New to SmartThings. Hope I didn't make a mistake purchasing

Hey, Ron, Not sure if you’ve figured this out already, so I though I’d share with you.

The Phillips hub only updates every 5 minutes… so using the Phillips lights in automations can be a real pain.

I created a custom command in Rule Machine - Refresh() - and the created a rule based on motion.

Every time a motion sensor detects motion it runs the rule on my Phillips bulbs, which gives the system an instant update of their status.

This could probably work for your thermostats as well.

@bamarayne I had this solved this for a short time with Rule Machine but it has stopped working and I don’t know why. I assume it’s server side garbage as usually so I just don’t have the patience to debug it anymore.

My setup was to use a Aeon Smart Switch which reports it’s power level every 5 min. I made a Rule Machine trigger when power level of this device is over 0 then call custom command (advanced rule machine feature) poll on the devices in question. It worked like a dream for several days and then just stopped.

I suspect Smart Things has some throttling code that if a smart app is calling something too often it shuts it down and I don’t think they even know they have it, developer probably quit :slight_smile:

I did an update on my Rule Machine rule and its working again today but it will stop again after a while making it mostly useless.

My real solution is not to use the temperature reading of the thermostat device and instead install a device which REPORTS temp instead of needing to be polled. Like the fibaro motion sensors. But at $80 each it annoys me to have to buy them to support a device which already has the feature but just doesn’t have polling.

Perhaps now that they have schedules working again (or so they claim) I should edit the device code for these devices and add a 15min timer to call poll. If that works it would be wonderful. I just don’t trust that they really fixed this yet.

I’ve tried using polling in the past and could never get it to work.

Will the device you are trying to poll respond to refresh instead?

It responds to both poll and refresh but something has to make the call.

JDRoberts, I have to agree with you. I’ve been with this system for well over a year with the perspective that brings. I’m also an engineer with programming experience so I’m not intimidated by the suggested tinkering, just disappointed that the product seems to require it. I don’t expect ST to be a perfect security system but only to meet its advertised literature. The disclaimers cannot disqualify the marketing. When ST was purchased by Samsung for only $200 million and moved to the West coast, it was clear that the originators met their goal. Samsung is not an open-source advocate. This is a great community, but the product cannot become reliant on the community. I don’t think it is wise to tell new or current users to solve problems by tinkering. This exact same sequence of events happened with IRIS from Lowe more than 2 years ago and they ended up refunding anyone that wanted to return their purchases. I am undecided if the product limitations are limits from IoT in general or this product in specific, but new buyers need to know that it is not as reliable as the marketing literature implies. Much like a '68 Jaguar.

@Ron Hey. Thanks for the feedback. Even if the unit doesn’t meet my expectations, I’m already happy with all the folks of this community and the kindness I’ve received. Thanks again for the feedback and the welcome.

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@danfelix - This is my fear and will more than likely become my frustration. I don’t mind a little tinkering, but when something takes several hours to resolve, if it can be resolved, there’s a problem.

have you tried pollster… I have had good luck with it refreshing devices that don’t report

Ohhhhhhh… Don’t mention pollster to Ron… It’s kind of a sore spot I hear…

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Yup Why wasn't polling fixed along with the new "Ticker" scheduled jobs fix? but thanks for suggestion

Is that becoming obvious ? :flushed:

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I noticed that also. When I look at the logs it’ll show a signal sent to turn on my outside over and over again like 20 times.

So I’ve owned my SmartThings Hub V2 for three weeks now and LOVE IT!
I’ve had a few issues here and there, but nothing to difficult to figure out. Overall, very satisfied with the product.

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