I’d like to get a list of automations that the community members have setup. I think this way we can see something and thinks that’s a great idea!
Here are some of mine:
6 Likes
Ill play:
Front lights on at dusk-15 min before sunset, front porch light and carriage lights come on.
Window open HVAC off- any window contact sensor thats open will set the Ecobee to “Off”. Once all windows close, its set to auto mode.
Good morning- Turn on cabinet lights, disarm SHM. time and presence based
Hello- between certain time anyone arrives (presence) turn on cabinet lights, disarm SHM, Set Ecobee to resume schedule. presence based
Goodbye- All presence, turn off all lights, set ecobee to away mode
Someone arrived- (work in progress) no presence sensor present, if front door is unlocked, disarm home, send notification, arm with IRIS keypad 30 sec after code entered
Good Night- at certain time, if any presence sensor present, turn off lights, arm SHM. (Still working to modify this one for late night arrivals.)
Continually thinking of more ways to automate.
Ill have several more when I finish a few projects around the house. LEDs under stair rail triggered by motion at a certain time, and off by another motion sensor. Master suite will get some lighting rules as well as, then comes the basement as I finish it.
2 Likes
- 6 AM - Set thermostat to day temps
- Turn off thermostat if window left open, turn back on when all closed
- If outside temp < 55 thermostat = heat, 56 - 70 = off, 71+ = cool
- Thermostat = off, window = open, outside temp < inside temp, inside temp > 70 => turn on whole house fan
- Everyone leaves - adjust thermostat, arm SHM
- Someone returns - adjust thermostat, disarm SHM, set lights appropriately for time of day
- Someone is in the office and office temp is too cold => turn on space heater
- Motion in the garage => turn on garage lights
- Motion in the kitchen => turn on under cabinet LED strips
- Sunset => turn on lights and enable motion activated lights
- 10 pm => turn off above lights, but keep motion activation. Also adjust dimming levels.
There are probably more, but I can’t think of them right now.
3 Likes
If garage door is closed motion turns on garage lights. If garage door is open lights turn on with motion only if Lux is at 80 or lower.
Garage door opens when I arrive if it is closed.
Now this is a big one. The kids lights turn off when they leave the house.
If the kids are home alone and enter our bedroom it will text me.
First person home will turn on various lights and turns off security.
Last person leaves turns on security and turns off TV and lights.
If gate is open, front and back outside lights turn on if lux is lower then 50
Everything else is pretty much what everybody else has. Next new project is making my own bed sensors which will automate under the bed lighting and various other things. And I am now in the process of setting up monitoring line set temperature on the HVAC which will notify me when the freon is low.
3 Likes
Lights
- Automated to come on a sunset
- circadian daylight technique to change temperature to mirror the sunset for bed
- Lights are all motions based inside the home and are at 80% brightness from sunset to 10pm and after 10pm to sunrise they are at 30%
- Bathroom stays on longer if moisture goes above the average to draw out moisture
Modes
- Home Day, Home Night, Away Day, Away Night
- these are programmatically set with routines, using routine director
Security
- Cameras turn on and off based on away/home States
- Lights are randomly turned on and off at intervals of 37 minutes to simulate being home
- SHM armed/disarmed for Away/Home States
3 Likes
Lights
- Motion based for most, some contact based like inside garage door and laundry door.
- Porch lights are set to come on at sunset and off at sunrise.
- Brightness is 90% during day, 10% evening and 1% night.
- Bathroom light and fan auto on/off based on duration of stay.
- Office lights stay off or at last set value if I’m on my PC, otherwise motion activated on/off
- Main Theater lights come on dim after ending a Harmony activity. Some turn on when starting to see way to couch.
- Bedroom Theater activities shut off all lights upstairs at start of Harmony activity and one turns on after activity ends unless house is in Night mode.
- Living Room Theater will turn lights off or maintain, depending on power draw (what we are watching) then go back to motion rules after power draw drops to “not in use.”
Modes
- Home Day, Home Evening, Home Night, Away all set via routines or RM depending on triggers.
Security
- Camera’s display on central tablet for quick monitoring when moving through the house.
- SHM with automated home/away if all presence sensors are gone or arrive.
- Garage will auto open if my car is out of the garage and it’s after 2pm but only if the home is already in Home Day mode and my wife and I’s presence sensors are active.
- Away disables all automation and keeps outlets off.
Others as I think of them
- Dishwasher, Dryer, Washing machine - RM sends text to relevant family member when done, via power monitoring.
My primary goal is to have as little human intervention as possible. I don’t touch light switches more than maybe one or two times a week now!
