Time based events failing?

Just to confirm once more what everybody by now knows : the January platform update did NOT fix the failed periodic SmartApps.

I also got the same suggestion of support to manually re-awaken my SmartApps “by logging into https://graph.api.smartthings.com4 with your SmartThings account. Select My Locations > Select List SmartApps > and then Select Update on the effected SmartApps/Routines.”.
Only problem is that my 2 custom SmartApps don’t even appear in this list !.

One wonders if anybody at SmartApps knows his turf…
This has been going on for more than 1 year…
Being an early adopter is one thing, but by now what SmartThings needs as users are deep rooted masochists !
I cannot even start to imagine what people suffer after investing thousands of dollars into this erratic system, which would be much less irritating if it failed 100% of the time, instead of 10% as currently.

I loved the post from bamarayne : living my life on the edge of total unpredictability. :joy::joy:

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Yep, sorry all, I spoke too soon also. I guess I was excited after having a successful 4-5 day run of proper triggering and made a premature post! My system is not triggering on timed events anymore either. Basically, not jumping ship totally but made the realization that I am going to use a stand alone alarm system for security, and to Lutron Caseta for lighting purposes. Using Lutron gives me flexibility that I can always integrate back into ST if/when the platform gets stabilized. I was hoping for a single whole house solution but don’t think the technology is there just yet.

Chiming in again here. I have a very simple setup which is almost entirely Samsung SmartThings based. A V2 hub, and several sensors and outlets. My light switches are GE Zigbee dimmers, and are SmartThings recommended. This is not a fancy or bleeding edge setup - very plain vanilla… and it still doesn’t work.

My time based events are failing all over the place again.

The January update didn’t fix anything. After the January update, I deleted all of my SmartLighting automatons and recreated them. After that, I got about two weeks of relative stability, but then things stopped working again. For the past four days, my lights haven’t turned on at sunset -7, and the log doesn’t even show an attempt at triggering the event.

I’ve gone through and hit “update” on all the installed SmartApps and I hope that fixes things… but I’m losing confidence in this platform. I was given about $750 in SmartThings for christmas… anyone know what the return policy is?

yes I have lights failing to go on or off. both sunrise sunset and scheduled… but only some of them. also routines failing again to do certain things, and I just rebuilt the routines and some of the smart light 2 days ago… I give up… this pos… im not even bothering to do new tickets. they will just tell me to rebuild stuff…

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I wrote a simple Smartapp, added some virtual switches and have IFTTT turn on/off my switches on the same schedule. If one fails, hopefully the other will cover :slight_smile: I am currently doing the same for my routines.

I broke down and set up an EventGhost install on my always-on HTPC that would fire time-based events. It was dead simple, and there’s a neat SmartApp here that allows two-way communication between ST and EventGhost.

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May I suggest making and moving this to an entirely new Topic?

It will be linked to this existing “Time based events failing” topic if you use the “+ Reply as linked Topic” button.

Did it. I may also revise the first post of that topic later to include a real tutorial for people, if I’m feeling saucy later.

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I sent an email to smartthings support and I got a fairly prompt reply. I’ll give kudos where kudos are due - I was impressed with the speed and thoroughness of the reply. Unfortunately the reply only provides a workaround, and not an “in-platform” solution. They are suggesting using IFTTT instead of smartthings automation, which is essentially saying the “smart” part of our “smart platform” is broken. Anyway, I’m impressed by the speed, the tone, and the assurance that people are working on a solution. Fingers crossed… and for those interested, here is the workaround I was provided:


Thanks for writing in. My deepest apologies for the continued trouble with scheduled events. I’m sorry if the manual updates did not help. Reliability is our top priority right now, and I can assure you that our teams are working around the clock to get this nuisance straightened out. But in the meantime, you can consider using IFTTT to schedule your automations. To do this, we will need a virtual switch, a SmartLights automation, and an IFTTT recipe:
To make the virtual switch

