Hey everyone! I’ve been diving into setting up an automation for my central air circulation system, and I thought I’d share my journey and some tips in case others are tackling something similar. 
So, the goal was to create a few modes for my central fan and valves. Here’s what I wanted:
- Normal Mode: All valves open, fan set to 25%.
- Bathroom Mode: Close all valves except one, fan at 100%, and automatically revert to Normal after 30 minutes or if Normal is manually activated.
- Garage Mode: Similar to Bathroom, but revert after 10 minutes.
The tricky part was managing the timers and ensuring the UI indicated which mode was active. After some research and trial and error, I figured out how to structure the automations using a combination of scenes and conditions. Here’s a quick breakdown of what worked for me:
- Scenes for Modes: I created separate scenes for each mode. This made it easier to manage the state transitions and ensure the UI updated accordingly.
- Timers with Conditions: For the Bathroom and Garage modes, I set up timers that automatically trigger the Normal mode scene after the specified time. I also added a condition to check if Normal mode was manually activated before reverting.
- UI Indicators: I used custom Lovelace cards to display the current mode. This involved linking the scene states to the cards so they update in real-time.
One thing I learned was the importance of testing each mode thoroughly. I started with short timers to ensure everything worked as expected before setting them to the full duration. It’s also been a great way to get familiar with Home Assistant’s scene and automation capabilities!
If anyone has similar projects or tips, I’d love to hear about them! 