FAQ - The Settings & Best Practice Guidelines
Trigger Sensor - Binary Sensors
This is the trigger sensor that will turn ON “Lights - Switches – Scenes” and “Intermission - Lights - Switches - Scenes” when it changes it state. You can enter your media player (Apple TV, PLEX, etc), your alarm system, smoke detector, etc.
Trigger - ON State
This is the state/s your trigger will be in to activate the automation. If your state is not shown in the list you can add custom states. To add a custom state just simply type the state you would like into the input and hit enter. To delete a state click on the “X” next to it.
-
This is typical to find your trigger state: If you would like to find out what state your trigger is in then click on developer tools, then the states tab, in the search box type you trigger you are using to find it, then click on the link and it will display the state it is in. Then change the state, example play or pause a movie and click on the refresh, it will then show the changed state your in. You will then know what stat to select. If you find there isn’t a state for you to select in the automation them let me know and I will add it for you.
Trigger - OFF State
This is the state/s your trigger will be in to deactivate the automation. If your state is not shown in the list you can add custom states. To add a custom state just simply type the state you would like into the input and hit enter. To delete a state click on the “X” next to it.
Note: If you are using the “Intermission Option” then you can’t select the same stat that is also selected in the “Intermission - State”
Time Delay
This is the time delay before the automation turns OFF or goes to an intermission mode. It is used as a buffer. If you press the wrong button on the remote accidentally turning the automation OFF or going to an intermission mode, you will have time to correct your actions before your lights change.
Lights - Switches – Scenes
This is where you select what lights, switches or scenes you would like to turn ON. The automation only supports entities. Having the ability to select areas and devices is a nice quick easy way to find your entities. When selecting areas or devices, click the expand button “<>” as shown below. This will expand out your area or device so you can quickly find your entities. Your final selection should look all green and only have lights, switches or scenes entities.
Areas 
Devices 
Entities

Scenes To Turn OFF & Intermission - Scenes To Turn OFF
If you have selected a scene to be turned ON above in “Lights - Switches - Scenes” or below in “Intermission - Lights - Switches - Scenes” then you will need to create another scene. The scene must have all the lights you have used in scenes for this automation, with all the lights OFF.
Below example of using scenes in this automation.
- Lets say we are using 2 lights in this automation. Light 1 is used for watching a movie. Light 1 is in “Movie Scene - ON” and is set to 5 % brightness in the scene.
- Then if you are also using the intermission option. In “Intermission - Lights - Switches - Scenes” we are using lights 1 & 2 and they are in “Movie Scene - Intermission ON”. They are set to 35 % brightness in this scene.
- Because light 2 is not used in “Movie Scene - ON” we need to created another scene, I called it “Movie Scene - Intermission OFF”. In that scene I have put light 2 in there and have set it to OFF.
- Last thing we need to do is create the final scene. I have called it “Movie Scene - All Lights OFF”. In this scene we need to put all the lights used in this automation, they are lights 1 & 2 and set them to OFF.
You can call the scenes anything you like as this is just an example. Below is the screen shots of the example above.
Light Control Options
This allows you to select what option you would like to control in your light entity.
-
Brightness – Your light must be able to support brightness control by being able to dim the light in Home Assistant.
-
Colour Temperature - Your light must be able to support colour temperature by being able to adjust the colour temperature in Home Assistant. Some LED lights that can change colour may also support colour temperature.
-
Transition – If your lights support brightness or colour temperature then this is the time it will take to transition to the next state. A state change can be from OFF to ON, from ON to OFF, from normal lights to night lights and from night lights to normal lights.
For each option you select you also have the ability to adjust the setting. More information is next to each setting.
If you have selected an option and your light doesn’t support it then the light will simply just turn ON.
The Start Turn OFF Options
The lights and switches to turn OFF when the automation first starts.
The Intermission Option
-
Intermission - State
This is the state/s your trigger will be in to activate Intermission. If your state is not shown in the list you can add custom states. To add a custom state just simply type the state you would like into the input and hit enter. To delete a state click on the “X” next to it.
Note: The selection cannot be the same as in the “Trigger - OFF State” selections.
-
Intermission - Lights - Switches - Scenes
The lights that get turned on by the trigger sensor/s. You can also add switches and scenes. If adding a scene please read “Intermission - Scenes To Turn OFF” below.
NOTE - You can only use entities. Areas and devices are not supported.
-
Intermission - Scenes To Turn OFF
If you have selected a scene to be turned ON above in “Intermission - Lights - Switches - Scenes” and your lights are different from “Lights - Switches - Scenes” above, then you will need to create another scene. The scene should include the different lights and the lights must be OFF. If your lights are the same as “Intermission - Lights - Switches - Scenes” then leave this blank.
For an example on how to set scenes correctly see " Scenes To Turn OFF & Intermission - Scenes To Turn OFF" above.
The End Turn ON Options
The lights and switches to turn ON when the automation ends. You can select to create a snapshot of your lights & switches so they will return to the state they were in before this automation started. Or you can select to turn ON lights - switches - scenes.
-
Note - If you chose to create a snapshot then you must enter a unique snapshot name and create a toggle helper for this option to work.
The Automation Link Option
This allows you to link your other automations so they will be automatically disabled. This is useful if you are using one of my other blueprints to control the lights, switches and or scenes and you would like to disable it when this automation is ON. For more information on the Automation Link Option Click Here
Conditions
All the conditions are global and can work alongside with the other conditions. You can select one or all of them but if enabled each condition must pass for the automation to run.
-
Sun
This is used for adding a condition to only work when it is dark or below the “Sun Elevation” setting. I thought about “Sunset” and “Sunrise” but HA recommend using sun elevation as it works better throughout the year. So I took their advice and used the sun elevation.
-
Ambient
This is used for adding a condition to only work when it is dark or below the “Ambient Light LUX Value”. There are some extra settings to select when setting this up so it will function correctly. More information is next to each setting.
Trigger Sensor By-pass
This is to disable the automation.
Hope this helps to explain some of the settings 
Enjoy
Blacky 
Back to FAQ: Click Here