Given that the limit of a lot of the home assistant stuff is imagination and ideas, I thought it would be good to spin up a thread to share what you've designed/cobbled together in your setups to maybe inspire other people with what you've done or even show possibilities that some might not have dug into it. I'm sure we've all got plenty of handlers for button presses etc. but this is more putting slightly more smarts into 'smart home'!
I've not got anything exciting but a few of the slightly more unusual ones I've got are:
- Send a snapshot of the doorbell camera on press to all mobile devices, trigger an alert to all google home speakers that someone is at the door (got a speaker dotted around the house and outbuilding so always in earshot even if I miss the mobile phone notification)
- Turn off my other half's straighteners and send her phone an alert if they've been on for over 15 minutes (reduces paranoia for her greatly!)
- Spaghetti detection orchestration on my Bambu P1S, auto pause jobs, send a message to my mobile with 'stop' | ' continue' buttons in the notification
- Smart lighting blueprints across a couple of common area lights, tied to motion and lux sensors
- Auto handle the air filter speed / on|off state based upon a air quality monitor (tends to ramp up massively when dinner is being cooked etc.)
- Monitor energy usage on washing machine to send out an alert when the cycle has finished
- Monitor indoor vs. outdoor temperature and send a reminder to shut the windows up in the hot summers
- Various web hook notification ones to use home assistant as a notification sender for self hosted services
- Camera alerts on human detection etc.
- Send an alert out if zigbee devices drop offline (Z2M), fed up of batteries running out and silently causing things to fail!
- Various zone alerts using the home assistant app as driver
- Scheduler control is useful for various things like sunset scheduled front door lights, use it as my boiler schedule controller
- Warn if the electric rad in the garden office has been left on for too long (may or may not have been left on for a few days at 20 degrees in a cold snap by my other half, painful bill for that!)
- Ulanzi pixel clock running AWTRIX has really good integration into home assistant and can be integrated well for alerts,etc.
Hi all, Few threads have asked for this, so quick thread to help anyone getting to grips with home assistant. No questions too stupid, no thoughts too daft! Ask away here and I'll try and collate some FAQs How do I get started Loads of great youtube videos, but pretty simple instructions on...
Hi all, Few threads have asked for this, so quick thread to help anyone getting to grips with home assistant. No questions too stupid, no thoughts too daft! Ask away here and I'll try and collate some FAQs How do I get started Loads of great youtube videos, but pretty simple instructions on...
Yeah, know that one is about but tends to move topics quite quickly. Thought this might give an area to share things with a more direct focus. If there's no engagement, no worries!
- Ring doorbell triggers hue light in 2 rooms to turn on and change to red. Sometimes it's easy to miss a speaker announcement as they're not as loud as old doorbell chimes.
- Hallway motion and presence sensors. Presence maintains a level of brightness then turns the bulb off, motion wouldn't update often enough to keep a light on or if you're regularly using a space. Have the same in the bathroom for late night usage using the mirror light rather than the main light so it's not too bright.
- All lights are smart lights, single command turns every light off.
Still to set up:
- vibration sensor on front door. Delivery drivers rarely use the ring doorbell which is frustrating so I want to use a sensor which detects motion at the door with the camera and if the door is then knocked. Another sensor on the letterbox to detect if it's just post.
- heating timers based on outside temperature. Heating to come on earlier if it's colder outside to get up to temp sooner
- main rooms all have a small UPS with lamps/chargers/smart speakers/sensors/other kit connected so during a power cut there's still 1-2hrs of use, would like to monitor this better to see if it's actually used and what duration. Only had a power cut last more than 30 minutes once in the last 5 years but there's been a few short ones.
Hi all, Few threads have asked for this, so quick thread to help anyone getting to grips with home assistant. No questions too stupid, no thoughts too daft! Ask away here and I'll try and collate some FAQs How do I get started Loads of great youtube videos, but pretty simple instructions on...
This is a trend that has bugged me for 20 years on here, the creation and promotion of “mega threads”. If things require collating, that aren’t on going world events then we should let them be or create a sub forum.
