Keep Relay Always ON & Control Zigbee Light via Button

[mon3y78]

Hi everyone,
I'm using the stadanrd configuration TX-Ultimate-Easy ESPHome configuration
on a Sonoff TX Ultimate switch.

One of the physical buttons is wired to a relay that used to control a directly connected light. That light has now been replaced with a Zigbee ceiling lamp, which needs to remain constantly powered to stay connected via Zigbee.

🎯 What I'm trying to do:

Keep the relay physically ON all the time (i.e. let power always flow to the Zigbee light);

Use the physical button to toggle the Zigbee light via Home Assistant, not via the relay;

Expose both the button state and a virtual switch (relay) to Home Assistant for use in automations and dashboards.

⚙️ How I handled this with SmartHome-yourself

When using the SmartHome-yourself project
, I managed to solve this by replacing the relay definition with a template switch:

• platform: template
  id: relay_4 # Disconnected from physical relay
  name: "${friendly_name} L4"
  internal: false
  optimistic: true

This worked perfectly:

The physical relay remained ON (power always available to the Zigbee light);

The button toggled a virtual switch exposed in Home Assistant;

I used that virtual switch to trigger a Zigbee service call to toggle the ceiling lamp.

🤔 Problem with TX-Ultimate-Easy

In TX-Ultimate-Easy, all relays are defined in the standard_hw_relays.yaml package as gpio switches, and set as internal: true, meaning:

They are not exposed to Home Assistant;

They are hard-wired to the physical relay, which I want to avoid.

✅ What I'm looking for

A clean way to disconnect the button from the relay, but still detect button presses;

Keep the physical relay always ON (so the Zigbee lamp stays powered);

Use the button to toggle a virtual switch (template or input_boolean) in Home Assistant;

All of this while keeping the structure and packages of TX-Ultimate-Easy.

❓ Questions

What's the cleanest way to disconnect the button from the relay, while keeping the button functional?

Is it okay to replace the GPIO relay with a template switch using the same id? Or should I define a new one?

Has anyone else faced the need to keep relays always ON to support Zigbee or Wi-Fi lights?

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help clarify the best approach using ESPHome with the TX-Ultimate-Easy setup!

[kylegordon]

I think what you're describing is the way I have it. Zigbee lights, when TX Ultimate is tapped then HA gets an event to do something with the light. If the relay is off, HA tells it to turn on. If HA or WiFi is down then it falls back to 'relay mode'

In the HA ESPHome integration for the lightswitch, just set the Button Action to be API Failsafe Only

In the HA automation, listen for the appropriate event type and data, and issue your commands to the lightbulb

  - alias: Living room light toggle
    id: living_room_light_toggle
    mode: parallel
    trigger:
      - platform: event
        event_type: esphome.tx_ultimate_easy
        event_data:
          device_name: living_room_switch
          action: click
          button_id: "3"
    action:
      - service: light.turn_on
        data:
          entity_id: light.living_room_switch_light_eu
          effect: "Rainbow - Fast"
      - service: switch.turn_on
        entity_id:
          - switch.living_room_switch_relay_1
      - service: light.toggle
        data_template:
          entity_id:
            - light.living_room
      - service: logbook.log
        data_template:
          name: EVENT
          message: "Toggling living room lights"
      - delay: "00:00:05"
      - service: light.turn_off
        target:
          entity_id: light.living_room_switch_light_eu
        data:
          transition: "1"

[mon3y78]

I actually have two TX Ultimate switches in the same room controlling the same Zigbee light.
I’d like the LEDs on both switches to stay synchronized with the actual state of the light, regardless of which switch or automation changes it.

What would be the best way to achieve that?

[brotaxt]

You just need an automation to "toggle" the zigbee light, not turn on or off. That way you can simulate a classic two-way switch wiring.

for example:

actions:
  - action: light.toggle
    metadata: {}
    data: {}
    target:
      entity_id: light.deckenlampe_flur_unten_light