wet citrus
I have been thinking about how I can wire up a desk lamp for remote control while still preserving a physical switch for normal use. I haven't seen many good solutions for this. Obviously smart bulbs won't have power when switched off physically, a wall smart plug will turn off all power etc.
The best off-the-shelf thing I have seen is the Shelly Button. An inline lamp switch which is an enclosure for a shelly relay. It's currently discontinued in the UK and is also kind of huge. I am using shelly mini devices for some integrated lighting and generally like them as a solution for having remote and physical controls.
So here is the idea: Assuming you have space to stash a shelly relay in the base of a lamp you can actually wire an inline switch with a four core cable between the switch and lamp such a manner that it isn't actually an inline switch, but still looks like one. Live and neutral just pass straight through the switch enclose, and the other two wires loop down to the switch. This is the normal wiring setup for a shelly relay, but appears as if it is a lamp with an inline switch. I have yet to integrate this into a lamp, but have the basic wiring setup working. The process is a bit fiddly and requires an inline switch with enough space for four cables to pass through it. I can provide a full write up this i interesting to others. Is anyone already doing something like this?
