I had a good webC9RE piston that, for years, reliably randomized some lights when in Away or Vacation mode. Is there any way to do that in the new Edge Driver world?
in the ST app, tap on Menu and select Labs and try “No worries while away”
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I’m the US you can also use Alexa Guard to do this. Not sure about other countries.
I have a virtual Alexa switch that automatically turns Alexa Guard on and off when I activate or deactivate STHM.
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You can’t set mode to activate routine (no worries)…. Just away.
Unfortunately, I don’t use Alexa.
You only need the Alexa app you do not need a physical Echo device.
I played with “No Worries” a bit and it really falls short. Does it override existing lighting automations? Supplement them?
Too bad they didn’t put in a simple “lights stay off for random_between(x,y) minutes” feature.
I guess I could use it to make a pseudo-random look by having several lights go on/off at a variety of intervals. I could change my daily lighting automation to be active only when home. Right now, my daily lighting automation is active in all modes and webCoRE piston adds randomization in Away and Vacation modes “on top” of the daily automation. The daily automation is quite simple. Several lights on before or just after sunset, then sequentially turn off over a period of 15 minutes starting at 10:55 pm. I shut them off in a sequence that mimics us going to bed.
I’m a bit leery of the “Labs” features. Will they be around a long time? Or just get yanked one day?
“No worries” needs to be triggered by a user selectable mode, I have created “vacation” mode. Then you can select mode away, pre condition, for regular automations; and when on mode “vacation” they are disabled and “no worries” takes over.
Does the sleep action for SmartThings Rules have the ability to specify a random value range? I’m trying to do something similar, but can’t seem to find any detailed documentation on actions and their parameters. All I can find is this: Rules | SmartThings Developers
Dennis
I used webCoRE to do light randomization when I was in either Away or Vacation mode. There is really minimal difference between the two modes other than Vacation should turn the thermostats down to conserve energy.
Can “No worries” take over whenever EITHER Vacation or Away mode is selected? I don’t see that ability.