I've been running HA for a while, and it's been working well; I haven't had to change much in a few months. That being said, it's fun to tinker with it, and I'm curious to hear what kind of automations the rest of the community is using. What automations are you most proud of? What are your favorite? What kind of interesting automations have you written?
My personal favorite is an automation that displays the current "apparent" temperature on a Hue bulb. It takes an average of the temperature, humidity, and luminance around my property and uses the average to compute an "apparent" (feels like) temperature. Then it applies a cosine function to the apparent temperature (to approximate how people feel temperature change), uses the resulting value to calculate a level between blue and red in CIELAB (a perceptually uniform color space), converts the results to RGB, and sets the color value of the hue bulb. The result is a bulb that changes color so that the change in color (as perceived by the eye) mirrors how the temperature "feels" outside. Ultimately what that means is that we can look at a small lamp with the hue bulb and say "It feels cold outside; we should put on a coat." It's probably overkill, but it was a fun programming exercise. We've started saying things like "It's really blue today, I don't feel like going out."
I'd really enjoy reading what kind of interesting automations everyone else has written.
Washer voltage goes from a high value to a low value, then in 30 minutes (when the cycle will be done) turn an rgb lightbulb in a conspicuous location a hellish magenta. No more funky forgotten loads of laundry. Passes the partner test, too.
It's the first time I read "partner test" and I like it, I was always bothered by the usual "expression"
To all of you reading this who are interested but don't have home assistant (yet): I just set a timer for as long as the laundry takes. If I can't go get it when the timer goes off I will place a "memento" somewhere (for example placing something on the ground in my way where it doesn't belong) so I remember. The "set lighting to hell until I do it" solution sounds neat too, though. =)
A middle ground "normie-tech" I use: after picking the cycle, whip out your phone and start a countdown timer. Mine at least can save such timers and I can name them.
I got fed up that my washing machine lies on its timer: it doesn't count the drying cycle and then it takes another 3 minutes to unlock the door. So I timed that once. For example a 42 min timer for the quick cycle (30 wash + 9 dry + 3 stupid lockout)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wax_motor#Applications
The reason for the stupid lockout. Pretty ingenious, but yeah they all lie. The worst offenders are heat pump dryers. I think they're gaslighting their customers.
I often use the acronym WAF, Wife Acceptance Factor.
Basically I need to make sure that all household setups can work completely dumb, with the central server having crashed.
So far, so good.
Ooh I’ve got a similar trigger! Instead of coloured lights, mine strobe every five minutes incessantly until I open the machine door (power usage goes down ~3W for some reason). Also notify the phones and put a banner on the TV.
What do you use to monitor your washer? I've got an older 3 prong circular plug that I can't find anything that hooks into it.
I used a sonoff s31 and flashed tasmota onto it, but it's a standard American outlet, not a triphasic one.
@Passerby6497
Shelly Pro 1PM that I had lying around. Reports Amps usage fast enough to allow me to cut off electrical heating before the breaker cuts off because of overload.
This results in washer and heating alternating their power usage without triggering the breaker.
Home assistant OS on Raspberry Pi 4.
@Passerby6497