4:32, Saturday morning. An announcement in the 6 Alexa of the house tears up the silence: It's starting to rain! Alexa, just woke up the whole house. I am not telling you the atmosphere at breakfast. Great start to the weekend.

The cause? My rain sensor ZG-223Z had detected a few drops at 4:25 a.m., and my automation had triggered an Alexa ad without thinking about the time.

I wanted a solution simple, native Home Assistant to say: ‘ You announce ONLY between 9am and 9:30pm on weekdays, 10am-10pm on weekends. After testing input_datetime, multiple automations and complex scripts, I discovered THE Planner. 5 minutes of config, and never again of untimely awakening.

I tell you my entire journey, step by step, exactly as I did.

🎯 My plan of attack

Objective: Create a " custodian of timetables which says YES/NO to Alexa ads according to time + day. I have chosen the HA Planner because:

• I slide-and-drop my time slots
• It gives me a state ON/OFF automatic
• Zero code, 100% Home Assistant Interface
• I'm doing it conditioning in ALL my automations

 

🔧 Step 1: I create my Planner

I click Settings → Devices & Services → Inputs (Helpers)

I click Create an entry → Planner

I name : Message Alexa Authorized → Automatic Entity ID: schedule.message_alexa_ allows

I set up my ranges:

• Monday to Friday : 09:00 → 21:30 (blue)
• Saturday : 08:30 → 21:30 (blue)
• Sunday : 10:00 → 21:30 (blue)

I save and visualize the sensor.

Thus, when the sensor is activated, Alexa has the right to notify either:

schedule.message_alexa_allows=ON

 

📊 Step 2: I create a visual sensor (optional)

For my dashboard, I code this binary _sensor in my templates.yaml :

- name: "Alexa Authorized Messages" unique _id: binary_sensor.alexa_messages_allowed state: > {{ is_state('schedule.message_alexa_ authorize', 'on') }} device_class: connectivity icon: > {% if is_state('schedule.message_alexa_allow', 'on') %} mdi:bell-badge {% else %mdi:bell-off {% endif %}

HA restart → binary_sensor.alexa_messages_allowed appears. I add it to my picture-elements dashboard:

⚙ Step 3: I secure my automations

My typical example : Rain notification (who woke me up!)

BEFORE (dangerous): Rain → Direct announcement → 4h32 family alarm clock

AFTER (secured): Rain + Schedule ON → Announcement. Otherwise: silence.

alias: Notification Rain Secure Description: "🚨 Rain Detected AND Time OK" triggers: - entity_id: binary_sensor.pluie_en_cours # My ZG-223Z from: "off" to: "on" for: second: 20 # Anti-false positive conditions: - condition: state entity _id: schedule.message_alexa_ allows # ← MY GUARDIAN! state: "on" actions: - service: notify.alexa _media _partout data: Message: 🚨 It's starting to rain outside! Closed blinds, watering cut." data: Type: announce - delay: "00:00:02" mode: single

TEST: 4pm → Simulated Rain → "It's Raining!" on all Echo ✅

TEST: 23h → Simulated rain → Total silence ✅

🛠 My pro tips (explicit for beginners)

1. Smart dashboard badge

- type: conditional conditions: - entity: binary_sensor.alexa_messages_allowed state: "on" elements: - type: state-badge entity: binary_sensor.alexa_messages_allowed style: top: 85% left: 5% '--card-mod-icon-color': green

Appears in GREEN if OK, invisible otherwise. Magical!

2. Easy Debug

Developer Tools → Template → {{ states('schedule.message _alexa _ authorize') }} → Instant!

To test and verify sensor values.

💬 My verdict after 1 week

✅ Plus a single untimely awakening. The family sleeps, I'm Zen.

✅ 5 MINUTES initial config, then all automatic.

VISUAL ✅: Colorful ranges, dashboard badges, clear logs.

✅ NATIF: Zero external dependency, easily upgradable.