{"id":774,"date":"2018-09-06T05:01:15","date_gmt":"2018-09-06T12:01:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hometechhacker.com\/?p=774"},"modified":"2019-04-09T15:51:23","modified_gmt":"2019-04-09T22:51:23","slug":"home-assistant-customization-automation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hometechhacker.com\/home-assistant-customization-automation\/","title":{"rendered":"Home Assistant Customization and Automation From a Beginner"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"ttr_start\"><\/div><p>Are you into smart home automation? Are you interested in Home Assistant? I doubt you&#8217;d be reading this if you weren&#8217;t. I&#8217;m still a beginner, but <a href=\"http:\/\/hometechhacker.com\/first-2-hours-home-assistant\/\">I installed and was able to control all my devices with Home Assistant in 2 hours<\/a>. That allowed me to control my devices, but I wanted to customize that control and add automation. This article goes through the Home Assistant customization and automation\u00a0I&#8217;ve implemented up to this point.<\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_65 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-662d22dcb3cdd\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #000000;color:#000000\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #000000;color:#000000\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-662d22dcb3cdd\"  aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/hometechhacker.com\/home-assistant-customization-automation\/#Background\" title=\"Background\">Background<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/hometechhacker.com\/home-assistant-customization-automation\/#Home_Assistant_Customization\" title=\"Home Assistant Customization\">Home Assistant Customization<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-2' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/hometechhacker.com\/home-assistant-customization-automation\/#Structuring_YAML_Configuration\" title=\"Structuring YAML Configuration\">Structuring YAML Configuration<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/hometechhacker.com\/home-assistant-customization-automation\/#Changing_DirecTV_Channels\" title=\"Changing DirecTV Channels\">Changing DirecTV Channels<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/hometechhacker.com\/home-assistant-customization-automation\/#Step_1_Giving_Home_Assistant_the_ability_to_change_the_channels\" title=\"Step 1: Giving Home Assistant the ability to change the channels\">Step 1: Giving Home Assistant the ability to change the channels<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/hometechhacker.com\/home-assistant-customization-automation\/#Step_2_Calling_these_commands_in_Home_Assistant\" title=\"Step 2: Calling these commands in Home Assistant\">Step 2: Calling these commands in Home Assistant<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/hometechhacker.com\/home-assistant-customization-automation\/#Step_3_Configure_Google_Assistant_and_Alexa_to_change_DirecTV_channels\" title=\"Step 3: Configure Google Assistant and Alexa to change DirecTV channels\">Step 3: Configure Google Assistant and Alexa to change DirecTV channels<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/hometechhacker.com\/home-assistant-customization-automation\/#Locking_Doors\" title=\"Locking Doors\">Locking Doors<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-9\" href=\"https:\/\/hometechhacker.com\/home-assistant-customization-automation\/#Turn_on_TV_for_Chromecast\" title=\"Turn on TV for Chromecast\">Turn on TV for Chromecast<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-10\" href=\"https:\/\/hometechhacker.com\/home-assistant-customization-automation\/#Remote_Control_of_Projector\" title=\"Remote Control\u00a0of Projector\">Remote Control\u00a0of Projector<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-11\" href=\"https:\/\/hometechhacker.com\/home-assistant-customization-automation\/#Presence_Detection\" title=\"Presence Detection\">Presence Detection<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-12\" href=\"https:\/\/hometechhacker.com\/home-assistant-customization-automation\/#Alarmdotcom_Integration\" title=\"Alarmdotcom Integration\">Alarmdotcom Integration<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-13\" href=\"https:\/\/hometechhacker.com\/home-assistant-customization-automation\/#SMSEmail_notifications\" title=\"SMS\/Email notifications\">SMS\/Email notifications<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-14\" href=\"https:\/\/hometechhacker.com\/home-assistant-customization-automation\/#Home_Assistant_Automation\" title=\"Home Assistant\u00a0Automation\">Home Assistant\u00a0Automation<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-2' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-15\" href=\"https:\/\/hometechhacker.com\/home-assistant-customization-automation\/#Security\" title=\"Security\">Security<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-16\" href=\"https:\/\/hometechhacker.com\/home-assistant-customization-automation\/#Alarm_Automation\" title=\"Alarm Automation\">Alarm Automation<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-17\" href=\"https:\/\/hometechhacker.com\/home-assistant-customization-automation\/#Vacation_Automation\" title=\"Vacation Automation\">Vacation Automation<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-18\" href=\"https:\/\/hometechhacker.com\/home-assistant-customization-automation\/#Announcing_My_Arrival\" title=\"Announcing My Arrival\">Announcing My Arrival<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-19\" href=\"https:\/\/hometechhacker.com\/home-assistant-customization-automation\/#Final_Thoughts\" title=\"Final Thoughts\">Final Thoughts<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Background\"><\/span>Background<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<p>Over the years I&#8217;ve accumulated a lot of smart home devices. Home Assistant is already aware and can control the