  1. Log into https://graph.api.smartthings.com/
  2. Click “My Devices”
  3. Click “+New Device”
  4. Name Device
  5. Assign a “Device Network ID” (this can be anything random such as 6345)
  6. Using the drop down menu, change “Type” to “Momentary Button Tile”
  7. Click "Create"
    To create the Smart Lights automation
  8. Tap
  9. Tap “SmartApps”
  10. Tap “SmartThings Recommends”
  11. Tap “SmartLights”
  12. Tap “New Lighting Automation”
  13. Tap “Which lights…” and select the light(s) and/or switch(es) you wish to control
  14. Tap “Done”
  15. Tap “What do you want to do” and select “Turn On” (or ‘Turn on and set level’ if using a dimming device in which you wish to turn on to a setting less than 100%)
  16. Tap “Select Trigger” and select “Switch”
  17. Tap “Which Switch” and select the switch you wish to use to control the other lights/switches
  18. Make sure to set “Turn off as well” to “OFF”
  19. Configure any optional settings as well such as mode, time, or days
  20. Tap “Next”
  21. Switch “Edit automation name” if you wish to name the automation something specific (optional)
  22. Tap "Done"
    To create the IFTTT recipe
  23. Visit ifttt,com (register for an account if you haven’t already)
  24. Click “Channels” and click on SmartThings
  25. Click “Connect” and input your SmartThings credentials
  26. Select the appropriate Location and check the devices you wish to use with IFTTT (the virtual switch you just created must be checked)
  27. Head back into channels and click on Date & Time (Click connect and select your time zone)
  28. Click on My recipes and click “Create a Recipe”
  29. IF THIS > Date & Time > Every Day at (or ever day of the week at) > Set Time and days
  30. THEN THAT > SmartThings > Switch On > The virtual switch you created
    I know, it looks like a ton of steps, but it actually only takes a few minutes…even less once everything in IFTTT is setup. With this set up, when the schedule time arrives, IFTTT will turn on the virtual switch which, in turn, triggers the Smart Lights automation. If you would like an automation to turn the lights off, you can follow the same exact steps above except in the lighting automation have the lights turn off when the virtual switch turns on (make sure the “also turn on” is set to off).
    Again, we are very sorry for the inconvenience. I’ve tagged you to be notified with any updates regarding the resolution of these scheduling issues, as well. We greatly appreciate your patience with us through these times and if there is anything else we can assist with, please let us know.
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Wow! That sounds like Waterloo! Compete and unconditional capitulation. :smiley:

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Here’s a new one for me…

I’ve got a subscription to the sunsetTime event

subscribe(location, “sunsetTime”, sunsetHandler)

Only problem is that for the past couple of nights it’s actually triggered at sunrise :frowning:

C’mon ST - this is ridiculous!!!

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ifttt is not really a solution it is slow probably 10-20 sec lag to do things

my recommendation is why don’t they give us a version of the back end to run on our own servers if the servers are overload which seems to be the root cause of failures

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If you’re able to create what you want in Rule Machine (and I’d be surprised if you can’t), it’s now possible to have all Rule Machine apps Update based on any trigger/condition you want. As admitted by the author, it’s a band aide, but with the level of hemorrhage ST is having with time based actions, a band aide is sweet relief. Consider Rule Machine.

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For scheduled lights this lag is a none issue for me.

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So, is there even a scheduler at ST anymore?
They installed the update buttons… but what exactly are they updating? It seems like it’s just the text on the web site.

Every single timed event is failing here this morning. Way to go!

I was in the API, updated the next thing to run, and watched the time go by.

Getting kind of pointless to even think about using anything scheduled.

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I tried IFTTT. It works. A couple of jobs run 2-3 minutes late. No problem, nothings perfect.

I quit using schedules. I use my heartbeat device and everything is great.

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I haven’t actually tried this, because I don’t use any time-based events, but it occurs to me that at least a few folks may have dedicated Android devices for dashboards and such, or an old Android lying around.

If so, you might be able to fix the scheduling problem using the Android app Tasker (for automation) and Sharp Tools, (an Android app/Tasker plugin that allows Tasker to talk to SmartThings). You would just automate time-events on the Android device. You’d write a Tasker profile that would use SharpTools to cause the desired SmartThings event when the Android device reached the desired time context.

Just a thought.

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Total deterioration over the last few days with time based schedules. Basically almost none of my scheduled events are working.

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Everything failed last night multiple times, lights and thermostat schedules. This product is garbage.

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Events failing? Do something about it: