Door sensors to shut down AC?

SmartApps & Automations Automation Ideas
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Just starting the process of trying to add some smart to my house. I have a Honeywell wireless thermostat and it is compatible with SmartThings. My first and most important goal is to set the HVAC system to turn off when the door is opened for longer than a few minutes. I’ve seen topics on best door sensors, but I can’t find much on whether this will prove to be difficult. The only other topic I found didn’t seem to be complete as to how to accomplish this. Are there any books out there on home automation specific to Smart Things, by the way?

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Hi,

There is a smartapp at my github called WindowOrDoorOpen that will fulfill your use case and more:

  • The smartapp can set your thermostat(s) to away or turn it off (latter not recommended for locations where a ST outage could cause mold b/c of high humidity).

  • You can specify the number and frequency of notifications (for your open contacts) and if you want you can also add verbal notifications with your ST connected speakers.

N.B. I’d not recommend to turn off your ST connected thermostat if you live in an area where there are risks of high humidity (and potentially mold) or frozen pipes in the winter (when heating). The ST platform is subject to outages from time to time…

It would be much better to set your thermostat to Eco/Away mode if your thermostat supports it. If not, you should look into the Ecobee or Nest thermostats…

Regards.

3

It should be quite simple. :sunglasses:

The following three FAQs should give you a better understanding of the process. ( these are clickable links)

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For me when I go into the Smartthings Classic app and look at what default apps are Available to install there is one labeled thermostats window check. That looks like it would fit your ask exactly. May be as some as just setting that up from your mobile app.

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Oh lord, I’m in trouble already. Github? Ideally, it would force a shut down of the system until the door was closed again, so it would never be off for very long. Like a hotel but not using the motion sensor. The thermostat is a Honeywell Color Wifi MODEL: RTH9585WF installed and supposedly it works with Google Home, Smart Things and Alexa. I don’t think I need a talky device for the vacation guests, but rather just a means of controlling the HVAC in that particular circumstance only (or after check out in some kind of away mode), two outdoor cameras (pool and front door), maybe a smoke detector component and door/window sensors using strips for an alarm system. Can I do all that with Smart things? Thanks for your help and sorry so long on replies.

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Github, meaning I have no idea what that is.

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Github is simple a place developers put code to share it. A program is code that has been compiled. Because smartthings has a great community allot of developers share their code so you can enhance your experience. The catch is you do have to load it into the IDE.

I would still suggest you check the avaliable smartapp on the mobile app I mentioned above. It looks like it will fit the bill for what you are asking.

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Hi,

I’m trying to do pretty much exactly the same thing!

If someone could point me to both the hardware and software to make this work I would very much appreciate it!

Just as a summary:

  • I own a rental apartment.
  • When rented some guests choose to open all windows and doors with the aircon on permanently, and so to try and ensure that the aircon is used appropriately I am trying to have a setup whereby if the 2 sliding doors and 1 window are open then the aircon is disabled.
  • I already have a bypass on the aircon so that it automatically switches off after 2 hours unless recharged … so I need something similar that switches off if the doors and windows are opened.

Thanks

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Hi @mamabev, did you ever solve your problem?

10

Do you have a similar routine that will work with Nexia XL1050 thermostats? I’m looking to turn heat or AC off if a window sensor is open. I use ST as my automations hub. Thx!

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I have WindowOrDoorOpen set up to turn off my Honeywell thermostat when a door is open. It works great most of the time but occasionally it fails to turn the thermostat off when the door is open or doesn’t return it to it’s original state after the door is closed. I think it may be because the connection to Honeywell’s site times out. (Honeywell’s servers are overloaded or something) Is there a way to make it keep retrying until it’s successful?

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I made the mistake of upgrading from v2.7.4 to v2.8 to see if that worked any better. Now it doesn’t work at all. When I try to configure it, it doesn’t see the thermostat. I says “No devices found”. I went back to 2.7.4 and it does the same thing. I think I may have originally set it up using Smartthings Classic app. Is WindowOrDoorOpen compatible with the new ST app?

Thanks.

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Hi, the problem is your driver. You’d need to include manually the thermostat capability in the code.

Also, I will not try to compensate for drivers which don’t retry for their failed commands. This is the responsibility of the driver and that’s what I do in MyNextManager and MyEcobee devices.

Otherwise, it would make the code more complicated than it should.

Regards