It honestly puts me off posting sometimes as it’ll just get merged into a 200 page thread and lost!
This is a trend that has bugged me for 20 years on here, the creation and promotion of “mega threads”. If things require collating, that aren’t on going world events then we should let them be or create a sub forum.
It honestly puts me off posting sometimes as it’ll just get merged into a 200 page thread and lost!
- Ring doorbell triggers hue light in 2 rooms to turn on and change to red. Sometimes it's easy to miss a speaker announcement as they're not as loud as old doorbell chimes.
Yeah, thankfully my reolink doorbell came with a chime as well so, touch wood, that combined with speaker announcements seems to work OK. I've got Ulanzi pixel clock running the AWTRIX custom firmware on my desk that flashes up 'DOOR' as _another_ option if I've got headphones on at my desk!
- Hallway motion and presence sensors. Presence maintains a level of brightness then turns the bulb off, motion wouldn't update often enough to keep a light on or if you're regularly using a space. Have the same in the bathroom for late night usage using the mirror light rather than the main light so it's not too bright.
I really need to make the swap over to a presence sensor for the dining room / living room as there has been the occasional need for someone to wave their arms to get it to come back on mid-dinner
- vibration sensor on front door. Delivery drivers rarely use the ring doorbell which is frustrating so I want to use a sensor which detects motion at the door with the camera and if the door is then knocked. Another sensor on the letterbox to detect if it's just post.
This is one I've still got to dial in properly too. I've got a vibration sensor with xyz movement detection sat on my inside letter box but need to balance between sensor duplicate vibration alerts whenever the door is opened as well as detecting post and knocks, definitely not there yet! Currently got it alerting far too often for the same reason as you - people not ringing the door for packages!
UPS for lighting etc. is a cool one. I've only got my servers that would be very unhappy with a hard shutdown sat on a UPS but I've not even gone to the level of safe shutdowns on that yet, being a bit complacent with having pretty reliable power for the last 10 years or so.
What does this look like, as I keep meaning to do the same!
Some of the things I have setup
Fridge / Freezer left open
Aqara door/window sensor is placed on the split of the fridgefreezer. This can detect when either door is left open, but I went further and as the fridgefreezer is on a smart plug then it looks at the energy use and can determine which is open as the fridge has a bulb inside that is on when the fridge door is open. After 3 minutes it sends an alert to our phones and flashes the kitchen lights.
Over the top doorbell
I don't like how smart doorbells look. We have a regular metal doorbell that is connected to a Zigbee button. Pressing it alerts Home Assistant, and then depending on the time of day it will process that differently. If the kids are in bed, it will alert to our phones and flashes the lights in lounge / dining room / kitchen / hallway but if it's during the day it will also trigger an ESP-01 to 'press' an RF based doorbell trigger that then causes chimes to sound.
All lights off when leaving
We have a button the back of the front door that when pressed will turn off all the lights in the house, but I found it was accidentally being pressed (or on purpose by the kids!) - so I made it conditional on the front door being open.
Garden lights on if back door open
External lights are triggered if the back door is open for more than 10 seconds after sunset. They're switched off when the door is closed if the door is what had triggered them, as we now also have UniFi cameras that trigger motion events that can activate the lights.
Smoke alarm
We have "not smart" smoke detectors. They're interlinked and one is connected to a relay base. This has a relay that closes when the alarm is triggered, and that is connected to a zigbee button that triggers HA to switch on all the lights in the house and alert our phones.
Then there's some little things that turn off certain devices if they've been left on, we have an in-ceiling whole house audio system but the amp is in one if the kids rooms - it clicks off at night. The subwoofer and rear speakers in the lounge turn off overnight and only back on around 10:30 as we found that if the kids got up in the morning and put the TV, the bass was annoying for us! There are Aqara motion sensors in some places, like under the stairs - if you go under the stairs it'll trigger the lights to full brightness and then put them back as they were after motion is cleared.
This is one I've still got to dial in properly too. I've got a vibration sensor with xyz movement detection sat on my inside letter box but need to balance between sensor duplicate vibration alerts whenever the door is opened as well as detecting post and knocks, definitely not there yet! Currently got it alerting far too often for the same reason as you - people not ringing the door for packages!
UPS for lighting etc. is a cool one. I've only got my servers that would be very unhappy with a hard shutdown sat on a UPS but I've not even gone to the level of safe shutdowns on that yet, being a bit complacent with having pretty reliable power for the last 10 years or so.
I've just bought a few vibration sensors after reading this thread, having detection of someone knocking on the door is useful as people don't often ring the bell. Might combine it with a motion sensor to filter out false positives. You could probably use your camera for the same, and then a window / door sensor to filter out events when the door is open.
I kinda have 'emergency' lights. Our network is all on a decent sized UPS, and the APs and other bits are all PoE. Some of the lights in the house are Hue lamps that have batteries in them, these two things combined mean that the motion sensors and Hue Dimmer switches still function during power cuts.
Despite being heavily invested in HA, I don't have many fun/ interesting automations. Most of mine relate to my heating or automating lights. My landing light for example will come on when a motion sensor is tripped but only when it's dark enough outside. Depending on the time of day, it'll come on a nice warm yellow but if it's after midnight, the light will be red to avoid being too harsh on sleepy eyes...
My lounge lights will dim when when the TV is turned on and brighten up when it's off.
Lastly, when my Reolink doorbell is pressed, a couple of lights flash lounge and my study, followed by the Close Encounters of the Third Kind theme being played through my HomePod mini. Really should add a picture snapshot to that one
Lastly (again), because I'm lazy, I've got an Aqara button in my lounge that when pressed turns on the TV and my gaming PC. Saves me having to walk ten feet there and back again
I've just bought a few vibration sensors after reading this thread, having detection of someone knocking on the door is useful as people don't often ring the bell. Might combine it with a motion sensor to filter out false positives. You could probably use your camera for the same, and then a window / door sensor to filter out events when the door is open.
I kinda have 'emergency' lights. Our network is all on a decent sized UPS, and the APs and other bits are all PoE. Some of the lights in the house are Hue lamps that have batteries in them, these two things combined mean that the motion sensors and Hue Dimmer switches still function during power cuts.
Yeah, I've got mine combined with a break sensor for the door being opened but even key in the lock (from the inside) or the door handle to open is enough to set it off. Definitely needs a bit of tweaking. My ultimate plan will be nailing down the XYZ movement for the letter box opening for one alert and then presence detection + vibration within a threshold for knock detection. Should get there eventually!
Hue lamps with batteries are a nice touch. Do they auto-on if disconnected from power?
What does this look like, as I keep meaning to do the same!
Some of the things I have setup
Fridge / Freezer left open
Aqara door/window sensor is placed on the split of the fridgefreezer. This can detect when either door is left open, but I went further and as the fridgefreezer is on a smart plug then it looks at the energy use and can determine which is open as the fridge has a bulb inside that is on when the fridge door is open. After 3 minutes it sends an alert to our phones and flashes the kitchen lights.
Over the top doorbell
I don't like how smart doorbells look. We have a regular metal doorbell that is connected to a Zigbee button. Pressing it alerts Home Assistant, and then depending on the time of day it will process that differently. If the kids are in bed, it will alert to our phones and flashes the lights in lounge / dining room / kitchen / hallway but if it's during the day it will also trigger an ESP-01 to 'press' an RF based doorbell trigger that then causes chimes to sound.
All lights off when leaving
We have a button the back of the front door that when pressed will turn off all the lights in the house, but I found it was accidentally being pressed (or on purpose by the kids!) - so I made it conditional on the front door being open.
Garden lights on if back door open
External lights are triggered if the back door is open for more than 10 seconds after sunset. They're switched off when the door is closed if the door is what had triggered them, as we now also have UniFi cameras that trigger motion events that can activate the lights.
Smoke alarm
We have "not smart" smoke detectors. They're interlinked and one is connected to a relay base. This has a relay that closes when the alarm is triggered, and that is connected to a zigbee button that triggers HA to switch on all the lights in the house and alert our phones.
Then there's some little things that turn off certain devices if they've been left on, we have an in-ceiling whole house audio system but the amp is in one if the kids rooms - it clicks off at night. The subwoofer and rear speakers in the lounge turn off overnight and only back on around 10:30 as we found that if the kids got up in the morning and put the TV, the bass was annoying for us! There are Aqara motion sensors in some places, like under the stairs - if you go under the stairs it'll trigger the lights to full brightness and then put them back as they were after motion is cleared.
I like the night time alteration on the doorbell behaviour! And I'm going to steal the garden lights turning on if the back door opens, never really thought about it! I've got a 4 panel scene controller by the back door for flood, bulk head and garden office lights but automating the activity is a great shout. I've got a back garden camera (reolink again) which does motion and person detection so should really look at tying that in too. We get foxes through a lot so I've got frigate recording and tagging animals but not lights at the minute as it might end up being a bit of a rave.
Despite being heavily invested in HA, I don't have many fun/ interesting automations. Most of mine relate to my heating or automating lights. My landing light for example will come on when a motion sensor is tripped but only when it's dark enough outside. Depending on the time of day, it'll come on a nice warm yellow but if it's after midnight, the light will be red to avoid being too harsh on sleepy eyes...
My lounge lights will dim when when the TV is turned on and brighten up when it's off.
Lastly, when my Reolink doorbell is pressed, a couple of lights flash lounge and my study, followed by the Close Encounters of the Third Kind theme being played through my HomePod mini. Really should add a picture snapshot to that one
Lastly (again), because I'm lazy, I've got an Aqara button in my lounge that when pressed turns on the TV and my gaming PC. Saves me having to walk ten feet there and back again
Yeah, I'm a big fan of automating lights. I haven't turned off or on my hall or dining room lights for a long time, don't even think about walking past and them turning on now.
Heating is an interesting one, had to make a custom 433mhz device to control my boiler as it doesn't have an 'smart' functionality, I just fire over captured on / off pulses from a radio thermostat that is did come with, exposes itself as a switch for home assistant then. All then controlled via the scheduler control which gives plenty of flexibility to replace any sort of controller on the boiler.
I was about to dump it in here but I think it has stopped working haha! It did look like:
Trigger = MQTT - Payload = offline, topic = zigbee2mqtt/+/availability
And If = If 1 condition matches, Template renders a value = true = {{ trigger.topic.split('/')[1][-6:] == 'Sensor'}}
Then the action is just a notify to my mobile with {{ trigger.topic.split('/')[1] }} is {{ trigger.payload }} as the content (which would be 'Back Bedroom Fan' is 'Offline') if I remember correctly. It does need Z2M to be set to flag devices as offline if not seen in x time which might be what is broken. I'm just testing now...
/ Edit, does still seem to work but a few tweaks needed. I dumped out the if condition and got a bunch through which I think were just a backlog. Manually published an offline event for a fan and got double messages through so think it is there. I'd rather get a few through than none!
Heating is an interesting one, had to make a custom 433mhz device to control my boiler as it doesn't have an 'smart' functionality, I just fire over captured on / off pulses from a radio thermostat that is did come with, exposes itself as a switch for home assistant then. All then controlled via the scheduler control which gives plenty of flexibility to replace any sort of controller on the boiler.
Automating my heating was a big job as the whole shebang from boiler control to radiator TRVs are Hive branded. Cutting a long story short, I hooked them all up to Zigbee and automated the hell out of it.
Automating my heating was a big job as the whole shebang from boiler control to radiator TRVs are Hive branded. Cutting a long story short, I hooked them all up to Zigbee and automated the hell out of it.
I've got an ultimate plan to do zones with zigbee TRVs one day but at £30+ a rad, it'll be like £300 minimum and I'm tight fisted with the heating anyway so not top of the list!
My favourite one that I use almost daily: When the hue button in the hallways is long pressed, my garage door opens. (Meross controller). Saves having to find keys.
My favourite one that I use almost daily: When the hue button in the hallways is long pressed, my garage door opens. (Meross controller). Saves having to find keys.
