If you’re looking for more control and customization for your motion-triggered lights in Home Assistant, the “Sensor light” blueprint is the perfect solution. Unlike the simpler “Motion-activated light” blueprint, this blueprint offers advanced features like adjusting brightness, setting conditions, and controlling multiple lights.
In this guide, we will walk you through the setup of the “Sensor light” blueprint and explain the advanced options available, so you can fine-tune your home automation to suit your needs.
🧾 What You’ll Need
- A Zigbee motion sensor added to Home Assistant.
- One or more Zigbee smart lights paired and ready to use.
- Home Assistant set up and running.
- The “Sensor light” blueprint installed and accessible in your Home Assistant interface.
🧩 Using the “Sensor Light” Blueprint
The “Sensor light” blueprint allows for deeper control over the motion sensors and lights, and it supports various configuration options, such as controlling multiple lights, adjusting brightness, setting conditions, and more. Here’s how to set it up:
1. Navigate to Automations & Blueprints
- Open Settings → Automations & Scenes in Home Assistant.
- Click on Blueprints.
- Search for “Sensor light” in the search bar.
2. Select the “Sensor Light” Blueprint
- Choose the “Sensor light” blueprint from the list. This will allow you to create a motion-based lighting automation with advanced customization options.
3. Fill in the Blueprint Configuration
After selecting the blueprint, you’ll be prompted to configure it. Here are the key fields you’ll encounter, along with explanations of their functions.
- Motion Sensor: Choose the motion sensor(s) that will trigger the lights (e.g.,
binary_sensor.living_room_motion). You can select multiple sensors if you want to cover a larger area or use different angles. - Lights to Control: Select the light(s) you want to control when motion is detected. You can choose multiple lights or groups of lights (e.g.,
light.living_room_light,light.kitchen_light). - Light Brightness: Set the desired brightness for your lights when motion is detected. This can be a fixed value (e.g., 100 for full brightness), or you can set it to dynamically adjust based on time of day or other factors (e.g., dimmer in the evening).
- Light Color (Optional): If your lights support RGB or color temperature adjustments, you can specify the desired color or color temperature when the light is activated. You can set this to a specific color (e.g., “warm white”) or even create color-changing effects.
- Motion Timeout (in seconds): This option determines how long the light stays on after motion is no longer detected. For example, if you set a timeout of 5 minutes, the light will stay on for 5 minutes after the last motion event.
- Delay Before Turning Off (in seconds): This setting defines the amount of time to wait before turning the light off after motion stops being detected. For example, setting this to 10 seconds means the light will turn off 10 seconds after the last detected motion.
4. Optional Advanced Options
Here are some additional advanced options you can configure:
- Only Activate at Night: You can restrict the motion-triggered light to only turn on when it’s dark outside. This is useful for saving energy or ensuring that lights aren’t activated during the day. To do this, use the sun condition:
- Add a condition:
- Condition Type:
Sun - Condition:
below_horizon
- Condition Type:
- Add a condition:
- Activate Light for Specific Periods: You may only want to trigger the light during certain times of the day. For example, you might not want the motion sensor to trigger the light at night but only during working hours. Use time-based conditions:
- Add a condition:
- Condition Type:
Time - Condition: Specify the start and end time for when you want the automation to be active (e.g.,
08:00to18:00).
- Condition Type:
- Add a condition:
- Use Multiple Motion Sensors: If you have several motion sensors installed in the same room or multiple rooms, you can use multiple sensors to trigger the lights. The blueprint will turn on the lights when any of the selected sensors detect motion. This is great for larger spaces or complex setups.
5. Save the Automation
Once you’ve configured all the options, click Create Automation to save your automation. Make sure to name it something descriptive, like “Motion-activated Lights (Advanced)”, so you can easily identify it in the future.
🧑💻 Example: Advanced Automation for Living Room
Here’s an example configuration for a motion-activated light using the “Sensor light” blueprint:
- Motion Sensor:
binary_sensor.living_room_motion - Lights to Control:
light.living_room_main,light.living_room_lamp - Brightness:
100(full brightness when motion is detected) - Color:
warm_white - Motion Timeout:
300seconds (5 minutes) - Delay Before Turning Off:
30seconds - Conditions:
- Only Activate at Night:
below_horizoncondition set for night time. - Time Condition: Only activate between
08:00and22:00(e.g., for daytime use).
- Only Activate at Night:
✅ Wrapping Up
Using the “Sensor light” blueprint in Home Assistant gives you full control over your motion-triggered lighting automation. With advanced options like multiple sensors, time-based conditions, and dynamic brightness or color settings, you can create a lighting automation that fits your needs perfectly.
In the future, you can even expand this setup by combining it with other home automation tools, such as integrating lights with Google Home, or controlling them with voice commands.
This guide should help you get started with more advanced setups for motion-activated lighting, but feel free to experiment with different settings and conditions to make your smart home automation as personalized as possible.
Let us know if you have questions or need further guidance on integrating more advanced automations!