Hi there, so my parents just finished buildinh a new home and I wanted to make to add HA to automate the lights and then a few more things but the thing is I don’t know wich hardware to chose, I was thinking about using Shelly but I’m not sure it would work with my requirements so I would like if you could give me any suggestions.
The main requirement that I need is to keep the wall switches functional as they are now but of course beeing able to control them with HA but here is where thing get tricky, the lights that they have are those celling spots and each switch controls multiple spots of those and at the same time there are multiple swithces controlling the same lights.
Thanks in advance
One way would be to separate the wall switches from the lights and then let HA take control.
You do by getting wall switches that communication wireless with HA and then let the light be triggered by switches, like shelly, sonoff or some other brand.
Since you are probably not around all the time at your parents place, then I suggest you get switches that are mains powered, so you avoid chaos when a battery in a wall switch die.
Take a look at z-wave or zigbee. if you have 3 or 4 way switches the wiring is as simple as it can get. There are GE enbrighten, aoetec and others. You will need a usb stick and I recommend an extension cable to stop electrical interference.
Ok so Id be installing a shelly in each switch and the those shellys talk to HA right? but then how do i make HA know that 2 or more shelly control the same thing? (might be a stupid question but I have nerver used HA before)
Are you talking about buying new wall switches? because that is something my parents don’t want 
I was actually talking about buying new wall switches just to avoid having to figure out a smart switch for a set of corrosponding switches.
I do not how they are connected in your place/country, but here we have 3 different ways of doing it and the switch need to support the way it is implemented if they should still work with HA offline.
Installing anything smart after the switch renders what your parents want useless. Always plan for the worst thing to happen, since it will happen… Control at the switch is the easiest and most compatible way to handle this. Since Shelly was mentioned, installing them behind the current light switches would be the best way moving forward.
If you looking for more of a plug in play setup just get a bulb that has some wireless connectivity and smarts. You will loose any abilty to automate it since the switch still controls power, but a decent smart bulb will restore last state so it could function as a normal bulb.
Rubbish, put a shelly behind the physical switch. The physical switch and the shelly will botu work.
Just a reminder that shelly will not work with some 3 way switches. Line and load need to be in the same box or it needs to be line to the light (US).
As long as the wiring is correct, shelly works with any n-way switches. I have shellies connected to 4-way switches (5-way for those in the US)
Not saying that they don’t. Referring to N way switches as a system including the wiring. Sorry I was not more specific.
Somewhat related question - Could you help elaborate a bit on how this is done?
I mean, this entire 4-way setup would only require one Shelly, yes? Is it stationed closer to the line or to the load? Maybe a wiring diagram would help?
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