I’ve been experimenting with creating smart lighting scenes that change based on the time of day and day of the week. It’s been a fun project, and I wanted to share my experience and some tips for anyone looking to do something similar!
My goal was to automate the lights in my main entrance to adjust based on different scenarios. For example, I wanted the lights to dim in the middle of the night to prevent blinding me when I wake up, but also have them brighter during the day for general use. Additionally, I have a cleaning schedule every second Saturday, so I wanted the lights to be on full brightness during that time to make it easier for the cleaning staff.
I started by setting up three scenes: ‘All On’ for the cleaning schedule, ‘Normal’ for everyday use, and ‘Night’ for low-light settings. The challenge was ensuring these scenes trigger correctly without conflicting with each other. I decided to use LUUP to handle the time-based logic. LUUP allowed me to validate the time slots and ensure the correct scene is activated based on the current time and day.
One thing I had to be careful about was ensuring there was a failsafe in case all the conditions failed. I didn’t want the lights to stay off if none of the scenes triggered, so I set up a default scene that activates as a backup. This way, I always have some level of lighting, even if it’s not the ideal one.
Another thing I found helpful was integrating the scenes with my Google Nest Hub. I set up routines so that voice commands like ‘Hey Google, good night’ would automatically trigger the ‘Night’ scene. This integration made the system feel more seamless and user-friendly.
Overall, this project has been a great way to customize my home automation setup. It’s been especially helpful during the winter months when it gets dark earlier, and I don’t want to fumble for switches in the dark. If anyone has questions or wants to share their own smart lighting setups, I’d love to hear about them!