Ability to turn off lights after x minutes of no motion is missing

SmartApps & Automations
1

Prior to the new 2.0 app I was able to set certain light switches to turn off after no motion was detected for a certain amount of time. The new Smart Lights app can only turn off lights right away when the motion stops, with no delay. How do I get this functionality back?

3

It is hidden. Turn on the ‘turn off after motion stops’

4

Yes, that exists, however there is no time delay entry when selecting that option…

1 Like
5

Hmmm… In my Smart Lights app I can enable the toggle for “Turn off after motion stops”, which then causes a new entry to appear immediately below named “After this number of minutes” which allows data entry. I can confirm that this is working correctly, at least using the iOS app.

6

…and Android 20char

7

I am not seeing an option for time delay either. I thought it was just depricated. I am also missing a way to set presence sensors to unlock my doors.

1 Like
8

Please walk me through this, I am using the SmartThings 2.0.0 app in iOS.

Here are the steps I am taking:

  1. SmartApps > Smart Lighting
  2. New Lighting Automation
  3. Which lights do you want to control? I select the two light switches I want to control.
  4. What do you want to do? Turn Off
  5. How do you want to trigger action? Motion
  6. Which motion sensors? I select a motion sensor
  7. Turn Off When… Motion Stops
  8. I open the More Options section, but there are only options for during a certain time, day or mode.

Please show me where this hidden time option is. Please send a screen shot if possible.

2 Likes
9

Ahhh, I see the issue… You need to modify the “Turn ON” Motion event to automatically turn off after a time delay. Do not create a new “Turn Off” event.

1 Like
10

@ogiewon, but what if someone doesn’t want lights on when motion detected, just off after it stops? I can currently do that in the Lights & Switches dashboard.

3 Likes
11

It is there for me, as long as I choose either a contact sensor or a motion sensor as the trigger for the light to come on.

There is a slider button for the turn off again, which you have to turn to green before you will get the option to set the number of minutes.

Here Is what mine looks like. Notice the green slider next to “turn off after motion stops.” That is what lets you then enter the “after this number of minutes” field.

image.jpg768×1024 91.3 KB

Now I can enter the number of minutes:

image.jpg768×1024 77.9 KB

12

@johnconstantelo - I guess it is another feature that seems to have been lost during the “upgrade” to v2.0… It does seems like it would be very simple for ST to add that back in for a “Turn Off” event.

2 Likes
13

Totally agree @ogiewon, a lot of functionality has either moved around too much or lost in my opinion. I have 11 motion sensors in my house doing a lot of automation, and the loss of functionally from the previous Dashboards is causing me more effort to do the same thing, or to develop my own work arounds with custom smart apps.

Luckily all my previous Dashboards are still there. Until ST does a lot more with the new lighting automation tool, I have no plans to convert over.

2 Likes
14

Right, but you must enable the motion sensor to turn on the light.
What we’re looking for is “turn off after motion stops for x minutes”, without having the motion turn the light on.

3 Likes
16

If you follow the steps I outlined, you will see that there is no slider that reveals the minutes field. That slider only appears if you are creating a “Turn On When there is Motion and then Turn Off When Motion Stops” scenario. The slider disappears if you want something that is already onto turn off when the motion stops.

The bedroom lights are always getting left on, so I want them to turn off automatically after a certain amount of time when no motion is detected. This is no longer possible in the new app.

1 Like
17

Got it, my bad, I misread your original post.

Yes, you’re right, that just looks like a bug. The minutes field appears if you “turn on after no motion” but the minutes field does not appear if you “turn off after no motion”.

I would report it to support@smartthings.com

768×1024 85.2 KB

But the minutes field is just missing for the off option:

768×1024 78 KB

18

Glad someone already posted this…I was just about to post up on this as well. Just as an extra use case…I need a separate turn off even that is reliant on no movement after a period time but only in certain modes.

In my den where we watch tv, we may not move enough or fidget enough over five minutes to kick off the sensor so the lights would go off. My work around was my harmony remote, whenever we turn it on, kicks off a virtual switch that changes my mode to “TV time”. During this mode, the turn off even won’t fire. Since I have a different turn off event, I can’t use a delay. Now they go off very quick if I walk in and out of the room.

Really would like to have that option back ASAP!

19

It used to be called “Light Power Allowance” under the green living smart app which has been removed. I’m looking for the same thing here. No sensors involved just manually turn the light on and have it shut off after x minutes.
[/quote]

1 Like
20

Light Power Allowance is missing also. The other missing feature is to select how many minutes after motion stops to turn something off. There is no input for minutes in that case in Smart Lights. That’s an omission that should be fixed. I would assume that turn off after some time missing is an oversight, and they should fix that also.

I just wrote two very small apps to do these two functions:

For Turn off after motion stops:

For Turn off after some minutes:

8 Likes
21

Thank you Sir! I was really hoping that ST would have put this in Smart Lighting for local processing.

1 Like
22

I think both of these functions missing are just oversights on their part. Write to Support, complain, explain, etc. These are super easy for them to add to Smart Lights, but they need to hear from us to do it. :grinning:

1 Like