Your automation rules?

tl;dnr: Please tell me what sort of automations you have (or want to have). What input, what happens, in detail, please and thank you :slight_smile: (Or wish list, even if you aren't currently doing it.)

This is to help me fine tune some apps I've written, so I can polish them for public release. I want to ensure the features/options that I think are useful would be useful for other (hypothetical) users.

So I'd like to know what people do, specifically with sensors and schedules. Please tell me what automations you have, even if you aren't interested in my apps.

Example 1: I have my porch light come on 30 minutes before sunset until 30 minutes after sunrise. It changes color from purple to green (for no particular reason but I can). Once I get a new feature of my sensor app working, I will have it turn off every 45 minutes or so for 5 minutes, to let the bugs leave.

Example 2: I will have (pending more testing) my bathroom vent fan come on when the humidity increases by 10% in 5 minutes, and run for an hour or until the humidity is back to original level, whichever comes first. And if it's manually turned on, it'll run for an hour. I want to set it to compare to a "control device" elsewhere in the house - that's on the to-do list.

Example 3: The living room light decreases from 100% to 50% from 8pm to 11pm, and decreases color temperature. But it does not turn on by itself.

Example 4: Between sunset and sunrise, the back porch light turns on when the door is opened, and turns off 2 minutes after it is closed.

Again, I'm only looking for feedback on what automations people use. For anything else, feel free to post here. Thanks in advance!

3 Likes

Have you heard about 'Basic Rules' and 'Rule Machine'? I think maybe they've got everything covered.... :thinking:

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I agree 1000% percent LOL
I've been using HB for a while now. and I can tell you that I have a lot of experience with computer
and programming and I have a hard time, with a lot of this stuff.

With the help of many people on here, I have figured out how to do 99% of what I need to do using. the stock apps and some other apps people have written. would be nice to see something that was a little more user friendly!

WoooHoooo!

LOL That would be fabulous !

And it's not their fault. I mean... Hubitat is pretty bare bones, but I think a lot of the issue is you have to know what you want before doing it. My hope is that with a slightly more specific focus (rather than a universal "rule machine"), and by flipping it around as it were (asking the questions in the most intuitive order, rather than what might be expected by the app), as a wizard-type UI (and providing but minimizing optional sections) can prompt you to... realize what you want as you're doing it, if that makes sense. I dunno. It does help me.

I will release when it's ready. It'll be awhile. It's already been years, but I would guess maybe... 3 to 4 months, at best (LOT of testing to do). I just want to know what other people do for their actual rules, so I can make sure to tweak it to work for most situations, rather than making it useful for exactly one person - myself. Especially since it's very much alpha right now.

edit: It is on GitHub, but I'm doing a major rewrite of the core code, and it's a mess. It might be borderline beta in a month or 2.

Seriously, have a look at simple rule. It's simple but powerful enough. I am hoping you are not duplicating what's in that already and build something like Rule Machine but easy enough for everyone to use.

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I'm just wanting to get an idea of whether the automations I use in my home are typical of everyone else's.

Partially to give an outlet for anyone who wants to s**t post about how my app is a useless wanna-be-clone of Simple Automation or Rule Machine, as well as to gauge support for a tutorial feature, I've created a thread in Custom Apps & Drivers.

And, if anyone would like to share what automations they use here, then please do. I'd appreciate it.