Ideas for automations and shortcuts that make your home smarter and your life simpler

Transforming my home into a smart home is an ongoing journey, but the level of automation I've achieved has dramatically improved my daily life.  Visiting homes without similar systems now highlights just how much I've come to rely on this technology.  I'm sharing some of my favorite shortcuts and automations in the hope that they will inspire others to enhance their own living spaces. 

 

Getting Home Shortcut (Single press of smart button S200B):
This shortcut performs the following actions sequentially: 

 

• Activates Home Display: Turns on a power socket (Tapo P100) powering an old cellphone displaying Tapo app widgets for house lighting and ventilation control. The screen remains active and unlocked for 10 minutes.
• Ensures Privacy: Executes the "Vision Zero" shortcut, repositioning the camera (TC70) to a location with no view of the house, maintaining privacy even with privacy mode disabled.
• Temporarily Disables Automations: Deactivates 15 other automations.
• Welcome Lighting: Turns on two ceiling lamps (L610) for 2 minutes.
• Camera Repositioning: Pauses for 5 seconds to allow the camera to reposition before activating privacy mode.
• Activates Privacy Mode: Enables privacy mode on the camera (TC70).
• Re-enables Automations: Reactivates the 15 previously disabled automations.
• Welcome Notification: Sends a "Welcome Home" notification.
• Gradual Light Dimming: After a 55-second pause, executes the "Turn Off Ceiling Lights Slowly" shortcut, dimming the lights from 100% to 0% at a rate of 10% per second.
• Extended Pause: Pauses for two hours.
• Deactivates Home Display: Turns off the power socket (Tapo P100) powering the cellphone display.

 

Shortcut - LEAVE HOME

For enhanced security and convenience, the "LEAVE HOME" shortcut (double-click S200B) orchestrates a series of actions.  It silences the home, safeguards privacy by disabling camera privacy mode, strategically positions cameras, and manages various automations. A final notification confirms the activation of the security protocol. 

 

•  Plays a sound on the H100 smart hub.
•  Turns off all plugs and lights.
•  Waits 5 seconds.
•  Disables privacy mode on the TC70 cameras.
•  Waits 5 seconds.
•  Executes the "Cam normal position" shortcut (repositioning the TC70 cameras).
•  Activates 15 specified automations.
•  Deactivates 15 specified automations.
• Waits 2 seconds.
•  Sends an "alarm active" notification. 

 

 

Important Automations

Automation - Move camera to House divisions

Problem: Slow motion tracking, especially with pets, made our security cameras less effective.
Solution:  When I'm away from home, motion detection on Tapo T100 sensors in each room triggers a coordinated response from all TC70 cameras.  They all pan towards the room with detected motion, regardless of the camera's initial view. This ensures complete coverage even with fast-moving pets and overcomes the limitations of individual camera tracking.  The logic is straightforward: IF motion detected on Tapo T100 in "room Y," THEN move all cameras toward "room Y."

 

Automation - Turns on the ceiling light when I open the closet door

• Effective Time: Always active.
• Trigger (Open): When the Tapo T110 sensor detects the closet door opening.
  • Action: Turn on the Tapo L610 light for 10 minutes. This timer prevents the light from remaining on indefinitely if the door is accidentally left open.
• Trigger (Close): When the Tapo T110 sensor detects the closet door closing.
  • Action: Turn off the Tapo L610 light.

Supplemental Automations:

• Long-Open Notification:
  • Trigger: If the Tapo T110 sensor remains open for more than 10 minutes.
  • Action: Send a "Closet Open" notification. This alerts you if the door is inadvertently left open.

Sunset and Motion Sensor Conflict Resolution: The automation of turning on the ceiling light upon closet door opening also handles potential conflicts with room motion sensors by doing the following:

• During Sunset and Open: When the closet door opens after sunset, the automation to turn on the ceiling light temporarily disables any room light activation triggered by motion detection.
• On Close: When the closet door closes, the automation to turn on the room light from motion detection is re-enabled. This ensures that normal room motion detection resumes immediately after the closet door is closed.

 

Automation - When the sun goes down, and if you're at home, the living room lighting is activated until 23:59

Automated Living Room Lighting: This automation consists of two parts:

• Sunset Activation: At sunset, if home presence is detected, the living room lights (Tapo P100 + Tapo L610) are activated. This remains active until 23:59.
• Motion-Activated Lighting: From sunset until sunrise, motion sensors in other rooms activate their corresponding lights when movement is detected.

 

Temperature control

Shortcut - "Temp Auto ON" -> When the sensor (T310) detects -22 degrees celcius it activates an electrical socket (P100) and +24 degrees celcius it switches off the electrical socket

Shortcut - "Temp Auto OFF" -> When the sensor (T310) detects -22 degrees celcius it switches off an electrical socket (P100) and +22 degrees celcius switches off the electrical socket. This way there is no action.

PS:During the night, if the "When I go to sleep" or "Sleep" shortcuts are activated, (P100) is switched off. The "leaving home" shortcut not only turns off the power sockets (p100) but also applies an automation that disables the shortcuts (redundancy).

 

Other shortcuts / automations:

Shortcuts: 

• When I go to sleep: Turns off all electrical outlets (P100) and activates bedside lamps (specified bedroom lamps).
• Sleep: Turns off all lights after a 15-second delay. (Allows time to get settled before lights turn off)
• SOS: Activates a security protocol: turns on all house lights and sounds the H100 alarm for 10 minutes. This shortcut is used in response to confirmed security breaches detected by the cameras. (The alarm is overridden when away to avoid false positives).

 

Automations:

• Nighttime Toilet Lighting: During nighttime hours, activates lights on the path to the toilet and the toilet light at 15% brightness.
• Away Mode Lighting: When away from home, between sunset and sunrise, motion detection triggers lights to turn on. This provides security and illumination while away.
• Restricted Room Alerts: While away from home, motion detection in designated "locked" rooms triggers personalized alerts, even when Do Not Disturb (DND) is enabled. This feature helps monitor areas where the cat shouldn't be while also ignoring the cat's movements in other rooms.
• Temperature-Based Heating: (As previously described). This system automatically activates the heater (P100) when the temperature falls to -22°C and turns it off when the temperature reaches +24°C. This functionality is overridden during nighttime ("When I go to sleep" or "Sleep") and when you leave home ("Leaving Home"), ensuring the heater is off when unnecessary.

 

 

Shortcuts - RV20  Mop vacuum cleaner

I've created custom shortcuts for my RV20 robot vacuum, one for each room in my house.  Each shortcut executes the following sequence:
* Starts the RV20 vacuum in the specified room.
* Turns on the room's light for a pre-determined duration (adjusted for each room's cleaning time).
* Pauses the process for a calculated period (based on the room's average cleaning time).
* Sends a notification announcing the completion of the vacuuming process in that room.
The lighting is included for visibility during cleaning, despite the robot's ability to clean in the dark. These shortcuts are accessible via widgets on my phone for quick and convenient use. 

 

Other Automations Implemented in 2025

 

Outside, I have two cameras installed in a location that may occasionally detect movement (e.g., tree leaves, dogs, or cats). By default, the cameras point to a predefined position. However, using an algorithm, if a person is detected, motion tracking is automatically activated. If this detection occurs after sunset, in addition to motion tracking, a light is turned on for five minutes.

 

To ensure the cameras return to their default position and disable motion tracking, another automation runs every 30 minutes to reset the camera's position and turn off tracking.

 

S200B Button in Every Room

 

Rotating the button clockwise turns on the lights in the respective room. Rotating it counterclockwise turns them off.

 

Here’s the fun and interesting part:

 

A single press activates a custom vacuuming shortcut for that specific room.

A double press cancels the cleaning and sends the robot vacuum back to its charging base.

 

This setup allows me to vacuum individual rooms using personalized modes, integrated with lighting controls, all without needing to open the app.

 

 

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