Smart Garage 2.0: Garage Door, Lighting & Automations with Shelly Blue

Thu, 05 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0100

About a year ago I had a deceptively simple idea for a video: just show how I made my garage door smart with a Shelly. No big concept, no elaborate production — it was roughly my third video on this channel. I sat at the editing table that evening, thought “well, somebody will find it interesting” and clicked publish.

I had absolutely no idea what would come of it.

The video that changed everything

50 videos later, this garage door video is by far the most watched on the entire channel. Way ahead of everything I’ve produced since with considerably more effort. And what surprises me even more than the total numbers: it keeps attracting new viewers to this day. Not as a brief spike after upload, but continuously, week after week, year after year. People who want to automate their garage door, who are searching for a solution with Home Assistant, who just want to see what’s possible with a Shelly — they land there. Many stay.

I’ll admit: that left me speechless for a while. A spontaneous hobby video beats everything else. What does that say about YouTube? No idea. But it tells me something about you — and about the fact that this topic is clearly on a lot of people’s minds.

The moment that triggered this video

One winter not long ago, I was standing in the garage in the morning. I unplug the charging cable from the wallbox — and I’m standing in the dark. I’d forgotten the light. The garage door to the driveway was still closed. I feel my way to the switch, squeeze past the car, and think to myself: that’s ridiculous. I have a smart home. Why isn’t the garage smart?

A dumb question with a long answer — that I wanted to film.

Since then, I’ve gradually rebuilt everything. The light now turns on automatically as soon as I open the door or the garage door moves — controlled via Shelly BLU motion sensors and a Shelly Mini Gen3 that replaces the old impulse relay. And yes, the door now opens by itself when I unplug the charging cable in the morning. The logic runs directly on the devices, locally and independent of the cloud — even when my Home Assistant is applying an update and briefly unreachable.

It wasn’t always easy. Getting several Shelly BLU sensors bound locally to one actuator at the same time cost me a few evenings. But the result is a garage where I just drive in in the morning — and everything happens as if by magic.

What’s in the video

If you’re currently thinking about upgrading your smart garage — or finally want to tackle the garage door topic — you’ll find my complete current setup in the video. From the Shelly Blue Door Window Sensor for garage door state detection to garage lighting with motion sensors, the wallbox automation, and control via CarPlay and Android Auto. Everything from real-world use, nothing staged for the video.

Zum Aktivieren des Videos musst Du auf das Bild klicken. Ich möchte Dich darauf hinweisen, dass durch die Aktivierung Daten an YouTube übermittelt werden.

If the video helps you — or if you have your own experience with your garage in Home Assistant — feel free to write it in the comments. Not just because I’m genuinely curious, but because exactly these interactions help YouTube show the video to more people who are looking for exactly what you just found.

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Smart Garage 2.0: Garage Door, Lighting & Automations with Shelly Blue

The video that changed everything

The moment that triggered this video

What’s in the video

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