stratfin
February 16, 2026, 8:15pm
1
Newbie HA user here. I need some advice on what I think is a more complex automation.
In my kitchen I have 2 sets of lights that are controlled by motion. I have a number of different scenarios and was wondering if I could do this all in one automation or do I need to set up separate automations for each scenario.
The 2 sets of lights are:
Main Kitchen Lights which are on a dimmer
Island Light which is on an on/off switch.
I have 3 helper toggles:
Home Mode
Watching TV
Night Mode
Senario 1:
When motion is detected and Home Mode is on and Watching TV is off and Lux is <200 turn on Island Light and Main Lights 100%
Senario 2:
When motion is detected and Watching TV is on turn on Main Lights 50% (no Island Light)
Senario 3:
When motion is detected and Night Mode is on turn on Main Lights 5% (no Island Light)
If this can be done with one automation would some please let me know how to do it.
Thanks.
Yes, it can be done in one automation. But, since you are new to HA, it might be best to start by doing it with separate automations first. Once you get them working the way you want, if you still want to, we can help you combine them.
1 Like
wgumaa
February 16, 2026, 8:25pm
3
Try this:
alias: Kitchen Motion Lighting (All Modes)
mode: restart
trigger:
- platform: state
entity_id: binary_sensor.kitchen_motion
to: "on"
id: motion_on
- platform: state
entity_id: binary_sensor.kitchen_motion
to: "off"
for:
minutes: 5
id: motion_off_short
- platform: state
entity_id: binary_sensor.kitchen_motion
to: "off"
for:
minutes: 10
id: motion_off_long
condition: []
action:
- choose:
# SCENARIO 3 – NIGHT MODE (Highest Priority)
- conditions:
- condition: trigger
id: motion_on
- condition: state
entity_id: input_boolean.night_mode
state: "on"
sequence:
- service: light.turn_on
target:
entity_id: light.main_kitchen_lights
data:
brightness_pct: 5
# SCENARIO 2 – WATCHING TV
- conditions:
- condition: trigger
id: motion_on
- condition: state
entity_id: input_boolean.watching_tv
state: "on"
sequence:
- service: light.turn_on
target:
entity_id: light.main_kitchen_lights
data:
brightness_pct: 50
# SCENARIO 1 – HOME MODE + LUX LOGIC
- conditions:
- condition: trigger
id: motion_on
- condition: state
entity_id: input_boolean.home_mode
state: "on"
- condition: state
entity_id: input_boolean.watching_tv
state: "off"
sequence:
- choose:
# Lux < 200 → Main 100% + Island
- conditions:
- condition: numeric_state
entity_id: sensor.kitchen_lux
below: 200
sequence:
- service: light.turn_on
target:
entity_id: light.main_kitchen_lights
data:
brightness_pct: 100
- service: switch.turn_on
target:
entity_id: switch.island_light
# Lux 200–300 → Island only
- conditions:
- condition: numeric_state
entity_id: sensor.kitchen_lux
above: 200
below: 300
sequence:
- service: switch.turn_on
target:
entity_id: switch.island_light
# Lux > 300 → Do nothing
- conditions:
- condition: numeric_state
entity_id: sensor.kitchen_lux
above: 300
sequence: []
# TURN OFF LOGIC – NIGHT + TV (5 min)
- conditions:
- condition: trigger
id: motion_off_short
sequence:
- service: light.turn_off
target:
entity_id: light.main_kitchen_lights
- service: switch.turn_off
target:
entity_id: switch.island_light
# TURN OFF LOGIC – NORMAL MODE (10 min)
- conditions:
- condition: trigger
id: motion_off_long
sequence:
- service: light.turn_off
target:
entity_id: light.main_kitchen_lights
- service: switch.turn_off
target:
entity_id: switch.island_light
1 Like
stratfin
February 18, 2026, 12:03am
4
Thanks. As I mentioned, I’m a HA newbie. Do I copy this, create a new automation, select “Edit in YAMl” and paste it there?
Also I guess I should change the entity IDs to match what I have.
Yes you can do just that, paste as YAML. Replace the devices with your actual ones as well.
1 Like
wgumaa
February 18, 2026, 7:19am
6
yes and then change your entities. you can switch back to visiual mode to that as it may be easier
stratfin
February 19, 2026, 8:10pm
7
Thank you. This is working just fine. (I’m going to copy and adjust it for other lighting in my home).
Question; will the lights turn off after no motion when the lights are turned on manually - not by motion? I’m coming from Apple Home and its motion activated automations will only turn off the light if motion turned it on.
stratfin
February 20, 2026, 8:35pm
8
How does the automation know which turn off logic to use?
wgumaa
February 21, 2026, 7:44am
9
stratfin:
Thank you. This is working just fine. (I’m going to copy and adjust it for other lighting in my home).
Question; will the lights turn off after no motion when the lights are turned on manually - not by motion? I’m coming from Apple Home and its motion activated automations will only turn off the light if motion turned it on.
With your current automation, the lights will turn off after no motion even if they were turned on manually.
1 Like
wgumaa
February 21, 2026, 7:49am
10
The automation has trigger ids. So when the automation runs it is asking itself:
Which trigger fired me?
Then it looks at the condition.
Looking back at it, I refined it a bit:
alias: Kitchen Motion Lighting (All Modes)
mode: restart
trigger:
- platform: state
entity_id: binary_sensor.kitchen_motion
to: "on"
id: motion_on
- platform: state
entity_id: binary_sensor.kitchen_motion
to: "off"
for:
minutes: 5
id: motion_off_5
condition: []
action:
- choose:
# SCENARIO 3 – NIGHT MODE
- conditions:
- condition: trigger
id: motion_on
- condition: state
entity_id: input_boolean.night_mode
state: "on"
sequence:
- service: light.turn_on
target:
entity_id: light.main_kitchen_lights
data:
brightness_pct: 5
# SCENARIO 2 – WATCHING TV
- conditions:
- condition: trigger
id: motion_on
- condition: state
entity_id: input_boolean.watching_tv
state: "on"
sequence:
- service: light.turn_on
target:
entity_id: light.main_kitchen_lights
data:
brightness_pct: 50
# SCENARIO 1 – HOME MODE + LUX LOGIC
- conditions:
- condition: trigger
id: motion_on
- condition: state
entity_id: input_boolean.home_mode
state: "on"
- condition: state
entity_id: input_boolean.watching_tv
state: "off"
- condition: state
entity_id: input_boolean.night_mode
state: "off"
sequence:
- choose:
# Lux < 200 - Main 100% + Island
- conditions:
- condition: numeric_state
entity_id: sensor.kitchen_lux
below: 200
sequence:
- service: light.turn_on
target:
entity_id: light.main_kitchen_lights
data:
brightness_pct: 100
- service: switch.turn_on
target:
entity_id: switch.island_light
# Lux 200 - 300 -Island only
- conditions:
- condition: numeric_state
entity_id: sensor.kitchen_lux
above: 199
below: 301
sequence:
- service: switch.turn_on
target:
entity_id: switch.island_light
# Lux > 300 - Do nothing
- conditions:
- condition: numeric_state
entity_id: sensor.kitchen_lux
above: 300
sequence: []
# TURN OFF LOGIC
- conditions:
- condition: trigger
id: motion_off_5
sequence:
# If night mode OR watching TV - off after 5 min
- choose:
- conditions:
- condition: or
conditions:
- condition: state
entity_id: input_boolean.night_mode
state: "on"
- condition: state
entity_id: input_boolean.watching_tv
state: "on"
sequence:
- service: light.turn_off
target:
entity_id: light.main_kitchen_lights
- service: switch.turn_off
target:
entity_id: switch.island_light
# Otherwise - wait extra 5 min (total 10) then off
default:
- delay: "00:05:00"
# Safety: only turn off if motion is still off after the extra delay
- condition: state
entity_id: binary_sensor.kitchen_motion
state: "off"
- service: light.turn_off
target:
entity_id: light.main_kitchen_lights
- service: switch.turn_off
target:
entity_id: switch.island_light
1 Like