Last night I had two lights turn on around 2AM, and my back door unlocked (via MIMOlite) at 3:30AM and relocked at around 4AM. Per the IDE’s device log, I can see these events and the source is listed as “DEVICE digital”.
Is there any way to troubleshoot this to determine exactly where the command came from? A routine, a specific family member’s ST app, a ghost in the machine?
It sounds like you may have already done all of the following, but just in case, here are the usual steps to take. It won’t be perfect, and you may have to get support involved, but usually the best place to start is the events log for each of the specific devices involved:
If that didn’t answer the question, you can look at the full logs:
And if that still didn’t clear it up, the next step is to contact support. If you use the email option, make sure you tell them that you give them permission to look at your account and give them the day and time of when the weird stuff happened, as well as the specific devices involved. That way they can get right to work on it rather than having to come back to you for that information before they start.
Thanks JD, I had checked my ST app’s Thing/device log. Just seeing “Back Door Lock switch is off” and “Back Door Lock switch is on”. From that I inferred it was not a SmartApp or routine issue, as I assume that SmartApp/routine would be listed.
The core of my question is whether the IDE logs specific sources anywhere by default (i.e. excluding live logging), or whether any of these ID numbers within the event point to a specific source. Perhaps “DEVICE digital” indicates an ST android/iphone app…if so, it doesn’t tell me which.
Put another way, given a scenario where 5 children have both ST apps and a propensity for acting out, how do you determine who is screwing with you?
Device Digital comes from the device type handler for that device and is sort of weird.
“Device physical” is supposed to mean that the device was physically manipulated, like flipping a switch on the wall. So isPhysical is something a DTH can test for.
If isphysical is false, then The DTH decides what debug message to write, which is usually the “device digital” message.
However, in the past sometimes things like polling a device where the device then responds would be reported as physical. Even though it was actually initiated by a smartapp.
So it isn’t that there’s one standard reason why you would see “device digital” in the logs. That’s why it can take support a while to track down what’s going on.
Btw, as far as the kids, I would definitely consider switching to smart tiles. I know the newest version, action tiles, does have a subscription cost, but it might still be worth it. Keeping one kid from turning off the lights in another kids room was one of the first use cases for smart tiles. With smarttiles, you can limit each phone to a specific set of Devices it can control. It was very popular when it was free. I’m sure there will still be many people who find it very valuable as a paid app, but I just wanted to mention upfront that it does have a license fee now.
You can combine it with the free service life 360 to still use each phone as a presence sensor if you want. There’s an official SmartThings integration for that option.
The point is that you don’t have to give each child full access to the SmartThings mobile app in order for them to be able to access some devices.
Appreciate the help! I’ve used SmartTiles before but have not checked into its newest iteration. I’ll log a support request on this issue and look into a long term solution later this evening.
I just had a a random event occur and this thread was helpful. I sent a request to support as this thread helped me to verify I had checked everything I could, I think.
Normally a random device coming on would not concern me too much, but in this case it turned on a outlet attached to a space heater. I have a smartapp that monitors the room and it shut it back down about an hour later after the temp got up to the set point. According to the event logs there was no smartapp event associated with the outlet coming on. It was a manual event, either someone tuned it on at the outlet or through the mobile app. It happened at 1:48 in the morning, neither my wife are I were up and if we did turn it on manually while sleep walking, we did it by going in the bathroom without opening the door.
So I will see what support says.
Hi Mike - let me know if they have a way of tracking this now. My issues were fixed after a reset, but doing that now would be more of a pain.
I was correct and support agreed with me. There was no external event that caused the outlet to turn on. They called it a phantom “ON” command coming from the device. They said it is not common but they see it from time to time. They suggested I remove reset and re-pair the device. For now I am just monitoring and hoping it doesn’t happen again.
Hah, great. Phantom commands. That really sounds like a “we’ve got no idea man”.
I have had a few instances where I get a message that one of my garage doors opened or lights have come one but they actually did not. I also have a GE hinge pin door sensor that when connected to Smartthings will at least once a week report that it opens, when in fact it does not. The sensor is on the door of my shop and when it opens it turns on the lights So many days I would find the light on in my shop. I adjusted the thing many times but could not get it to stop. I finally decided to verify it was a problem with the sensor and put it back on my Iris Hub, It has been close to 6 months now and it has not given a false open once.
Hmm. I should really pair my auto door locks with presence detection for another layer of security. I had also checked into automatic door openers and awning window motors, but if there’s a chance of them ever opening due to phantom commands, I’ll pass.