Occupancy light simulator will simulate your house being lived in even when you are not.
Pick a set of lights and at a interval you specify the app will turn off all lights and then turn on a random set of lights. Nice things is you can restrict this to mode/time/day of week. It is always triggered by mode change but will not run outside of specific restrictions you set. Nice things is it will not run if someone is home and the mode changes.
Tim,
Thanks for making the Occupancy Light Simulator App! It has been working great the last couple of days.
For those setting it up on their ST system, make sure you fill out the “If these people are home do not change light status”. Without this filled out the app will turn your lights out upon mode change, even modes that are not set in the app (like when your home etc).
I will be using this every week!
Thanks again!
Dave
Tim,
That is really a great idea. I have access to the IDE. How do I go about getting this on my ST? I have added Nest capability on ST from the IDE. I am assuming this is a smart app. Is that correct?
Yes, it’s a SmartApp, go to the IDE, My SmartApps, + New SmartApp, From Code, then Paste Tim’s code in from his Github, Create, Save, Publish (for me).
Force close your ST App and when you restart it use the: + sign, MyApps, and select the Occupancy Light Simulator.
Hi Tim, trying this app, but when I fill in the specific times on the second page, it crashes often, or when I can complete the times, they don’t display in the app.
My copy seems to work fine. What is yours doing that you don’t think is correct?
If your lights are not getting turned off at every mode change then this presence setting is working correctly.
@tslagle13
Tim do you have any TCP bulbs? I’m sure this is a ST / TCP issue but my TCP bulbs are very hit or miss currently when using the Light Simulator.
Turning the TCP bulbs on manually using the ST App / UI works fine.
Thanks
Update: reducing from 8 bulbs to 4 bulbs that the Light Simulator controls seems to have fixed the problem.
This is indeed epic! I downloaded, installed, configured, and tested yesterday - works like a charm. True enough, be sure to review and adjust all of the settings thoughtfully (like ensuring it doesn’t activate if people are home, etc.).
My only suggestion at this point would be to add a bit of a random factor to the time duration - for instance I have it set at 45 minutes, and would love if it could use a bit of wiggle room in there (sometimes 43, sometimes 47, etc.) just a bit.
To me this is one of the killer apps in this whole ecosystem, building on the the sensing apps (like changing the state from Away to Home when one of us arrives, which is both foundational and also very cool). Kudos again and thanks so much!