I’ve got some built in bookcases being added to my lounge next month - more on that in another post. However, one has to think ahead, and since the back wall of the lounge is about to be covered over by a bookcase, I’ve got the electrician booked to add more sockets to the wall prior to that happening.

It’s also a good opportunity to stick an outside light on the front of the building, since the cable can come in through the wall and get hidden behind the bookcase. Some of the neighbours seem to be happy to have (interior-grade) cables stapled messily across the front of their homes, but not me.

This light is intended to sit above the number of my house, which is on the front wall, and light it up after dark. It doesn’t make sense to have it on a motion sensor as it’s there to let you see the house number from the road. A PIR is a possibility, but limits the range of lights you can buy (this is supposed to be decorative), and would mean it staying on all night until the sun came up - a bit wasteful.

The solution, then, is a “smart” relay - another Shelly, which my electrician is happy to wire up in the back box behind the fused connection unit feeding the light.

The web interface is a bit clunky but you can indeed set up “on at sunset and off at midnight”:

Sunset schedule on Shelly

Of course, you need to key in your actual latitude and longitude, or something reasonably close to the truth, to ensure it looks up the correct time each night for sunset.