🚿 Bathroom Humidity Exhaust Fan

balk77 · November 12, 2023, 9:04pm

I am calling my fan with a script:

alias: Ventilatie High
sequence:
  - service: fan.set_preset_mode
    data:
      preset_mode: High
    target:
      entity_id: fan.mechanical_ventilation
mode: single
icon: mdi:fan-speed-3

You can easily fiddle in a condition for time or input_boolean. You can call the script directly from this wonderful Blueprint.

fuzzyfelt · November 17, 2023, 8:12am

Thanks for this, finally got round to setting it up yesterday.

Question - I’ve added an input boolean to manually run the fan when needed, I’d like it to stop after 15 minutes. What’s the best way to implement this without messing up the rest of the automation?

Eg if I’ve manually run it and after 10 minutes someone then takes a shower, will the automation carry on as normal?

Blacky · November 17, 2023, 10:30am

Use the manual fan switch option and select option 2, enter in your entity (input boolean) then set the “Manual Fan Switch Auto OFF - Time Delay” to 15 min.

If you do this and you have a shower the automation will take control.

Blacky

fuzzyfelt · November 17, 2023, 4:12pm

Thank you! Knew I was missing something obvious.

Blacky · November 18, 2023, 12:15am

Your welcome, there are a lot of settings to get your head around.

ChrisThomas · November 23, 2023, 11:15am

Just like to report that this blueprint is still working day in - day out, it just works! The exhaust fan is working great and keeps the room better “aired” than when the fan was manually controlled.

My gripe is with my %$^&* sensors! I have only two types in my house, Aqara and Tuya, both Zigbee. The Tuya doesn’t report often enough to be usable in this context and the Aqara just randomly decides to remove itself from the Zigbee network (well documented)! This can be after a fews days or months and requires removing and rejoining the network. The good news is that if it goes “off” whilst the blueprint is activated the fan still stops, the bad news if it’s already off when the shower starts the fan isn’t activated and need to use a switch, myself, manually, with no automation!!! This far from ideal!

Without wishing to highjack this thread (which I’ve just done!) what Zigbee (preferrably) sensors have people had success with?

P.S. If inappropriate then please remove post.

Blacky · November 23, 2023, 12:58pm

@ChrisThomas

Nice to hear it is working well for you too.

If you are after Zigbee then maybe someone else can advise you as I don’t use Zigbee. This is my set up Click Here in one bathroom. I found plunging it in just works so maybe a plug in one but hopefully someone can help. @andyblac uses a aqara and this is his post.

Blacky

Townsmcp · November 23, 2023, 2:14pm

@ChrisThomas the humidity sensor that I have been using for a year and had no problems with is Aquara/Xiaomi WSDCGQ11LM (the standard Aquara sensor from AliExpress (https://a.aliexpress.com/_mPLvJHe)).
I dont use ZHA as I didnt get on with it last time I tried so I use Zigbee2MQTT - maybe that is the problem if you use the same sensor?

ChrisThomas · November 23, 2023, 2:49pm

Again without wanting to hi-jack this thread. @Townsmcp Sounds like I have a similar setup, Z2M and WSDCGQ11LM (as reported by Z2M). The sensor is less than 2m away from the nearest Zigbee mains powered device, that other battery devices connect to, but it always connects to the co-ordinator! I always do the pairing once the device is positioned and there are at least half a dozen mains powered zigbee devices between it and the co-ordinator (as the radio waves fly). Other battery devices connect to the nearest router, even another WSDCGQ11LM. Doh… swap them over you numpty… working… working…

Townsmcp · November 23, 2023, 3:41pm

So a bit more background behind my setup:

I use a TubeZ USB coordinator. Used to have a Conbee but found it completely rubbish as I outgrew it. The TubeZ unit allows more concurrent connections and has a greater range. I have about 50 zigbee devices and Conbee just couldnt cope.
The Aquara connects to a cheapo Lidl (Silvercrest) bulb.
I use channel 20 for zigbee devices (found it to be the better signal). No end device is more than 2 hops away from the coordinator.
I do have Hue bulbs and motion sensor however I have gone back to connecting those to the Hue bridge (simply because when HA is down I have no access to turn lights on/off etc so wanted a failsafe)
Hue bridge is on channel 15.
2.4ghz wifi is on channels 1 and 6 (2 Unifi U6 Pro AP’s with wired backbone and 1 U6 Mesh AP that is wireless meshed) with a channel width of 20 for all 3 AP’s

andyblac · November 23, 2023, 5:42pm

the issue your probably facing is due to Aqara sensors do not use the Zigbee standard, so they will not connect to all Zigbee routers, there really picky.

DaveBoring · November 27, 2023, 12:00am

I use Z2M, and in my settings I have “Permit Join” enabled. This way, whenever an Aqara device decides to wake up, it can rejoin the Zigbee network. I had problems similar to yours before I enabled this option, but now it all works well.

The only downside I have encountered so far is that I will occasionally have a neighbor’s Philips Hue bulb (or something similar) get randomly added. Since I rename all of my Zigbee devices, the random addition sticks out with its hex name, so I just do a force remove on the device and it’s gone.

Cabletwister · November 27, 2023, 6:56am

In Z2M you can block them so they cannot re-join.

slackcc · December 4, 2023, 8:52pm

Is there a way to allow a “light.” entity to be the fan? Issue I’m having is that I just got some Kasa Matter switches and they are coming across as “light.” instead of “switch.” and in Matter there’s not currently a way (that I can find) to change this (yet?). Helpers gives me the ability to assign a switch as something else, but not the ability to assign a light as a switch.

