✈ Holiday & Away Lighting

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Open your Home Assistant instance and show the blueprint import dialog with a specific blueprint pre-filled.

GitHub Link Click Here

Make your home glow, no matter where you go! :red_car: :dash:

Like this blueprint? Consider hitting the :heart: button below :+1:

Version: 1.0 :fire:

Need help? :eyes: See our FAQ: Click Here

:newspaper: The Automation:

The Holiday & Away Lighting blueprint is designed to automate your home’s lighting during the holidays, while on vacation, or whenever you’re away, creating the illusion of occupancy.

  • Automation Activation:

    • Entity-based control: If you’ve selected an entity for automation control, the automation will be activated when the entity is turned ON. If the entity is turned OFF, the automation will be disabled.
    • Date Range Control: The automation can be enabled or disabled based on a defined start and end date.
    • Device Tracker - Zone: The automation will only activate when no tracked devices are in the selected zone.
    • Device Tracker - Zone + People: The automation will only activate when no selected people are in the chosen zone.

  • Trigger Conditions:

    • You can set up a variety of triggers for turning the lights ON:

      1. Time-based trigger - Lights turn ON at a specific time.
      2. Sun Elevation - Lights turn ON when the sun reaches a certain angle.
      3. Ambient Light Level - Lights turn ON when the ambient light level falls below a set threshold.
      4. Entity State (OFF) - Lights turn ON when a selected entity is turned OFF, creating a sequence effect across multiple automations.

  • Lights ON Behaviour:

    • Order of Lights Turning ON: Lights can turn ON in sequence, reverse order, shuffled, or at the same time, depending on your preference.
    • Staggered ON Behaviour: If you’ve selected sequence, reverse order, or shuffled, the lights can be staggered with a random delay to create a more natural effect.

  • Lights ON Duration:

    • Duration Method: You can choose how long the lights stay ON before turning OFF.

      1. Minimum / Maximum ON Time: Lights stay ON for a random duration between the set minimum and maximum ON time.
      2. Earliest and Latest Time Range: Lights turn OFF at a random time within the defined earliest and latest OFF time range.
      3. Entity State - ON: Lights stay ON for a random duration after an entity is turned ON before they turn OFF.
      4. Entity State - OFF: Lights stay ON for a random duration after an entity is turned OFF before they turn OFF.

  • Lights OFF Behaviour:

    • Just like the ON behaviour, you can define how lights will turn OFF:

      • Order of Lights Turning OFF: You can turn them OFF in sequence, reverse order, shuffled, or all at the same time.
      • Staggered OFF Behaviour: If sequence, reverse order, or shuffled is selected, lights will turn OFF with a random delay between each light.

  • Weekday Control (Optional):

    • You can specify that the automation only runs on certain weekdays, offering flexibility to limit the automation to weekdays or weekends.

  • Global Conditions (Optional):

    • You can apply global conditions that affect the automation’s behaviour, ensuring it only runs under specific circumstances.

:rocket: CHANGELOG

:shield: MY OTHER BLUEPRINTS

:bulb: Sensor Light - Motion Sensor - Door Sensor - Sun Elevation - LUX Value - Scenes - Time
:high_brightness: Smart Light - Entity - Sun Elevation - Ambient & Time Triggers
:infinity: Sensor Light Add On - Media & Movie Lights - House Alarm Lights - Smoke Alarm Lights & Exhaust Fans + More
:shower: Bathroom Humidity Exhaust Fan
:low_battery: Low Battery Notifications & Actions
:vibration_mode: Appliance Notifications & Actions - Washing Machine - Clothes Dryer - Dish Washer - ETC
:loudspeaker: Notifications & Announcements
:calendar: Calendar Notifications & Actions
:round_pushpin: State Notifications & Actions
:stop_button: Manual Control Status Tracker
:honeybee: Bee In The Hive Sensor
:robot: Android Notification Channel Manager
:toilet: Toilet Exhaust Fan with time delay
:hourglass_flowing_sand: Entity - Run ON Timer
:stopwatch: Trigger - Run ON Timer
:magic_wand: Manual light control with auto OFF
:door: Closet, Pantry, and Cupboard Lighting
:timer_clock: Timer
:thermometer: Temperature Control Fan
:snowflake: Temperature Control Exhaust Fan - Inverted
:eight_spoked_asterisk: Toggle Switch - Turn ON & OFF Entities
:nazar_amulet: Press Button - Turn ON & OFF Entities
:on: Switch - Turn ON & OFF Entities

Like this blueprint? Consider hitting the :heart: button below :+1:

6 Likes
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:construction_worker_man: :construction: FAQ For Blueprint :construction: :construction_worker_woman:

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Absolutely great. For years, I’ve been trying to find the best solution and am still looking for the best way. Now I finally see light at the end of the tunnel. Thank you very much. I’m looking forward to testing it.

1 Like
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:airplane: New Blueprint Release: Holiday & Away Lighting :bulb:

Introducing the Holiday & Away Lighting blueprint, designed to automate your home’s lighting during the holidays or whenever you’re away, creating the illusion of occupancy.

This blueprint offers a flexible and highly customizable solution to automate your lights with various triggers, conditions, and behaviors that simulate movement in your home.