SmartApps:
- RM - latest version (bravenel)
Specific SmartApps only if required by certain components like:
- Lock Manger - for my Iris keypad/locks (ethayer)
- Relay Adapter - dual enerwave relay’s (erocm123)
- Virtual Switch Sync - Aeontec power strips and other random stuff (erocm123)
- BloomSky - (tslagle)
- Button Controller - minmotes
- ZWN-SC7 - Button Controller (erocm123)
- Generic Camera Apps - Foscam PTZ’s and LA View DVR (pstuart)
Graphing/monitoring:
- PlottWatt Connector - Whole house power usage (bigpunk6)
- InfluxDB Logger - Graphing of Temp, Battery, Power, Energy, Presence, Contact, on Ubuntu VM (codersaur)
- Device Monitor - (erocm123)
- BatteryMonitor - (notoriousbdg)
2 Likes
Most lights are now controllable individually or in multiple groups by voice (Echo), wall switch, and schedules.
Specific automations:
-
Pathway lights turn on living room, hallway, and bedroom with one voice cue “Bedtime,” then off again after I’m in bed.
-
Another pathway triggered by motion turns on bedroom, hallway, and bathroom at 100% between sunset and until I go to bed, 50% after I go to bed and before 7 am (controlled by mode).
-
Sensor on the front gate turns on a light in the house when opened, turns light off again when closed. So if the person coming through the gate doesn’t close it all the way, the light stays on, otherwise it just blinks once.
-
Unless the person coming through the gate is me, in which case the front hall light and a light in my housemate’s room turns blue and stays on until I am in the house and I turn them off by voice. That’s so people know to come help me if I get stuck in the yard or can’t get the door open.
-
When I get to the base of the wheelchair ramp at my front door, the door unlocks. ( The space is defined by an IBeacon so it can be limited to just the ramp itself. ) This only works for me, everyone else has to use the keypad.
-
I use a motion sensor in a box without a lid in the living room as a touchless switch to unlock the deadbolt on the front door, which is quite difficult for me to turn.
-
Voice control via Echo of Logitech Harmony activities give me totally hands free voice control of my television, Roku, and DVD player.
-
I get an alert on my watch if the closet where we keep cleaning supplies is left open for more than two minutes.
(I do most of this without any custom code except for virtual switches . I use iOS devices, and I also like the third-party rules engine, SmartRules. Cost about $10 in the Apple App Store. I found it definitely worth it. There’s also a two dollar addon that lets you use I beacons with SmartThings. SmartRules is currently iOS only, although they are working on an android version.)
I also use the Beecon plus app from Beacon sandwich which has excellent Ibeacon management and can post to the IFTTT maker channel. 
1 Like
I like the format of this thread, but I did just want to mention a couple of other places where you can look for inspiration. 
The official SmartThings blog runs feature stories on all kinds of projects, including an automated chicken coop. Always fun to look at.
The projects category of the forum can be a little hard to scan, but there’s a lot of interesting stuff there, from automated dog doors and water bowl fillers to vacuum cleaner automation and specific lighting projects. 
https://community.smartthings.com/c/projects-stories
There’s a gallery thread where people post pictures and videos of interesting projects.
And more pictures:
And a couple of other catchall threads:
.
.
.
.
.
.
Also, check out the project reports in the community – created wiki, in particular the “get started” list and the “impress your friends” list. Some very cool stuff there.
.
4 Likes
I like this thread too … could you all add which SmartApp/??? you use, and how reliable it is for you 
Rule Machine for me. Latest version.
Added those tidbits to original post. I’m using half what I used to have before I really got into RM. Man that list was long…
1 Like
Rule machine
HVAC:
- hvac operating state controlled via thermostat mode director, using external temp sensors, window and door contacts.
- setpoints managed via routines
- whole house fan managed via custom app, with internal and external temp inputs, window contacts and subscription to the thermostat to prevent both running at the same time.
- Keen vents and room set points managed via Keenect
Modes:
- managed via routines, routines managed via Life 360 mobile presence and ST presence sensors in the cars.
Lighting:
- motion activated, via Rule Machine, motion sensors are aggregated into zones via Zone Motion Manager, dimmer levels dynamically adjusted via external lux using autoDimmer
Notifications:
- Whole house using Sound Zone Manager (samsung, and dlna speakers), using motion aggregates via zone motion manager, basically notifications only play in occupied areas of the home.
- sound zone manager mutes main audio, if that zone is active
Teenager cleanup:
- Teenager leaves (via life360), room turns off.
- Teenager comes home, and the diswasher is finished, tts is sent “time to empty the dishwasher”
- Teenager comes home, room outlets are turned on
Appliance nonsense:
- Dishwasher nanny, custom app, manages control panel indicating cycle complete state. Control panel light fast blinks when cycle is complete and door is opened, reminding you to empty the damn thing.
