My brain just exploded when I realized I can do this with the names of the things in Smart Things as well. Create Virtual Devices with Names that only serve to separate the devices into categories.
Any downside anyone sees?
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Freaking brilliant! !!!
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Bonus points to anyone who comes up with the most useful patterns to use for such organization.
I am experimenting in rule machine now. Using
- Doorbell ---------
- Doorbell Away
- Doorbell Stay
- Doorbell Stay Knock
- Doorbell Away Knock
The Dash before is so I can use multiple dashes to possibly re order on something other than alphanumeric. Not sure how this will all play out. Need some organization expert to craft a schema.
I am thinking something like
1A----------Doorbell
2A----------Outside Motion
3A----------Lights
4A----------Etc
5A----------
Then you can force other catagories in a desired order by adding 2B, 4B, 4C, etc later as desired.
You can use the dashes to create subcategories
- Bedrooms
----- Alexâs room
----- Krisâs room
----- Moiraâs room - Bathrooms
----- Master Bath
----- hall bath
----- vanity bath
Iâve been having a recurring thought the last couple of days that is closely related to this organization topic. I have somewhere in the ballpark of 50 rules and scrolling to the bottom every time I want to create a new rule is a little bothersome. So does it make sense to move the âCreate New RuleâŠâ option to the top above the Installed Rules?
[quote=âryan.ray, post:1789, topic:28730â]
So does it make sense to move the âCreate New RuleâŠâ option to the top above the Installed Rules?
[/quote]Sure, but itâs not an option. The way that works is entirely up to SmartThings, and I have no control over it at all.
OK, I thought it might be something like that.
Weird result. I want to use a 3-button controller to dim some lights. Iâve got the ZBWS3 and the thegilbertchan : 3 Button Remote (ZBWS3) device is installed.
Iâve set a rule: Trigger is Button 2 pushed. This works as expected if I set the dimmers to a fixed level, but if I Adjust Dimmers to -10, the result is:
- first press goes from 99% to 89, 79, 69, 59% in 10% steps, a second or two apart
- next press goes down from 59% to 19% or 29% in 10% steps.
If I set the dimmer to a fixed level, this only appears once in Recently, but if I set a decrement, the button trigger seems to fire repeatedly.
I canât see a way to make it only fire once. Why this unexpected result?
This is probably a button de-bounce problem with your button device type. There are always debounce issues with button devices, and the device type or the smart app has to deal with it somehow. The code in Rule Machine is designed for a Minimote, and I donât know of anyone testing it with your device, nor do I have the ability to do so.
But, there may be a way forward nevertheless. It would really help if you could turn on Live Logging in the IDE and see what happens when you push the button. There should be log events for the button device, for the rule, etc. Weâve got to see whatâs actually happening.
Hereâs the result of a push on Button 2:
5317b17b-3e35-4263-b199-23c8aa19c652 4:37:09 PM: info Button 2 Triggered
5317b17b-3e35-4263-b199-23c8aa19c652 4:37:06 PM: info Button 2: Buttons button pushed
9e347f5a-066b-41cb-bd96-98865d973538 4:37:09 PM: debug setLevel >> value: 30
0f7b3e78-2e92-41e3-bfc9-f1f02a89fdc2 4:37:09 PM: debug setLevel >> value: 30
8e1c44c5-790e-485b-b198-11221f8223e6 4:37:09 PM: debug setLevel >> value: 30
948dcde8-bf21-4e7f-9a18-4342190cafb1 4:37:09 PM: debug setLevel >> value: 30
9e347f5a-066b-41cb-bd96-98865d973538 4:37:09 PM: debug setLevel >> value: 40
0f7b3e78-2e92-41e3-bfc9-f1f02a89fdc2 4:37:09 PM: debug setLevel >> value: 40
8e1c44c5-790e-485b-b198-11221f8223e6 4:37:09 PM: debug setLevel >> value: 40
948dcde8-bf21-4e7f-9a18-4342190cafb1 4:37:08 PM: debug setLevel >> value: 40
9e347f5a-066b-41cb-bd96-98865d973538 4:37:08 PM: debug setLevel >> value: 50
0f7b3e78-2e92-41e3-bfc9-f1f02a89fdc2 4:37:08 PM: debug setLevel >> value: 50
948dcde8-bf21-4e7f-9a18-4342190cafb1 4:37:08 PM: debug setLevel >> value: 50
9e347f5a-066b-41cb-bd96-98865d973538 4:37:08 PM: debug setLevel >> value: 60
0f7b3e78-2e92-41e3-bfc9-f1f02a89fdc2 4:37:07 PM: debug setLevel >> value: 60
8e1c44c5-790e-485b-b198-11221f8223e6 4:37:07 PM: debug setLevel >> value: 60
948dcde8-bf21-4e7f-9a18-4342190cafb1 4:37:07 PM: debug setLevel >> value: 60
2f8b7d83-445d-4e80-a350-c7c438e552bb 4:37:06 PM: info Button 3: Buttons button pushed
56e48f57-8808-4252-a228-59b2b57a4da0 4:37:06 PM: info Button 1 - 78F for One: Buttons button pushed
b7c6e645-99e5-4177-a2c7-41984b82ff93 4:37:06 PM: debug Parse returned Buttons button 2 was pushed
b7c6e645-99e5-4177-a2c7-41984b82ff93 4:37:06 PM: debug Button 2 pushed
That certainly does not look like a debounce issue.
Could you post a screenshot of your rule.
I donât know who is logging âdebug setLevel >> valueâ, but it isnât Rule Machine. Rule Machine calls setLevel once, assuming thatâs what your rule says.
Iâve noticed over the last few days random crap happening or the lack of. Looking through live logging this morning, I noticed its not working again.
Advice - you might want to hold off a few days testing new rules. Pretty darn annoyance.
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I cant for whatever reason wrap my head around Triggers/Conditions/Rules. Can someone briefly explain how I would set this rule up:
-
Between 8:30PM-12:AM
-
Motion Inactive in Livingroom
-
Presence any present
-
Run Goodnight Routine
Is there a real simple rule that would turn a device on once mode changes to Home, then cycle it on and off for an hour with a two hour delay between cycles? Iâve tried a few things but get really random results. Latest is:
Conditions:
Mode is Home
Switch is off
Rule:
Mode is Home AND Switch off
True:
On: Switch
Delayed Off: Switch: 60 minutes
False:
Delay by 180 minutes
On: Switch
Delayed Off: Switch: 60 minutes
Only during a certain time: 6am-9pm
So in the morning when the home wakes up and goes to home mode it triggers and the switch comes on. They cycling is not working. Iâm sure this current rule is looping, it looks stupid to me but I canât figure out why. I had tried two rules, one turn on, one off, but it wouldnât auto start/stop properly. I did test without the time constraint to make sure that wasnât cutting something off before it could start.
Part of what is happening is that as soon as you turn on the switch, that causes the rule to be evaluated again, but now its false, so right away the false actions start. So you have both true and false going at the same time.
Yeah, I figured as much, thatâs why I did the 180 minute delay, just grasping at straws with this attempt really. 
Unfortunately, I have confirmed that my issues with controlling multiple bulbs with a virtual dimmer seems to be an issue with the Sylvania ULTRA iQ BR30 bulbs. They dim just fine on their own, but when you try to use RM to have them track a virtual switch, they wonât dim; just turn on/off. When I try the same trick with the GE Link bulbs they work as expected, so itâs not RM or the virtual dimmer. Bummer. Guess Iâll have to use those two bulbs somewhere that wonât require dimming.
While Iâm on the subject, can somebody confirm my understanding that in order to make a group of lights work with a virtual switch/dimmer you need both an âon/dimâ and an âoffâ trigger? In other words, you canât do on/off/dim with a single trigger? Iâm afraid Iâm being a little dim (pun intended) and missing something.
What do you mean by this? âdim just fine on their ownâ.