Sit down and start planning your Holiday & Away Lighting automation! It can be as simple as a single automation, or you can link multiple automations throughout your home. As one light turns ON or OFF, you can trigger another action in another part of the house.

Example:

  • Automation 1 turns ON your family room lights and TV. First, the lights turn ON, followed by the TV.
  • When you go to bed, you normally turn ON your toilet light. Set up Automation 2 to do that. When the toilet light turns OFF, Automation 1 uses the Entity State - OFF (Method 4), and your TV turns OFF first, followed by your family room lights.
  • When your family room lights turn OFF, Automation 3 uses the Entity State – OFF trigger to turn ON your hallway lights, followed by your bedroom lights. Then, they turn OFF using Method 1.
  • During the night, you go to the toilet, and Automation 4 uses a time-based trigger (with a 60-minute delay) to turn ON your hallway lights, followed by your toilet light. Method 1 then turns OFF the toilet light, followed by the hallway lights.

This is just one example of how you can use the blueprint. Feel free to get as creative as you like!

Most people use it for holiday lights, but why not set it up to run while you’re out for dinner or visiting a friend’s house? After all, creating the illusion of occupancy is just as important when you’re not on holiday.

Have fun with it! :tada:

Enjoy

Blacky :grinning:

2 Likes
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I just looked it over and see a lots of options, which is great, but from a security standpoint (as you pointed out in your first post) its best to mimic your normal patterns / sequences in case any bad guys are watching. So having both sequence and variations is important. Typically you want up to 30 min in variations. Normally other factors are not an issue (dusk/dawn, etc) as most people have the same time-based patterns for lighting (according to the police experts).

What I find is the easiest is a single automation with a sequence of activities/actions. Its easier to visualize, and admin. If there was a blueprint that did that, IMO, that would be ideal. For example…

Dinner @ 6:30 (±30 min random variance)
– turn on dining room light for 40 minutes (± 8 min random variance)

Living Room & Kitchen after Dinner lights turn off (±30 min random variance)
– turn on livingroom light and tv for 50 minutes (± 16 min random variance)

Kid 1 bedtime @ 9pm (±15 min random variance)
– turn on light for 20 minutes (± 8 min random variance)

Kid 2 bedtime @ 9pm (±15 min random variance)
– turn on light for 45 minutes (± 8 min random variance)

Parents bedtime @ 11pm (±28 min random variance)
– turn on light for 45 minutes (± 12 min random variance)

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@Ltek

Can’t happen. It is a blueprint. If you provided 4 option then someone would like 5, If you provided 5 then someone would like 6 and the blueprint would be diffident and it just cant work. This includes me as it changes.

With this automation you can have 1 automation or 1,000,000 automations if you like. It is so flexible and can do what your asking.

You have taken the fist step and written down what you would like. Keep that on file for your reference. What you can also do is title your automations “Holiday & Away lighting - Dinning Room”, “Holiday & Away lighting - Living Room & Kitchen” etc. This makes it easy to edit with your written plan.

You need 5 automations.

Automation 1: Trigger Time @ 6:00 with a Turn ON Time Delay of 60 min. Then Use Minimum / Maximum ON Time with Minimum ON Time 32 and Maximum ON Time 48.

Automation 2: Trigger Entity State - OFF and use your dining room light. The “turn on living room light and tv for 50 minutes” is wrong. Make it flow with Automation 5. Use Earliest and Latest Time Range and the range between 10:32 till 11:28.

Automation 3: Trigger Time @ 8:45 with a Turn ON Time Delay of 30 min. Then Use Minimum / Maximum ON Time with Minimum ON Time 12 and Maximum ON Time 28.

Automation 4: Trigger Time @ 8:45 with a Turn ON Time Delay of 30 min. Then Use Minimum / Maximum ON Time with Minimum ON Time 37 and Maximum ON Time 53.

Automation 5: Because we fixed automation 2 . Use, Trigger Entity State - OFF and use your living room light. Then Use Minimum / Maximum ON Time with Minimum ON Time 33 and Maximum ON Time 57.

There are more settings but hopefully this will guide you. Get as creative as you like.

Blacky :grinning:

1 Like
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This looks great. I am pretty new to this home assistant thing. How does it play with other automations you have set up. Does it override them? For example if my living room lights are set to only come on at sunset when there is presence, could I use this to override it if I am on holiday?

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@fergoid.ai

Welcome to the community.

If you’re using the Blackshome blueprint ecosystem, I’m working to ensure all blueprints work seamlessly together.

For the best experience with the Sensor Light blueprint, I recommend creating a toggle helper and assigning it to Bypass Option 1 in that blueprint. Then, add the same toggle helper to a light input in this blueprint. You could name your toggle helpers something like Holiday Lighting – Living Room Lights to keep things organized.

This setup ensures that when this automation turns the lights OFF, your Sensor Light blueprint can take over and keep the lights ON if your presence sensor detects someone. It’s ideal for when you’re away… like on holiday and someone pops in to feed the pets… or just using it as away lighting.

Everything should work together smoothly, but if something feels off or you have suggestions, feel free to let us know!

Blacky :grinning:

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This is a thing of beaut! One of the basic functions you’d expect in an EIB / Home server system that was never there. Will give it a try. Thanks Blacky!

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@linuxfreak

Your welcome!

Enjoy

Blacky :grinning: