How to get lights to turn off after 10 minutes automatically?

SmartApps & Automations Automation Ideas
1

hi there, i am new to smartthings, so please excuse my ignorance … i have a light switch that is triggered “on” by me arriving home via proximity from my phone… and i would like it to turn off 10 minutes later. how would i go about this? i don’t see ‘power allowance’ in the smart lighting triggers which i read could do it.

2

Try this.

  1. Log in to https://graph.api.smartthings.com/
  2. Click “My SmartApps”
  3. Click “+New SmartApp”
  4. Click “From Template”
  5. Scroll down and click “Power Allowance”
  6. Scroll back up and click “Create”
  7. Click “Save”
  8. Click “Publish” > for me
  9. Head into the mobile app and you should now see Power Allowances by tapping marketplace > SmartApps > “My Apps”
  10. Tap the “Power Allowance” app and configure
3

Power allowance is now an option in the standard “smart lights” feature, but it doesn’t show up unless you choose “turn off” as the event you want to have occur.

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So you select the light, say turn off, and it will be one of the options. No need to install the old power allowance smartapp.

Official instructions here:

https://support.smartthings.com/hc/en-us/articles/205380404

4

so right now the switch turns on via proximity when i get home… and i will have to create another automation just to turn it off? doesn’t seem very effecient… why isnt there just a simple timer built in when turning it on?

5

not sure if that will work… what if i turn the switch on manually and want it to stay on, now it will turn off after the set time… would be so much simpler just to have the smart lighting app have a setting in it for ‘turn off after x minutes’ after i get home… any ideas?

6

That is indeed the question.

Before they added power allowance back into smart lighting, @bravenel put up some “turn off after” code, he may know what the current recommended method is.

7

Any word on this would also like to know how to do this.

8

Trying smart rules app will let you know how that goes

9

yeah, i will be trying the new smart rules app as well!

10

Let me know how it goes! I set one rule to turn off after arrival, and another to turn on light at sunset. I’m pretty sure the sun has set and the light is showing as off in Smartthings…

11

I think using smart lighting is preferred method because of local processing. Even if platform will be funky, local processing is going to keep it more stable.

12

Yeah both rules didn’t work for me

13

i had it working then it just stopped working for some reason. i had it set to turn on the outside lights if either me or my girlfriend arrived, then turn them off after 20 minutes.

that allows me to control the light switch manually and leave it on as long as i want without having to use power allowance.

14

And it worked? I set the outdoor light to turn on at sunset, that didn’t work, and I had 2 indoor lights turn on when my wife arrived only if it was after sunset and to shut off after 5 minutes, both didn’t work

15

it worked the first time i tested it, then didn’t after that… the author of the program is really good at replying to private message so i will work with him on figuring out what the problem is. i would post your issues in the rule machine thread.