How to auto control lights based on time of day and not override manual switch control

Questions & Help
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1

I’m trialling the Homey Premium software. I do not own the Homey Bridge and have not purchased the Homey Pro hardware yet. The trial is very limiting because I cannot control any of my Philips Hue sensors or switches.

I want some reassurance before I buy the Homey Pro. Please confirm it would be possible to do the following with Homey Pro:

IF
lux level is below X
and
motion is detected

THEN
turn on lights (at appropriate brightness to offset the low lux level)

UNLESS
the Hue Tap Dial switch was pressed in the last 30 secs

In plain language, I want lights to come on automatically to a specific setting, unless I’ve just manually controlled the lights using the switch. The problem I currently have (configured through Hue / HomeKit / SmartThings) is if I set the light mode via the switch… and then move, the auto setting immediately overrides my manual setting.

2

In general it’s not a problem with a Homey Pro. Such a flow would look like this:

When…
– Motion is detected (this is the trigger, not the change within the lux value)

And…
– Lux is below x
– Light is off

Then…
– Dim light to x %

The key is to query if the lamp is on or off. So if the light is already turned on, the flow will not execute the action card “Dim light to x %” (or whatever) and the light mode set via the Hue Tap Dial switch will not be overwritten.

3

OK thanks. And in this context, could I configure it to control not only Hue lights, but also a Twinkly light strip?

4

Yes, you can search for brands / models in the app store to see if it is supported. Often the available flowcards are also shown.

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1 Like
5

I would like to find a sollution for the oposite. I have my automation based by lux level of a sensor,
So “When The luminance changed” and “The luminance is FALSE to less than 110” the lights go off.

But when I manaully have turned the lights on, and want to keep them on I need to pause or temporarly disable this automation? How to do that?

6

You could use a yes/no variable (called e.g. Manual Mode) as a flag that indicates that you have manually turned on the light.

When you turn on the light manually, you set the Manual Mode variable to YES via a flow.
When you turn off the light manually, you set the Manual Mode variable to NO via a flow.

Finally, as part of your flow that is triggered based on lux changes, you add a Logic card (directly after the trigger card) that checks the state of the Manual Mode variable. Only if the manual mode is not active (so the Manual Mode variable is set to NO), the flow continues.

7

Thank you Sunbeech. That could work, however I would also like to add a timer, so that the lights will not stay on forewer only beacuse I once manually turned them on. Any Idea how to add that kind of feature?

8

You can use the Chronograph app to start a timer when you manually switch on the light.

You create an additional flow that is initiated when the timer ends and then switches of the light and sets the Manual Mode variable to NO.