Device settings

Common settings

These come up on nearly every Shelly device, whether it's a relay, a dimmer or a cover controller - power-on behaviour, protection, network, cloud and schedules.

These settings aren't tied to one device type - they show up again and again, whether the device drives a relay, a dimmer, or a cover. The fields below come from Shelly's official Gen2+ RPC documentation (shelly-api-docs.shelly.cloud); exactly which ones you see depends on device type and web interface/app version.

What the output does after a power cut

initial_state controls what the device does the moment power returns after an outage:

Covers and dimmers have their own variants of the same idea - see Cover settings and Dimmer settings.

Input mode

in_mode decides how a physical input (switch, push-button) controls the output:

Some devices have additional modes (for example cycle or activate) - which ones exist depends on the model.

Timers: auto-on and auto-off

auto_on/auto_on_delay and auto_off/auto_off_delay automatically flip the output after a number of seconds. A common example is a staircase light: turn it on via a scene or a press, and let auto_off_delay turn it off again after a while, without a scene or script having to watch the clock.

Protection: power, voltage, current

Devices that measure power can protect themselves by switching off at a threshold:

• power_limit - switches off on too much power (watts)
• voltage_limit / undervoltage_limit - switches off on too high or too low voltage
• current_limit - switches off on too much current
• autorecover_voltage_errors - whether the device should restore the output on its own once voltage is back within limits

Tripping a protection is logged, and the output doesn't return to "on" by itself unless autorecover_voltage_errors is set (and that only applies to voltage faults, not power/current).

Eco mode

eco_mode (part of the device's system settings, Sys.SetConfig) lowers the CPU speed and puts the Wi-Fi radio into a lower-power state when possible. It reduces power draw somewhat, but can make the device slower to respond.

LED indicator and night mode

Most devices have a status LED, and many - especially plugs - have a "night mode" that dims or turns it off during a time window you set, so it doesn't light up a bedroom. Typically you set a start time, an end time and a brightness. See Plug settings for concrete field names on plugs.

Cloud connection

Cloud.enable turns the device's connection to Shelly's cloud on or off, per device. Local control and status still work with the cloud switched off - see The device web interface for what keeps working and what doesn't. Alexa, Google Home and similar cloud integrations require this to be on - see Integrations.

Network and failover

Gen2+ devices can have two Wi-Fi networks configured at the same time - a primary and a fallback - plus their own access point:

• The primary and fallback networks each have their own ssid/pass, and each can be dhcp or static IP.
• roam controls when the device switches to a stronger network: a signal-strength threshold (rssi_thr, default −80 dBm) and a check interval (interval, default 60 seconds).
• The device's own access point (ap) can be left on as a fallback entry point, or turned off.

That makes it possible to have a primary router and a mesh node or guest router as a fallback, without the device going offline if one network disappears.

Ethernet (Pro range)

DIN-rail Pro devices can have a wired network connection instead of, or alongside, Wi-Fi. It supports both client mode (dhcp or static IP against your network) and a server mode where the device hands out addresses to other devices on the same segment itself. Ethernet setting changes require a device restart to take effect.

MQTT

Gen2+ has built-in MQTT support: an address for your own broker, a client ID, username/password, and TLS either off, on without certificate validation, or on with a specified CA certificate. You can choose whether the device's status updates and events get published over MQTT (rpc_ntf, status_ntf), and whether the device can be controlled over MQTT (enable_control). See Integrations for the full picture, including how this differs from Gen1's MQTT.

Schedules

Beyond the simple on/off schedules in the app, Gen2+ has a full cron-based scheduling system in the web interface: up to 20 schedule jobs per device, each with up to 5 calls, driven by a cron expression that also supports sunrise/sunset as triggers.

BTHome and BLE gateway

Gen2+ devices with Bluetooth can listen for BTHome broadcasts from battery-powered sensors - including Shelly's own BLU devices - and act as a gateway for them in the app. The Bluetooth radio (BLE) itself is enabled separately, and the RPC service over Bluetooth can be switched on independently. See BLU settings for how the sensors themselves are configured.

Matter

Devices that support Matter have their own on/off setting for the Matter server. Once it's on, and the device is ready to be paired (commissionable), it generates a QR code and a manual pairing code for use in Apple Home, Google Home or your Matter hub. A factory reset of the Matter side unpairs the device from every fabric it's joined, without touching the rest of the device's configuration.

Zigbee mode

Some Gen4 devices can be run in Zigbee mode instead. It's a single on/off setting, but the consequence is significant: a device in Zigbee mode is no longer controlled from Shelly Smart Control - see The Zigbee trap in Which generation do you have? and Integrations for what that means in practice. Switching modes requires a device restart.

Web password, reset and restart

The web interface (and the RPC interface) can be protected with a username and password - for security it isn't stored in plain text on the device, only as a hash. Once a password is set, it's required just to open the web interface at all. Factory reset and restart are separate controls, usually under the device's security or maintenance settings - a factory reset wipes everything, including network settings, so the device has to be added again afterwards.