this post was submitted on 17 Apr 2025
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my very first automation (lemmy.zip)
submitted 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) by shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip to c/homeassistant@lemmy.world
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I used Home Assistant to create my very first automation today. It's really stupid simple, but I feel as though things will only get crazier from here.

Context: i have an old dumb window AC that has 2 physical dials. One turns fan- low, fan-high, cool-low, and cool- high while the other is labeled from 1 to 8 with 1 being warm and 8 being coldest. This AC is either on or its not. Even if the compressor is not running the fan runs 24/7 until it is physically switched off.

My current automation checks once per hour, and if the temperature is above 80 degrees, it will notify me to turn on the air conditioner.

I intend to buy one of the third reality smart plugs soon and switch the action from notify to "turn on the third reality plug for 10 minutes". Then I will just leave the unit itself on Cool High and let the plug manage the power.

Eventually, I think I will also buy a third-reality temperature sensor and set the trigger to if the temperature sensor says that the room itself is above 80 degrees instead of using the forecast.

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[–] spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works 11 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

If I had that setup, I'd use a power monitoring plug with a room temperature sensor. The combination of power monitoring and a temperature sensor would provide an amazing amount of flexibility.

For instance you can monitor when the compressor shuts off (because the current draw will drop significantly) and use the plug to shut off the entire unit, then power it on when the room temperature rises to a set point. I'd change that temperature setting depending on the time of day and possibly add a occupancy sensor or use light switches to enable and disable the AC when someone's there. It would take some tweaking to get it working properly, but you should be able to make your room more comfortable and save energy with this kind of setup.

[–] nogooduser@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

For instance you can monitor when the compressor shuts off and use the plug to shut off the entire unit, then power it on when the room temperature rises to a set point.

That seems like you’re just replicating what the AC’s thermostat is doing. You’d only be saving the stand by power which doesn’t seem like it’ll be a huge saving to me.

[–] spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

That seems like you’re just replicating what the AC’s thermostat is doing.

In my experience the thermostats of window units are crappy at regulating room temperature. Even so, did you miss this part of the post?:

Even if the compressor is not running the fan runs 24/7 until it is physically switched off.

The OP is planning on letting the unit run for 10 minutes and then turn it off, a much less effective solution than setting up a remote temperature sensor and power monitoring switch, and much better than having to control room temperature by adjusting knob that's "labeled from 1 to 8 with 1 being warm and 8 being coldest."

[–] nogooduser@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

Yes, I did miss that bit, sorry.

[–] nulluser@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

Good plan. I think the temp sensor will be an excellent addition. Whole setup could pay for itself in saved energy not leaving the AC running unnecessarily.

[–] shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip 3 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Plus, the smart plug will actually give me a good idea of how much power the damn thing is using. I know what the power draw on the side says it is, but I don't know if it's actually using that much or if it's using less.

[–] nulluser@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Double check that the AC unit doesn't pull more than 15A {Amps). That's all those smart plugs are rated for. It's probably fine, but you don't want to start a fire. I've seen pictures of smart plugs that melted when used on some refrigerators.

[–] shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

The thing on the side says it pulls 550 watts, which is about 5 amps. But I would definitely take a look at it while it's running on the smart plug, and if it's pulling anywhere near that amount, I would unplug it. But that's a good point.

[–] tburkhol@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Also check that the switch is rated for motors. A lot of the switches I've seen have separate power ratings for resistive (lights) and inductive (motors) load, because of the power-factor or inrush spikes. https://www.getzooz.com/zooz-zen15-power-switch/ is Z-wave, but specifically for high-current motors.

[–] shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip 1 points 2 weeks ago

I didn't see an answer online so I decided I would email the company support just to make sure. Drawing 550 watts. It's definitely capable of holding it while it is running. But I do not know how much power it takes to actually start it up. So that is a very good point. And I want to make absolutely certain I don't kill the plug.

[–] NarrativeBear@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

Take a look at sonoff smart plugs. They work well as they are, but if you want to take them offline/local and feel up to the task you can flash them with custom firmware.

https://roborooter.com/post/flashing-sonoff-s31-with-esphome/

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Congrats on your first automation!

One of my first ones was even dumber:

  • at midnight
    • in the family room
      1. Announce over Alexa that it is getting late and you should goto bed
      2. Turn off the light.

I at least need to only trigger if the light is on, but also try only when someone is in the room

[–] shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip 2 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

Do you at least have the volume set at a low level, like 10% or 20%, so that if nobody is in the family room, it doesn't wake anybody else in the house up? But yes, if you had a presence sensor in the living room, then you could do it on the condition that there was somebody in the room.

The way I see it is trigger at midnight. If presence is detected, set Alexa volume to 10% and announce, hey, you should probably go to bed.

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Yes, but unfortunately that makes it even dumber - anyone up at that time likely has headphones on to game or listen to music without disturbing anyone trying to sleep

[–] djmikeale@lemm.ee 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

You could perhaps just flash the lights, or if they're dimmable, turn them a lot down over eg a duration of 20 seconds

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Not dimmable unfortunately, and changing that would be far more complicated and expensive than you’d believe

I actually do the slow dim in a different room- that’s an automation I’m more proud of, although most of the credit goes to Inovelli! I have the dimming rates set differently for manual dimming, automated dimming, and good night dimming

[–] djmikeale@lemm.ee 1 points 2 weeks ago

Nice, sounds very cool!

[–] shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip 3 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

Hmmm. Good point. I dont really see a way around that one though.

If the living room has smart lights you could turn them to red if a person was detected at midnight

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

I would so do that if I could.

There’s a longer story but: I finished converting to LED years ago, except for this room. The lights are …. different …. And I just haven’t found anything comparable even today