New user questions from someone used to Vera

yeah, this is just so frustrating i got to https://graph.api.smartthings.com/ trying to add smart tiles and it againt will not show that i have installed a hub or any devices. login, logout, same thing. now i’m sure when i try again in an hour or so it may work but this is making things really frustrating to start

It’s also possible that you accidentally logged into the wrong “Shard.” You would think that SmartThings wouldn’t let you do this, but it does.

yep, thanks so much this was the problem. i’ve since installed 2 more apps and all has been well.

tomorrow my minimote arrives and then the real learning will start.

i have to say, it is insane how much faster smartthings is compared to Vera when not connected on local wifi.

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ok i guess i will try to keep some additional questions to this thread.

i ended up adding nearly all of my devices tonight by starting closest and working out a few seem to need the hub right near but i almost all added.

in Vera we create what they call “scenes” for instance i have a scene called dogs where it turns all the backyard lights on for when our dogs go out. I assumed in ST i would do this under what they call routines. So i have it set to turn my routine i called dogs on - but there is no way to toggle it on and off from what i see and when it creates my new dogs routine hitting the button turns it on, but again doesn’t toggle off.

Correct, routines don’t toggle on and off.

The simplest way is to have two routines, one for on and one for off.

There are other ways where you can create toggles but they are all more complex.

At this point, core is by far the most powerful for stacked conditionals and all kinds of options. But as we’ve discussed set up is pretty complicated.

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ok that makes sense as well, though this is the first thing i’ve found that makes more sense in Vera. they should just let you toggle current state or at least make it an option.

that being said, i mainly wanted these to setup with Amazon Echo, but i see now that you can group lights together and Alexa takes care of the rest so that worked out just fine.

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next issue i don’t understand

I have a sensor on my front door and i want the front porch light and sidewalk lights to turn on automatically when the door is opened at night. i don’t understand how to set the hours for which its to do that or if there is a setting for night, this part is much much more confusing than Vera as well but maybe i’m missing something

easiest way is by using smart lighting app in ST. find in marketplace.

for the question about night and times

you want to uss modes
modes are executed typically in a routine. for example good night
in the good night routine you can have it execute automatically, found at the bottom in routine, at a certain time or other ways.
i created a routine called good evening. executes at sunset, and changes the mode to evening. then in smart lighting i setup if door opens, turn on these lights if mode is evening, or others. this avoids using times which can get messy.

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This is one of those areas were smart things is very powerful, but definitely not intuitive.

You don’t set the schedules on the device. Instead, you can have different schedules running for different situations. In particular, modes as @rangelsammon mentioned, but other things too, like who is home or whether a light is already on.

This should help:

And specifically to set up a motion sensor to only operate during a specific time frame (rather than a mode) use the official smart lighting feature, and at the very end of setting up the rules there is a “more options” choice that will let you restrict that particular automation to a particular time.

Start lighting does things backwards from how most people expect.

First you select the device you want to control

Then you say how you want to control it

Then you select the trigger device if any

And then you set the day and time you want the rule to apply under “more options.”

It’s weird, but it works.

https://support.smartthings.com/hc/en-us/articles/205949776-How-to-create-lighting-automations-with-Smart-Lights

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Ok, i got it working with my motion sensor to turn my downstairs hallway lights on from Sunset to 6am.

but, if these lights are turned on by the motion i don’t quite understand what i should program to then turn them off. I have one motion sensor on the stairs going to the basement, so when there is motion there after sunset the lights turn on. this is the only sensor i currently have aside from my door sensor. is there a way i can set these lights to then turn off automatically i’m not sure what the trigger would possibly be maybe i need to get more sensors?

if i try to make another lighting automation based on no motion after a certain number of minutes it says this is not yet supported for local execution.

If you used smart lighting, there should’ve been an option in the same automation to turn the light off again after a certain period of inactivity on the same sensor . (You pick how long.)

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