At the present time, Alexa routines can be triggered by
Contact sensor.
Motion sensor
Lock
Flic button.
Echo brand button
Some lights and accessories attached to a hue bridge
But no switches yet.
Some community developers have created virtual devices which are a switch with a hidden contact sensor component. Those worked for a while, and then some of them stopped working and you had to pick the contact sensor option to get it to trigger an Alexa routine.
Best thing is to ask in the author thread for the virtual device edge driver that you are using to see what the current situation is.
Thanks, I knew that was an option, and ended up just doing that. My issue is when I add new devices I often forget to add them to the monitor so like to just keep All as the choice. Probably not going to add any Iād use for monitoring for a while so will just hope I remember.
Its the 3rd party developoers that made all the drivers and smart apps that made this platform so powerfull and useful. Now it looks like samsung just erased all their good work as well as all our work and killed smartthings.
So far the new system is unrelliable has very limited functionality and i see no indication that it is going to have anything near what we had before.
I havenāt used it all that much yet so hopefully someone else will chime in, but Iām finding kind of the same thing about the randomization. It seems to turn a few things on and off in like the first half to full hour, and then they just sit. I havenāt been away late enough to find out if it ever turns off, but I feel like someone else raised the same issue. At some point I will probably adjust the routine to disable it at like 1:00 a.m. and shut the lights off, just havenāt spent the time to do it yet.
Alexa guard doesnāt give the option for ending time. So I guess another daily routine would need to be created, but in SmartThings. Basically turn everything off daily at xx time if Iām away mode.
Butā¦then Alexa guard could start turning things back on.
My plan is to have a second routine that disables Alexa Guard and shuts off the lights. The first routine has a trigger around time and a virtual switch tied to away status, so as long as I get it right, it should kick back off at sunset in case I am away for multiple days.
Definitely clunky compared to Vacation Lighting, but conceptually I think it will work.
I made a workflow using virtual switches and the Virtual Appliance Mirror switches. It has been working well for turning lights off and on. It triggers at sunset if I am away and I grouped lights to mirror the status of different mirror switches.
Same exact situation with me. Very disappointed with Alexa Guard. I moved to a paid version, hoping that Iād be able to resolve this. But Amazon support was a big zero in helping, stating that theyād get back to me - and never did.
Others have suggested workable methods to automatically start it when leaving, or possibly stop when returning (as well as to disable it at a certain time, since itās really dumb to have lights on during sleeping hours - its normal operation). But for me it usually turns on all the lights and leaves them on, even the lights that I regularly use (so a usage pattern would be available).
Iām always surprised when people suggest to use it as a replacement for that amazing Vacation app. Iāve wondered if they simply donāt have this problem for some reason, or havenāt really used it themselves.
Milan, thank you very much for your tip about this feature, which I hadnāt known before! Although Iām still looking for something that will randomly turn on lights at random times, this will be handy until I find it.
Has anyone been able to find a way to get the random light rotation, like vacation director?
I just canāt belive that with all the tech, Samsung donāt have any program thta allows this with the light eco systemā¦
Interested as well. Currently Iām using a combination of virtual mirrors. Itās a complete cludge as compared to prior Vacation Lighting. Although I really do appreciate the work put into the virtual mirror driverā¦ It feels like a workaround.
If you have a pro subscription to the third-party app, SharpTools, ($30/year at the time of this writing for the pro level), it has a randomizer, and one community member is using it as a vacation lighting Director alternative:
Well here is what I am going to try to turn lights on and off when I am away.
Routine 1 IF
location mode is AWAY is a precondition, 15 minutes before sunset, every day THEN
Turn on Living Room Lamp, turn off after 4 hours,
Turn on Kitchen Counter Light, delayed 15 minutes,
Turn on Deck Door Light, delayed 3 hours 50 minutes
I have several other lights turn on at different delays.
Routine 2 IF
Location mode is AWAY and Living Room light is on THEN
Turn off Kitchen Counter, delayed 1 hour
Turn off Deck Door light, delayed 2 hours 45 minutes
And I am turning off all other lights at different delays.
Not sure if it will work, or how much it will tie up any processing resources, but going to give it a try this weekend. The hub already detects when one of us arrives to set mode to home, and if everyone leaves to set mode to away.
