The Shelly BLU Remote Control ZB is the most capable remote in the BLU range: four channels, a precision wheel and gesture control. Paired with a Shelly 2PM Gen4 it has a quality not every BLU remote shares — it works with no hub, no separate dongle and no cloud.
Why it needs no separate gateway
The remote broadcasts over Bluetooth — it speaks Zigbee too, but here we are using it as a BLU device. When you press a button or turn the wheel, that signal has to reach something that receives it. Here is the advantage: the 2PM Gen4 has a Bluetooth gateway built in, so it receives the remote itself. No BLU Gateway required, unlike other BLU remotes and sensors.
And because the link is Bluetooth, direct, it keeps working when the wifi or the internet goes down: local control does not depend on the cloud. The one thing to respect is range, around 10 metres indoors, since remote and 2PM talk radio to radio.
The buttons assign themselves
You will appreciate this if you have been wrestling with scenes on other remotes. The BLU Remote Control ZB has Default Command Mapping: pair it with a compatible device — Gen3, Gen4 or Pro — and the controls are assigned automatically according to the mode that device is in.
With the 2PM Gen4 in cover mode, the default layout is:
- Left button: closes the blind or retracts the awning.
- Right button: opens or extends it.
- Wheel: moves to an intermediate position. One full turn is about 3 seconds of travel, or the awning moves while you turn, depending on the mode you chose.
If the 2PM is in switch mode instead, the same remote becomes left button off, right button on. Nothing to reconfigure: the remote adapts to whatever the 2PM is.
This is exactly the difference from the BLU Wall Switch 4, which makes you build a scene per button. Here, for ordinary use, no scene is needed at all.
How to pair it
All in the Shelly Smart Control app:
- Enable Bluetooth on the 2PM Gen4 and check it is in your account.
- Put the 2PM into the mode you intend to use — cover or switch — before pairing. The mapping follows that mode.
- Add the BLU Remote Control ZB as a Bluetooth device, phone held close.
- Try the buttons and the wheel. If the layout is not what you expected, check the 2PM’s mode before changing anything else.
If you want different behaviour
The default mapping covers open, close and intermediate positions. If you later want something bespoke — a button that takes the blind to a particular percentage, say — you can build it with a scene. For everyday use you do not need one, and every scene you do not create is one less thing that can break.