following\u00a0devices:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>DirecTV receivers<\/li>\n<li>Denon A\/V receivers<\/li>\n<li>Google Home\/Google Mini\/<a href=\"http:\/\/hometechhacker.com\/home-insignia-voice-activated-speaker-review\/\">Insignia Voice Activated Smart Speaker<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Google Chromecast<\/li>\n<li>Panasonic Viera TV<\/li>\n<li>Panasonic Connected blu-ray player<\/li>\n<li>LIFX Lights<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/2MCiSlU\" rel=\"nofollow\">TP-Link\u00a0HS105 Smart Plug<\/a><\/li>\n<li>My Veralite Z-wave controller which includes:\n<ul>\n<li>Light switches<\/li>\n<li>Home Power Meter<\/li>\n<li>Outlet Switches<\/li>\n<li>Smart Plugs<\/li>\n<li>Door Locks<\/li>\n<li>Relay (used to open and close my garage door)<\/li>\n<li>Motion\/light\/temperature sensors<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I have integrated Google Assistant and Alexa voice control of Home Assistant so I can control many things by giving voice commands. I have a good set of devices to play with!<\/p>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Home_Assistant_Customization\"><\/span>Home Assistant Customization<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<p>With the basics set up, it is time for me to delve into some customizations. I am going to walk through the steps I took to add more control to Home Assistant. These may not be the best ways to implement what I have done, but they work for me. Contact me with suggestions or leave them in the comments if you see improvements I can make. I&#8217;m still new to this!<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Structuring_YAML_Configuration\"><\/span>Structuring YAML Configuration<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The main configuration file for Home Assistant is appropriately named configuration.yaml. I quickly learned this file was going to become large and unwieldy\u00a0if I kept all my YAML code in this file. You can use an include directive to create separate files for different parts of the configuration. For example, adding in the code:<\/p>\n<p><code>switch: !include switches.yaml<\/code><\/p>\n<p>makes it so I can keep all of the configurations for my switches in the file switches.yaml.<\/p>\n<p>I used this directive to create separate files for my customizations, groups, scenes, lights,\u00a0 REST commands, remotes, and scripts.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Changing_DirecTV_Channels\"><\/span>Changing DirecTV Channels<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_792\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-792\" style=\"width: 1014px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-792 size-large\" src=\"http:\/\/hometechhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/directv-1024x341.jpg\" alt=\"Directv Receiver\" width=\"1024\" height=\"341\" srcset=\"https:\/\/hometechhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/directv-1024x341.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/hometechhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/directv-300x100.jpg 300w, https:\/\/hometechhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/directv-768x256.jpg 768w, https:\/\/hometechhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/directv.jpg 1080w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-792\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">DirecTV Receiver to be controlled by Home Assistant<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Home Assistant can control some basic functions of my DirecTV receiver, such as play and pause, but I couldn&#8217;t find a way for it to change to a specific channel. However, I know the receiver has a RESTful interface which includes the ability to change channels. There is a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.iamanedgecutter.com\/resources\/SHEF\/DTV-MD-0359-DIRECTV_SHEF_V1.3.C-1.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">published list of more commands<\/a>. My end goal is to be able to tell the DirecTV receiver to change to a specific channel (one of our commonly watched channels) by issuing a voice command to Alexa or Google Assistant. This ended up being a 3 step process.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Step_1_Giving_Home_Assistant_the_ability_to_change_the_channels\"><\/span>Step 1: Giving Home Assistant the ability to change the channels<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>In order to use these\u00a0commands, I decided to take advantage of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.home-assistant.io\/components\/rest_command\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Home Assistant&#8217;s RESTful command component<\/a>.\u00a0 I placed the following REST calls in my rest.yaml:<\/p>\n<p><code>family_espn:<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 url: http:\/\/&lt;ip of DirecTV Receiver&gt;:8080\/tv\/tune?major=206&amp;minor=65535<\/code><br \/><code>family_tennis:<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 url: http:\/\/&lt;ip of DirecTV Receiver&gt;:8080\/tv\/tune?major=217&amp;minor=65535<\/code><br \/><code>family_nbatv:<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 url: http:\/\/&lt;ip of DirecTV Receiver&gt;:8080\/tv\/tune?major=216&amp;minor=65535<\/code><\/p>\n<p>These commands allow me to change to channel ESPN (206), The Tennis Channel (217), and NBATV (216). I ended up adding many more channels.