Disarm at time EXCEPT when not home

SmartApps & Automations Automation Ideas
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I’ve automated SmartThings security based on my average day. If Monday through Sunday goes as planned, then it will work just fine. There is one thing I’d like to resolve though. Without getting to into the details, here’s the issue:

At 6am, SmartThings changes my security from Armed-Stay to Disarmed. My wife and I wake up at this time, let the dog out, and so forth. But in the case we are gone for the night, maybe on vacation or staying at a relatives house or whatever, I don’t want 6am to trigger the disarmed state. I would like it to be overridden by the fact that it doesn’t sense either of us at the house. So, to be perfectly clear, I want SmartThings to do the following every morning:

@ 6am: If one of them is home, then disarm, else no change.

Is this possible?

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Could be done with a CoRE piston:

Have a look here:

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As mentioned you can do it with CoRE - but it can also be done easily with built in routines/modes and it only requires a small change to what you are already doing.

Use your goodnight routine to arm the system when you go to bed. Set good morning to run automatically at 6am daily but don’t automatically do it if I am in “away mode” (add more modes as desired). It sounds like you are already doing this but you need to add the restriction of modes.

EDIT - @JDRoberts post is far superior to mine. Same info, better explanation with pics!

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i crossposted with @greg , so I’m saying the same thing here that he did, I’m just going to leave my post up because it has the screenshots and the link. :sunglasses:

It can definitely be done with core.

If you’re looking for a simpler way to do it, you can just use modes. Smartthings modes are different from the SHM arm states. See the following thread first, to make sure that you’re comfortable with the differences.

So then it’s easy. If the mode changes to Away when you have both left, just have the routine that automatically changes the arm state to disarmed not run when the mode is away. You can set this under “additional settings.” In the routine.

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yup, using a standard routine either don’t perform while in away mode or use a motion sensor in your room and the automatically perform when things start happening option

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Ok, I got it. Thank you all for the help.

I was having difficulty because I had one automation trying to do 2 distinct things. I have a “set to disarm” automation to automatically disarm A) when I wake up at 6am, or B) when my wife and I get home. But now I see I have to do this with 2 automations. Now I have:

  1. Disarm @ 6am UNLESS mode is armed/away (which is the mode when I’m not home, whether night or day)
  2. Disarm anytime a person arrives home

I think this should work.

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“Armed Away” is the name of one of the SHM armed states.

There’s nothing to keep you from naming a mode the same thing (one of the reasons people get confused about the differences between modes and armed states), but it would be somewhat unusual.

I just want to make sure that you’re getting things set up the way you want.

When you create a routine, you can set both the SHM armed state and the mode, but you do it in two different fields.

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And when you want to restrict when a routine runs, you can only restrict it based on mode, not based on SHM armed state. It’s just one of those quirks of SmartThings. ( Core can trigger off the current SHM armed state, but a regular routine cannot.)

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Yeah, I guess I still don’t really understand modes, but I did notice that you can only restrict based on mode and not on SGM armed state. That’s why I just called them the same thing. Am I missing a better use for modes here? I’ve read a number of threads where people find modes to be either redundant or useless, but maybe we’re missing something.

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The easiest for me to understand mode and routine. Routine is a trigger and mode is a condition.

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Good explanation. Thanks.

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Smartthings calls mode a “behavioral filter.” About two years ago they were pretty much the only way we had of adding conditionals, but since then there have been both additions to the official features, such as smart lighting, and the development of core, and now modes are much less necessary.

We still use them in our house for basic time of day changes.

For example, there is a motion sensor in one bedroom.

The mode is automatically set with a routine to “daytime” at 7 AM every morning.

If the Mode is daytime, any reports from the motion sensor are ignored.

At sunset, a routine changes the mode to “evening.”

If the mode is evening, a report from the motion sensor will turn on the overhead light in that room.

Then when I go to bed, I manually run a routine that changes the mode to “asleep.”

If the mode is asleep, a report from the motion sensor will not turn on the overhead light in that room. Instead, it turns on a soft night light on the wall.

Mode is convenient for this because it’s not the exact same time of day every day. The time of sunset changes. And the time I go to bed changes by a lot. I might go to bed at seven in the evening, I might go to bed at two in the morning. So the “asleep” mode represents the period when I’m asleep, rather than a specific hour of the day.

