I have old automations that activate. These old automations can be either previously deleted automations, or previous version(s) of an edited automation.
Under the history -> activity tab, these activations can be seen. The reported name of the activated automation is the name the automation had when its configuration would cause the activation, either that of a deleted automation, or that of an edited automation.
I am only using custom automations.
I have only seen this once before but yea, Iâve had it happen to me too with the custom automation creator. Level 1 support was unable to assist. It was only one automation with one device causing me issues so I deleted the device and readded it. Orphaning the automation with no way to trigger it.
@oldcomputerwiz Thanks for the quick feedback.
Iâve seen this happen to me several times in the whopping 4 daysâ experience I have with this (yes, my first) ST hub. Since Iâm new to this, Iâve added and deleted the automations, as well as edited the trigger on existing automations a few times and now have a nice, few automations, but a mess of activations throughout the day - leftovers from previous automations, or even previous versions of edited automations.
Iâll delete and re-add the devices and hope this clears up. Of course Iâll name the replaced automations something different so if the old ones (pre delete/re-add of devices) persist, that will be obvious.
FWIW, the devices are two âBali - Springs Window Fashionsâ :âWindow Treatmentâ motorized shades. I believe that device is identical to the âSomfyâ:âWindow Treatmentâ as Bali apparently is âPowered by Somfyâ.
Also, again FWIW, the automations are simple:
Automation 1 (close): At 3PM, close these two blinds
Automation 2 (open): At 55 minutes before sunset, open these two blinds
One example of the reported issue occurred when the âopenâ automation was edited to change it from its previous 1:15PM to its current 3:00PM trigger time. The result is that that âopenâ automation actives at both 1:15PM and at 3:00PM.
This is reproducible.
I have the following simple custom automation:
I suspect a key to this problem is that it controls two devices, but that is just a suspicion; hereâs why I suspect this:
I originally created this automation, about 11:15AM. As its default automation name implies, it was originally created to fire âEvery day at 11:23 AMâ. Immediately after creating this automation, at about 11:17 AM I edited it to change its trigger time to 11:20 AM. I then waited to see what would happen.
At 11:20 AM, both blinds closed, as the automation intends. I then used the ST app to open both blinds a bit, and then waited for the originally-set trigger time of 11:23 AM to come. At 11:23 AM, the automation activated, but only closed the âNorthShadeâ shade.
I then edited that same automation two more times, before 11:30 AM. The two changes were to change the trigger time to 11:35 AM, and then to 11:32 AM. I then manually opened both shades a bit vi the ST app.
At 11:32 AM, the automation activated and both shades closed. I used the ST app to open them both a bit and waited for 11:35 AM. At 11:35 AM, the automation activated and just like the first time, only the âNorthShadeâ shade closed.
Recall from my earlier post that an incorrect activation was occurring at 1:15 PM. Earlier this morning, before setting up and running my testcases, I started by deleting the devices. After doing so, I verified that the ST app displayed no devices and no automations. I then added the two window shade devices back and set up and ran my tests described above.
Well, it is now 1:23 PM and I just checked the ST appâs history to see if the invisible 1:15 PM automation activated again. Sigh - it did. Even though it activated, at least it didnât cause any device action, as seen by a lack of such entries in history.
Although that invisible automation now does not cause any device activity, it does leave annoying activation messages in history (yeah, Iâm particular that way 
).
I really want to avoid resetting my ST hub to factory settings to scrub it, but I also want those annoying activations to go away. I tried one more thing to see if I can get rid of the hidden activations, as follows:
I repeated my above testcase, identical to the automation screen shot from earlier in this post, but the new testcase was set up before 1:30 PM, and was to first create it to activate at 1:35 PM, and then edited to activate at 1:32 PM. I then went into âAutomationsâ, âDeleteâ, and then instead of deleting selected automations, I clicked âallâ.
After 5 minutes or so, 1:32 PM arrived and no activations; so far, so good. Then the critical 1:35 PM rolled around and (oh joy!), no activation occurred. I still need to see whether that pesky 1:15 PM automation activates tomorrow before this can be called a success, but Iâm hopeful. Iâll post on that tomorrow.
I just thought of something. Are those window shades zigbee? When I had the issue it was a Z-Wave device so when I deleted and re-added the device, it received a new ID. Iâm pretty sure zigbee keeps itâs ID.
If you donât have much setup you could do complete reset of everything and just start over.
You could also contact support but I think you will need to get past level 1 to actually get someone that might be able to help you.
The window shades are Z-Wave. Thank you for the tidbit about Z-Wave devices getting a new ID. That explains the lack of device activity when the invisible automations activate after I deleted/added the window shade devices.
There is no need to wait until tomorrow to report on whether selecting âallâ when deleting automations gets rid of the invisible automations; it doesnât. 3:00 PM came and went and left several activations in history at 3:00 PM for automations I had removed, but had really just become invisible.
I intend to factory-reset the ST hub and start over in order to get rid of my phantom automations.
@oldcomputerwiz Thanks for your help!
Did you went the factory-reset way or did you found any solution in the meantime on how to getting rid of ghost activations/automations?
Thanks!
Same issues. My ghost automation changed the mode. So I ended with creation of new mode and reassigning device automations to the new mode, and deleted old one. Sure, ghost automation is still firing up. Annoying.
In my case looks like IFTTT was acting up. All my ghost automations ware actually triggered by IFTTT active applets that didnât supposed to do that. For example I had an IFTTT applet that was turning on a group of lights using life app when a switch was turned on in smartthings and yet somehow that applet was turning on another group of lights from the same manufacturer. Not sure if this is the case with your ghosts but try turning off the IFTTT applets and see if that fixes the issues
I had to use the factory reset method.
This just started happening to me as well. anyone find a better solution than a factory reset?
