What are Shelly "scenes"?
Shelly makes it easy (and affordable) to automate your home using various Shelly Wi-Fi smart devices, remotes and sensors. But how do we gain true smart automation – where things happen automatically, without needing to touch your phone or even say a voice command? Easy, by creating automated scenes. But what exactly are scenes?
In essence, scenes are automated actions that are activated by predefined triggers and conditions. Let me give you some examples…
- Creating a triggered scene that controls a single or multiple Shelly connected lights or devices with a simple press of a button.
- Creating a conditionally triggered scene that turns on a light when motion is detected... but only if the light level in the room is below a certain threshold.
- Creating a time triggered scene that turns on your garden lights at a particular time of evening.
- Creating an energy monitoring triggered scene that turns on your electric hot water heater if your solar is producing energy.
As you can see, scenes can help unlock the true potential of a smart home – making it an automated home (hence the name I guess… home automation). So now the big question… how do you create Shelly scenes? Glad you asked, let’s jump right in…
Installing the correct Shelly app
We will focus on using the Shelly Smart Control app – although this newer app is still in “beta” phase at the time of writing this blog, it will become the main Shelly app shortly (the older Shelly Cloud app will be discontinued).
Preparing to create a scene
There are some initial steps for creating a scene in the Shelly app – let’s run through these first as they are required for any of the scenes created further down below…
1. Open the Shelly app.
2. Select the “Home” icon.
3. Select “All Scenes”.
4. Select the “+” icon to create a new scene.
5. Give your scene a name.
6. Select a default image for your scene or upload your own – then select “Next”.
7. Select a room to store your scene and then “Next”.
8. Select “Add condition”.
9. We are now ready to format our scene.
Now that we have laid the foundation for creating our scene, let’s keep going…
Creating a triggered scene
For our first Shelly scene, we are going to toggle a light on or off when a remote button is pressed. For this, we will use the Shelly Button (our “trigger device”) and the Shelly 1 Plus (our “action device”) which is connected to lighting.
Following on from “Preparing to create a scene” above…
1. Select “Device based” (selected by default).
2. Choose the “Room” and then the “Device” (e.g Shelly Button) from the dropdown lists.
3. Select your desired “Device property” (in this case, “button push”).
4. Select a “trigger” – in this case… “When the button is short pushed”. Now select “Save”.
5. Select “Next”.
6. Now add an “action” by selecting “Add action”.
7. Choose the “Room” and then the “Device” from the dropdown lists that you want to control.
8. Select an “action” – in this case… “toggle the state of the Shelly device”. Now select “Save”.
9. Select “Next”.
10. Set a schedule for when the scene is active (optional) – Select “Next”.
11. Select “Save”.
12. Done. Now when you press the Shelly Button, the light connect to Shelly 1 Plus will turn on/off.
Keep in mind, there is nothing stopping you adding additional “actions” in the scene above. As an example, as well as turning on a light – you may also wish to close all the blinds (each connected to the Shelly 2PM), turn off the porch light (connected to Shelly 1PM Plus) and make sure the garage door is closed (connected to the Shelly UNI) – all with just one button press. At step 9, simply select “Add action” (instead of “Next”) and repeat steps 6 – 8 to add more actions.
Creating a conditionally triggered scene
For this Shelly scene, we are going to get a little more advanced by adding a “trigger” and a “condition” that needs to be true before the scene is activated. Let’s have a Shelly Motion Sensor (“trigger”), turn on a light (“action”) connected to the Shelly Dimmer 2 when motion is detected (“motion parameter”) – but only if the light level (lux parameter) in the room is below a predefined level (“condition”). This way, the light will not turn on during the day when motion is detected – however it will turn on when it is dark (during the evening/night).
Following on from “Preparing to create a scene” above…
1. Select “Device based” (selected by default).
2. Choose the “Room” and then the “Device” from the dropdown lists.
3. Select your desired “Device property” (in this case, “motion”).
4. Select a “trigger” – in this case… “When Shelly sensor detects motion”. Now select “Save”.
5. Select “Add condition”.
6. Choose the “Room” and then the “Device” from the dropdown lists.
7. Select your desired “Device property” (in this case, “luminosity”).
8. Select a “trigger” – in this case… “When it is twilight”. Now select “Save”.
9. Select “Next”.
10. Now add an “action” by selecting “Add action”.
11. Choose the “Room” and then the “Device” from the dropdown lists that you want to control.
12. Select an “action” – in this case… “turn on Shelly device”. Now select “Save”.
13. Select “Next”.
14. Set a schedule for when the scene is active (optional) – Select “Next”.
15. Select “Save” and you are done.
Creating a time triggered scene
This is a an easy one. Let’s say we want to turn on the garden lights at 6pm every night. All we need for this scenario are the garden lights connected to the Shelly 1 Plus (or similar Shelly on/off relay device) – and the Shelly app of course.
Following on from “Preparing to create a scene” above…
1. Select “Time based”.
2. Choose your Time Based trigger – in this case, “daily / weekly schedule”.
3. Select your desired “Days” and “Time”. Now select “Save”.
4. Select “Next”.
5. Now add an “action” by selecting “Add action”.
6. Choose the “Room” and then the “Device” from the dropdown lists that you want to control.
7. Select an “action” – in this case… “turn on Shelly device”. Now select “Save”.
8. Select “Next”.
9. Select “Next” again.
10. Select “Save”.
11. You are done 🙂
You could also create another scene that turns the garden lights off at 11pm (or whatever time you like). Simply repeat the steps above, but select “turn off Shelly device” in step 7.
Creating an energy monitoring triggered scene
It has never been more important than ever to control your energy usage – regardless if you are a “believer” or not! Either way, energy is just so damn expensive now! In this Shelly scene, let’s turn off the hot water heater connected to a Shelly 1PM Pro if your solar is not producing enough power (which is being monitored by the Shelly EM).
Following on from “Preparing to create a scene” above…
1. Select “Device based” (selected by default).
2. Choose the “Room” and then the Shelly energy monitoring “Device” from the dropdown lists.
3. Select your desired “Device property” (in this case, “power consumption chan. 1”).
4. Select a “trigger” wattage – in this case… “When power meter is more than 200W”. Now select “Save”.
5. Select “Next”.
6. Now add an “action” by selecting “Add action”.
7. Choose the “Room” and then the “Device” from the dropdown lists that you want to control.
8. Select an “action” – in this case… “turn on Shelly device”. Now select “Save”.
9. Select “Next”.
10. Set a schedule for when the scene is active (optional) – Select “Next”.
11. Select “Save”.
12. Done.
Now when your solar is producing more than 200W, your hot water heater will turn on. You can also create another scene to turn off the hot water heater if the solar output is less than 200W. You could easily adapt this scene to turn on your pool pump / heater when solar is producing – or any other energy hungry appliance.
