Hi everyone! I wanted to share my experience setting up a system to remind me of upcoming meetings using my office lights. I’ve always struggled with keeping track of my schedule, so I decided to automate this process using Home Assistant and Google Calendar. Here’s how I did it:
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Calendar Sync: I use a tool to sync my Outlook calendar with Google Calendar. This ensures all my meetings are in one place and easily accessible by Home Assistant.
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Filtering Events: I created a separate Google Calendar for Home Assistant to track only the relevant events. This helps avoid any conflicts or overlaps, especially with full-day events.
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Home Assistant Setup: I followed a guide to integrate Google Calendar with Home Assistant. This involved setting up the necessary configurations in
google_calendars.yamlandsensors.yamlto track the time until the next meeting. -
Automation: I used Node-RED to create an automation that triggers 10 minutes before a meeting. The lights in my office flash three times to grab my attention. The delays in the automation ensure the lights cycle smoothly without any hiccups.
While this setup works well for most meetings, I noticed an issue with consecutive meetings that start and end at the same time. The sensor goes from -9 to 0, which skips the reminder. I’m still exploring a solution for this, but overall, this system has been a lifesaver for keeping me on time!
If anyone has tips on improving this or suggestions for handling consecutive meetings, I’d love to hear them! 