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Step_2_Calling_these_commands_in_Home_Assistant\"><\/span>Step 2: Calling these commands in Home Assistant<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Adding REST commands just makes them available in Home Assistant, but it doesn&#8217;t really allow you to use them in the user interface. For this, I created scripts to call these commands. I added the following to my scripts.yaml file:<\/p>\n<p><code>turn_on_espn:<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 alias: \"ESPN\"<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 sequence:<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 - service: rest_command.family_espn<\/code><\/p>\n<p><code>turn_on_tennis:<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 alias: \"The Tennis Channel\"<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 sequence:<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 - service: rest_command.family_tennis<\/code><\/p>\n<p><code>turn_on_nbatv:<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 alias: \"NBA TV\"<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 sequence:<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 - service: rest_command.family_nbatv<\/code><\/p>\n<p>As you can see, these commands correspond to rest commands in my rest.yaml file. The alias field creates a friendlier name for the command in the user interface and for voice commands. Speaking of voice commands&#8230;<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Step_3_Configure_Google_Assistant_and_Alexa_to_change_DirecTV_channels\"><\/span>Step 3: Configure Google Assistant and Alexa to change DirecTV channels<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>This step is almost completely automatic. I have Home Assistant configured to automatically expose script commands to Google Assistant and Alexa. After restarting Home Assistant, I simply had to tell both to discover devices. For Google Assistant there is a &#8220;Sync Devices&#8221; button on the Home Assistant Cloud configuration page in Home Assistant or you can tell Google Assistant to &#8220;sync my devices.&#8221; You can tell Alexa to\u00a0 &#8220;discover new devices.&#8221; After this step, I can tell either voice assistant to &#8220;Turn on ESPN&#8221; or &#8220;Turn on The Tennis Channel&#8221; and DirecTV responds accordingly!<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Locking_Doors\"><\/span>Locking Doors<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_795\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-795\" style=\"width: 316px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-795 \" src=\"http:\/\/hometechhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/deadbolt-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"Deadbolt\" width=\"326\" height=\"217\" srcset=\"https:\/\/hometechhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/deadbolt-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/hometechhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/deadbolt-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/hometechhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/deadbolt-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/hometechhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/deadbolt-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/hometechhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/deadbolt.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 326px) 100vw, 326px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-795\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Wish I had this model of deadbolt!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Home Assistant recognized the <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/2vKS90b\" rel=\"nofollow\">Yale Z-wave deadbolt locks<\/a> that I have paired with my Vera controller. However, I want to be able to give one command to lock both doors to my house. A simple script solves this problem:<\/p>\n<p><code>lock_doors:<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 alias: \"Lock Doors\"<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 sequence:<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 - service: lock.lock<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 data:<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 entity_id: lock.front_door_deadbolt<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 - service: lock.lock<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 data: <\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 entity_id: lock.garage_deadbolt<\/code><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Turn_on_TV_for_Chromecast\"><\/span>Turn on TV for Chromecast<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_796\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-796\" style=\"width: 290px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-796 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/hometechhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/chromecast-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"Chromecast\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/hometechhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/chromecast-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/hometechhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/chromecast-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/hometechhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/chromecast-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/hometechhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/chromecast-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/hometechhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/chromecast-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/hometechhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/chromecast.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-796\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Just say &#8220;Turn on Chromecast&#8221;<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Although it is tempting, I actually don&#8217;t want to turn Home Assistant into a remote control for all of my A\/V equipment. Universal remotes are much better at controlling my equipment, and not everyone in my family will interact with the Home Assistant UI. Most every command or automation I would create would still require me to go get a remote to continue control (e.g. changing the volume, navigating menus, changing to channels I didn&#8217;t program into Home Assistant).