A few questions before making the plunge

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Hey guys little intro to myself. I bought my first home last year and caught the smart devices bug. I have gotten a bunch of devices and it seems it is time to get a hub to get everything working in one spot. I have done a bit of searching for the best home hub and have my eyes on the Samsung smarthings. I have read the forums a bit and have found a ton of useful information here ! But i have a few things I want to make sure are possible to do before I make the plunge.

I would like to make an automation for my garage where when the garage door opens with my opener or with the myq app (myq opener) it turns on my 2 smart bulbs in my garage (lohas led) and once the garage closes after (x) amount of time the bulbs turn off.

I would also like to make a automation where when my door rings (nest) it sends a command to tell Alexa (show frontdoor on echo spot) or to make it where an overlay pops up on my tv that shows a feed.

All of the other automation’s I have thought of i have found the answers to which seems very promising! Sorry for the long first post, but I can’t wait to get started with making my smart home even smarter! all products listed below are throughout the home

Nest Doorbell
Nest Thermostat
Harmony Hub
My Q Door Opener
10 Lohas LED Smart Bulbs
4 LEPower LED Smart Bulbs
8 Gosund Smart Plugs
2 Imillet Smart Strips
Echo Spot
Eco Dot
Echo Look
Anki Vector

Looking to add a few more alexa devices , cameras, smart lock, more bulbs and sensors for automation.

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Do you have a link to the bulbs? Are they wifi or zigbee?

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Wifi Bulbs, i got them off Amazon.

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They won’t work with SmartThings directly. Does MyQ show up in Alexa as an open/close sensor? If so, you can probably use an Alexa routine to trigger them.

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There are no native integrations between SmartThings and MyQ openers.

If you search this community for MyQ, you’ll find a smartapp but be aware it requires adding a tilt sensor to your door(s)

I elected to put a motion sensor in my garage instead. This is set up using the Smart Lighting app. Interior lights come on when motion detected, go off 5 minutes after motion stops. Exterior lights do the same but only between sunset and sunrise

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You can pretty much get most things to work in SmartThings with the Classic App and Custom Apps.

With the bulbs, you can use the Alexa App to serve as a middleman.

The MyQ, you just need an additional sensor.

You can control the Nest with the Alexa App and you can control Alexa with EchoSpeaks so there might be a way to do what you want with the doorbell…

Take the plunge and just get right on in. ST is having some issues lately but I’m sure things will get worked out soon.

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Wifi bulbs usually can be controlled with SmartThings through IFTTT as middlemen.

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hey guys thanks for replying i was also looking for a simple tutorial that can answer the same question…
best regards!!

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Hey thanks for the reply. I have seen the term IFTTT be thrown around in several videos and in this community. Excuse my ignorance but what exactly is it/ does it do.

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I have seen the custom app for the mq but wasn’t sure what else was necessary. (good to know I need a sensor)

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So you have a motion sensor on the door itself or in the garage. I would like to have the lights do something similar as to what you have done. Right now my outside lights are on a automation through Alexa to turn on and off at set times. How would a motion sensor work for sunlight?

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IFTTT-If This Than That is a cloud based platform that allows difference protocols to work with one another.

(If) my Blink camera arms (This), (Then) turn on Smart Home Momitor in SmartThings (That).

https://ifttt.com/discover

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Motions are typically put in locations where they can get a wide view of the area that’s being monitored for movement (mounted in corners). A rule such as:

If motion changes to active
And
Time is between sunset and sunrise
Than with Light
Turn On
Wait 5 minutes
Turn Off

In the above scenario as long as there is motion within the 5 minute period, the light will stay on. Once there is no motion for 5 minutes, then the light will automatically turn off.

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For the moment, I’ve got an interior motion sensor above the door from the garage into the house. That’s more or less centered on the garage back wall.

Motion control is done via the Smart Lighting smartapp in the SmartThings app (its in both versions). Which keeps it “local” on the hub, so fast and not reliant on Internet.

I’m getting by running the outside lights with that but it’s not ideal, outside lights go on if I step into the garage even if I don’t leave. There’s an outside motion sensor I’ll buy one of these days.

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Could i use ifttt to make it when my q opens it turns on both my garage lights for (x) minutes and when closed turns them off after x minutes. Was also curious if you could do that with a smart switch. Such as once the switch turns on it can only stay on for (x) amount of time and then turns itself off.

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I’ve never used ifttt with SmartThings as I’m trying to keep add few services involved as possible and keeping as many things local as possible.

You can set up a smart switch to turn off after a specified time using Smart Lighting. Not sure about tying it to the garage door state.

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Well i made the plunge the other day. Ended up buying some zigbee bulbs, motion sensor, multipurpose sensor, and arrival sensor. For inside and thinking about keeping just the wifi ones in my garage, exterior, and basement. Still need to to figure out how to make them work within smart things.

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