Hello
I’m wondering if I can create an automation in the GUI based on the date and the time of day? Are there any examples or tutorials you can point me to? I’ve included a copy of the schedule.
Thanks in advance for any help that can be provided.
Michael
There is no date in your schedule, only weekday and time.
There is “weekday” and time as a triggers/condition.
As I see it use time as the trigger and weekday as the condition and it should work.
Time of day and sunrise / sunset are available as triggers & conditions in the GUI, but it looks like the day of the week isn’t.
You’d need to yaml that bit in, but don’t let that hold you back, you can still enter yaml in the GUI 
Thanks for the advice. I’ve now got a starting point to work with.
Michael
If you’re feeling adventurous, you can use Node-Red and get the BigTimer node. It supports Days, Weeks and year. You can even have a custom day like a holiday, etc. It also saves you from having to write the yaml. I write yaml all day at work with Ansible. The last thing I want to do at home is more yaml 
oh4.
Lookout!
Node-Red is installed and one light switch is configured via Big Timer. I’m assuming that if I have other “automations” in Home Assistant I should delete them and set them up in NR / BT? Thanks for the tip. I understand things better when they’re visual.
Indeed. The few automation I had natively in HA are now disabled since they do conflict with NR. The ONLY things I do in HA are:
No automation at all in HA natively. That’s all done with NR. I’ve only had NR for a month and love it. I came from SmartThings but hated relying on ISP’s. I wanted to do HA but wasn’t thrilled about yaml because I use it at work. I’m very comfortable with yaml but I didn’t want to work too much with it outside of work considering I also do some Ansible at home with it. Then found NR through a friend and loving every moment of it. Easy to run and understand even 5 years later
Also, make sure you get the Home Assistant node/palette to call your integrations via NR, if you haven’t . I have the BigTimer node/palette for automating lights based on time of day. I have the “cast” node/palette as well to cast to my google speakers notifications about my alarm.
My alarm setup is the most complex piece of the puzzle. By complex, I mean the one I’ve put the most time into so far but easy to do.
But this is all I have for now with BT
Hello
I’ve tried to set up a simple on / off using big timer, however the lights don’t seem to be turning on. I removed the HA automation, restarted HA and then went about programming in Node Red. Do I need to delete the entity and start over again?
Thanks for the help.
Can you share a screenshot of the settings for the bigtimer node, the switch node, and the call node? From what I can see, you have the connector from the bigtimer node to the switch node in the wrong spot. Put it at the bottom like in the image I shared and try that. Else, post those screenshots of the configs of the three nodes I mentioned
Hello
I switched the connector from BT to the switch node and that didn’t seem to work I also changed the domain in the call service nodes from “light” to “switch”, but that didn’t work. I’ve included all pictures of my configuration. Thanks again for the help.
Ok, check out the “ON Text” and “OFF Text” field in your big timer node. That also needs to have On and Off. That’s the actual string that’ll get sent.
Also, you’ll want your domain to match what the entity for that device is set in HA. If in HA, it is indeed set and seen as a switch, then on your Call Service node, you’ll want it as a switch. For example, I have some lights actually controlled by a smart light switch. So the proper domain would be switch but then I have some LIFX bulbs that have built in WiFi and smart connectivity within the bulb itself, so those would require the light domain since you are controlling the actual light. Basically, your domain should most of the time be set to what you’re actually controlling so that it actually gives you the proper options within the Service field.
It takes time to learn but it’ll start to make more sense as you use it. I’m still very new to this. I’ve only been using it for about 1 1/2 months. Also, join the Discord server for HA and check out the node-red room. Lots of helpful people. I hang out there asking lots and lots of questions all of the time too
Thanks for the help. A quick question; if my device entity is switch.tasmota_garage_coach_lights in home assistant, then should the domain in the call service node be switch.tasmota_garage_coach_lights or just switch
It should just be switch
Think of it like this: the domain is the group type the device belongs to. So if you have a bunch of switches, they all belong to that domain. And once you select switch as the domain, it’ll show the available options for a switch
Hello
Sorry for the delayed message. I’ve got Node-Red controlling three different switches, on different days and at different times. Thanks again for the help. I do have one other question;
If Monday a switch is set to go on at “Dusk” and off at “Dawn” then Node Red must be smart enough to translate this to mean “Monday on at Dusk / Tuesday off at Dawn”? I’ve worked with service modes before (on phone systems) and to get the same outcome I would have to program “Monday on at Dusk / Off at 11:59”, “Tuesday on at 12:00 / Off at Dawn”
Thanks
Michael
That’s correct, it knows that the next dusk vs dawn follows a date change since dusk is the last period of that day so dawn will always be the next day. I have the same setup but use sunset and sunrise instead.
Okay, thanks. Dumb question, what’s the difference between dusk / dawn vs sunset / sunrise?
Thanks again. After reading the article I think I’ll change my settings to Sunset / Sunrise.
