Turn interior light on and off based on several triggers

Configuration
1

This is beyond sun above horizon.

I live in Norway, and this time of the year it’s still dark inside (need interior light) at 10:30 AM, and it’s still no need for interior light in the summer when the sun barely dips below the horizon.

FUNFACT:
Below you see the big green part is the time of day when we need interior lights on around her :slight_smile:

Skjermbilde 2020-12-19 kl. 11.29.19
Skjermbilde 2020-12-19 kl. 11.29.19770×512 57.4 KB

So my approach to control interior and exterior lights is to determine when it’s dark inside and outside, based on a luminance sensor pointing to the sky on my south wall.

Today I found my automations did not trigger in the morning, and I found one reason would be the luminance sensor never changed to off during the night (doh…), thus never triggering the automation:

binary_sensor.dark_inside is set when luminance outside is below xx lux, and cleared when above the threshold.

automation:
  - alias: "[Lys] Grunnbelysning på eller alt lys av"
    trigger: 
      - platform: state
        entity_id: binary_sensor.dark_inside   ## triggers when binary sensor changes
    action:
        # This script turns light on if the light is off and vice versa
      - service: script.lys_grunnbelysning_pa_eller_av

I am looking for a way to make sure we turn on the lights even when its dark in the moring.

Would my only solution here be to use a time trigger? Are there there other alternatives?

2

I have a template sensor based on a few other sensors to determine if it is dark outside. perhaps this might help:

########Environmental Sensor Templates########
      dark_outside:
        friendly_name: 'Dark Outside'
        value_template: >
          {% if (states.sun.sun.attributes.elevation | int < 4) %}true
          {% elif ( (states.sun.sun.attributes.elevation | int < 4.5) and (states.sensor.dark_sky_cloud_coverage.state | int > 100)) %}true
          {% elif ( (states.sun.sun.attributes.elevation | int < 6) and (states.sensor.dark_sky_cloud_coverage.state | int > 100)) %}true
          {% elif (states.sensor.dark_sky_cloud_coverage.state | int > 100) %}true
          {% else %} false {% endif %}
3

I am sorry, for not explaining my issue throughoutly. I do know when it’s dark etc. using a luminance sensor.

My question is how to make sure the automation is triggered when the light sensor never turns off before I need the interior light to turn on in the morning.

Example.
I turn off off light using an automation before I go to bed at night.

When I wake up, it’s still dark (but in the summer it’s only dark for 3 hours). When I go out of bed in the morning (workdays and non-working days, summer and winter) I am
Looking for a good way of triggering the the interior light automation.

This would be:

  • time of day e.g. “06:00:00” on working days and “08:00:00”
  • mobile phone not connected to charger
  • PIR sensor detecting when out of bed
  • a button to push in HA and physical Britton in bathroom.

All these would obviously have caveats.
What are your experience/advice.