Timed Hello Home actions throughout the day - how are you using them?

I see that some users have Hello Home actions (and modes) that execute throughout the day, such as Morning, Afternoon, Evening, and Night. They then also have versions of those for Away.

I’m curious to know why you chose that method versus just a Home / Away / Night mode approach. Just trying to get a sense of how everyone uses Hello Home actions and modes.

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I did it so that when I return home late at night, ST knows to go into my Home-Night mode, instead of my Home-Day mode.

I have a Hangover mode. (The name is a joke, it really means I’m not feeling well.) some triggered events that would otherwise happen then happen differently, like maybe lights only come on half as bright, no weather reports, different music selection, etc.)

We turn our thermostat down at night because we like to sleep in colder temperatures. The last thing we need is the thermostat to go back up because we’ve arrived home late. Also I like to have lights come on when I arrive home at night. But I wouldn’t want the same lights on if it was daytime. The easiest way I could think of doing this was to have an evening and evening-away mode. The night mode is still exclusive to when we are at home but asleep. Were I to do it again I might try one of the newer smart-apps that have been developed to automate the switching of the modes though.

I’ve got the following modes set up:

  • Home - Morning
  • Home - Day
  • Home - Evening
  • Home - Night
  • Away - Day
  • Away - Night
  • Babysitter

Some things I use these modes for is to turn the heat up during the day and then down in the evening and overnight. When the home changes to away, I set the heat low, turn off lights and pause any music. I also have a motion sensor set to send notifications while away. The Babysitter mode is an override to prevent scaring the babysitter by turning off all of the lights when we leave. What I’ve found is setting up modes makes it easier to manage actions that are more global, like turning off lights when leaving.

@brianlees

I’ve written an app that monitors motion, certain doors being opened closed, time of day, etc. to set a total of 6 modes.

  • Morning
  • Home
  • WFH (Working From Home)
  • Someone Still Awake
  • Night
  • Away

This allows me to turn on lights, switches, temperatures, etc. for each scenario where things might be different. The reason I use “Hello, Home” which in turn changes modes rather than just modes is because of the easy of maintenance, changes, updates through the process.

For example: During a mode change I want the temperature to change, lights to turn on and off, alarms to arm / disarm, etc. If I were to use JUST modes I would have to in turn write / load / maintain multiple applications for each mode change. Instead I use “Hello, Home” as one single ‘super’ app to handle off of that and change the mode. The mode change is critical for 2 reasons. First, this is how I know what hello,home action to call and Second, when I do install separate applications I can still tell it to run only during certain modes.

I will note that the “Someone is still awake” mode is the most critical mode I have. This checks that there is motion in the bedroom, after 9 pm, and the door is closed. If that happens this mode is set. This means no lights or temperatures change but also ensures that the next person to walk into the Master Bedroom doesn’t auto trigger the lights (which turns on for most other modes). If there is no motion downstairs for 45 minutes after going into this mode the house goes into “night” mode, turns off the lights, changes the temps, etc. I also have hue lights under the bed that turn on automatically with motion during “One Still Up” and “night” modes as a nice night light. Nothing like hitting your toe on the bed in the middle of the night when you are trying to wake up your wife!

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@craig, could you post that app? Sounds like something useful for others, and maybe me as I’m doing a top-down review of our system and seeing if I want to start over completely or not.

I would post it in a new thread so it doesn’t get buried here.

Here you go @brianlees. Not sure how much help it will be but hopefully it gets you started.

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