That's a fair point actually, some of the more simple ones get the most use! My most used one is an ikea rocker switch which have a built in magnet so sticks to my bedframe by my head. Up toggles the fan on and off and down toggles a sonoff usb power attached to a lamp which gives enough light for morning or evening. Barely have to get out from under the covers!
I've spent a lot of time trying to make apexcharts-cards do what I want in various dashboards in HA so figure I'd pass on some useful bits I've learnt. My goal was to have minimalist graphs. I know that the mini-graph-card exists and they look great, but just a tiny little bit more visible information would have been nice hell even just simple X and Y axis labels would have done the trick for me!
Much of my focus was around displaying energy information cleanly on dashboards. Here's an example of a minimalist column graph that shows electricity usage by day with coloured states based on pre-defined levels:
It has three entities. Current total usage for the day so far, how much my electricity usage has cost me so far and how much I've saved compared to a tarrif that was just the generic Ofgem pricing.
I discovered a bug with the X-axis labels where depending on the format, the first label disappears if the Y-axis is hidden using the yaxis option. I detailed my findings and a work around here: https://github.com/RomRider/apexcharts-card/issues/639
My work around was to keep the Y-axis shown (default behaviour) but simply hide it using css with the lovelace-card-mod instead of hiding it using the yaxis option in the card.
Another point of note here is that I found using Statistics (LTS) rather than History was a lot faster to render and update. For a graph like this one you could use either as the History goes back far enough (10-days I think) but if you were wanting to display data from further back then Statistics is really your only option anyway.
You'll note in the code that I'm also setting the padding in apex_config. What I've found is that the more you customise and change the way the graphs look, the more empty space seems to appear around the graph when it renders. So to get it to fill the card space better (useful if you're using grid layouts) I play around with the padding to adjust how the graph sits in the card. Admittedly this is a bit of a dirty fix but it works! On some dashboards I've used a combination of this and css in lovelace-card-mod to get it exactly how I want. I'm no developer so I'm sure there are probably better ways of doing this but it works for me.
I use Octopus Tracker so this next one is a line graph that plots the daily tracker rate against the Ofgem rate. For this I'm using the REST api to pull the current rate from the Octopus api and populating that value into an entity that has device_class and state_class defined to ensure this is stored in LTS (long term statistics).
The line graph shows the current Tracker rate for my area, the current Ofgem rate and also the cost difference. The line graph also changes colour depending on whether the Tracker rate is lower or higher than the Ofgem rate. Green is lower, red is higher.
Apexcharts-card can't do any kind of calculation when defining things like color_threshold so the way round is to nest the apexcharts_card inside a config-template-card, let that do all the work and simply output a variable which you can use within the apexcharts_card!
I know there are a million websites around that track this but I find it useful to check back over this in an energy usage dashboard with some other stats. Make sure that Tracker is still working for me! As you can see, it's been substantially lower every day until literally this week.
Sticking with the line graph, another curiosity I had was to see if I could display total usage from a specific point in time (start of a 12-month energy contract for example) where the graph dynamically grew as each day went by (date on X-axis). Officially this isn't something that's supported in apexcharts_card, however using the same config-template-card trick as above, we can make it happen. Simply change the startDate (mm-dd-yyyyy) to whatever date you want the graph to start from and each day it'll grow and show more days of data between that start and the current date. It can obviously be adapted to suit whatever you need.
Apexcharts-card is based on ApexCharts.js so the last useful tidbit of information worth mentioning is that pretty much all the options available in ApexCharts.js will work in apexcharts-card even if they aren't listed or described on the apexcharts-card github page.
The sheer amount of options and customisations available is fantastic: https://apexcharts.com/docs/options/ It's for this reason that I honestly think this is the best graph card around. Combine it with card_mod CSS and I'm sure you can do anything and make the graph look however you want.
*If my entity/sensor names look odd it's because I've changed them to make it easier to read in the code. I tend to follow sensor.room_manufacturer_sensortype convention
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hell even just simple X and Y axis labels would have done the trick for me!
