Shelly Group SE is a technology holding company specializing in IoT and smart building solutions. They were founded in 2010 and are headquartered in Sofia, Bulgaria. Shelly Group designs, produces, and distributes home automation devices, with a focus on energy efficiency and user-friendly solutions. These include smart relays, energy meters, lighting controls, and sensors. The company operates in over 100 markets and has a global presence, with offices in Europe, the USA, and China. Shelly USA, a subsidiary of Shelly Group SE, delivers innovative, affordable smart home solutions tailored to the U.S. market.
Shelly’s smart relays are unique problem solvers. I’ve personally used them in a number of projects including in a controller for linear actuators that I use to motorize windows (you can an article I wrote on that project here). Another example is when I wanted to make sure that the light in a storage closet was never left on. In this case the electrician who wired the house only ran switched, hot wires to the wall switch. So, I used the relay portion of a Shelly 1 smart relay to control the closet light and tied the wall switch to the switch input of the Shelly 1. I then configured the Shelly 1 so that when the light switch was operated it would turn on the light and start a timer. After 5 minutes the light would turn off. These are just 2 examples of how Shelly smart relays can be used to solve unique problems in a smart home.
Shelly’s products have primarily been Wi-Fi devices. These devices all required that custom driver software be written for each smart home platform that users wanted to integrate them with. Shelly has worked with their own development organization and third-party software developers to write software integration drivers for a wide range of platforms, including Amazon Alexa, Control4, Crestron, Google Home, Apple HomeKit, URC, and many others.
However, it requires a great deal of developer resources to write and maintain all of these drivers.
Shelly Gen 4 and Wave Relays
Shelly’s latest generation of products, the Gen 4 and Wave lines, alleviate this problem. Shelly’s Wave line of products is compatible with the Z-Wave wireless communications protocol. This allows them to seamlessly work with Home Assistant, Hubitat, and other smart home hubs that include a Z-Wave radio or allow you to optionally add one to the platform.
Z-Wave is a wireless communication protocol where the Z-Wave devices form a mesh for communications. Each Z-Wave device acts as a transmitter, receiver, and repeater of messages. This mesh makes for an incredibly reliable communications system.
The Shelly Gen 4 line of products, which Shelly has just announced are shipping, are multi-protocol devices that can communicate over Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Zigbee, and Matter. This makes them incredibly flexible. Compatibility with the Matter smart home standard provides seamless connectivity with Apple Home, Amazon Alexa, Google, Home, Samsung SmartThings, Home Assistant, Hubitat, and other smart home ecosystems that support Matter. All this without the need for custom driver software.
All of Shelly’s Z-Wave products incorporate the latest generation Z-Wave 800 Series chipset. In addition, almost all of the products also support the Z-Wave LR (long-range) standard. The LR standard provides for communications of up to a mile, or more. This makes Shelly Wave products ideal for use in outbuildings, motorized gates, etc.
Products in the Shelly Wave Pro line are:
Products in the Shelly Wave line are:
- Shelly 1 PM Gen4 – A 16A smart relay with integrated power measurement for lighting, outlets, 120v appliances and more.
- Shelly 1 Gen4 – A 16A dry contact smart relay for low-voltage, high-voltage and contactor control applications.
- Shelly 1 PM Mini Gen4 – The world’s smallest smart relay. Supports 8A and power measurement for and small appliances.
- Shelly 1 Mini Gen4 – The world’s smallest dry contact smart relay. Supports 8A to for small appliances and contactors.
Shelly products cater to all users. This includes beginners, advanced enthusiasts, and professional integrators. Shelly’s products deliver a robust suite of features including scheduling, scene creation, automation, scripting, and power monitoring. They are also built with a privacy-first approach, including local control for enhanced data security and a GDPR-compliant mobile app and cloud environment.
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