Beiträge von jameswing

After hours of research and many rabbit holes, I finally figured it out. It was so hard because of the lack of clarity regarding the various lines of Shelly products. The key was this: The "Plus" and "Pro" series have enabled mJS scripting. mJS scripting will seemingly allow me to configure the mode of operation however I want. The Shelly 2.5 (which I tried first) does not allow mJS scripting, and is thus limited to the pre-configured modes.

Answer: It looks like a Shelly Plus 2PM, with the addition of a custom mJS script, will allow me to do what I want.

Thanks for the responses and consideration, all!

Will commands to the device on which the script is running still work when the device is offline? Say I have a script running on a Shelly 2.5 that toggles the power to the two output channels, based on the status of two different switch inputs. Of course, calls to web interfaces won't work when WiFi is down. So, the question is: Do calls to 'self' go through the web interface? or do they bypass it and still work locally (in isolation). To be clear, the Shelly 2.5 is 'sortof' two separate devices, built into one, so I'm wondering specifically if a script running on that device would be able to manipulate BOTH channels, rather than being restricted to just one 'side' of the device.

And the ancillary question: Is writing a custom script a sensible substitute for an operational mode that doesn't exist in the UI as a selectable mode (e.g. 'edge' switching, 'cycle' mode, etc.)?

I have a pair of lights on a circuit controlled by two separate switches, at opposite ends of the room, one of which is a dimmer-switch. I'd like to add a Shelly 2.5 in 'cycle' mode at the ceiling rose, using as the wall-switch 'input', the 'output' of the dimmer & toggle-switch pair that previously fed the lamps. Of course this working as intended is dependent upon a number of factors:

1) Will the Shelly operate on the reduced voltage from the dimmer?

2) If #1 is 'no', I can power the Shelly from the mains, but then what gets passed to the lamps -- the mains? or the 'signal' from the switch input? (of course #1 is moot if the answer to this one is the latter.

3) If #1 is 'maybe', what is the minimum voltage required for the Shelly to operate itself?

4) What is the threshold voltage on a switch input on the Shelly to be considered 'on'?

5) Do some models provide independent 'dry contacts' switches, while others are internally linked? I think I know the answer is 'yes', but where can I find a list of which models fall into each category. I can make NO SENSE out of the model numbers, and cannot find the secret decoder ring to tell me what the letters and numbers mean. Example: Plus vs not 'Plus' vs Pro vs 'Gen3' vs 'PM', etc. Underwriters Laboratories (UL) is the only piece I happen to know. 'PM' in my world means after noon, and 'plus' is the opposite of 'mini', but neither of those seem to be the case here, and 'Gen3' doesn't seem to be just improvements to 'Gen2'.

So, I tried a Shelly 2.5, since it had two switches and two inputs. I simply hooked it up to my network to see what settings were available in the UI. I've not yet wired it into the circuit.

I at least learned some of the lexicon so I'll know what words to use now. More important than Shelly-related nomenclature, I learned that I'm using the wrong terminology for my audience. In the U.S.A, from whence I hail, we call a single-pole, double-throw (SPDT) switch a '3-way' switch, while in the EU, it is called a '2-way' switch. I'm talking about a circuit wherein you can control a light (or lights) from either of two switches (e.g., at the top, and at the bottom, of a staircase). Desciption linked.

I found a mode of the Shelly 2.5 that treats the two 'channels' (i.e. lamps) independently (i.e. wall-switch one ('ws1') controls lamp1, while wall-switch two ('ws2') controls lamp2, with no interaction between the two channels -- that's one of the two desired modes.

The other desired mode seems like it would be a common desire -- to make a '2-way' (UK) / '3-way' (US) circuit for a pair of lights, using two regular toggle switches. Interestingly, I did find a mode ('Cycle Switch') in the Shelly 2.5 that cycles through these 4 states:

That tells me that there is NOT a hard-line separation of the two channels, so it seems possible to do what I want -- have each switch act as an 'edge switch', that toggles the state of the pair of outputs together. Is that an option in there somewhere and I'm just failing to recognize it? I can't imagine that not being one of the options, given the really exotic one shown above.

Two other points of ambiguity regarding the 'Cycle Switch' mode described above, (which I could actually fall back to if it works with regular toggle switches): While it is clear that mode would work with momentary switches (i.e. pushbuttons), it is not at all clear if it would work with regular toggle switches (i.e. with toggle switches acting as 'edge' switches to cycle to the next state upon each change. It is also not clear if that mode is intended to accept inputs from either of the two wall-switches, or if one of them would be disabled, or what. The UI allows you to configure the two 'sides' of the Shelly 2.5 independently, so you could configure one side with this mode and the other side with a straight toggle switch control mode -- which one would prevail?

I want to add a Shelly device to an existing lighting circuit to toggle the function of the circuit.

Currently, I have a 'standard'¹ 3-way lighting circuit with two switches at opposite ends of a space, controlling a pair of lights in the space -- one light is near each switch. I seek to be able to switch between this mode of operation (i.e. where both lights are controlled, together, by either switch), and the mode of operation where each light is independently controlled by only the switch nearest it.

To be clear, I do not want to change this permanently to two separate simple light-with-single-pole-switch circuits. Rather, I want to add a Shelly device to the circuit to make that mode be one of two selectable modes of operation (with the other mode being just as it is now. The many offerings of devices is somewhat confusing, as is the specs talking about 50VDC. This is a 120VAC (60Hz) lighting circuit.

Questions: What device(s) should I use? Will it have easily-configurable logic to control each light in the two different ways (ether changing the state of both lights whenever either of two switches changes state, or by ignoring one switch and 'passing-through' the state of the other switch to the light)? Lastly, can this be done with just a single Shelly device to control both lights independently, or do I need two separate Shelly devices?

¹When I say 'standard' 3-way lighting circuit, I mean there are two 'carrier' wires between the two light switches, with one or the other being hot at any given time, depending on the state of the first switch, Then the state of the second switch determines which of those two 'carrier' wires is connected to the load.