48V converter. I've got nothing else 48V so effectively it's a Starlink on/off wifi switch now.

I have a couple ESP 8266 sitting here waiting to be flashed for pwm fan controllers for each utility cabinet. Supposedly they can read each cabinet's Ruuvi tag directly through BLE so they would still work even without HASS up. I'd rather do this since i have them already vs having to wire up a small temp sensor like the DHT20/AHT20 to the ESP 8266 directly.

In my case, I ran it at both 12V and 24V - then boosted up to the required 48V. Even at 12V, a single channel should /almost/ handle it - but 24V is more than enough at 4A.

Now that it's moved over to the setup I built, it works well - but the RGBW-PM is not part of this system anymore. And it's running 24V to the step-up. And I have a dedicated channel of power-monitoring for it - plus the fancy push-button with lighted indicator.

I agree on the premise of pulling BLE temps - should work well, I'd think. Though I'd personally want to add a hard-wired sensor as well or instead. Already doing the work and all... but could combine multiple inputs of temps, too.

I never figured out why just that one device gave me issues with PM... but it's gone now, so... 🤷‍♀️

 

[chicagoandy]

The Shelly RGBW PM is only spec'd to control switch up to 24V. My Starlink Mini is 48V - assume your Gen2 is also? Maybe that was part of the flakiness?

I'm running the starlink mini at 24v without any converters.. it seems to be happy? Any reason you're giving it 48v? Just matching the wall plug?

 

[OldChubbyKnuckle]

I'm running the starlink mini at 24v without any converters.. it seems to be happy? Any reason you're giving it 48v? Just matching the wall plug?

Pretty much. I don't have any 24V needs and I'm using the stock very thin gauge cable to the front portion of the roof so a long-ish cable run - wanted to preserve that nice waterproof DC plug. IIRC the AC converter brick it comes with for the stock cable is in the 30V range somewhere and I couldn't find any converters in the no-mans land between 24V and 48V so just went 48V.

 

[chicagoandy]

Interesting. I didn't want to cut the original cable, then I found a 16 awg one with the proper ends.

Amazon.com: STARGEAR Starlink Mini Cable 16.4FT, 16AWG Replacement Starlink DC Power Cable Starlink Mini Accessories, Starlink Power Cord Barrel Jack 5A Charging Cord Waterproof Outdoor : Electronics

Amazon.com: STARGEAR Starlink Mini Cable 16.4FT, 16AWG Replacement Starlink DC Power Cable Starlink Mini Accessories, Starlink Power Cord Barrel Jack 5A Charging Cord Waterproof Outdoor : Electronics

a.co

 

[OldChubbyKnuckle]

Great find on the cable!

Your house batteries IIRC are 24V so that all makes sense. I bought the mini late fall and with 12V house system, thought the thin cable could be a problem for me and there weren't aftermarket ones when I looked. My cable run is longer than 5M as mine is magnet docked right above the slider opening vs. on the back end like yours.

 

[gregoryx]

Great find on the cable!

Your house batteries IIRC are 24V so that all makes sense. I bought the mini late fall and with 12V house system, thought the thin cable could be a problem for me and there weren't aftermarket ones when I looked. My cable run is longer than 5M as mine is magnet docked right above the slider opening vs. on the back end like yours.

I'd def boost to 48V for that application...

 

[BadWolf]

Been trying to dumb down/simplify my switches. gregoryx idea with the shelly's looks great but a little too much work for my taste.

Tired 3x Shelly 4 button remotes linked to the shelly RGBW-PM as the host, not impressed and it was sluggish at best. I did add add the Shelly USB bluetooth dongle as the host instead and did make it better. But one remote won't update firmware, and another already fell apart after limited use. Double press and long press never seem to register with HA either.

Found my unicorn

Onvis Smart Button, 5-Keys Smart Switch, Scene Controller, Compatible with Apple HomeKit, Automatically Trigger Accessories & Scenes-Thread (iOS 17.4 or Later is Required): Amazon.com: Tools & Home Improvement

Onvis Smart Button, 5-Keys Smart Switch, Scene Controller, Compatible with Apple HomeKit, Automatically Trigger Accessories & Scenes-Thread (iOS 17.4 or Later is Required): Amazon.com: Tools & Home Improvement

a.co

5 button remote, no host dongle, no threaded device, no esp, no zigbee, battery monitor, straight bluetooth to my Pi5.
3 button options - Single, Double, Long are what i see in HA

Says you need a threaded host but you don't.
To add directly, hold center button on remote for 15 seconds(factory reset/pairing), multi light will flash on remote. Then add apple homekit device, should pop up on the options. put in 8 digit pairing code on remote. Have fun.

 

[gregoryx]

Been trying to dumb down/simplify my switches. gregoryx idea with the shelly's looks great but a little too much work for my taste.

Tired 3x Shelly 4 button remotes
...

Those Shelly BLE 4-button things are junk. I printed a different "case" for the board and it's better... but they still suck.

