Hello SmartThings community! Let me start off by saying that I’m a bit of a newb with SmartThings.
Here’s the situation. I work rotating shifts. Days, nights, overnights, weekdays, weekends, you name it. For the last few years I’ve had some lamps in the living room on a timer and a timer switch for my porch light that turns it on at a random time within a half hour of sunset and +/- a half hour of the set shut off time. This is obviously not only for my convenience, but to also make the house appear to be occupied by the casual observer.
I recently purchased a Harmony Home remote to replace my old 880. Shortly after I got a Smartthings hub and some GE Link lights to integrate them into my activities. When I did this, I got rid of the timer and added an activity to Harmony to turn the lights on at “sunset”. The problem is, “sunset” as defined by Harmony and the actual time the sun begins to sink below the horizon and darken my living room are 2 totally different times.
Now, here’s what I’d like to accomplish. I’d like a luminance sensor that reports a value to Smartthings. When the light level drops below a certain threshold I’d like it to trigger the 2 Link bulbs in the living room to turn on to pre set levels. This covers me for night time and allows the lights to turn on when it gets dark due to approaching storms (very common here in Florida, especially in the summer.) I’d also like to be able to easily set the threshold and to be able to set a threshold to automatically turn the lights back off. It would be set higher than the light level provided by the living room lights. I’d also like to be able to set some boundary times so that the lights aren’t on all night. Ability to turn them off when I go to bed or have them go off at a set time when I’m on midnight shift would also be a requirement.
Here’s where I need the community’s help. I’ve been reading a little bit about luminance sensors. Enough to tell me to return the Aeon Multisensor that I just purchased, but not enough to tell me which one I should get. Any help there, especially based on your personal experience would be most welcome. Advice on sensor placement would be welcomed as well. My house has an open floorplan with vaulted ceilings. There’s a large window with vertical blinds and a transom window. It faces out onto the covered back porch so there’s never direct sunlight.
This will also be my foray into programming for Smartthings. I’m sure I’ll have a bunch of questions when that time comes.
Thanks again! I’ve been lurking here for a while and this seems like a very interesting and helpful community.