I’ve been diving into the world of smart lighting with Home Assistant, and it’s been an absolute joy! 
My journey started with a simple goal: to control my LED lights wirelessly, and I must say, the possibilities are endless. I have four independent LED strands in my kitchen—two white and two blue—each on opposite sides. The challenge was to control them independently, including on/off and dimming functions, without a messy wiring setup.
After some research, I stumbled upon the Shelly RGBW2, which seemed like the perfect solution. It allows me to toggle the lights on or off and adjust the brightness using an IKEA remote. However, I ran into an issue where adjusting the brightness affected the RGB values instead of just the white light. After some digging, I discovered that the white attribute in Home Assistant wasn’t being recognized correctly.
To fix this, I decided to use MQTT instead of relying solely on the Shelly integration. This approach gave me more control and allowed me to set the white brightness without altering the RGB values. It was a bit of a learning curve, but the satisfaction of seeing everything work seamlessly was worth it!
Here’s a quick tip for anyone looking to achieve similar results:
- Use MQTT to send specific commands to your Shelly devices.
- Ensure your remote is configured to send the correct MQTT topics for on/off and brightness adjustments.
- Test each function individually to avoid unexpected behavior.
I’m now exploring more advanced setups, like scheduling the lights to dim gradually in the evenings or syncing them with my music. The community here has been incredibly helpful, and I can’t recommend reaching out for advice enough! 
If anyone has tips for integrating other devices or improving automation, I’d love to hear them. Happy tinkering! 