I added the vacation lighting director from the Smartthings list of apps. It requires that i input if a person is home. I would like for this to wirk solely based on the away/awake status. Would that be possible?
do you by any chance have the same number of lights selected for the app as there are selected to be on at any given time? For instance I have a desk lamp and a floor lamp as in use by the app but only have the option to allow 2 lights at any given time. Therefore the only lights for it to pull from are those two and I get the same scenario you describe. If I add more lights to the available pool but still keep it at 2 at any given time then it will shut off and on properly. My problem is I just want these 2 lights to come on at random times through out the night. Does anyone know what I need to change to the code so that these 2 lights donât come right back on if they are the only ones available?
Well, I suppose you can create a vitual switch or two and include them in the mix.
Thank you that is what I thought of after I posted. I am experimenting with that now. Using one to only turn on and only to only turn off (each switch controls both lights) so hypothetically it should cycle between these 2 if I select both switches but only allow 1 active light at a time. We shall see. I appreciate the input.
Iâm trying to get this set up, but Iâm a little lost on setting up new modes. Iâve created Vacation Day and Vacation Night - but how do you get ST to switch between the 2 modes? Is there another app or routine to accomplish that?
I have the following set up.
Vacation Day Routine
Sets SHM to Arm (Away)
Changes the mode to Vacation Day
Automatically ran at sunrise. (donât run if i am in away home or night mode)
Vacation Night Routine
Sets SHM to Arm (Away)
Changes the mode to Vacation Night
Automatically ran at sunset (donât run if i am in away home or night mode)
Vacation Lighting Director SmartApp
Setup
Which = Vacation Night
Switches = my random light switches
Minutes = 20 (or whatever)
Number of active lights = 1 (or whatever)
If these people are home do not change light status = Me
Settings
Only during a certain time = 7:00PM to 11:30PM
To fire it off, once we leave for vacation, I hit the Vacation Day routine.
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That was super helpful. I was still using SmartAlarm and had never made the jump over to SHM, but Iâve been meaning to anyway.
Anyway, followed your settings and it looks as though thatâll do it. Thanks for the detailed explanation.
Just wanted to follow up and say that Iâve been using the setup by Jeff_Klaus above and Vacation Lighting Director has worked flawlessly for a week long vacation. Thanks again for the specifics.
2 Likes
I have VLD set up to run in a mode âHoliday Eveningâ.
This mode changes to âHoliday Nightâ at 10:59pm.
If lights are on on via VLD at this mode change do they turn off or will they just stay on?
Ive set the lights to come in between certain times while Iâm away. They seem to be coming on at the local times whic are 6 hours ahead of where my home is??? Should this happen
yeah, I noticed that, too. It seems, in my case to just run even though I have a time parameter set and mode. I have it set to run from 7:30 to 10:38PM, but looked in the logs and see that it was running all day yesterday, which now explains the âclickingâ sound I heard.
So, how do I update the Smart Things provided smart app? Do I have to delete it and then add this version as my own? Thanks
That is what I did.
The app does not seem to toggle the lights on / off⊠It did turn my lamp one, but did not turn off in the cycle time that I had setup.
My configuration:-
Modes - 2 ( Vacation day and night)
Lamp - 1
Cycle time- 20 mins
Days - all days
Can someone help me ?
Tim, can you take a look at this. The schedule with all the changes seems to be wrong. I have the timer set to 45 mins and yet the schedule is occurring at 45 mins and 1hr, in looking at the actual schedule line it is â0 0/45 * 1/1 * ? * America/New_Yorkâ, but itâs turning on and off at the 45 and at the hour. Anyway, something isnât right with all the new schedule fixes.
Iâve snipped a section of the history below, youâll see this is happening even when itâs not set to function (i have a 8p to midnight time range set).
> scheduleCheck 2016-04-22 11:00:00 AM EDT 2016-04-22 11:00:00.190 AM EDT 190 150
> scheduleCheck 2016-04-22 10:45:00 AM EDT 2016-04-22 10:45:00.131 AM EDT 131 658
> scheduleCheck 2016-04-22 10:00:00 AM EDT 2016-04-22 10:00:00.200 AM EDT 200 66
> scheduleCheck 2016-04-22 9:45:00 AM EDT 2016-04-22 9:45:00.111 AM EDT 111 96
Thanks
The scheduling in the app is now using cron, and looking at the cron entries itâs using intervals. So step values are only valid and resets at the top of the hour. This makes the scheduling less ârandomâ than the previous versions of VLD 
Would it be possible to get some help with the app?
I donât see any activity in the logs.
Iâm just trying to run 2 lights randomly from sunset to 10:59pm.
Set to be active during AWAY mode.
Itâs set to be active on Mon-Fri. Everything looks so simple to setup, yet I donât see any evidence that its working.
Have installed, uninstalled and re-installed.
Thanks
Randy
@fergyr I have this set up and it is working OK for me.
I run mine the same as you, i.e. only works in âAwayâ mode.
I was away last weekend and from my âRecentlyâ log I can se that it was working OK. Here is my setup:-
Simulator Triggers - Modes =Away.
Times - Sunset to 11:25pm.
EDIT: I do see the app in the logs saying false so you should be able to see it running here albeit not doing anything while your mode is not away.
Switches - Upstairs and Downstairs Lights.
How often to cycle lights = 17 mins
Number of active lights = 1.
Default = 5 mins.
If these people are home do not change status = 4 presence sensors.
And thats it.
It did used to be a bit âflakyâ for me but I find the latest app (4th April 2016) seems to be working OK.
Not sure if this all helps butâŠ
EDIT: You should se the app running in the logs when the time kicks in albeit saying false if you are not in away mode.
Hi,
I remember the first time Iâd tried this, I was gone a week, but the app only worked on the first day. And I think the solution was that the house had to pulse through 2 modes (away night, away day) to basically work again the ânextâ night.
Is that still true? Does your modified version handle that aspect?