This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.
The original was posted on /r/homeassistant by /u/Cnirithian on 2025-07-31 15:36:29+00:00.
I got positive feedback on my dashboard, so I thought people might be interested in my automation strategy, which I think is the more interesting and important part of a smart home. I don't think I have anything too crazy, but I do take a lot of care in the reliability of my automations. If you want more details on anything, let me know.
Lights
Basic light automations, lights turn on when there is presence detected and the illuminance level is low enough, lights turn off when there is no presence detected.
There are considerations for things like the tv being on or someone being in bed. I also have it set up so if the lights are toggled manually, it blocks the automation from running for a couple hours. The light brightness is all controlled through the Adaptive Lighting HACS integration.
I also got into WLED and do some fun things with that, like having the colors and effects change seasonally.
Climate
My thermostat is on heat/cool, so I have two setpoints, low and high. I have input numbers for the "base" temperatures, and then use template sensors to modify the desired temperatures.
For example, the low setpoint decreases the farther away we are from the house. The high setpoint increases during my electric utility's peak hours.
The thermostat also turns off if windows are open and turns back on if they are all closed again.
Fans
Ceiling fans turn on if the room temperature is higher than the thermostat set point and if there's someone nearby (on the same floor/in the same room).
The bathroom fan turns on if the bathroom door is closed (and is also affected by the shower)
Shades
I have roller blinds in a few rooms. They all go up when the sun rises and go down around sunset. The south facing ones go down during the middle of the day during summertime.
Shower
I have a humidity sensor in the bathroom and a derivative sensor in HA based off that. If it goes up enough, the shower is considered "on" until the derivative drops below zero.
This dims the lights, plays an announcement over the bathroom speaker, and queues up a brief NPR news update followed by a random spotify playlist.
TV
When the TV starts playing something, the lights slowly turn off. If the TV is paused, the lights come back on at 10%, and then slowly return to full brightness if the TV is turned off.
The TV being on also blocks certain lights from turning on.
Bed
When someone's in bed during the day, nap mode gets turned on, which ungroups the bedroom speaker, lowers the shades, and turns off the light over the course of a few minutes.
If someone's in bed at nighttime, sleep mode gets turned on, and if everyone who's home is in bed, the house shuts down for the night (lights off, alarm armed, etc)
Fun/Misc Stuff
- Notifications for package and mail delivery
- Morning briefing over the speaker powered by calendars, weather, ollama, and piper
- Welcome home greetings when we walk in the door
- Alerts for locks being unlocked or garage being open
- Vacuum runs overnight and then empties the dustbin in the morning
I'm happy to walk through anything or provide yaml files and to answer any other questions!