\u00a0 However, there are a couple of A\/V devices that I often operate without my universal remote. One of them is the Chromecast. You use a smartphone to send content to a Chromecast, so voice command to turn the A\/V equipment to the right settings for Chromecast makes sense.<\/p>\n<p>Turning on my Chromecast involves turning on my Panasonic Viera TV, turning on my Denon Receiver, and then switching my Denon receiver to the Chromecast input. Scripts to the rescue again!<\/p>\n<p><code>turn_on_chromecast:<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 alias: \"Chromecast\"<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 sequence:<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 - service: media_player.turn_on<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 data:<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 entity_id: media_player.panasonic_viera<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 - service: media_player.turn_on<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 data:<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 entity_id: media_player.family_room_denon<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 - service: media_player.select_source<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 data:<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 entity_id: media_player.family_room_denon<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 source: CHROMECAST<\/code><\/p>\n<p>This is great, but it only turns on the Chromecast. If I didn&#8217;t use a remote, I also want to be able to turn off the Chromecast (turn the TV off, turn off the receiver). I created a generic script for this:<\/p>\n<p><code>turn_off_famroomtv:<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 alias: \"Turn Off Family Room TV\"<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 sequence:<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 - service: media_player.turn_off<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 data:<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 entity_id: media_player.panasonic_viera<\/code><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/code><br \/><code><\/code><code>\u00a0 \u00a0- service: media_player.turn_off<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 data:<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 entity_id: media_player.family_room_denon<\/code><\/p>\n<p>The problem is, for voice control, I want to be able to say &#8220;Turn on Chromecast&#8221; and &#8220;Turn off Chromecast.&#8221; Scripts only have &#8220;turn on&#8221; voice controls, because you don&#8217;t turn off scripts. I need to take these two scripts and combine them into a switch. So in switches.yaml I have:<\/p>\n<p><code>- platform: template<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 switches:<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 family_room_tv_chromecast:<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 value_template: \"{{ is_state('media_player.panasonic_viera', 'on') }}\"<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 turn_on:<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 service: script.turn_on<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 data:<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 entity_id: script.turn_on_chromecast<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 turn_off:<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 service: script.turn_on<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 data:<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 entity_id: script.turn_off_famroomtv<\/code><\/p>\n<p>The value_template portion above determines whether this &#8220;switch&#8221; is on or off. In this case, if the Panasonic TV is on, the switch is considered to be on). Now, I can tell Google Assistant or Alexa to turn the Chromecast off or on and the right things will happen. I also created the friendly name Chromecast for the switch in customize.yaml and excluded the Chromecast script from the assistants so they wouldn&#8217;t confuse commands.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Remote_Control_of_Projector\"><\/span>Remote Control\u00a0of Projector<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>I have one A\/V device that does not have network control. I&#8217;ve been controlling it (an older Epson 3010 projector) using the network to IR device <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/2KPlsTQ\" rel=\"nofollow\">Global Cache iP2IR ITach<\/a>.\u00a0 I have a similar need with this device as I had with the Chromecast. I have a Nintendo Switch connected to another Denon A\/V receiver which is connected to this projector. When we play the Switch, we don&#8217;t use the universal remote, we just use a Switch controller. This makes turning on and off the equipment by voice desireable. This took me a few steps.<\/p>\n<p>Home Assistant happens to have an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.home-assistant.io\/components\/remote.itach\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">ITach component<\/a> (what doesn&#8217;t it have?). Unfortunately to use this component I needed to track down the Epson 3010 on and off codes in Pronto hex format. After a little googling I added the following code to my remote.yaml file:<\/p>\n<p><code>- platform: itach<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 name: Theater Room<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 host: &lt;IP Address&gt;<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 devices:<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 - name: Epson 3010 Projector<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 modaddr: 1<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 connaddr: 3<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 commands:<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 - name: \"On\"<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 data: \"0000 006C 0000 0022 015B 00AD 0016 0041 0016 0041 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 00<\/code><br \/><code>16 0016 0016 0016 0041 0016 0041 