Presence after sunset?

SmartApps & Automations
1

I have setup my “I’m Back” routine to turn on my foyer lights when any of 5 iPhones returns home and it is after sunset. The problem is that the lights always turn on when I return home regardless of time of day. It appears that SmartThings may consider the routine to be a “This OR This” rule instead of a “This AND This” rule. Can anyone clarify how the rules engine works? I can’t seem to troubleshoot this and possibly it is because of the “it sometimes works” behavior that I have read about.

Thanks,
Kevin

2

check out Smart Lighting. It allows you to set conditions for arrival and at certain times :slight_smile:

and when you feel adventurous, check out webCoRE:

1 Like
3

Example with advanced options in smart lights:

4

Automation settings:

  • Turn on these lights or switches (set to my foyer light)
  • Change mode to (set to Home)
  • Automatically perform “I’m back”
    • Someone arrives (which set to all 5 presence sensors i.e. iPhones)
    • At sunrise or sunset (after selected)

This does work, but run every time someone comes home. The “after sunset” is not respected"

5

I’m sure that’s very frustrating. It should work—many people use it. If it’s not working for you, I would get in touch with support and let them take a look at it.

6

Also, just to be clear, you would choose presence under the first set of options, and then choose “more options” and select the time restrictions there. You can’t do them all at once, you have to do it in two steps. But support can Walk you through it.

7

Also check that you set Location on your hub

8

Thanks for your help JDRoberts and jkp. I’m a software developer and generally don’t have issues configuring systems, but ST has been a beast from day one. I actually needed tech support to assist me in setting up my wife and 3 daughters iPhones to have access to my ST hub. I sure hope the new version is better.

jkp, my location is set. This was actually one of the issues I had with setting up my wife and daughters. I have setup things using your first suggestion so now I just need to wait until the next time I come home to see if it works.

Cheers!
Kevin

9

The SmartThings Classic UI is awful and always has been. It’s very powerful, but neither intuitive nor discoverable, and The same trigger may be set up different ways with different restrictions in different parts of the app. :crazy_face:

lots of us have had to come to the forums to find out how to use the official features For some thing specific. :scream: