A couple weeks ago I created two automations that do nothing except a push notification at sunrise and sunset so I can monitor if this is working or not. Up until Tuesday of this week it had not been working. But, the last 3 days it has been updating at the proper times.
I just have a virtual switch called “Daylight” that is turned on at sunrise and off at sunset. It accomplishes the same without the notification (e.g., just look at history).
I really have two, one controlled by an Automation (and a Routine before that in the Classic app) and once controlled by Smart Lighting. They Smart Lighting one has been working without issue for 5 years. The Routine one was spot on for 4.5 years until it was migrated to an Automation 6 months ago. In the 6 months that it has been an Automation, it’s been broken or wrong dozens of times.
for what it’s worth - I was the OP and I just offloaded the routine to Alexa - I appreciate the solution isn’t for everyone. But the routine has fired succesfully for 3 weeks and updates the time daily.
If you don’t have an Alexa I know it won’t be an option for you - but it’s a good solution until support pull their finger out.
Yes, I was doing the same with smart lighting. The thing I couldn’t do with that though was run lighting automations at a set time before sunset. I want my inside lights to come on 20 minutes prior.
Bob
I’ve just had a look and Alexa allows up to 60 minutes offsetting either way, so it should be possible