Transform Your Utility Room Lighting with Shelly: A Simple Smart Scene Setup

Transform Your Utility Room Lighting with Shelly: A Simple Smart Scene Setup

Dealing with inconveniently placed light switches is a common frustration in many homes. Whether it’s a poorly planned layout or a door that swings the wrong way, reaching for a switch in the dark or having to back out of a room is just a nuisance. In this article and video I chat about how I've used Shelly smart devices to completely automate a utility room light, turning a manual hassle into a hands-free experience. This guide breaks down the automation process, the key components, and how you can replicate this Shelly smart scene for a simplified, more efficient smart home.

The Inconvenient Switch Problem: A Smart Solution

The specific issue addressed in the video is a utility room light switch located on the wrong side of the door, making entry awkward. The conventional fixes—like hiring an electrician to move the switch or adjusting the door’s hinge—are costly, time-consuming, and involve significant disruption ("a lot of faff").

Instead of physical remodelling, the Smart Home Tested approach leverages powerful, affordable home automation components from Shelly to make the existing switch function intelligently. The goal is to bypass the manual switch entirely, using motion detection to trigger the light while keeping the original light fitting and standard bulb.

Shelly 1 PM Mini Gen4 8A In Wall relay

Key Components for Shelly Automation

This effective automation relies on just two main Shelly devices, both compact and easy to integrate:

1. Shelly 1PM Mini Gen 4 (Smart Switch): This small, in-wall unit is the core of the system. It acts as an 8-amp smart switch and includes useful power measurement capabilities. Critically for smart home integration, it supports multiple communication protocols, including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Zigbee, and Matter. By installing this module behind the existing utility room switch, the standard switch is instantly converted into a "smart" switch that can be controlled digitally via the Shelly app.

2. Shelly Motion Sensor: This is the trigger for the automation. Affixed to a convenient location (like the side of a washing machine), the Shelly Motion sensor detects movement upon entering the utility room. It is battery-powered, requires no wires, and communicates its detection status to the central app, initiating the automation sequence.

Shelly Motion Sensor

Setting Up the Hands-Free Smart Scene

The brilliance of this setup lies in the Shelly Scene configuration, which connects the input (motion) to the output (light control) entirely within the app. A "Scene" is an automation rule that performs an action when a specific condition is met.

Two scenes are necessary for a complete, hands-free experience:

1. Motion ON Scene: This scene dictates the activation. The condition is simple: when the Shelly Motion sensor detects movement, the action is to turn on the power to the circuit controlled by the Shelly 1PM Mini (the utility light). This instantly illuminates the room as soon as you step in.

2. No Motion OFF Scene: To ensure the light doesn't stay on indefinitely, a second scene handles the deactivation. The condition here is when the motion sensor registers no motion for a predetermined amount of time. The resulting action is to turn off the utility light. This saves energy and ensures that the automation is truly seamless, automatically turning the light off shortly after the room is empty.

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Conclusion: Smart Life Simplified – Watch the Full Video

This Shelly scene setup provides a clear example of how thoughtful home automation can solve physical home design flaws without the need for complex, costly renovations. By using the Shelly 1PM Mini to upgrade a standard switch and the Shelly Motion sensor as a trigger, the user created a perfectly automated utility room light.

While this setup works perfectly as a standalone automation using just the Shelly app, both devices are highly versatile. Shelly devices also integrate with platforms like Home Assistant, offering a path to further expand and unify the smart ecosystem in the future.

If you want to see exactly how these devices are installed, how the scenes are configured step-by-step within the Shelly app, and watch the seamless automation in action, be sure to watch the full video! For anyone looking for simple, robust, and effective smart light solutions, the Shelly 1PM Mini and Motion Sensor combo is a highly recommended upgrade, delivering on the promise of a simplified smart life.

You can watch the full demonstration and setup here