I’ve been running HA for a while, and it’s been working well; I haven’t had to change much in a few months. That being said, it’s fun to tinker with it, and I’m curious to hear what kind of automations the rest of the community is using. What automations are you most proud of? What are your favorite? What kind of interesting automations have you written?
My personal favorite is an automation that displays the current “apparent” temperature on a Hue bulb. It takes an average of the temperature, humidity, and luminance around my property and uses the average to compute an “apparent” (feels like) temperature. Then it applies a cosine function to the apparent temperature (to approximate how people feel temperature change), uses the resulting value to calculate a level between blue and red in CIELAB (a perceptually uniform color space), converts the results to RGB, and sets the color value of the hue bulb. The result is a bulb that changes color so that the change in color (as perceived by the eye) mirrors how the temperature “feels” outside. Ultimately what that means is that we can look at a small lamp with the hue bulb and say “It feels cold outside; we should put on a coat.” It’s probably overkill, but it was a fun programming exercise. We’ve started saying things like “It’s really blue today, I don’t feel like going out.”
I’d really enjoy reading what kind of interesting automations everyone else has written.
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My favorite is a script not a automation exactly. I run it (just before I get up for bed) via dashboard button or voice command and it:
- shuts off most of the lights and any screens around the house
- sets the thermostat to bedtime mode
- waits 5 minutes (time for me to get my stuff and get to bed) then
- turn off the remaining lights outside my bedroom
- Calls my autoremote endpoint
Auto remote then triggers a tasker profile that makes my phone
- turn on DND
- set media volume for sleep music and alarm volume for morning (just in case either has been change during the day)
- set a variable that another tasker automation will see the next time I plug in my phone. At which point it will:
- set my screen brightness below 1%
- turn on sleep tracking
I use the Home Assistant companion app instead of Tasker. It has similar access to automate phone stuff
Nice. I’ve had this going a lot longer than the companion app has existed
Washer voltage goes from a high value to a low value, then in 30 minutes (when the cycle will be done) turn an rgb lightbulb in a conspicuous location a hellish magenta. No more funky forgotten loads of laundry. Passes the partner test, too.
It’s the first time I read “partner test” and I like it, I was always bothered by the usual “expression”
To all of you reading this who are interested but don’t have home assistant (yet): I just set a timer for as long as the laundry takes. If I can’t go get it when the timer goes off I will place a “memento” somewhere (for example placing something on the ground in my way where it doesn’t belong) so I remember. The “set lighting to hell until I do it” solution sounds neat too, though. =)
A middle ground “normie-tech” I use: after picking the cycle, whip out your phone and start a countdown timer. Mine at least can save such timers and I can name them.
I got fed up that my washing machine lies on its timer: it doesn’t count the drying cycle and then it takes another 3 minutes to unlock the door. So I timed that once. For example a 42 min timer for the quick cycle (30 wash + 9 dry + 3 stupid lockout)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wax_motor#Applications
The reason for the stupid lockout. Pretty ingenious, but yeah they all lie. The worst offenders are heat pump dryers. I think they’re gaslighting their customers.
I often use the acronym WAF, Wife Acceptance Factor.
Basically I need to make sure that all household setups can work completely dumb, with the central server having crashed.
So far, so good.
What do you use to monitor your washer? I’ve got an older 3 prong circular plug that I can’t find anything that hooks into it.
I used a sonoff s31 and flashed tasmota onto it, but it’s a standard American outlet, not a triphasic one.
@Passerby6497
Shelly Pro 1PM that I had lying around. Reports Amps usage fast enough to allow me to cut off electrical heating before the breaker cuts off because of overload.
This results in washer and heating alternating their power usage without triggering the breaker.
Home assistant OS on Raspberry Pi 4.
Ooh I’ve got a similar trigger! Instead of coloured lights, mine strobe every five minutes incessantly until I open the machine door (power usage goes down ~3W for some reason). Also notify the phones and put a banner on the TV.
Less of an automation and more of a scene control, but I have all my light switches set up so that double tapping them up or down turns on or off all the lights on that floor of the house. It’s simple but we use it all the time.
I have an extension on this, in that a triple tap on the switch by the doors, will also lock the doors after 60 seconds.
If I unlock my door, it will re-lock in 15 minutes as long as the door is shut. opening the door resets the timer.
Of course it’s a code door, so re-opening it has a very low chance of locking me out :)
Ah nice. I just have the switches by the front and garage doors turn off everything instead of just downstairs, so we can hit them on the way out the door. I think triple taps are reserved for inclusion/exclusion mode on my switches, sadly. The delayed lock is a good idea though, might just have to add that.
If the furnace starts pulling more than 4,000 Watts, I get a telegram message that the auxiliary heat is running instead of the heat pump.
I have a sensor in my kindergartner’s bag that lets me know when he gets to school and when he leaves school, also via telegram message.
If someone loiters around my driveway for more than 30 seconds, I get a telegram message with an image.
I haven’t said it back up since I moved but I used to have one that used a combo sensor my washer and dryer doors. If the sensor moved enough for long enough it set a flag that the unit was running. If it want from running to not running for a long enough period of time, and the contact sensor wasn’t tripped, I would receive alerts every 30 minutes or so that the clothes were done and still in the washer/dryer.
Even something as simple as water sensors under the sink if saved my ass. Cabinetry these days is made out of fiberboard and if it stays wet for more than a couple of hours it does horrible things.
The simplest automations are the best. An hour before I typically get up, if the bedroom is too cold, turn on the heater.
How do you control your heater? My house has Cadet in-wall heaters in every room, but all the “smart” controllers I can find for them are incredibly expensive… roughly $400 each. That’s something like $2400 to automate my heating. Maybe an ESP32 with a few relays would work?
