I figured we could all share some of the cooler things we’ve done to get the conversation moving in here.
Here are some of the automations I’m proud of and get the most use out of.
Blinds and Lighting
- Open and close the blinds (Ikea Fyrtur) according to the light levels outside
- If a window is open, the blind will only close to 50%, but it will close automatically after the window is closed
- Turn all lights off when the blinds are opened, and turn lights on in occupied rooms when the blinds are closed
- Automatically close the blinds in the bedroom and bathroom when the shower is on. Open them after we leave the master suite.
Websites
- (Selenium) Auto login to Amazon to check on the status of my Kindle daily reading streak and notify me if I forget to read. We must keep the streak intact!
- Auto categorize new transactions in YouNeedABudget and mark them as approved, as well as pull my net worth into Home Assistant
- Get my most-listened to tracks and artists from Last.FM and pull those into Home Assistant
- Notify me if there are documents in my Paperless-NGx server that need to be categorized and filed
Reminders
- When I walk in the door, announce any outstanding Todoist tasks marked with the @alert label so I know to do it before I sit down. Examples are to change the furnace filter or Venmo my friend for Youtube TV
- I run OCR on the camera feed from my garage camera to determine whether the bins are in the garage. The bins say Trash and Recycling on top, so I look for those words in the image. If they are in the garage in the evening before trash day, I receive an alert
Media and Torrenting
- Notify me and display a badge in Home Assistant when there is a pending request in Overseerr
- (Selenium) Log into my favorite private torrent tracker website from Node-RED to check whether I need to take any actions
HVAC
- Preheat or pre-cool the house prior to peak electricity pricing going into effect. During peak hours, auto adjust the thermostat to prevent it from running
- Turn the thermostat off if there are windows open. Automatically restore previous setting (cool or heat) when all windows are closed.
- Turn the bathroom fan on after the shower is turned off and no one is around. Turn it off after 80 minutes or the humidity in the bathroom is within 10% of the humidity in the bedroom, whichever comes first.
Misc
- Node-RED monitors the status of my UPSes for my servers. If the battery drops below 50% while the power is out, it initiates graceful shutdowns of my Synology and other servers
- Auto sort the Home Assistant grocery list upon adding a new item
For me one of my favourites are my extractor fan control in my bathrooms. I have a switch on the fan and a humidity sensor close by. Turn on the shower and the extractor will turn on until the humidity is lowered enough, then switch off. In addition I have a static programmable button to press should you need it for other reasons. I just love the world of entities and how they link together to make something functional.
Yeah the humidistat in the bathroom is absolutely golden. The one I installed will automatically come on/off at a humidity set point or if I turn it on it will stay on for 15 minutes.
What I do Is I have a threshold. of switching on above say 75% and switching off below 70%. So it doesn’t have a set time. It’s just making sure things come down to at least 70% before it switches off. It does get more complex in winter as humidity tends to be higher by default, but I am playing around with the thresholds to figure out the optimal percentages. a fan on it’s own cant get the humidity down to below the general humidity in the area. Nonetheless. Fun to play with and works like a bomb.
For trash nights I just make sure the garage door is open and shut during appropriate hours and assume that I took the trash out. That’s never failed for me but if it was a problem I would probably just have the cameras alarm when I hit a certain zone and make sure that zone is triggered during a certain hour. Another option would be to put a Z-Wave switch in the garage by the trash cans I would tap whenever I took the trash out.
Auto relock the front door after 15 minutes, with a code lock so I can’t lock my keys inside.
Notification by telegram anytime any entry exit door is opened or closed.
Extra alarm if the doors left open for more than 30 minutes.
Alarm when the dogs GPS collar gets to less than 20%, notification when the collar gets above 80%.
Blue Iris sends a picture to telegram whenever there’s motion on my cameras during certain times of the day or night.
Front doorbell AI notif on person even if they don’t ring the bell.
Automated sprinklers based on the weather using beehive and HA automation.