- Laundry monitor, custom DTH for aeon power meter, determines running state of washer and dryer, kicks off tts, wash is complete, dryer is finished
Silly automations:
- Turning the fireplace on moves the thing shield TV out of the way
- Turning on the TV via harmony (which lowers the tv), turns off the fireplace if its on.
- When only I get home, my music plays via harmony on the main AV
- Alexa activated timer in kitchen, flashes kitchen lights via IFFT when complete
- Motion on front porch or doorbell being rung fires dogs barking on speakers when no one’s home using Rule Machine custom commands
- Ringing doorbell when home, mutes main AV and TTS plays “someones ringing the doorbell” using Rule Machine
- Motion detectors in showers turn on bath fans for 30 minutes using Rule Machine
That’s the very very short list…
4 Likes
Routines triggered through SmartRules:
-
Morning: If Ecobee Bedroom Sensor senses motion, run Good Morning routine, turns on select lights to 30%, disarm SHM, turn up/down Ecobee, change mode to Home, turn on Harmony scene to News channel on living room TV.
-
Gone-Day: If my phone or wife’s phone leaves and all of (before sunset, my phone gone and wife’s phone gone) are true, run Goodbye - Day routine. Turn off all lights, arm SHM, lock all door locks, close Garage Door, turn down/up Ecobee, change mode to Away, turns off Harmony scenes that are switches.
-
Gone-Night: If my phone or wife’s phone leaves and all of (after sunset, my phone gone and wife’s phone gone) are true, run Goodbye - Night routine. Turn off select lights, turn on select lights, arm SHM, lock all door locks, close Garage Door, turn down/up Ecobee, change mode to Away, turns off Harmony scenes that are switches.
-
One Person Gone - If my phone or wife’s phone leave and any of (my phone is present or wife’s phone is present) then close garage and lock doors. (This keeps everything else in ST untouched if one of us is still at home, except for closing the garage and locking doors for security obviously)
-
Back - Day - If my phone arrives or wife’s phone arrives before sunset, run I’m Back - Day routine. Disarm SHM, unlock Back Door and Kitchen Door, open Garage Door, raise or lower Ecobee, change mode to Home, turn on Harmony scene for music,
-
Back - Night - If my phone arrives or wife’s phone arrives after sunset, run I’m Back - Night routine. Turn on various lights, disarm SHM, unlock Back Door and Kitchen Door, open Garage Door, raise or lower Ecobee, change mode to Home, turn on Harmony scene for music,
-
Backyard Motion - If any backyard sensor detects motion while all of(after sunset and before sunrise), turn on Backyard Lights, turn on Deck Lights, take a picture with Backyard Camera, take a picture with Backyard Camera after 1 minute, turn off Backyard Lights after 5 minutes, turn off Deck Lights after 5 minutes.
-
Day Lights On - If any backyard sensor falls below 200 lux, while before sunset, turn on select lights
-
Day Lights Off - If any backyard sensor goes above 400 lux, while before sunset, turn off same select lights.
-
Auto Lock - if any door is unlocked, lock after 5 minutes.
-
Night Light - If Ecobee Bedroom Sensor detects motion while Night Mode is active, turn bedroom under light on 25%, turn off after 2 minutes.
-
Good Night - Turn off all lights, arm SHM, lock all doors, close Garage Door, raise/lower Ecobee, change mode to Night, turns off Harmony scenes that are switches.
I also have two routines in the ST app to lock all of my doors and open my driveway gate quickly from the notification menu. I can hit any of the routines from that menu too if needed. I manually fire the Good Night routine. I haven’t found a good way to automate that. Everything else pretty much is set up to automate (whether it always does or not is another story)
I also use Smart Lighting to turn on the Front Porch light around sunset and turn off around sunrise, turn on some front landscape lights around sunset and go off around midnight. I can also turn on my backyard and backyard deck lights by unlocking my back doors, rather than having to go to the switch on the wall or get out my phone. I do this in Smart Lighting, if “door” is unlocked, turn on lights. This is great if I let our dogs out of our back door because the backyard light switch is in the kitchen. But they can also trigger the motion sensor at night and it should turn the lights on. I’ve tried to build redundancy in because I don’t find any one feature 100% reliable.
1 Like
My house uses life360 to manage home/away which includes thermostat, lighting, closing garage door, and enabling security.
I have 2 rgbw bulbs in globe lamps on speaker stacks on either side of my TV which when a virtual switch ‘color’ is off, uses ideal light temperaturs for the daylight/twilight. But when it is on, it is colored the rich deep color assigned to a harmony activity like TV, pandora, stereo, netflix, bluray, or PS4. Very cool, very fun for kids. The rules wich control it make sure the lights are on to control it, so they are not imposing.