Blacky · December 5, 2023, 6:50am

@slackcc

Hi Chris, firstly welcome to the community

I will PM you.

Blacky

Blacky · December 7, 2023, 7:32am

FAQ - How To Update Blueprint on Home Assistant Version: 2023.12.0 +

Home assistant has added an new feature this month on how we can update our blueprints

If you have imported a blueprint using the import blueprint button you can now easily update them. Below are the steps if you would like to update your blueprint this way.

From time to time when I update my blueprint there may be a breaking change or something that is required to do. I would strongly recommend that you do a full backup of your Home Assistant before you update any blueprint this way. You can also go onto the post of the blueprint as normally I will notify you of any changes but also note, sometimes I don’t notify you. That is why it is always a good idea to do a full backup of your Home Assistant before updating. This way you can always easily roll back if something goes wrong

HOW TO UPDATE A BLUEPRINT

1 - First most important, do a full backup of your Home Assistant, and store it in a location where you can get to it if you brick your Home Assistant (on a separate computer not running Home Assistant).

2 - Go into settings / automation & scenes / click on the blueprint tab at the top and then the 3 dots next to the blueprint you would like to update.

3 - A pop up will appear and you will see you have an option to “re-import blueprint”.

When you click on the “re-import blueprint” you will get a confirmation to “re-import”.

STOP Have you done a full backup If you are happy with everything (again, a backup of HA) then and only then should you click the “re-import” button.

Once you click the “re-import blueprint” button a confirmation message will appear down the bottom.

Your done!! You blueprint is updated

To check everything was done correctly, go into your automation and or the blueprint, you should see the new version displayed at the top confirming you are on the latest.

If it is greyed out and you can’t select the “re-import blueprint” button then keep following the steps.

4 - At the top of my blueprints there will be a import blueprint button and also a link to my GitHub. If click on the import blueprint and follow the steps and click preview your will see override blueprint. This will confirm that your file path is correct and it will update the blueprint.

STOP - Have you done a full backup because you get no warning… it is going to happen if you click the “Override Blueprint” button.

If you are happy with everything (again, a backup of HA) then and only then should you click the “Override Blueprint” button.

You have now updated a blueprint .

If you click on GitHub link and go to the blueprint you would like to update and copy the URL as shown below.

For this blueprint “Bathroom Humidity Exhaust Fan” the URL is;

https://gist.github.com/Blackshome/8e09a8213b834f1be4ab49ba880abed8

Each blueprint will have it’s own URL, so it is important that you copy the correct one you would like to update.

5 - Under the blueprint tab click on “Import Blueprint”. A pop up will appear.

In the blueprint address paste the URL of the blueprint you would like to update and click preview.

The blueprint will be displayed and if you have installed the blueprint into the correct file location you will see a “Cancel” and an “Override Blueprint” button. If not you will see an “Import Blueprint” button. If you see the “import blueprint” button jump to step 6. If you see “Override Blueprint” button then keep reading.

Scroll down to read all the documentation including the warning from HA.

STOP - Have you done a full backup because you get no warning… it is going to happen if you click the “Override Blueprint” button.

If you are happy with everything (again, a backup of HA) then and only then should you click the “Override Blueprint” button.

You have now updated a blueprint .

To check everything was done correctly, go into your automation and or the blueprint, you should see the new version displayed at the top confirming you are on the latest.

6 - Not Working For You - Looks like you manually installed the blueprint. If that is the case then you will have to manually update it. Click Here to go through the steps on how to do that.

But Wait!! If you would like to take advantage of this new update feature then you will have to import the blueprint again. Then update all of your automations, but check out the “Tip” below as it is not that hard to do.

TIP - In the YAML file of your existing automations is a file path. Once you imported the blueprint into your HA you can just change the file path to the new location in your existing automations. If you are unsure of the file path just add a test automation with the newly imported blueprint and go into your automation, top right 3 dots, Edit in YAML, and you will see the file path. Then copy the path of the newly imported blueprint automation.

5735×127 19.9 KB

Before you update the path: First copy the YAML of the existing automation you would like to update and save it in another file as your back up, yes I like back ups.

Once you have the new file path, use this file path in the existing automations you would like to update by replacing it with the new file path and clicking save. Do one at a time and check if it worked. You will then be able to use the new update feature in the future

Hope this helps you.

Enjoy

Blacky

Back to FAQ: Click Here

MJC1 · December 8, 2023, 6:45pm

Hello.
This is an awesome blueprint. I am having trouble getting the fan to turned off though. I am using a script only feature. I created two scripts, one to turn the fan ON and set it up in as “Fan Switch” with its accompanying toggle. The second script turns the fan OFF and set in the automation as the “Input - Fan Speed - Switch Off.”
“Falling Humidity” is set to -1 and the derivative sensor easily shows values below -3.5 after the shower is off. The time delay is set to 8 minutes. However, the OFF script never gets called. Is there anything I am missing?

Blacky · December 9, 2023, 2:39pm

@MJC1

Firstly welcome to the community

I can’t see your settings but have a look at this

If that doesn’t fix it then could you please provide us your YAML of the automation? This YAML code are the settings you have selected in the automation so I can help. To do this go into your automation, top right 3 dots, Edit in YAML, copy all the code, come back to the forum and in your reply at the top tool bar click on “</>” and paste code in there.

Let us know how you go.

Blacky

MJC1 · December 9, 2023, 4:34pm

Rookie mistake. I am rather embarrassed I didn’t notice that. Made the change and works like a charm. Thanks Blacky!

Blacky · December 10, 2023, 2:32pm

@MJC1

No problem, there are a lot of options to go through. Thanks for getting back to us and your welcome.

Enjoy

Blacky