I’m new to HA. I previously had a ‘dumb’ SmartHome system provided by my old security company, ADT (the Pulse system). That system left a lot to be desired yet gave me the inspiration to delve deeper into SmartHome systems, which landed me here.
In ADT’s Pulse system, you could set up ‘Modes’ where different automations would be enabled under different circumstances and others disabled under other circumstances. For example, ‘Vacation Mode’ if you were out of town and nobody was home, would set the thermostat to a different temperature range than the normal temperature schedule and send me more notifications if things happened at home while I was away. Or I have seen ‘Guest Mode’ used by HA power users on various YouTube videos I’ve watched to disable certain automations when you have house guests staying with you. There may also be circumstances where I want to suspend automations, like disabling automatic lighting in the evening on the porch if we are hanging out there.
The problem is, I haven’t been able to find any instructions on HOW to set up these ‘modes’. I know it is possible, I just haven’t figured it out. I have a hunch it has something to do with a Scene or Script, but I’m still trying to wrap my head around those features and where they would be applied.
I’m away from my PC right now so can’t demonstrate, but what you do is create an input_select “helper” called “mode” (or whatever you like” and set it to have the selections of whatever modes you are looking for.
Then, in your automations, you make a condition that this helper is selected to the mode you want for it to work.
You can also create an automation that will set the mode automatically based on other condition like your presence at home or sundown not sunup etc etc.
One of mine is called “house mode” and it can either be “asleep”, “awake” or “manual”, most of my automations will not work if “house mode” is set to “manual”. My exceptions to this are notification automations. I have an automation that sets “house mode” to asleep when I press a button in my bedroom and to “awake” when the motion sensor in my hallway detects motions after 6am.
When house mode is “asleep” my motion activated lights will only come on low, motion detection in the bedrooms are off etc etc. …you get the idea.
If your “modes” are binary - home/away, day/night etc. - you can use input_boolean helpers in a similar way. In either case, if you want two modes to be active at the same time, you will need two separate helpers.
That’s it. Input_booleans are much simpler - either on or off - they’re essentially switches. Start with a couple of those (one for each “mode”), then move on to input_select when you’ve got the hang of it.
Thanks guys, I’m almost to full understanding… Now I’m lost on “booleans.” I understand they’re binary or on/off, but how is a boolean created/selected? Or where do I select an input_select vs an input_boolean?
I’ve created the “Mode” dropdown and see where it is input_select, but isn’t that binary in itself? I cannot select more than one dropdown at a time, can I?
The dropdown has multiple options, but you’re right, you can only select one at a time. The input_boolean (I think it’s now called “toggle” in the list of helpers) has only two options - on or off.
You then need an automation triggered by the dropdown you created changing. Then in actions pick “choose” and “condition” the choose with a state of the dropdown. Add as many choose’s as you need. Then the actions will be what ever you want to happen when you are away or whatever. Have a play and see what you can do.
Thanks, everyone! I think I’m getting it now. There is so much to HA, and so hard for noobs to get the hang of it all. Then there’s the task of organizing it all!