0016 0016 0016 0041 0016 0016 0016 0041 0016 0016 0016 0041 0016 0016 001<\/code><br \/><code>6 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0041 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0041 0016 0041 0016 0041 0016 0041<\/code><br \/><code>0016 0041 0016 0016 0016 0041 0016 0041 0016 0016 0016 0622\"<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 - name: \"Off\"<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 data: \"0000 006C 0000 0022 015B 00AD 0016 0041 0016 0041 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 00<\/code><br \/><code>16 0016 0016 0016 0041 0016 0041 0016 0016 0016 0041 0016 0016 0016 0041 0016 0016 0016 0041 0016 0016 001<\/code><br \/><code>6 0041 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0041 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0041 0016 0016 0016 0041 0016 0041<\/code><br \/><code>0016 0041 0016 0016 0016 0041 0016 0041 0016 0016 0016 0622\"<\/code><\/p>\n<p>This added a remote device on\/off toggle to my Home Assistant UI which actually turned my projector on and off via the ITach! I was thrilled! After this I created scripts and a switch named &#8220;Nintendo&#8221; just like I did for the Chromecast, allowing me to use voice command to turn it on and off. The code is basically the same with a different receiver (still a Denon) and using the projector so I won&#8217;t post it here as this article is getting long enough already! My Theater room is pretty dark (basement with no windows) so I added turning the lights on to a low level to the on script and turning the lights off to the off script.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Presence_Detection\"><\/span>Presence Detection<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>I have always wanted to use presence detection as a trigger for\u00a0automation, but I have never setup presence detection. I looked at using <a href=\"https:\/\/www.home-assistant.io\/components\/device_tracker.nmap_tracker\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">nmap<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.home-assistant.io\/components\/device_tracker.ping\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">ping<\/a> via Home Assistant to track my phone presence. For no particular reason, other than it seemed more people were using it, I decided to go with nmap. First I added the following code to configuration.yaml:<\/p>\n<p><code>device_tracker:<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 - platform: nmap_tracker<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 home_interval: 10<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 consider_home: 600<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 scan_options: \" -sP \"<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 new_device_defaults:<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 track_new_devices: yes<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 hide_if_away: False<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 hosts:<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 - &lt;ip address 1&gt;<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 - &lt;ip address 2&gt;<\/code><\/p>\n<p>I set the home_interval and consider_home options to cut down on false indications that a phone is not present when it goes to sleep or for some other reason drops off the network for a short time. After adding this code and Home Assistant creates a known_devices.yaml file with your nmap scanned devices. You can <a href=\"https:\/\/www.home-assistant.io\/components\/device_tracker\/#known_devicesyaml\" rel=\"nofollow\">customize this file<\/a> to meet your needs.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Alarmdotcom_Integration\"><\/span>Alarmdotcom Integration<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.home-assistant.io\/components\/alarm_control_panel.alarmdotcom\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">instructions for this<\/a> couldn&#8217;t be simpler. I just added my username and password. This integration allows me to arm and disarm my alarm, as well as view a general status message that tells me the state of the alarm and related sensors.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"SMSEmail_notifications\"><\/span>SMS\/Email notifications<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>A good automation system needs to be able to notify me of certain events. When some events occur, I like to be notified via text. Rather than go through any complicated process to be able to send SMS messages, I took advantage of my cellular plan&#8217;s (Cricket) email to text gateway. This allows me to send an email to receive a text. I have a local email relay to my email provider (using postfix) on my network that I used with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.home-assistant.io\/components\/notify.smtp\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Home Assistant&#8217;s SMTP notify component<\/a>. In my configuration.yaml I have:<\/p>\n<p><code>notify:<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 - name: smsgateway<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 platform: smtp<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 server: myserver.mydomain.com<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 port: 25<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 encryption: none<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 sender: myaddress@mydomain.com<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 recipient: <\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 - 5554443333@mms.cricketwireless.net\u00a0<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 sender_name: HA Notification<\/code><\/p>\n<p>This allows me to use send text messages to myself as I need. I can add a notify component that replaces the Cricket Wireless SMS gateway address with my email address to send myself an email notification. You could easily do this using Google&#8217;s SMTP server if you have a Google account (there is an example in the SMTP notify documentation linked above), but you&#8217;ll probably have to allow low-security apps to connect to your Google account.