HOME ASSISTANT

Matt Holder investigates Home Assistant’s Automations and Notifications to make our homes as “smart” as they can be.

OUR EXPERT Matt Holder has been a fan of the open source methodology for over two decades and uses Linux and other tools where possible.

Credit: www.home-assistant.io

H ome Assistant enables data from home automation equipment to be accessed from a central location. It can also access systems in the cloud, but where possible, data is kept on the local LAN. In LXF287 we covered how to install and configure the system as well as set up a dashboard containing basic information about the weather. In part two we’ll be creating regular snapshots for safety purposes, creating automations and adding users.

Blueprints is a fairly recent addition to Home Assistant where users can make their scripts or automations available to other users. This makes it simple for complicated automations to be made available to others with a few clicks. Blueprints can be accessed by opening the Configuration options and then selecting Blueprints. From here the blueprint “store” can be opened. For each blueprint in the list there’s a button that will enable the Blueprint to be imported and configured to work with your instance.

Scenes are also accessed from the Configuration menu and allow for a collection of items to be controlled with one automation or one press of a button. For example, if you wanted a film-viewing scene setup in your living room, this feature can be used to store the states as required and then they can all be controlled in one go. To create a scene, first set everything to the values you wish to use each time the scene is used. Then create the scene by Navigating to Configuration> Automations & Scenes>Scenes>Add Scene. You can select devices from the window that loads.

Creating a scene

Scripts are similar to scenes, but can be used to store pretty much any sequential series of steps. For example, there could be a script set up to pulse lights. This script can then be accessed from multiple automations or from a button press in a Lovelace dashboard. Scripts can be set up by navigating to Configuration> Automations & Scenes>Scripts>Add Script. Within the dialog that opens, simply give the script a name and icon and then set the sequence of events that need to be carried out.

Helpers can be seen as form elements within HTML. They can be added to Home Assistant and the values used in automations as well as the elements being displayed on Lovelace dashboards. Helpers can take the form of on/off switches, text entry fields, number entry fields, date/time boxes, drop-down lists, counters and timers. For example, there could be a dashboard used to configure a thermostat, so that the set temperature can be edited from one location and the value used elsewhere. Add a Helper by selecting Configuration> Automations & Scenes>Helpers>Add Helper.