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A bedside table with a white lamp and two books, the wall behind glowing sunrise orange beside an unmade bed.

Lights that fade up to wake you in the morning

How it works

The Shelly Dimmer Gen4 sits behind the bedroom light's wall plate and controls how bright it is, not just whether it's on. Schedules are stored on the dimmer, and each one sets a brightness and a transition duration as well as the time. So on weekday mornings the light can start at 06:30 and take 15 minutes to reach 80%, and you wake to a lit room rather than a dark one. Any dimmable lights work.

  1. Shelly app schedule list for Living room: every day at 20:30 to 30%, and Monday to Friday at 06:30 to 80%. 01

    Your phone

    Set the wake-up time once in the app. It runs every weekday.

  2. Dimmer Gen4 02

    The Shelly kit

    Brings the lights up slowly over the time you choose.

  3. 03

    Your bedroom

    Light before the alarm, not after it.

What it looks like on your phone

  • Weekday mornings. At 06:30, Monday to Friday, the light comes up to 80% over 15 minutes.

  • Each schedule has its own switch. Turn one off for the holidays and back on when the alarm comes back.

Step by step

How you'll set it up

Add the device to Wi-Fi from your phone, or straight from a browser.

Download Shelly Smart Control on the App Store Get Shelly Smart Control on Google Play

  1. Fit the dimmer behind the wall plate

    Mains goes to L and N. The light connects to O and neutral, and a push button goes to S1, so a press switches the light and holding it dims. Use dimmable lights only.

    Wire map Dimmer Gen4
    • Active (supply) L
    • Neutral N
    • Dimmable light O
    • Push button S1
    Circuit overview
    LN230 V~ 50 Hz1Dimmable light2Push buttonLLNOOS2S1Shelly Dimmer Gen4
    1Dimmable light2Push button
    Active (supply)Neutral / 0 VSwitched loadSwitch signal / dry contact

    In Australia, fixed 230 V wiring is licensed-electrician work. Use these diagrams to plan the job and brief your electrician.

    Showing the whole circuit

    Shelly Dimmer Gen4

    100%
    LN230 V~ 50 Hz1Dimmable light2Push buttonLLNOOS2S1Shelly Dimmer Gen4
    1Dimmable light2Push button

    Select a terminal to follow its wiring.

  2. Add it to the Shelly app and name it

    Add the dimmer in the Shelly app and name it for the room. The first time it switches on, it calibrates itself to your lights, which takes up to two minutes. The light stays on for 10 seconds when it's done.

    Learn how to add a device to the Shelly app

  3. Schedule it for weekday mornings

    Open the Schedule tab and tap Add schedule. With Simple selected, tick Monday to Friday under Choose Weekday and tap Next. Set 06:30 and tap Next. Tap Add local action and choose Control Light. Leave Light State on On, turn on Set Brightness property and slide it to 80%, then turn on Set transition duration property and enter 900, which is 15 minutes in seconds. Tap Save, then Next, then Save. In the web interface, click Create schedule under Schedules, enter 06:30 in Time and select Monday to Friday. Click Add action to execute, choose Control Light, slide the brightness to 80, enter 900 as the transition duration and click Save.

  4. Check the schedule

    Schedule now lists 80% at 06:30, Monday to Friday. If you've also set up the evening fade from our evening lights guide, it sits above it, as here. In the web interface, it's under Schedules.

  5. Add it to your home app over Matter

    Matter is built in, so scan the QR code on the device label with Apple Home, Google Home or SmartThings.

Frequently asked questions

Should I use Shelly or Philips Hue?

Use Shelly if you're happy with the dimmable lights you have: the dimmer fits behind the existing wall plate and the button keeps working as normal. Use Philips Hue if you'd rather swap the bulbs and have the light start warm, like dawn, as it comes up. Hue bulbs need a Hue Bridge. Both work in Home Assistant as well, if you'd rather run the morning there.

How long can the fade take?

Anywhere from half a second to 10800 seconds, which is three hours. Enter it in seconds: 900 is 15 minutes and 1800 is 30. To have the light fully up by your alarm, start the schedule that long before it.

Can I skip it on holidays?

Yes. Each schedule has a switch in the Schedule list. Turn the morning off and it stays off until you turn it back on.

Will my lights work with it?

They need to be dimmable. The Dimmer Gen4 is a trailing-edge dimmer and handles up to 150 W of dimmable LED lamps, or up to 200 W of incandescent or halogen lamps, dimmable electronic transformers or iron-core transformers. If you change the lights later, run the calibration again with Calibrate on the dimmer's main screen in the app.

Does the wall button still work?

Yes. A press switches the light on or off, and holding it dims up or down. If you're up before the schedule, switch the light on as normal.

Do I need a neutral wire?

Not strictly: the Dimmer Gen4 works without one, but then it needs at least 20 W of lights or a Shelly Bypass, and it can't show power readings. Where a neutral is available, use it.

What happens if the internet drops out?

The schedule is stored on the dimmer and it works on your local Wi-Fi, so it doesn't rely on Shelly's cloud to run. Control from outside the house does.

Do I need a Hue Bridge?

For this setup, yes: the kit includes one. The Bridge supports up to 50 lights and 12 accessories, and the Bridge Pro supports 150 or more lights and 50 or more accessories.

Will any Hue bulb work?

Use White ambiance or White and colour ambiance bulbs. The Sunrise style changes the shade of light as it fades up, and a plain Hue White bulb has only one shade.

Does the Sunrise style look the same on every light?

It's designed for gradient lights, which add an extra effect at the start. Ordinary bulbs can't show that part, so they start changing a little later in the fade.

Can I choose how bright it gets?

Yes. A Wake up automation lets you set how bright the lights are when it finishes.

Can it start when my alarm is set on a Google speaker?

Yes, with a Google Nest speaker or display. Say "Hey Google, turn on gentle wake up". From then on, when you set a morning alarm with the Google Assistant, the Hue Wake up starts 30 minutes before it. It doesn't work with an alarm set on your phone.

What if someone switches the light off at the wall?

The bulbs need power to wake you, so leave the wall switch on. Use the app, a voice assistant or a Hue switch to turn the lights on and off instead.

Can Home Assistant fade the light that slowly?

Yes. The transition in the light action is in seconds, and the dimmer does the fade itself, so 900 seconds gives a smooth 15 minutes.

What happens if Home Assistant is offline?

The automation won't run, but the wall button still works. If you'd rather the schedule ran on the dimmer itself, set it in the Shelly app instead.

Why go through the Hue Bridge?

The lights stay in the Hue app, with Hue's own Wake up automation and scenes, and show up in Home Assistant as well, with no Zigbee adapter to add. Pairing straight to Home Assistant's Zigbee skips the Bridge, but the lights are then only in Home Assistant.

What do I give up without a Hue Bridge?

The Hue app. Paired straight to Home Assistant, the bulbs only run from there, so Hue's own Wake up automation and its Sunrise style aren't available. Home Assistant's automation does the fade instead.

Do I need a Zigbee adapter?

Yes. Home Assistant talks to Zigbee devices through a coordinator plugged into the machine it runs on. If you already run Zigbee in Home Assistant, the adapter you have will do.

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