In this guide, I’m going to show you how to pair and configure an Ikea Tradfri 5 button remote control with Home Assistant. You may see on the Amazon listing that this button requires the Ikea hub, but that’s not true. As long as you have a zigbee dongle (like the Nortek GoControl I’m using), it pairs perfectly fine without the Ikea branded hub.
I have smart buttons all over my house. So far, I’ve only used SmartThings buttons since I had them leftover from my SmartThings to Home Assistant migration. While those buttons work pretty well, you are limited to only 3 commands: single press, double press, and button hold. With this Ikea button, you configure up to 10 commands from this single device!
For reference, here’s what it looks like:
- You can use TRÅDFRI remote to control up to 10 LED light bulbs at a time - dim, switch on and off, choose colors and step by step change from warm to cold light.
- You can use TRÅDFRI gateway and app to create several groups of light sources and control them in different ways.
This setup guide is using ZHA. It does not include instructions for zigbee2mqtt, Deconz, MQTT, or nodered.
What’s in the box?
The IKEA 203.033.17 Remote Control comes with the remote control itself, instruction manual, a CR2032 battery, and a double-sided 3M adhesive ring.
Another neat feature is that the button is magnetic so you can mount it on your fridge or anywhere else you’d like to hang it.
Pair IKEA Remote Control Button to Home Assistant
Assuming you already have Zigbee Home Assistant(ZHA) setup in HA, setup of this is very simple.
First, insert the battery by removing the magnetic bottom plate.
Next, on your left sidebar, go to Configuration > Integrations > ZHA.
Click Configure, and then Add Device in the bottom right corner.
Near the battery you’ll find the Ikea Remote pairing button. Click that a few times. On the front of the button you’ll start to see it flash red indicating that the button is now in “pairing mode”.
Once paired, you’ll see the ZHA interview complete successfully. Go ahead and rename it and add it to a room.
View Ikea 5-button Remote Entities
After pairing, if you go to Configuration > Devices and search for Ikea. You’ll notice that it only shows the battery level entity. This is normal. During the next step, we’ll map each of the buttons to a certain function.
Configure Ikea Remote Buttons
There are a lot of different ways to configure each of the 5 buttons. You could either do this manually by viewing it in Developer Tools, but a much simpler method is by importing a community-created Blueprint, which is what I’m going to show how to do below.
Import Blueprint to map Custom Buttons
Navigate here: https://community.home-assistant.io/t/zha-ikea-tradfri-5-button-remote-custom-actions/284720 Click the blue IMPORT BLUEPRINT button.
It will prompt you to open the page in Home Assistant.
Click Open Link, and then click Preview. On the next popup, choose Import.
Congratulations! The blueprint is now imported. This will give you the following options to play around with:
| Button | Action |
|---|---|
| Power (short) | User defined action |
| Dim-Up (short) | User defined action |
| Dim-Down (short) | User defined action |
| Right (short) | User defined action |
| Left (short) | User defined action |
| Power (long) | User defined action |
| Dim-Up (long) | User defined action |
| Dim-Down (long) | User defined action |
| Right (long) | User defined action |
| Left (long) | User defined action |
Once imported, you’ll be able to create an automation directly from the Blueprints page by clicking Create Automation:
Create an Ikea Remote Automation
I’m not going to show you how to configure each option, since each of us have different needs and devices. But, for this example, I’m going to show you how to toggle a smartplug by short pressing the center power button.
This is pretty self-explanatory, but first you need to choose the device (your Ikea remote). Then, add an action by choosing the device you want to manage and then setting the option.
Wrapping Up
Overall, I’m very happy with my new Ikea Remote Control buttons. Like I said, I’ve only used SmartThings buttons in the past which have been pretty rock-solid. However, I noticed the response time of these Ikea buttons are MUCH quicker. I definitely plan on adding a few more buttons.
These remote controls are super customizable. Not only can you toggle lights on and off, but you can also use them to do anything you want – such as brighten or dim lights, close your garage door, and each of the buttons can be configured to use both short and long press, giving you a total of 10 configurable buttons to use!
My Favorite Home Assistant Devices
Below are some of the Home Assistant-compatible devices I personally use in my home. I highly recommend each of them.
- Zwave/Zigbee hub: Nortek GoControl HUSBZB-1
- Smart Plugs: Sonoff S31 Lite Zigbee
- Motion Sensors: Hue Indoor Motion
- Outdoor Camera: Amcrest IP5M Turret
- Robot Vacuum: Roborock S7
The full list of all Home Assistant compatible & recommended devices I use can be found on my Equipment List page.
In theory could you also add this Ikea button to Home Assistant to control other devices?
https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/tradfri-wireless-dimmer-white-10408598/
Not 100% sure on that as I don’t have one myself, but if you search the Home Assistant Community Forums for that model you might be able to see if it’s compatible.
I have the Tradfri motion sensor, the 5 button remote, and the one you asked about, the on/off button working with Home Assistant. I use the on/off switch to control a raspberry pi zero that runs Squeezelite to stream music. Long press = on or off, short press = volume up or down.
Hi, I am quite new to all this, I managed to include as described, thanks for you lovely tutorial. Do you have any idea how to work with the remote in node-red?
You’re welcome! I’m glad it helped you. Unfortunately I don’t use node red for HA so I’m not sure where to begin.
Hi! Just a quick comment — at least with the models I got from Ikea recently, the pairing is started by holding the button for more than ten seconds, not by pressing it multiple times.
Good to know, I didn’t realize that. Thanks Matt!
I need to amend that, actually. I was wrong. There are actually two different ways to put the remote into pairing mode, and you actually have to do BOTH if you want to use it to pair devices (like wall plugs or light panels).
The process is:
1. Click the pairing button four times. This does a factory reset for the remote, and it’ll be immediately ready for pairing.
2. Start the discover mode for ZHA and bring the remote close to your USB stick. This is when you should see the red.
3. Once that’s done, factory reset your wall switch (little pinhole) or floalt panel (power cycle six times).
4. Now, go into discover mode again…
5. And bring the remote next to the panel or switch and THIS is where you hold for 10 seconds.
6. Now you’ll have your remote and your device both on the network, and you can do the blueprint thing.