Auto Dimming light activated via switch

Hello all!

I am hoping our collective brains can figure this out. I used to have a setup that I loved and now its broken. Whenever I would put my children to bed, I would turn on a “Gentle wake up” switch that I had reversed to slowly dim a lamp in their room. They would use this to read in bed and then knew it was time to stop reading and go to sleep once the light reached 0%. I had it dim from 99% to 0% over 15 minutes. It helped them transition to sleep time much like the Gentle wake up feature does for waking up.
Well now Gentle wake up no longer works with the new app as many have discovered. I have tried other options but with no luck. This feature worked so well and now it no longer is an option. I have tried the third party app “Wake up Light” in the iOS app store which kinda worked through homekit but doesnt allow me to activate it whenever I wanted. Only at a certain time of day. Which as parents know, small children dont go to bed on time/the same time every night.
Has anyone come up with a solution or gotten the smartapp “Gentle Wake up” to work with the “Gentle wake up controller” ?

My existing Gentle Wake Up devices still work - I can schedule them via Smart Lighting and they come on - but I can’t interact with the device at all. If you already have them created you might be able to keep using them, but if someone moves to a new bedroom or you have to replace the switch/bulb in question it sounds like you’re hosed…

You can do this with an Alexa routine. It allows you to select gradual dimming options as the “that“ part of the routine.

For the If, you can use an Alexa voice command or time of day or a sensor activating.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=G4XRFPC74SLMCK72

You should be able to do it with a virtual sensor from smartthings, which would let you trigger it as a switch, but that’s been kind of glitchy for people since the new smartthings skill was released. So I don’t feel 100% confident that that method works all the time now, but you can try it.

FAQ: Can I trigger an Echo Action without Speaking to It?

For better reliability you could use any nonSmartThings sensor that Alexa recognizes and use that instead of a switch. For example, I have a motion sensor mounted on the side of my bed pointing towards the nightstand. A hand swipe over it triggers some lights to come on.

So just some other options.

Yes you are right, I recently switched triggered devices and bedrooms so double whammy. Thats when it all stopped working.

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thanks JDRoberts! I will try to incorporate Alexa into it. I will see if I can create a Virtual Switch in ST to trigger a routine from Alexa. I might have to use a middleman like IFTTT if I cant find another way to link them. Especially now that IFTTT has forced you to go PRO if you use more than 3 applets.

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People have also reported success using APKs of old Classic versions. From what the ST staff have been saying here, any separate infrastructure supporting that won’t be available indefinitely but it might be worth trying to quickly reconfigure your existing setup. Of course that’s only an option if you have an Android device available, and you mentioned iOS.

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You can set it up so that when you just say “Alexa, it’s bedtime“ (or any other phrase you like) to either the Alexa app or an echo device it will start your dimming routine. That definitely works. :sleeping:

@jonwhoward, If you want to try the “smartapp gentle wakeup” that I modify?
I modified it in IDE and published it for me. I installed it in the new app and it works perfectly, except for the phrases that does not exist in new app and the link with other app’s.
It works by increasing and decreasing light. I have tested it with a dimmable light bulb, I don’t have dimmable switches, but I hope it will work the same.
It is the link to post about smartapp modification:

The link to modified smartapp code:

There’s also gentle wake up app in Smartthings Labs under the 3 dots in smart apps