If you're a user of a Shelly Pro 4PM (or you're thinking of adding it to your home-automation arsenal), you'll know it's a high-performance device designed for electrical panels and significant loads. Beyond the app on your phone, the true power and granular configuration of this device reside in its web interface.
Simply by typing its IP address into your browser (for example,
http://192.168.1.70), you'll access its command center. Here you'll
tell your Shelly Pro 4PM exactly how its
four relays behave and how they handle external inputs,
plus key safety and monitoring settings!
Let's look at the most important settings, the ones that will give you super flexible and safe control:
1. The Button You Connect (Input Mode): What type of press does it detect?
This section is essential for telling your Shelly Pro 4PM how to
interpret the signals from the physical switches or buttons you have
connected to its input terminals (SW1,
SW2, SW3, SW4).
-
Switch (Toggle Switch):
- Description: Ideal for conventional wall switches that have two stable positions: on or off.
- Behavior: The Shelly will read that fixed position.
- When to use it? To control lights, fans or any load that should stay in a constant state according to the physical switch's position.
-
Button (Momentary Push-Button):
- Description: Perfect for push-buttons that return to their original position when released (like a doorbell).
- Behavior: The Shelly will detect a "press" (a momentary event) each time the button is briefly pressed.
- Ideal for triggering complex automations, such as those for your sliding door, without complicating things with power wiring!
2. What the Relays Do (Output Type): How do the outputs react?
Here lies the real control power of the Shelly Pro 4PM, defining the behavior of each of its four individual relays. This is crucial for functions like your motorized sliding door, where you need precise pulses.
-
Toggle (Fixed On/Off):
- Description: It's the standard behavior of a relay.
- Behavior: On receiving a "turn on" command, the relay turns on and stays on. On receiving a "turn off" command, it turns off and stays off.
- When to use it? For general lighting, sockets, or any appliance you want to turn on or off continuously.
-
Momentary (Short Pulse):
- Description: Here's the pulse trick! It lets the Shelly Pro 4PM act as a momentary push-button on its output.
- Behavior: When you activate this output, the relay turns on for just an instant (you tell it how long in the "Timers" section with the "Auto OFF" function) and turns off automatically.
- Essential for the inputs of your garage-door/gate controller, electric locks, irrigation systems or any device that needs a quick "tap" to activate!
-
Edge:
- Description: A less common mode for direct output control.
- Behavior: The relay changes its state (from ON to OFF or vice versa) each time the connected physical input detects a state change.
- When to use it? For very specific applications where you need the output to toggle its state with each detection of a transition on the input.
-
Detached (Decoupled Input):
- Description: Free your physical switches! It completely decouples the physical inputs from the relay outputs of the Shelly Pro 4PM itself.
- Behavior: The push-buttons or switches physically connected to the Shelly Pro 4PM will still report their state or events to the Shelly app and to Home Assistant, but they won't directly control the device's internal relays.
- When to use it? Perfect for using physical switches to trigger complex automations in Home Assistant (like turning on several lights, activating a scene or controlling a different device) without the Shelly Pro 4PM's relays being affected locally.
-
Activation (Motion-Sensor Activation):
- Description: A specific mode for scenarios involving presence detection.
- Behavior: When an input (e.g. from a motion sensor) activates, the relay turns on. If the relay has an "Auto Off" timer, this mode ensures the timer restarts while the input remains active or is reactivated within the time.
- When to use it? For lights that stay on while there's presence, or extractor fans that run while a sensor is active.
3. What It Remembers on Power On (Action on Power On): How does it act after an outage?
This setting is vital for safety and convenience, since it defines the behavior of each relay if the Shelly Pro 4PM restarts or loses and regains power.
- Turn ON: The relay will turn on automatically when the Shelly regains power.
- Turn OFF: The relay will turn off automatically when the Shelly regains power.
- Restore last known state: The Shelly will try to remember what state the relay was in before the power cut and restore it. This is the preferred option for most lights and appliances to avoid surprises!
-
Current state of the switch: The relay's
state will match the physical position of the connected switch
(
SWx) at the moment the Shelly Pro 4PM powers on.
4. Output Protections: Looking After Your Devices
This is a key section for the safety and longevity of your connected appliances. It lets you define limits so the Shelly cuts the power if it detects a problem:
- Overpower in watts: Set the maximum power (in watts) the Shelly allows to pass through a channel. If the load exceeds this value, the Shelly will cut the current to protect both the device and the load. Very useful for motors or heaters!
- Overcurrent in amperes: Defines the maximum current (in amperes) that can pass. If exceeded, the relay disconnects to prevent overloads.
- Overvoltage in volts: If the input voltage exceeds this limit, the Shelly will disconnect the relay to protect your appliances from dangerous voltage spikes.
- Undervoltage in volts: If the input voltage drops below this value, the Shelly will disconnect the relay. Useful for protecting motors or equipment sensitive to voltage drops.
- Enable auto recovery: If a relay switches off due to overvoltage or undervoltage, enabling this option means the Shelly will try to turn it back on automatically if the abnormal condition disappears and the relay was previously on.
5. Consumption Type: For Your Home-Automation System
This option is specific to how the Shelly reports the consumption type to third-party systems (like Home Assistant).
- Description: Lets you specify how you categorize the connected load (e.g. "light", "motor", "heater").
- Importance: Note! This setting doesn't affect the official Shelly app. Its main use is for your external home-automation system (like Home Assistant) to correctly classify and display the consumption.
- Recommendation: Check your home-automation system's documentation to know which values are most appropriate to enter here and how it will interpret them.
6. Reverse Power Measurement: If You Measure Backwards
In some very specific cases, due to the installation or the type of load, the direction of the active-power and energy measurement can appear reversed (e.g. consuming energy when it should be delivering).
- Enable: If you enable this option, the Shelly will reverse the measurement direction.
- When to use it? Only if you notice the power and energy readings aren't logical for your circuit.
7. Lock Inputs: Freeze the Physical Controls
This is a very useful safety and control feature.
- Enable: When this option is enabled, the Shelly ignores any press or change on its physical inputs (SW1 to SW4), regardless of the mode they're configured in.
-
When to use it? Ideal for:
- Cleaning: Avoiding accidental on/off while cleaning a switch.
- Children: Preventing small children from activating certain circuits.
- Maintenance: Making sure lights or appliances don't turn on while you're working on them.
- Vacation Mode: Disabling manual controls when no one is home.
- Important: You'll only be able to control the Shelly through the app, the web interface or Home Assistant (if you haven't decoupled the input with "Detached").
8. Reset Counters: Set Your Statistics to Zero
If you're monitoring energy consumption with your Shelly Pro 4PM (something it does wonderfully), this section lets you start over.
- Reset counters: When you press this button, all the energy-consumption data (watt-hours, amp-hours) for the Shelly's channels will be reset to zero.
- When to use it? To start a new monitoring cycle (e.g. at the start of a month or year), or after changing a significant load.
In summary: Your Shelly Pro 4PM's web interface gives you extremely detailed and professional control over its four relays and their inputs, plus powerful safety, monitoring and management functions. Mastering these settings will let you seamlessly integrate complex loads like door motors, pumps or multiple lighting circuits, and make your home-automation system work exactly as you want, locally and safely.
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