Hey all!!! Wanted to start a thread looking for some of the newer members (older members are welcome as well) to chime in and let the community devs know what you want from some smart apps. Things you want STs to be able to do but currently it can’t.
For isntace, @greg PMed me a while back and asked me to write him a sump pump monitor app. That didn’t exist until he had the need for it and asked me to write it. Anything you think a SmartApp can solve raise your voice and be heard.
Obviously I cannot fix everything, nor can I promise to be able to implement your idea, but I want to give it a best effort for everyone.
My idea for this thread is to get some ideas rolling about how I can improve the STs “brain” so to speak. Then we can take the top 5ish (to start) most popular ideas and see if we can get them into the ecosystem! I am not calling on any specific person in our community to help write any code, but all are welocme to champion any of the ideas that come from this thread! I really think we can do some awesome things if we all put our minds to it!
So, please, whether you have been here for 2 years or 3 days what are some of your ideas that you really want to see STs be able to do?! Don’t hold back!
If you don’t ask we can’t create it!
God bless!
Disclaimer: This thread will not be a “STs bash” thread. I want this to be a positive way to bring some awesome ideas into the open that can be worked on by anyone who chooses to champion them. So, please be respectful of that. I reserve the right to have @april destroy this thread at a moments notice.
I am looking for something similar to Dave, so to add to that, allow the fan to kick on circulate/fan mode based on parameters of time since the AC last ran or something to even out the temperature in the house (and turn off that fan after x minutes). This will reduce the amount of AC cycles we need and thus save money from the biggest cost sink we have in the house. The app I found by midyear66 was close, but didn’t do anything for my honeywell stat I could see. I don’t know if others are in that boat with an occasionally unbalanced house.
@tslagle13 What is the sump pump monitoring app? Sometimes mine fails to trigger or it will get stuck running. Can it address those?
Now on to business, I’d like to see a smart app that can take any digital or analog value and spit out a manipulated value to virtual device. Like invert a open/close switch or offset a temperature or perform math(s) upon that value before spitting it out.
After having bad ice dams early 2014, I had an ice dam prevention system installed on my gutters last fall. It works great (when I remember to turn it on. ). One of my first ST purchases was to install a Z-wave switch on this system, so that I can turn it on remotely. That has been a good improvement in those ‘oh shoot’ moments when I’m at work and remember that I hadn’t turned it on. What would be great is to have a SmartApp that uses weather data to turn on the switch when certain temperature and precipitation conditions are met and off again when the weather changes and/or after a certain period of time. I’d also like to get a notification when the system turns on and off.
I could purchase specialized hardware for this type of system to monitor moisture and temperature, but what fun would it be to not have it integrated into my ST system?
@tslagle13 what a very nice idea. Thank you. I have an idea but I am not ready to put it into production yet. At some point I would love to automate my whole house fan. It would have to looks something like this. If it is below X degrees outside and windows X and X are open,(and some more parameters- like between the hours of, or in X mode) turn on whole house fan. I know that this is more than the normal two steps so I don’t know if it is doable… and I still need to get an electrician and add a switch to my WHF ( it is only remote right now)
PS I am not a coder and would not know where to begin with something like this.
but I want it to turn on some Hues to yellow if there is a thunderstorm watch in my area, pulse yellow if there’s a thunderstorm warning, glow red if there’s a tornado watch, and pulse red if there’s a tornado warning. Basically, I want my house to be the starship Enterprise if there is severe weather.
I’m not yet up to the skill level to make this work.
@JDRoberts thank you however, it will not work for me. My WHF requires that so many windows be open for the cool air exchange. If it came on and I do not have the windows open it would burn out the motor… quickly. The extra options of windows being open to turn on would be a safety for me.
Updated sump pump check to sump pump monitor (see above)
HVAC Fan Power Allowance:
Restrict the maximum time you can run the fan on your HVAC system. When the fan is turned on manually this will turn the fan back to auto after a customizable amount of time.
HVAC Fan Director:
Automate your fan from “On” to “Auto” based on the temperature difference between two temp sensors in your home. Helps even out the temperature of your home without turning on the AC/Heat
My alarm must be set to “stay” vs “away” if the Roomba is to clean the floors while the house is vacant. Would be sweet if there was a way to communicate Roomba action that could temporarily switch the alarm status to toggle the motion sensor.
I realize the Roomba doesn’t send any signals on its own, but I am sure there is a way to accomplish this via another sensor or scheduling.
i love this! After the month of April’s challenge, we can also use the app challenge to assist this too ;).
). One of my first ST purchases was to install a Z-wave switch on this system, so that I can turn it on remotely. That has been a good improvement in those ‘oh shoot’ moments when I’m at work and remember that I hadn’t turned it on. What would be great is to have a SmartApp that uses weather data to turn on the switch when certain temperature and precipitation conditions are met and off again when the weather changes and/or after a certain period of time. I’d also like to get a notification when the system turns on and off.
It’s on the list!