It’s a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries split system. The two options I had were an IR blaster or a DIY ESPhome-based module plugged directly into the unit that controls it over the SPI bus. I opted for the latter as it gives full status info in addition to control.
I’ve also got a Samsung unit in another room that I can control. For that one I use SmartThings… not ideal as it goes through the cloud, but I’ll take what I can get.
If you’ve got an old-school heater, you might have luck with some of the smart thermostats designed to be retrofitted into old houses.
Edit: just looked up your heaters online. Since you’ve got a lot of them, and they look pretty old, I’m guessing the smart controllers are just acting as relays. So yeah perhaps an ESP32 relay module would be the way to go! Once you’ve got the code working for one, you could roll them out to the rest. You’d need some confidence working with relays and electronics of course.
I use Kasa switches all over my house and am waiting for them to release their fan controller (it was announced at CES last year, and a thread on the old place says it’ll be out at the end of the month)
I’m excited for my fan to shut off if it’s too cold in the bedroom. Already have a temperature/humidity sensor in there.
I have mostly kasa switches too. I don’t like that they don’t expose the motion sensor in them to HA.
For fans, I’m considering these to replace the ones I have that just don’t work. https://inovelli.com/products/blue-series-fan-switch-zigbee-3-0?variant=42097818992805
The ones I have are complete shit. Their firmware seems to lock up regularly and not even the buttons work. There is no reset button on them, so the only way to restart them is to flip the breaker. And half the time that doesn’t even work.
The hot water pipe to the kitchen is quite long. We have a pipe loop there with a pump. Back in the days we had an ordinary timer that let the pump run at the usual times when there is hot water demand to be expected.
I now use a Zigbee plug for the pump and added a button in the kitchen to start it manually. In addidion HA starts it in the morning and every time when somebody comes home. Another HA automation turns off the pump after 3 minutes and ensures that it does not start again for 30 minutes.
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Do you use Adaptive Lighting for the bedroom lights? I finally made the switch and it’s pretty rad not having to deal with brightness changes throughout the day/night.
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What’s a mud room?
A foyer, essentially, but a lot smaller and almost strictly utilitarian. You take off and store your shoes, boots, jackets, etc there.
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I have a binary sensor that turns on when I’m away from home for 30 minutes and off when I’m home for 5 minutes. When I open the door and the sensor is on, music starts playing and the living room lights turn on. Love it.
HTML scrape of CUPS web server to see if there’s a print job waiting, turn on tasmota plug for laserprinter, then turn off in 5 minutes to save power.
It’s an old LJ4000 so it’s idle power is pretty high.
I use the IPP integration for that
I’m trying this now, I see it change the state to “printing” but I can’t bring up the device in automations to act on it. If I go into the IPP devices page and try to add an automation from the device page, it tells me no devics are available for automation.
Edit: got it, it was under entities, not devices, in automations. That’s one more thing out of Node Red now, thanks!
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Not really common automation for HA, but I made medication assistant automations. Its super helpfull for people who take loads of meds. It tracks how many pills left, does android notifications or sets alarm and it also sends an email when its time to reorder meds. Its insane how usefull it is
The problem with a good running automation is you end up used to them, I forget they’re even there most if the time.
I end up appreciating my once-in-awhile automations more. A couple times a month I need to get up extra early, skip my normal routine and go straight to work. But I’m American, this can’t be done without coffee. The night before I prepare the coffee maker and scan an NFC on the top that turns off the plug and waits for my next alarm, then turns it back on. Once it runs it disables the automation, so I dont accidently burn the house down. Worth a million bucks
In the summer in the northeast US most evenings are cool enough to sleep with just a fan in the window. For the nights that stay too warm past bedtime I scan an NFC on my AC that triggers an automation to shutoff the AC and turn on the window fan at a specified outdoor temp. Saves on electricity and who doesn’t love fresh air??
I end up appreciating my once-in-awhile automations more.
I can definitely understand this. One of my automations monitors a water sensor at the base of my water heater and under the kitchen sink (has leaked before). If it triggers, all my lights in the house turn on, any colored bulbs turn red, and they flash on/off each second. It hasn’t triggered yet (thankfully) except for testing, but the peace of mind is fantastic.
I have a motion sensor in the bedroom that turns the light on when you enter it (or leave it) and turns it off after some time once there is no motion detected anymore. But there is also a button right next to the door which disables the automation for 10 minutes for entering the bedroom at night when our youngest is already sleeping in the room.
Simple but very useful and even my wife likes it alot.
I have a motion sensor that turns on the bathroom light when you enter, then turns it off after no motion is detected for 5 minutes. Works great except for those long sessions on the toilet; nobody likes to poop in the dark. Now I have a door sensor on the bathroom so when no motion is detected, it turns off the lights after 5 minutes unless the door is closed, then it’s 30 minutes. Much better than having to wave your arms around every 5 minutes when you’re trying to take care of business.
15 minutes before my alarm or my partner’s goes off, the bedroom lights start to gradually fade on for the next half hour. A few minutes after that the HVAC gets reset to daytime temperatures. The hallway light turns on before we get out there, and if it is still dark outside (this time of year in Canada!) the entrance lights and kitchen lights also turn on ahead of time. Lastly it gets the dehumidifier started for the day and turns off Night Mode across all my automations.
Usually it results in us waking up gently, a bit before our alarms and we can turn them off without any blaring sounds.
https://youtu.be/OIkZWF5uGxk?si=FgGlXXJCn3q6540A
My goto selling point for Home Assistant is that I haven’t touched the outdoors light switch in 8 years.
My favorite is turning on the bedroom lights when my alarm goes off :)
I have a motion sensor mounted in front of the cat litter box, which triggers an exhaust fan and sends me a message - 🚨Cat Poo Alert! If you have a cat that eats/requires soft food, YOU KNOW.
