- Add motion-off debounce to filter PIR drop-outs - Treat pre-emptive manual turn-on (from idle) as MANUAL mode - Recover from external turn-off while motion still active - Run enable/disable callbacks before turn-on/off for mode:restart safety - Document brightness-threshold interaction and input_text max_length
Motion Light Automation Blueprint
This blueprint creates a smart motion-activated light control system. It handles motion detection, luminance-based triggering, and manual override detection to provide intelligent lighting automation.
Features
- Multiple motion sensor support (triggers on ANY sensor)
- Condition switches (ALL must be ON for automation to work)
- Multiple lights and/or switches control
- Light groups and area-based targeting (native area picker)
- Configurable timeout delay before turning off
- Minimum on duration (prevents rapid on/off cycling)
- Motion sensor on/off debounce (filter false triggers and PIR drop-outs)
- Smooth light transitions with configurable duration
- Luminance sensor support (only trigger in dark conditions)
- Time-based conditions (only active during specified hours)
- Day/Night mode (different light settings based on time)
- Scene support (activate scenes instead of light parameters)
- Dim before off (visual warning before turning off)
- Manual override detection (stops automation if user changes light) with configurable grace period
- Brightness threshold (only trigger if light is dim)
- Custom light parameters (brightness, color, etc.)
- Callback actions for enable/disable/manual events
- Debug notifications for troubleshooting
State Machine
The automation tracks these states via persistent storage:
| State | Value | Description |
|---|---|---|
| NONE | 0 | Idle, waiting for motion |
| ENABLING | 2 | Light turn-on command sent, waiting for state change |
| ENABLED | 1 | Light is ON and controlled by automation |
| MANUAL | 3 | User took control, automation paused until light turns off |
Behavior Notes
- Will NOT turn on light if it's already ON (prevents hijacking user control).
- If user changes the light while automation is active (e.g., dim, color, scene), enters MANUAL mode (after grace period).
- If the user turns the light ON while the automation is idle (pre-emptive manual control), it enters MANUAL mode and fires the
manual_actioncallback. Thedisable_actioncallback is not run in this case (nothing was enabled to disable). - If the light is turned off by any external source while motion is still active, the automation re-enables it (external turn-off recovery). To intentionally exit the automation, also turn off the corresponding condition switch — this routes through the disable path and respects the configured timeouts.
- Grace period prevents false manual overrides from delayed device state reports (e.g., Zigbee) — including stray reports that can follow a turn-off.
- MANUAL mode exits when light is turned OFF (by any means).
- Timeout delay only applies when turning OFF (motion cleared).
- Time conditions support overnight windows (e.g., 22:00 to 06:00).
- Day/Night mode uses separate time window from time conditions.
Brightness threshold interaction
brightness_threshold is checked only when the automation decides whether to enable. A light that is on but dimmer than the threshold is treated as "available to take over" — so the automation will run with that light. When the disable path runs, it will turn the light off (it does not restore a below-threshold dim state).
Callback ordering and mode: restart
Light state changes feed back into the automation, which uses mode: restart to handle rapid bursts. To make sure callbacks aren't silently dropped when the automation restarts mid-action, both enable_action and disable_action run before the corresponding turn-on/turn-off command.
Requirements
- At least one motion sensor.
input_textentity for persistent state storage. Each automation instance must have its own entity. Increase the entity'smax_length(default 100) to at least 255 to leave room for the JSON state — short values can cause silent truncation.- Target light(s), switch(es), group, or area to control.
Author
Alexei Dolgolyov (dolgolyov.alexei@gmail.com)