<\/p>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Home_Assistant_Automation\"><\/span>Home Assistant\u00a0Automation<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<p>Now I have almost all the remote control of my system that I can want. <strong>Remote control is nice, but automation is the key to a smarter home<\/strong>.\u00a0 The first automation area I had in mind was security, and then I thought I&#8217;d have a little fun.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Security\"><\/span>Security<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Alarm_Automation\"><\/span>Alarm Automation<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Like most alarms, my alarm can be armed stay (Someone is still at home) or away (No one is home). In either case, I want the deadbolts to lock. When I arm the alarm away, why not make sure the lights are off too?<\/p>\n<p>Code for locking the doors when the alarm is armed stay in my automations.yaml file:<\/p>\n<p><code>- id: alarm_armed<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 alias: Alarm armed<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 trigger: <\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 - platform: state<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 entity_id: alarm_control_panel.alarmcom<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 from: 'disarmed'<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 to: 'armed_away'<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 - platform: state<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 entity_id: alarm_control_panel.alarmcom<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 from: 'disarmed'<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 to: 'armed_home'<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 action:<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 - service: lock.lock<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 data: <\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 entity_id: lock.front_door_deadbolt<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 - service: lock.lock<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 data: <\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 entity_id: lock.garage_deadbolt<\/code><\/p>\n<p>I don&#8217;t want every single light to turn off when I arm the alarm away, as some of my lights are outdoor lights. Also, I may convert more lights to smart lights in the future. In order to keep the code clean, I created a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.home-assistant.io\/components\/light.group\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">group with all of the lights<\/a> I want to turn off and I reference that group in the code to turn off lights when the alarm is armed away:<\/p>\n<p><code>- id: alarm_armed_away_lights_off<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0<\/code><code>alias: Alarm armed away lights off<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 trigger: <\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 - platform: state<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 entity_id: alarm_control_panel.alarmcom<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 from: 'disarmed'<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 to: 'armed_away'<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 action:<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 - service: light.turn_off<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 entity_id: group.indoor_lights<\/code><\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Vacation_Automation\"><\/span>Vacation Automation<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<figure id=\"attachment_793\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-793\" style=\"width: 290px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-793\" src=\"http:\/\/hometechhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/house-300x205.jpg\" alt=\"Home lights\" width=\"300\" height=\"205\" srcset=\"https:\/\/hometechhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/house-300x205.jpg 300w, https:\/\/hometechhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/house-1024x698.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/hometechhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/house-768x524.jpg 768w, https:\/\/hometechhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/house-1536x1048.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/hometechhacker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/house.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-793\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The lights are on. Is someone there?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>A common security tip for your house when you are on vacation is to make it seem like your house is still occupied. I do this by scheduling certain lights (using groups again) to come on and go off at specific times. The automation code for this isn&#8217;t much different from what is above, other than the fact I use <a href=\"https:\/\/www.home-assistant.io\/docs\/automation\/trigger\/#time-trigger\" rel=\"nofollow\">time-based triggers<\/a>. I have these automations keep running until I am back home. When Home Assistant detects my presence, it turns the security lights off and disables the automation that automatically turns the lights on and off:<\/p>\n<p><code>- id: welcome_vacation<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 alias: Welcome from vacation<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0<\/code><code>trigger:<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 platform: state<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 entity_id: device_tracker.name_presence<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 from: 'not_home'<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 to: 