What Weird and Wonderful Automations Have Improved Your Home?

That's essentially what this is except on iOS. I was working on the basic wiring behind the scenes but then put it aside when I started to migrate my Hubitat install. The interface will evolve once I get all the pieces in place.

Edit: I do like the dark color scheme. I modeled my colors and general design ideas off of some existing Okudagrams I had found. I have the colors defined so that I only have to change them in one spot so themes should be easy.

The closest I've come is the AOL, "You've got mail," in the original AOL voice when the mailbox is opened. Slightly amused and tolerated by WAF.

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I’ve done that for my mailbox using a contact sensor. :rofl:

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But are you using the AOL voice?

No.

I'm not sure if it's weird, but I just finished automating my Powerwall battery to charge up from cheap off-peak power on days that my Solar System won't produce much power. I might even make a Hubitat app out of it if I can figure it out.

It uses Solcast Integration for the energy generation forecasts, and Powerwall Manager for controlling the PW.

It's made up of 2 rules:

1/ set the Powerwall charge target for the day (triggered by the SolCast data updating) to a Hub Variable:

2/ Charge the battery to the desired SoC:

My Solar system is only 5.4kW, so in the winter it doesn't generate enough power to charge up the battery to get through the peak period (3pm-9pm Daily), this automation lets me time-shift the house to cheap power.

And I have a Dashboard to keep an eye on it all:

PS, I'm on a ToU tarrif and Off-Peak = 13.5c p/kWh and Peak = 39c p/kWh (AUD)

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Where to start, a virtual dog barking when someone enters the driveway.
Pirs over zinks, tables and workplaces to automatic turn on light on a specific small spot.
Automatic music in allmost every room.
Indoor light follows outside light
Garagedoor opens if someone comes home and no car in garage.
Roofwindows opens and closes according to temperature.
Automatic blinds
Rc motor controling my floorheating via wifi and an esp
Meteor made with programable leds

More than 300 zigbee units

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Targeting what location? (Just want to make sure I'm not in the blast zone...) :wink:

Impressive.

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OK, got one. Sorta-kinda (but not really) weird or wonderful. But it's one automation my wife likes very much, so that is one kind of wonderful.

Simple basic rule to turn on a plug on our kitchen island at 5:30pm every day.

Use-case:

We usually eat around 6:30-ish and want to start rice cooking around 5:30. If we are having rice (frequent occurrence), we like to wash and then soak it before cooking. Frequently I would start the rice soaking but forget to turn the rice cooker on at 5:30 It's an OG rice cooker - one button to turn on, cooks and turns off. No built-in automation.

The plug we connect the rice cooker to on the island is a smart plug. So when I'm making rice I turn the plug off (via button on the plug), fill the rice cooker w/washed rice and water, plug it in, and press the on button. Rice cooker sits quietly, rice soaks, and cooking starts at 5:30 sharp when the plug turns on w/no intervention/functional memory required. :slight_smile:

Tah-Dah!! (Please, be gentle.) :wink:

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Sometimes the most mundane automations are the best. I have an automation that tuns off one light and turns on another when our bed is occupied.

It's my wife's favorite.

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The below is sorta not PG.

Scroll for the rest.........................................We were getting frisky one time and at the big moment the lights started flashing on and off. My wife actually thought I somehow automated the moment... but it was only the signal that the laundry was dry.
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Her: "I saw lights flashing and it seemed like the world was a wild and wonderful place!"

LOL...for a moment there you were a superstar. :wink:

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It started with the star seiling, slowly starting when it gets dark.
I use an illuminence sensor instead sun up/down, much more
precize


We love to sit here when ever temperature is ok

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Having realized many times that we went to bed with doors unlocked and/or the attached garage door open wide open, I knew there was a better way.

So now, when we tell Alexa “good night” to turn lights off, a Hubitat rule is triggered to check that all the doors are closed and locked. If not, a lamp flashes for 10 seconds.

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We have a similar routine called “bed time”, it turns off most of the lights in the house, locks the digital deadlocks, closes the garage door (if it’s been open for more than 15 mins) and turns on our bed lamps in our bedroom.

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I use to have a good-night routine that I would trigger with Google Home / Alexa. But now, I trigger night mode when we are both in bed, and night mode checks all doors and windows, closes/locks what it can and notifies if anything remained open.

We use a combination of Aquara FP2 and pressure sensor to confirm we are both in bed. It is not perfect, as there can be some false positives (though very rare), but it works very well for us.

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Speaking of garage doors - I use SharpTools to send an SMS when the garage door has been open for 1, 2, and 3 hours.

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I send myself and my wife a Hubitat notification after 30 mins and announce it on several speakers for my wife’s benefit. :rofl:

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My wife's favorite automation is a RGB lightbulb in an accent light, that turns red when garage doors open, and blue when front door is left unlocked for more than 15 minutes.

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If your front door is a smart lock, why don't you just have the automation lock the door?
If your front door is a dumb lock, what are you using to find out if it is locked?

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