Bathroom fan comes on when I sit on the toilet

We have a ceiling light in front of our pantry. So, I used an Aqara door sensor and a Shelly 1 relay to turn the light on when the pantry door is opened and turn it off (only if it was off before the door was opened) after it had been shut. Very simple, but it brings me a lot of joy.

I also have both kitchen lights on motion sensors. I don’t think I have manually turned the kitchen lights on or off more than 10 times in the last couple of years. More helpful than I expected it to be.

Some basics:

• Turn on outside lights at sunset, turn them off at sunrise.
• Turn off the bathroom fans 10 minutes after the bathroom is vacant.
• Turn off AC/heat if any windows are open. -Automatically lock doors when the door is closed for 1 minute.

One button bedtime. I live alone, and when I get in bed, I push a button on the nightstand, all lights go off, the doors lock, the plug controlling an outdoor heater/fan shuts off, the thermostat adjusts, the living room TV turns off, and the bedside lamp comes on at 10% brightness. No lying there, wondering if I forgot to turn something off. Also, motion and presence detection for lighting; I can wake up at night to go to the bathroom, stumble in, the lights come on bright enough to see, but not bright enough to blind me, then I stumble back out and they turn off on their own, one minute after I’ve gone.

Security cameras, deadbolt, garage door sensor that tells me if I’ve left it open, litter box. Echo for home intercom, for playing music, and for recording shopping list (and controlling these other things). Nest is great for adjusting the thermostat when I’m not home. We also have some lights and switches and fans, and smoke alarms, but definitely start with the things that are safety related, or reduce a big inconvenience.

I want, but haven’t looked for, the bathroom fan that can shut off after 20 minutes. Just long enough to get all the shower steam out. Saw that on a home improvement show a while back.

I’m still getting started with going full geek on my house, but for now I’ve got a set of automations to shift power loads to discount times on my electricity tariff (Cosy Octopus, so there’s a discount in from 2am to 5am, and 1pm to 4pm, and a peak from 4pm to 7pm).

My partner’s mobility scooter will charge in the discount times, and turn itself off outside that - it only needs a couple hours to charge to full, and rarely needs more than a charge a day (and if it does, there’s an override button on the smart switch, or it can be turned on manually in home assistant). Same for another couple circuits in the garage used for camping battery, power tools, etc - if they need a charge, just slap them on there and check them the next day.

Heating (from the heat pump) boosts by a degree or two in the afternoon dip, and turns down a degree below normal in the evening peak (which is what that tariff is designed for).

Once the solar/battery is working (first inverter installed was dead on arrival, so waiting for a warranty replacement), the battery will be in “charge only” mode for the afternoon dip, and we’ll use it to ride out all the other loads for the peak. Possibly night set some extra up to let it charge from the grid if it’s too low towards the end of the dip, but I’m going to see whether that ends up necessary first.

In principle just doing that (without counting the input from the solar) should save us about 20% on our electricity bill compared to the previous flat rate, assuming we can shift most of the power use from the peak into the dip. Which I will inevitably spend on more gadgets, resulting in effectively no actual saving!

My partner’s favourite is a simple button I added to the HA dashboard which turns the bedroom lights on or off with a long (5 minute) transition, giving her a gentler fade when going to sleep, or a less binding wake up in the morning when they come on.

Next step is probably some motion/presence sensors, and some automations to set appropriate light behaviours. Then maybe some smart curtains/blinds. And digging in to the voice assistant abilities of home assistant (probably once it’s moved to a more powerful machine than the pi it’s currently sat on, for that and other plans which need a little more power).

The X-Sense Smart Smoke Detector, when triggered, automatically calls for fire truck dispatch via the app, and also contacts you through multiple channels such as phone calls and text messages.

Outdoor and some indoor lights that turn on at sunset and off at sunrise.

Ghost modes for when you’re on vacation. This will randomly turn various lights on and off to make it appear someone is home. Add some color changing bulbs and it can give the impression a TV is on by flashing various colors. Add an FM radio on a smart switch and you can get some audio playing in the house also.

Had a few color changing bulbs that turned red when the garage door was open.

My absolute favorite that has proven to have the highest WAF (Wife Approval Factor): Motion sensors that turn on the light in the laundry room. All of us do laundry and it’s amazing to not have to shift any load you’re carrying to try and flip a light switch.

Most people aren’t going to consider a utility room to be a good target for automation, but this has been pretty major for us.