Remotely control a wide range of home appliances and office equipment from anywhere. Retrofit your standard electrical wall boxes, power sockets, and light switches or other places with limited space.
Remotely control a wide range of home appliances and office equipment from anywhere. Retrofit your standard electrical wall boxes, power sockets, and light switches or other places with limited space.
Remotely control a wide range of home appliances and office equipment from anywhere. Retrofit your standard electrical wall boxes, power sockets, and light switches or other places with limited space.
Remotely control a wide range of home appliances and office equipment from anywhere. Retrofit your standard electrical wall boxes, power sockets, and light switches or other places with limited space.
Remotely control a wide range of home appliances and office equipment from anywhere. Retrofit your standard electrical wall boxes, power sockets, and light switches or other places with limited space.
When GreatScott! set out to upgrade a friend's home, the goal wasn't just to add smart features - it was to find a practical way to make the system smarter. Instead of starting from scratch, the project builds on what's already there, turning a standard electrical setup into a fully functional smart home.
Working with what’s already there
Most homes aren’t designed with smart automation in mind. Wiring is fixed, access is limited, and making changes often means time-consuming and disruptive work. In this case, the goal was to introduce smart control without rewiring, without adding complex infrastructure, and without turning the project into a full renovation.
A step-by-step retrofit
Each stage is completed independently, without interrupting the rest of the home. That’s the key advantage of a retrofit approach - it scales at the pace of the project.
Behind existing wall switches, Shelly 1 Mini Gen4 is used to bring lighting circuits under smart control, while Shelly 2PM Gen4 is wired into the motor lines to manage blinds with precise up/down operation.
Standard switches and buttons continue to work as expected, so everyday interaction remains familiar.
In the electrical panel, Shelly Pro devices are installed and connected via Ethernet, enabling centralized control across the home.
Shelly Pro 2 manages lighting circuits across multiple rooms, while Shelly Pro Dual Cover / Shutter PM is used to control all roller shutters. For ambient lighting, Shelly Pro RGBWW PM drives a 24V warm white LED strip, and Shelly Pro 3EM 120A provides real-time measurement of grid consumption and photovoltaic production.
Across the home, Shelly Wall Display units are installed in key rooms and used as thermostats, giving direct access to temperature and system control.
Shelly Wall Display XL acts as the central interface, displaying and interacting with the full Home Assistant setup.
Additional devices extend the system's capabilities.A Shelly Flood Gen4 is installed near the heating system to detect water overflow. At the same time, Shelly 1 Mini Gen4 devices are installed behind outlets to bring them under smart control.
Once installed, the system moves beyond manual interaction.
Lighting, blinds, and connected circuits can be automated to respond to schedules, conditions, or user-defined logic - reducing the need for manual input and making the home more responsive.
In the project, devices are added and configured through the Shelly Smart Control app, where everyday control and basic automation are set up.
At the same time, devices communicate locally, allowing the system to operate independently of external services. This is extended through integration with Home Assistant, where the system is brought together into a single interface with system-wide automation running within the home.
A smart home built on what’s already there
The final setup delivers full smart home functionality - from lighting and blinds to monitoring and control - built entirely on top of the existing electrical installation.
The system combines distributed and centralized control, and can continue to expand over time as new components are added - adapting to the needs of the home.
The system is designed to expand over time.
Additional components are planned, including motion sensors, a weather station, a water valve, and a power measurement system that will integrate with the home's solar installation - providing visibility into energy consumption and production.
Shelly offers worldwide shipping, making our products accessible globally.
Get 3 years warranty on Shelly Plus, Wave, Gen3 and Gen4 devices; 5 years on Shelly Pro and Wave Pro devices and
2 years on all the rest.
Shelly Europe holds ISO 14001:2015, ISO 27001:2022, and ISO 9001:2015 certificates.
Proudly designed and developed in the EU.
Access expert tips and detailed guides in our Shelly Knowledge Base—your ultimate resource for maximizing your smart home setup.
