I have a light (dumb light) by the bed my wife uses, and I would like to be able to take an action when she switches it off (it’s the last step before bed, and I’d like to turn off the outside lights at this point). I thought the best method might be to use an energy monitor plug and take action when it stops detecting energy usage, but I’m having trouble finding any plug with energy monitoring that allows you to take any action based on usage. Am I thinking of the wrong solution, here?
[if I can do this, I would like to extend it to being able to tell when my washer and dryer turn off]
Actually, what I would really like to do is turn off the outside lights when the door is closed and this light is off, but I haven’t been able to find a way to do an “and” yet - looking at Stringify for perhaps helping with that.
webCoRE can handle the “and” conditions and pretty much anything you can think of.
The Iris Smart Plug is great for monitoring energy. There are plenty of others but I recommend that one because it serves as a Z-Wave and Zigbee repeater.
You could use the SmartPlug to turn the light on/off. I use a minimote at my headboard which allows me to turn things on/off based on parameters I specified in webCoRE.
If minimote Button 1 is pressed
And
Plug is On
Using Plug
Turn Off
If minimote Button 1 is pressed
And
Plug is Off
Using Plug
Turn On
Finally, an Echo or Google Home device is super useful in the Bedroom.
I certainly understand I can use a smart switch (or other smart device) to turn the light on and off. What I would like to do is use the dumb lamp to activate the smart device (and not the other way around) - this is why I thought of monitoring the energy to see if the dumb device has been turned on (and then take action based on that).
And if you don’t want to learn/use WebCore, you might be able to (mis)use one of the Laundry Monitor smartapps - some of them probably allow you to trigger actions besides notifications when they see the power consumption drop.
i would use the lighting automation / smart lighting routine
As you say you will need a power reporting plug which has its own device handler and device so you have a on/off switch in smartthings, once you have a on/off switch in smartthings away you go with many options, odviously you will need more than one smart plug, one at the debside table and one connected to the outside lights
example> setup with name (bedside lamp)
new lighting automation
which lights to control > outside light
what do you want to do > Turn off
select trigger > switch
which switch > bedside lamp
Turn off lights when > turned off
Turn on as well > set to off if required
then you have other options, only during a certain time, days of the week and so on
That would shut off the outside light/s when the bedside lamp was shut off manually as long as there is a smart plug with power sense and a device installed in St but if your good lady shuts the light off with a cable on/off switch half way along the cord then that is a different kettle of fish as i am not sure the smart plug will detect off, probably not
As for being told things have finished working, well once you have smart plugs installed and device types working there dedicated on/off switches in St can be used in multiple ways
definate first step is to get some power detecting smart plugs and get there individual switches working in St
Alernatively give her an Amazon alexa, install any smart plug Wifi, zwave zigbee on the lamp and outside lamps and set up a routine in echo called goodnight or something, as soon as she says Goodnight everything in the routine does what you set it too… ie switches off
There are multiple ways to do what you want, getting those switches installed is the first step
If your good lady uses the power cord switch to on/off her light then maybe a search for something like a smart power cord switch will help like this
In the Uk we get shafted on prices, no doubt in the US you can find something cheaper