'home'<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 condition:<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 condition: state<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 entity_id: automation.turn_on_security_lights<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 state: 'on' <\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 action:<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 - service: light.turn_off<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 entity_id: group.away_security_lights<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 - service: automation.turn_off<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 data:<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 entity_id: <\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 - automation.turn_on_security_lights<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 - automation.turn_off_security_lights<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 - automation.turn_on_late_security_lights<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 - automation.turn_off_late_security_lights<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 - service: notify.smsgateway<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 data:<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 message: Hello! Welcome back from Vacation. I hope you had a great time. I have disabled the security light automations for you.<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 - delay: '00:07:00'<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 - service: media_player.volume_set<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 data:<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 entity_id: media_player.family_room_speaker<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 volume_level: \"0.5\"<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 - service:<\/code><code>tts.google_say<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 data:<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 entity_id: media_player.family_room_speaker<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 language: en<\/code><br \/><code>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 message: Hello! Welcome back from Vacation. I hope you had a great time. I have disabled the security light automations for you.<\/code><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Announcing_My_Arrival\"><\/span>Announcing My Arrival<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>You may have noticed in the code directly above a couple of things I hadn&#8217;t mentioned:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>The script also sends me a text informing me that the security automations have been turned off.<\/li>\n<li>The script casts a message to my Google Home welcoming me back from vacation.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>I thought I&#8217;d have a bit of fun with casting. I similarly, when I get home from work during the week I also have the Google Home welcome me home. At least this way I know someone is always looking forward to my arrival :).<\/p>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Final_Thoughts\"><\/span>Final Thoughts<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n\n\n<p>These configurations and automations took a bit Googling and a fair amount of work and testing, but it was fun, and now they just work. The presence detection could be better (sometimes it marks a phone away when it isn&#8217;t) but it definitely works well enough. After I <a href=\"http:\/\/hometechhacker.com\/home-assistant-zigbee-zwave\/\">add Zigbee and Z-wave capabilities<\/a>&nbsp;and add more automation I&#8217;m going to tackle <a href=\"http:\/\/hometechhacker.com\/getting-started-lovelace\/\">customizing the Lovelace UI next.<\/a> I also may integrate my <a href=\"http:\/\/hometechhacker.com\/harmony-hub-smart-control-remote-review\/\">Harmony Hub remote control<\/a>. I don&#8217;t consider myself a total beginner anymore, but I&#8217;m far from an expert. Wish me luck!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you enjoyed this article please share, follow me on <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/HomeTechHacker\">Twitter<\/a> and subscribe to my site using the signup form below. If you have questions or suggestions please don&#8217;t hesitate to get in contact with me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Editor\u2019s note: This page contains affiliate links. For more information read our&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/hometechhacker.com\/disclosure-policy\/\">disclosures<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"ttr_end\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Are you into smart home automation? Are you interested in Home Assistant? I doubt you&#8217;d be reading this if you weren&#8217;t. I&#8217;m still a beginner, but I installed and was able to &#8230; <\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more-container\"><a title=\"Home Assistant Customization and Automation From a Beginner\" class=\"read-more button\" href=\"https:\/\/hometechhacker.com\/home-assistant-customization-automation\/#more-774\" aria-label=\"Read more about Home Assistant Customization and Automation From a Beginner\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1005,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[97,3,48,5],"tags":[23,42,45,46,7,29,21,41],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Home Assistant Customization and Automation From a Beginner - HomeTechHacker<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This article describes the Home Assistant customization and automation\u00a0I&#039;ve created with DirecTV, A\/V Receivers, Smart speakers, lights and more.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/hometechhacker.com\/home-assistant-customization-automation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Home Assistant Customization and Automation From a Beginner - 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