Home Assistant 101: When to Use Automations, Scripts, Scenes, and Groups

Confused about Automations, Scripts, Scenes, and Groups in Home Assistant?

You're not alone! These powerful tools can be overwhelming for new users. In this video, we break down the differences between these entity types so you can choose the right tool for the job.

I'll cover:

What is an automation and when should you use one?
How do scripts differ from automations?
What are groups and how do they compare to scenes?
Real-world examples to illustrate each concept
By the end of this video, you'll have a better understanding of these core Home Assistant features and be able to create more complex and efficient routines for your automated home.

Chapter Links:
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00:00 Intro
01:10 Automations and Scripts
07:08 Groups and Scenes

Additional Information and Links:
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#homeassistant #smarthome #automation #scripts #scenes #groups #tutorial #diy #homeautomation

[DaveA-sbue]

Another great Resinchem Tech production! Excellent tutorial and breakdown of the different ways to make things easier in Home Assistant. I thought it was a great point to mention that everything is located in one place as opposed to finding all the automations that may contain that entity. Great job as always! Keep up the Excellent work!

[NatOneRole]

you know what I love... long videos where I just want to know how to make "assist" run scripts that will change my roku tv app with my voice. But everyone seems to gloss over how to set up the voice command part but not the making a script part.

[eugsmiley]

9:55 One side note to the light and switch not being able to be grouped. You can create a helper to 'Change Device Type of a Switch'. The entity created can then be grouped. I've done this to group dumb LED lights which are connected to Kasa plugs and switches.

[An-bebh]

Great video thank you! I've just started using scripts but haven't done groups or scenes yet. This will help me keep my HA organised!

[gerryf]

Great explanation as always. Thanks.

Only 13 WLED projects in the basement. Get to work!! 😀

[markross]

Off topic, but is that a Texas instruments 994a in display case at beginning. I taught myself basic language using it. I wrote many programs and remember using the cassettes to load and save. I also spent so much time fixing it. I used it so much that things wore out like keys, joysticks, cables and things. My father worked for TI and would bring parts home and I would fix it myself. This is how I got interested in computers and electronics. Thanks for the trip down memory lane and reminding me of time well spent with my father who is now gone.

[cjhoffmn]

This helped me understand the components much easier! Thanks for this one!

[OGKenG]

I am just like the guy you mentioned. I'm just getting into scripts. I wasn't aware of the versatility of the different methods.

Thank you for doing this video.

[kamimunOfficial]

Great video, definitely referring to this later!

[rodneysmith]

Thanks for the breakdown! I am going to create a group for some of my WLED controllers and simplify a couple of the automations where everything is all discreet entities.

[TheMiguel]

Holy crap! Can't believe I just found you! Subscribed.

[neilbrookins]

How about a comparison between groups and rooms? You can turn on/off everything in a room together. And you are not restricted to one type like a group.

[kslover]

very good video. Informative and well presented. BTW I think your bar is awesome! WLEDs really add to it.

[richchapman]

Just found your channel and do glad I have. I use SmartThings and Alexa but seriously looking into using HA. I have no experience with HA and after watching your video I wonder if you intend to do more basic “idiot guides” to HA. A basic beginners onwards overview would be helpful for I imagine for just more than myself. Great video and looking forward to seeing the next. Any recommendations on reference sources either literature or videos would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

[SBinVancouver]

Thanks for this. Where I got confused with scenes is, I wanted to capture the state of <whatever entities>, in the process of running an automation. Whatever states, say, the lights were before turning on the TV, restore them to that state when the TVs turned off. I guess I'd use scene.create with the automation to capture the light states, change them in the automation to what I want, then use scene.turn_on to restore the prior lighting?