So different things work for different people, it just depends on the exact details of the use case. :sunglasses:

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That really clears up a lot. Thank you JDRoberts.

You’re mentioning of sleep times changing is relevant in my case as well.

Right now, I have a routine that runs and sets our security at Armed (Home). The main reason I do this is because I am a serious wood worker with expensive equipment in my garage. I put garage door tilt sensors on both garage doors. If someone lifts those at night in any way (be it with a hijacked garage door opener or a crowbar), I’ll get an alert. My wife and I usually go to bed around 9:30 and fall asleep around 10:00 or 10:30, so I have the routine run at a set time, 11pm. I did it this way because I do not want to manually change the routine, and I figure 11pm is a catch all time when we are hardly ever awake, let alone opening the garage door.

I don’t really know of any other way to do this, other than using my alarm system, Honeywell Tuxedo, which does have Z Wave. If I could integrate the two, then it would be simple. Only issue is we don’t use Total Connect 2.0 anymore, so I’m not sure I have the ability to connect the two via z wave.

Anyway, I guess I don’t really have a question here, just thinking out loud. I think everyone would love for a way for SmartThings to know when you are home, away, asleep, and awake, all without pushing a button.

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There are lots of different ways to do it, it just depends on your specific household’s habits.

I have another motion sensor on the side of the nightstand facing towards the bed. If I intentionally wave a hand over it, it changes the mode to “asleep”. But nothing else triggers it, not even the dog getting in and out of the bed. So it’s still intentional, but easy.

Nowadays, though, I mostly just use echo. So it’s a voice command, “Alexa, trigger bedtime” and then all my nighttime stuff happens.

SmartThings announced a sleep sensor over a year ago but still haven’t released it to the market. Some people do use pressure mats for various things, which can work well.

If you have an android phone, you can have putting it in its charger trigger certain actions. That one doesn’t work with iPhones, though.

So there are lots of variations, but again it depends on your own habits and what you were trying to accomplish. A lot of people are happy to just keep the minimote on the nightstand and press a button when they want to change the mode to “asleep” or “daytime.” :sunglasses:

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I don’t think anyone out right asked, but do you have motion sensors in your setup? Sounds like you probably do. You did mention a pet, so maybe you’re not using them to trigger routines?
I have core and like it a lot, but sometimes the built in routines work quite well. Instead of turning setting mode to disarmed at 6am, have you tried using the “good morning” routine, and then setting it to run when “things start happening” With things start happening you can set it to use specific motion sensors, and more so you can set it to only run during specific times. Like from 5:59AM Start time to 7:00AM end time. Maybe that time would work for you. Setting the times would alleviate any issues with pet changing the mode in the middle of the night. you can also tell it not to run at all in away mode.
Plus on top of that you can do lots of other things in your routine if you wish, like turn on lights, etc.

At least to me this seems like the simplest setup for your situation.

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I’ve thought a lot about motion sensors and can’t seem to find a reason to use one yet. My cameras are automated through Arlo, and my thermostat is automated through Honeywell, and I’m not sure I find value in changing where they are automated since the two apps do a great job. My wife usually uses the restroom sometime after 5 in the morning, and sometimes up to 10 minutes before we get up (I know, she’s crazy), so I’d be nervous it would try to start my day while it’s still sleep time. On the weekends, we sleep in a bit later, anywhere from 7 to 8:30 depending on when we went to bed.

So I guess I feel that A) My schedule is slightly tough to automate, and B) I’m not sure what would be worth automating. But I do keep looking for ideas though. I think that would be fun if I could find a good use for it.

Do you have any specific automation examples you use? Just curious.

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You might find the “get started” list in the community – created wiki interesting. There are a lot of good ideas there, including “Top 10 things to do with SmartThings.”

Also the “impress your friends” list which has all the crazy stuff like a magic wand to control the TV, a hidden bookcase room, etc. not necessarily stuff you’d actually want to do yourself, but fun to read about. :sunglasses:

http://thingsthataresmart.wiki/index.php?title=How_to_Quick_Browse_the_Community-Created_SmartApps_Forum_Section#Quick_Browse_Links_for_Project_Reports.2FQuestions

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Just bookmarked that link. Thank you very much. This is quite helpful!

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