When creating group lights in the Aqara App, you’ll notice there’s no built-in automation to toggle a group on and off with a single button press—only separate options for “On” and “Off.” While it’s possible to create a scene that toggles each light individually, this can lead to inconsistent results, with lights potentially falling out of sync.
The Best Solution: Two Linked Automations
The most reliable method involves creating two separate automations that work together to toggle the group lights. This setup uses the “Trigger Once” option to ensure only one automation is active at a time.
Step-by-Step Setup
1. Create Two Automations
- Enable “Trigger Once” in both automations.
- This ensures that once an automation runs, it disables itself and enables the other, effectively toggling between “on” and “off” states.
Automation 1: “Group Light On”
- Trigger: Single button press
- Action:
- Turn on the group lights
- Enable the “Group Light Off” automation
- This automation will disable itself after triggering, due to the “Trigger Once” setting.
Automation 2: “Group Light Off”
- Trigger: Same single button press
- Action:
- Turn off the group lights
- Enable the “Group Light On” automation
- This automation will also disable itself after triggering.
Optional: Syncing with External Controls
If you use Google Home, Alexa, or other third-party apps to control your lights, you may need two additional automations to keep the toggle logic in sync.
These additional automations detect when an individual light is manually turned on or off and re-enable the appropriate toggle automation to maintain consistency. I refer to this as the “Group Light Follow” automation.
Let me know if you’d like help setting that up—I’d be happy to walk you through it.
