Hey folks!
Love this community and ST! I’ve been trying to figure out which app to use for this situation: I let my dogs out for about 10 minutes a couple of times every evening. I’ve got a multisensor and a wired switch on the back door. Is there an app that will only come on when I’m present (or mode is set to “home”) and the back door opens?
You choose which modes for a SmartApp to be active in. So, install the “Let There Be Light!” smartapp for mode “Home”. You still have to figure out how to reliably set the mode to Home when you are actually home.
Right but this one doesn’t allow you to turn off the light after a set amount of time. There is an app that turns off after 5 minutes but only with a motion sensor.
Are you using iOS or Android?
in iOS you do the following:
Hopefully that is getting you what you were trying to do.
Twack
I still find ST apps not very intuitive. It’s never clear where to start: Dashboard? Things? Apps? Even the phrase twack just mentioned above: “Add new light/switch” sounds like it’s to add a new Zwave switch or outlet that you just installed.
And there are some very basic actions which should be standard whenever you are customizing an app such a lighting; you generally don’t want an outdoor light turning on when it’s light out so the Sunrise/Sunset option should always pop up .
I really think that IFTTT is a much more intuitive way to write apps, although it needs more layers ( IF This AND this AND This then That etc.) Plus I like the option of being able to write the apps on a computer.
What if it said “Add Lights/Switches Actions”? Would that make more sense?
I think that would make more sense. But the term “Scene” is what I’ve always heard used in just about all other systems.
Hi, To build on Twack’s instructions note the following: The real stuff is at the bottom of the dashboard (IOS only). At the bottom of the dashboard you should see a bar with the words doors and locks. Scroll this up until you see Lights & switches and then use the instructions below. If you don’t see doors and locks press the arrow to the far right of the words “right now”. This can be used to hide and reveal this feature. When you have created all of the functions you need make sure you keep pressing done until you are back to the beginning in order to save it properly. You can import your existing switches to use, but the real fun is to create a new virtual switch that can control multiple devices in every conceivable way. When you are done it will create a new app for you to use from this location. Yep, yet another place to control stuff from.
“I still find ST apps not very intuitive. It’s never clear where to start: Dashboard? Things? Apps?”
“I really think that IFTTT is a much more intuitive way to write apps, although it needs more layers ( IF This AND this AND This then That etc.) Plus I like the option of being able to write the apps on a computer.”
Completely agree with both statements. This is what I was suggesting in this thread, “Recipes vs apps?” - http://build.smartthings.com/forums/topic/recipes-vs-apps/ - I want to be able to customise the various eventualities and actions for myself, with a mixture of IF-THEN functionality and scene/mode dependencies. Predefined SmartApps could be phased out in favour of simple, user-defined logic scenarios. Completely agree IFTTT itself needs secondary and tertiary layers, too
The latest SmartThings app is an improvement in some ways - but it’s confused about how exactly something should take place. It seems like there are multiple routes and, as you point out, three different sections to get something done.
On the one hand - simplification needed.
On the other - more control over user-defined scenarios needed.