I have a rule which turns off the thermostat when any window is open, on when closed.
The best, for us since we dont have kids, is the house uses our bedroom door contact sensor to trigger routines for goodnight and goodmorning. I didnt like using motion sensors or scheduled night mode, and my wife ALWAYS shuts our bedroom door. So its perfect.
1 Like
Mine are not exclusively ST. I am using ST as the groundwork, but I find Tasker and ok Google are big components. With that:
- front door unlocks and front light goes on when wife’s ST presence sensor arrives
- same occurs when my android virtual presence arrives (AutoLocation made that work)
- front light goes on when front door opens, light always turns off within four minutes
- upstairs closet lights when opened, light goes off when closet closed, light goes off after nine minutes regardless of whether closet is closed or not
- lights turn on and off via ok Google commands
- Front door locks and unlocks via ok Google
- ringing doorbell ignites strobe, and generates voice announcement
- band members calling my cell within a certain timeframe ignites strobe
- washing machine cycle completion generates voice announcement
- door or window breach generates automated texts, emails, and phone calls
- various routines that change modes and security states
- Smarttiles control from any tablet or computer
Those are the main ones.
EDIT: another automation, one that actually has impact on quality of life: front door locks itself iimmediateky when closed, and stays unlocked when open.
1 Like
Mode Automations:
- Setting modes (Home/Night/Away) based on presence and sunrise/sunset (Rule Machine)
- Setting thermostat home/away based on mode (Nest Manager)
- Turning on/off security cameras based on mode (Rule Machine)
Light Automations:
- Turn on/off porch light based on sunset/sunrise (Rule Machine)
- Anyone arrives at night and porch light is off (guests sometimes are bothered by it), turn on porch light for a few minutes so that it is easier to unlock the door (Rule Machine)
- Turn off hallway light 1h after it has been turned on (my son likes it on to fall asleep) (Rule Machine)
- If mode is away, turn on a light after sunset to simulate presence. Light turns off randomly later or when another light is manually turned on (Rule Machine)
- Turn on/off both sets of kitchen lights if either of them is turned on/off (half the lights are controlled by a switch on one side of the kitchen, the other half from another switch on the other side - it’s an old house…) (Rule Machine)
Other Automations:
- Notify when one of our EVs is done charging so that we can swap the charging cord to the other one. This is a little more involved and requires aggregating net energy usage (utility smart meter connected to a Rainforest eagle which uploads to Wattvision and is connected to ST via the official Wattvision app/device) and production of our solar panels (using my custom Envoy device type). Aggregation is done via TrendSetter to get the current consumption value. The status of charging the car is kept track of via a virtual switch which gets enabled when someone arrives based on current consumption (threshold values depend on the thermostat state to account for additional energy draw when using the AC) (Rule Machine). If the virtual switch is on, Rule Machine monitors the energy consumption and - once it has dropped below a certain threshold (the value of which once again depends on whether or not the AC is running) for five minutes - sends a push notification that the car is done charging (i.e., that someone should go and swap the cord).
3 Likes
Hah, actually really pleased someone found a use for the power aggregation feature in Trendsetter. I only made it as an experiment
2 Likes
Lights
All Lights controlled by voice with (Poor’s Man Echo Device each room )
Stairs turn on by movement (Leviton motion switch, No ST )
Porch lights (Dusk sensor, No ST )
Living Room lamp turn on lights 30% when some one arrives and turn off after 10 minutes
Kitchen turn off after 2 hrs if no movement detected in several motion detectors
Bedroom turn on lights by movement and nobody is in bed and its dark
Bedroom lamp turn on dimmed light by movement if some one its in bed and its dark
Bathrooms Turn on extractor and light by movement (Leviton motion switch)
Dress Room Turn on by movement (Leviton motion switch, no ST)
All other Rooms Turn off if no movement after 2 hrs
Security
(Poor echo) report home status (doors, locks, motion, presence, microlocation)
Door Bell Send alert
Siren and alert when no energy in house but still present before the main switch (when intentionally turn off main switch or cut power)
Music
DLNA Speakers on each room controlled by (Poor’s Man echo - play jazz, stop, vol up, etc)
Play soft music when someone arrives.
Turn off Music If TV is turned on
Turn off Music If no Motion
Laundry
Alert when stop vibration washer and dryer
Water
Several water detectors to close water
Aroma Rooms
Automatic Glade Spray control, turn on and change intensity by schedule
AC
remote on/off just when needed
Media Server
Wake up when arrive by DDWRT
Energy
Monitor and log house energy consumption and some devices
Location, Presence
MicroLocation by ibeacons (phones and objects)
1 Like
What are you using to determine when the washing machine and dryer are done? What device?