So I used that app (which had custom dth) for a few things. One, it notified me after x minutes (and every 1-2 min thereafter) if one of my two garage doors was left open. I could turn that on or off if I would be working in garage all day or not. I would also get notification of open and close status. I could set it to close automatically if it was open for x period of time and could open close via Alexa. I had planned to try and set something up to turn on a light if garage (or door) opened between x and y time of night but never followed up on that and when I finally came to try it, found that everything is changing from how I knew to do things.
I don’t code but knew enough on how to upload dths to my ide, etc. now this stuff is a foreign language. Need step by step instructions. Seems like the change is taking some of the ease of customizing away from newbs and it’ll mainly be the experienced / skilled folks that end up with all the cool stuff. Lol
I think you can do most (if not all) of what that smartapp did with routines. I would break it down logically:
Create a routine that after XX minutes of the door sensor reading open to:
A) notify members the door is open.
B) Set a “The garage door notification is active” virtual switch to ON.
Create a routine on the virtual switch that when on, send an additional notification every 2 mintues that the door is STILL open. [Note: this may not work with routines. I don’t know if you can run something repeatedly while a condition is met. It may only run on the event, not over and over.]
Create a routine on the garage door sensor being closed, to turn off the additional notification virtual switch (so no more notifications happen).
These routines can all be enabled or disabled however you’d like or only run when modes are set, etc. You can preface any with conditionals that make sense for you. (maybe while motion is active, don’t run since you’re IN the garage with the open door…)
Create a routine on the door sensor opening to notify you
Create a routine on the door sensor closing to notify you.
Create a routine on the door sensor being open for XX period of time to run a “close the door” action on the garage door device.
Garage door capabilities on a device get exported to Alexa so she should be able to control, but you may have to tweak. Lots of options there.
Create a routine on the garage door sensor that will turn on lights based on time of day or modes or any combination of logic.
Routines are created and modified on the “Routines” tab on a device’s details. They show up on any device they interact with so they can be seen, edited and controlled from more than one place.
You can do this today with your existing DTH driven devices. See if you can switch some of the features you’re getting from a Garage Door monitor smartapp to routines.
Also note that Routines are not the only place logic can run. The Rules API is another which could provide solutions as well.
ST has built in ones thru the mobile app. Menu → Labs → Virtual Switch
There are several other community virtual device drivers on here. vEdge and Virtual Hub are popular.
But sadly I just went thru the Routine sequences and I don’t think you can do anything similar to a “every xx minutes do this action if this state is true”. I too have the “Left it Open” smart app doing similar logic for garage and freezer doors, and that will go away when Groovy Smart apps are shutdown.
Ugh. That sucks. They need to update the routines ability in the app to allow for this or bring over a smart app that allows it like they’re bringing over smart lighting. It’s a feature used by a lot of users…
Well, I clicked the link in the initial post, and it took me to login to my ST. I did, and got this… I clicked enroll and nothing happens. Basically, I’m dumb. Apparently need a step by step on how to do this and set it up. Sorry.
Now that I have figured out how to setup the virtual switch, I am trying to follow this. It doesn’t let me add the virtual switch as an IF and a THEN in the same routine. Also don’t see option to auto stop / close / turn off something after x minutes in the THEN options.
Ok, update… I went to the vEdge switch (you show it as a momentary) and I turned it “ON” (your screenshot shows it being “off” in your “IF” statement. Once I turned it ON, I started getting notifications every 2 min. But the weird thing is, I get 10 in a row, every 2 min. lol. Unsure why
It’s definitely something that’ll get my attention that I left my garage door open, but I’d rather it be once, haha.
Last update… I got it. Changed it to a switch and finally got it figured out.
Thanks, this will help a lot to ensure I have same functionality I had with the current app I’ve been using
Hmm… so it’s actually not working “automatically” when I open the garage. Even though the virtual switch is in the off state when I open the garage, opening the garage doesn’t turn it on. I have to go to the virtual device and turn it “on” manually and then automation works. Hmmm
Edit again: Been troubleshooting all evening. I like figuring this stuff out when I have time… the issue is I rarely have so much time, hah.
So no matter what type of virtual switch I choose (switch, momentary), if I set it like you showed above in the “IF” with precondition, the switch would not turn on in the “THEN” portion of the command. If I turned off the precondition and just have both items in the IF, the command to turn on in the THEN section works. So I just created another routine to turn off the Virtual Switch when I close the garage. That way any time I go to open the garage, both conditions (garage open, switch off) will be true and fire the routine.
Long story short, slightly diff than what you showed above but your info above helped put me on the path where I got it working. Thank you.
It’s because Garage Door status is precondition, not trigger. If you want notification for that, just add notifications when door changes to open.
This is what you wanted, correct? Kind of replacement for Left it Open smart app.
Yeah. I was originally just copying the routine and settings you showed above. But it wasn’t working. But what I ended up with works great for me (tested it again this morning after kids left for school).
And this routine also allowed me to get rid of my original “garage has been opened” notification routine. Bc this one does that every x min. So I just changed my notification message to “Big Garage is OPEN” so it’s a valid message whether it’s right when I open it or 1 hour later.