Although Van Assistant is very fast and reliable, I don't want things like my lights to rely on it. FWIW, if you switch to ANY brand of BLE buttons, they can talk directly to the Shellies - which is faster and more reliable. But it does take some work in the web interface...

 

[tb250]

I like the Philips TapDial. You'll need Zigbee2mqtt and a Zigbee dongle since you don't want to run Hue's cloud.

 

[larry barello]

Is there a COTS plug/connector that fits the Shelly programming holes/socket? I'm ready to burn my plus RGBW and plus 1 and see about making my switches "local" as well as Homeassistant controlled.

In short: although HA stays up for weeks or months, it always seems to wedge at the most inappropriate times. Hence the decentralized control. My ESPHome doodad (one at the moment) has never wedged.

I could pop the case and solder wires... but rather not.

 

[tb250]

I've removed the base rom one of these in the past to program some ESP32 devices mounted in cases. That gives you a hand-held 5-pin pogo "wand". Might work on the Shellies as long as the pads are on 0.1" centers.

EC Buying 2Pcs 2.54mm Single Row 5Pin Test Clip Module Board Program Burning Clip 5 Pin PCB Burning Fixture Programmer Burning Clip with Dupont Wire: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

EC Buying 2Pcs 2.54mm Single Row 5Pin Test Clip Module Board Program Burning Clip 5 Pin PCB Burning Fixture Programmer Burning Clip with Dupont Wire: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

www.amazon.com

 

[gregoryx]

Is there a COTS plug/connector that fits the Shelly programming holes/socket? I'm ready to burn my plus RGBW and plus 1 and see about making my switches "local" as well as Homeassistant controlled.

In short: although HA stays up for weeks or months, it always seems to wedge at the most inappropriate times. Hence the decentralized control. My ESPHome doodad (one at the moment) has never wedged.

I could pop the case and solder wires... but rather not.

Pretty sure what you want is just a handful of dupont wires, like these. Then clip those with test leads like these and/or these to your serial interface.

But it sounds like something isn't right here. While flashing ESPHome can work fine - giving you more detailed control if necessary - the Shellies all work locally without Home Assistant. And they're very easy to program to talk to each other without Home Assistant.

I haven't seen any issues with the Shelly units (other than the BLE stuff being crap). But isolating them from Home Assistant is exactly what I've done with mine - using hard-wired switches. I'm curious what you're expecting / hoping to do by flashing ESPHome that you can't do with Shelly firmware. 🤔

 

[tb250]

The Shellies also work directly WITH HomeAssistant WITHOUT flashing, and without using Shelly's app or cloud services. You still have full manual control with hard-wired switches, but you can also automate with HA at the same time, as well as collect energy usage information.

 

[larry barello]

Soo, apparently no one knows what the connector size is for the Shelly RGBW or Plus 1? 30 ga is too fine, 26 too fat. Having a proper pin header would sure be swell.

And yes, I have looked into what the Shelly RGBW provides and i DO want to reprogram it for my own evil purposes. It would be much easier to just get a handful of plus 1's and use them stock, but what is the fun in that?

 

[gregoryx]

Soo, apparently no one knows what the connector size is for the Shelly RGBW or Plus 1? 30 ga is too fine, 26 too fat. Having a proper pin header would sure be swell.

And yes, I have looked into what the Shelly RGBW provides and i DO want to reprogram it for my own evil purposes. It would be much easier to just get a handful of plus 1's and use them stock, but what is the fun in that?

You're right: the Duponts I have don't fit in there - need smaller ones, I guess. Crack it open instead?

Why use Shelly instead of a typical ESP? What's the project in mind?

Also, I'm curious about your familiarity with Arduino vs ESPHome vs the Shelly native scripts - what are you seeing that's different that you want to do with one that can't be done with another?

 

[larry barello]

I have a basket of various esp devices. The biggest challenge on any of my projects is @#$& packaging.

So, the Shelly rgbw is nicely packaged, quad half bridge with accessable quad inputs. I didn't see any way to individually control the outputs in the Shelly Web page so making a purpose built firmware is easy enough once the 1.27 mm .4 mm pin strip arrives.

I have a variety of loads I control from home assistant via a relay shield. I want something independent of HA yet controllable through the dashboard. Being wireless also means less wiring.

For sure having a handful of Shelly 1 would be easier and no custom firmware (and much greater load capacity) but what is the fun in that?

 

[gregoryx]

I have a basket of various esp devices. The biggest challenge on any of my projects is @#$& packaging.

So, the Shelly rgbw is nicely packaged, quad half bridge with accessable quad inputs. I didn't see any way to individually control the outputs in the Shelly Web page so making a purpose built firmware is easy enough once the 1.27 mm .4 mm pin strip arrives.

I have a variety of loads I control from home assistant via a relay shield. I want something independent of HA yet controllable through the dashboard. Being wireless also means less wiring.

For sure having a handful of Shelly 1 would be easier and no custom firmware (and much greater load capacity) but what is the fun in that?

No way to individually control the outputs? How so? You want PWM control of each of the 4 outputs? Just put it in 4-light mode. There's a few of us who are using them as four separate (max 4A) circuits just for on/off control with power monitoring. Without flashing ESP Home or whatever alternative.

No objection to you doing whatever you have in mind... but it sounds like maybe you haven't looked at the Shelly RGBW very closely? Or I'm just not following what you're trying to do.


Alternatively, if/since packaging is your primary concern, maybe you need a 3D printer?


FWIW, I'm using a handful of RGBWs just because of their small form factor and low power draw. I'm using them for just inputs, just outputs, and a mix. I'm also using a handful of ESP32s for a bunch of other stuff as well.

I also have much larger boards with ESP32 to get higher-powered relays (10A and 30A). And I can get dozens of relays with the same background power draw, unlike using Shelly-1s for example.


I guess what I'm saying is that I also have all my controls functioning without Home Assistant. And some of them are on RGBWs (native code) and others use ESP32-based setups like the Waveshare or generic boards. To me, the key is to get the switching control on the same IOT board if possible. But if they're loads over a couple amps, the generics are probably the best options.

 

[Irontent]

...

So, the Shelly rgbw is nicely packaged, quad half bridge with accessable quad inputs. I didn't see any way to individually control the outputs in the Shelly Web page so making a purpose built firmware is easy enough once the 1.27 mm .4 mm pin strip arrives.

...

I was able to control individual channels on the Shelly Plus RGBW PM as documented in my post here: https://www.fordtransitusaforum.com...ds/home-assistant-for-van-automation.90215/page-41?post_id=1331113#post-1331113

Some good examples are in the Shelly documentation:

• RPC API documentation: RPC Protocol | Shelly Technical Documentation
• MQTT RPC information which documents general structure: Mongoose OS Documentation

Here is a URL to control a particular channel which gets status along with HASS stuff. The id parameter represents one of the channels on the shelly:

The rest_command.yaml for the HTTP request:
#Script to get vent fan on Shelly Plus RGBW PM status
vent_fan_req_status:
url: "http://192.168.xx.xx/rpc/Light.GetStatus?id=3"
verify_ssl: false
method: GET
headers:
Content-Type: application

The response received is:
{'content': {'id': 3, 'source': 'init', 'output': True, 'brightness': 50, 'temperature': {'tC': 50.5, 'tF': 122.8}, 'voltage': 10.3, 'flags': ['no_load']}, 'status': 200}

The template.yaml:
- sensor
# Used to update vent fan status after status request.
# Input is from automation which updates the input_text entity
- name: vent_status_response_brightness_num
unique_id: vent_status_response_brightness_num
state: >-
{{ states('input_text.vent_status_response_brightness_text') }}

# input_text.vent_status_response_voltage_text
- name: vent_status_response_voltage_num
unique_id: vent_status_response_voltage_num
state: >-
{{ states('input_text.vent_status_response_voltage_text') }}
device_class: voltage
unit_of_measurement: "V"

- binary_sensor:
# Used to update vent fan status after status request.
# Input is from automation which updates the input_text entity
- name: vent_status_response_output_bin
unique_id: vent_status_response_output_bin
state: >-
{{ states('input_text.vent_status_response_output_text') }}


This URL will turn on a channel at a particular brightness level:
"http://192.168.xx.xx/rpc/Light.Set?id=3&on=true&brightness=25"

You can also pass the parameters in JSON I believe.

ONE THING TO NOTE is that different shelly modules have different generations. The latest Shelly Plus RGBW PM module I got was a GEN2 device which has better JSON support (and a more complicated but powerful API.

In general, requests can be sent to the shelly over MQTT, web plain text, or web JSON. and the responses vary as well depending on how the device is configured and how the command is received by the device.

To control the individual 4 channels of the Shelly Plus RGBW PM be sure to configure it in LIGHT mode.

Good luck.

PS -- I get it. I've written several native ESP32S3 apps for my van when ESPHome would have probably been easier. But, I've found I can do everything I want with a Shelly with the native Shelly microcode. I use individual Shelly modules, each with a physical button for on/off, to control the 7 zones of lighting in the van. But, as time goes on, I almost always use a RF433 button through HASS to control the lights instead of reaching for the physical shelly button.

I did finally give in, and flashed a SONOFF RF433 gate with Tasmota cause I couldn't get the SDR module decode of the SONOFF buttons reliable enough on a ESP32. I flashed one Shelly with Tasmota, but decided it was more trouble than it was worth.

 

[larry barello]

You guys are killing me. The shelly stuff all looks great, but it is a lot of new, to me, tech that I can completely bypass by loading ESPHome firmware to do what I want. Its easy, very little code (yaml) ultra reliable and feeds directly into HASS w/o any further ado. That said, now that I understand the "light" profile I'll be looking at the HASS integration before going the ESPHome route.

I am just sort of playing with this stuff. I already have a working relay based RPi3 system. I am re-hosting HASS on a RPi5 with LCD screen and it doesn't really support the relay shield (mechanically) so I'm mostly looking at replacing it with the shelly rgbw physically away from the main logic. It is likely never to be placed into permanent service, so, in reality just play-time/science project. In any case I'll report on the results after I get things running.