Summary

The author of this article describes how they created a randomized morning alarm system using Home Assistant and Google Home.

Abstract

The author of this article was dissatisfied with the limited selection of alarm sounds available on their Google Home device and decided to create a randomized morning alarm system using Home Assistant. They added a DateTime Helper and a Toggle to their Home Assistant setup, as well as a Time Sensor to their core configuration. They then set up an entity stack on their Lovelace dashboard to allow them to set their alarm as desired. The author then created a new automation in Home Assistant, using a timer to trigger the alarm two minutes before the set time. They also set up a condition to listen for their toggle, which would turn off the alarm if desired. The author used YouTube videos as their alarm sounds, extracting the video IDs and adding them to a list in Home Assistant. They used the random function to select a video from the list each morning. The author notes that this methodology can be used to enhance other Home Automations, such as presence detection or a Pomodoro timer.

Bullet points

The author was dissatisfied with the limited selection of alarm sounds available on their Google Home device.
They decided to create a randomized morning alarm system using Home Assistant.
They added a DateTime Helper and a Toggle to their Home Assistant setup, as well as a Time Sensor to their core configuration.
They set up an entity stack on their Lovelace dashboard to allow them to set their alarm as desired.
The author created a new automation in Home Assistant, using a timer to trigger the alarm two minutes before the set time.
They set up a condition to listen for their toggle, which would turn off the alarm if desired.
The author used YouTube videos as their alarm sounds, extracting the video IDs and adding them to a list in Home Assistant.
They used the random function to select a video from the list each morning.
This methodology can be used to enhance other Home Automations, such as presence detection or a Pomodoro timer.

Add Some Variety to your Morning Alarm — Recursive Automation

Recently I discovered that I was sleeping through my morning alarm and set out to suggest the sound on my Google Home. The idea was that I had become familiar with my current tone. Unfortunately, my partner didn’t like the sound I chose. Frustrated with the limited selection of alarm sounds, I set out to create a random playlist.

Since I have Home Assistant running my smart home, I figured a smart place to start was there.

Helpers and Sensors in Home Assistant

A DateTime Helper to set the alarm
A Toggle so that I could turn the alarm off if I didn’t want it.

I also needed to add a Time Sensor to my core configuration so that I can track the time. I used the File Editor and in my /config/configuration.yaml added the following sensor.

sensor: 
  - platform: time_date 
    display_options: 
      - 'time' 
      - 'date' 
      - 'date_time'

Lovelace Panel

I also set up an entity stack on my Lovelace dashboard so that I could set my alarm as I want:

Automation

Now time to automate. Navigating to my Automations, I created a new Automation.

Trigger

Set up a timer to run based on my input:

platform: template 
value_template: >- {{ states('sensor.time') == ( states.input_datetime.alarm_entry.attributes.timestamp | int - 120 ) | timestamp_custom('%H:%M', False) }}

Note that I’m using a value_template here to trigger the alarm for two minutes less than what I set it for. Later I can add my bedroom lights to fade up during this time. I also am going to use Google Home to play the alarm, so I want a little bit of cushion for communication speed.

Conditions

Let’s set up a condition to listen for my toggle:

And let there be Music — Morning Alarm Set

I’m using a Google Home and Home Assistant’s Cloud, so I can cast YouTube Videos directly to my Google Home! I found a playlist on YouTube and extracted out the Video IDs.

Use the Video IDs from the YouTube Videos that you want

The Code as it appears in Home Assistant

You can find more information about the setup in Home Assistant here.

# Copy and Paste this to start your list!
{{ ["5_edhbiUH3c","jzR4tr7jq5Y","jN6hJXMQkbU","GDaT1IcAokc","VOgupr6Q2v0","XGRiv9itLQ0","JPvkrkNQB7E","jzR4tr7jq5Y","jN6hJXMQkbU","GDaT1IcAokc","VOgupr6Q2v0","XGRiv9itLQ0","JPvkrkNQB7E"] | random }}

A couple of notes here.

You’ll notice repeated video ids. When using random in your data_template, there is no real way to weigh one list item so that it occurs more often. An artificial way of doing this is to simply add the same value multiple times.
There is one item here that only appears once, it’s this video (which is the original inspiration for this post).

You can use this methodology to enhance your other Home Automations like your presence detector, your Pomodoro Timer, or to help set the mood for your next game night.
The YouTube Videos I’m using are by Steven Cravis, and they are nice and soothing.

There you have it! A custom Alarm Clock with Home Assistant and Google Home. Go forth and start your day!

Originally published at https://recursiveautomation.com on April 3, 2021.