Automation to toggle lighting groups on/off

Configuration
1

I have a lighting group light.ben_bedroom_uplighters and a toggle input_boolean.toggle_bedroom_ben_lights both set up as Herlpers.

I have defined an automation to toggle the toggle so far so good.

Now this is where I am stuck. I can do an automation that turns a single light on/off depending on the toggle. I can have an action per light

alias: Toggle Ben Bedroom Lights 1
description: ""
trigger:
  - platform: state
    entity_id:
      - input_boolean.toggle_bedroom_ben_lights
    from: "off"
    to: "on"
    id: power-on
  - platform: state
    entity_id:
      - input_boolean.toggle_bedroom_ben_lights
    id: power-off
    from: "on"
    to: "off"
condition: []
action:
  - choose:
      - conditions:
          - condition: trigger
            id: power-on
        sequence:
          - type: turn_on
            device_id: a4659e3c5bb97053b6e86f0b98115608
            entity_id: light.uplighter_l
            domain: light
          - type: turn_on
            device_id: daf6c0d07ed5871c19a709ed2a820c91
            entity_id: light.uplighter_r
            domain: light
      - conditions:
          - condition: trigger
            id: power-off
        sequence:
          - type: turn_off
            device_id: a4659e3c5bb97053b6e86f0b98115608
            entity_id: light.uplighter_l
            domain: light
          - type: turn_off
            device_id: daf6c0d07ed5871c19a709ed2a820c91
            entity_id: light.uplighter_r
            domain: light
mode: single

But how do I change it so rather than doing entity_id: light.uplighter_l & entity_id: light.uplighter_r I simply turn the whole lighting group ( light.ben_bedroom_uplighters) on or off?

As a side note I actualy built this with the GUI editorl, not in YAMLl. I notice it uses device_id & entity_id. If I was building this from scratch in YAML do I need to look up all the device IDs and include both or can I just use entity ID. If there is a doc covering this that would be great.

2 
alias: Toggle Ben Bedroom Lights 1
description: ""
trigger:
  - platform: state
    entity_id:
      - input_boolean.toggle_bedroom_ben_lights
    from:
      - "off"
      - "on"
    to:
      - "on"
      - "off"
condition: []
action:
  - service: 'light.turn_{{ trigger.to_state.state }}'
    target:
      entity_id: light.ben_bedroom_uplighters
mode: single

Use a Service Call instead of a Device Action because it allows you to use an entity_id. Plus you can template the options of a service call (as seen in the example I posted) whereas a Device Action doesn’t support templating.

1 Like
3

Thanks, that is exacly what I was looking for. Did a bit og googeling for the service stuff you used and what I found is quite technical. I get what is going on but are there any good tutorials?

1 Like
4

PS are the quotes around on/off needed.

Also makes me realise I could just have a trigger on zigbee button pressed and toggle state of light group, no need for boolean.

5

I always recommend starting with the official documentation. Here’s the section for Triggers.

You’re welcome!

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6

All done :wink: