Garage Door/Light Timer Automation

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Garage Door/Light Timer Automation

This thread has been locked for further replies. You can start a new thread to share your ideas or ask questions.
Garage Door/Light Timer Automation
Garage Door/Light Timer Automation
2020-12-16 22:18:57 - last edited 2020-12-16 22:28:48
Model: HS200  
Hardware Version: V2
Firmware Version: 1.5.7

So I have an automation that while being convoluted, works quite well.  I thought I would share it in case someone finds it useful, or perhaps there might be a better way to do it.

 

I have a somewhat large garage/shed with a Chamberlain smart garage door opener installed.  The main lights for the garage are controlled by an HS200 switch.  While the garage door opener has it's own light that comes on when the door opens, I'd really like to have the main lights come on when the door is opened.  This is easily accomplished with IFTTT.  The garage door opens, IFTTT turns on the light.  The hard part was getting the garage light to turn off after an interval when the garage door is closed.  I realize that IFTTT can also turn the light off when the garage door is closed, but I'd like it to stay on for 5 minutes or so while I leave the garage, and IFTTT has no timer.  I could just use a Smart Action in the Kasa app and turn the light off after 5 minutes, but I only want this to happen when I close the garage door.  I do not want to have to turn the light back on every 5 minutes if I am working in the garage.

 

To get this to work, I needed to add the SmartThings app and an HS103 plug to the mix.

 

So here's what happens:  I close the garage door.  MyQ (the garage door opener) triggers an IFTTT applet that turns on the HS103 plug.  The HS103 does not have anything plugged in to it.  It acts as a trigger that is seperate from the garage light switch.  When the HS103 gets turned on, it triggers an automation in the Smartthings app.  This automation starts a timer.  (Note that Kasa devices can act as a trigger for Smartthings, but not IFTTT.  Not sure why that is but I'll take what I can get.)  When the SmartThings timer runs down after 5 minutes, it turns the HS200 Garage light switch off AND it turns the HS103 switch off.  Now everything is off and ready to go for the next time.

 

The nice thing about this setup is that I can turn the garage light on via the switch or the Kasa app, and the timer will not be triggered and the light will stay on until I turn it off.  The only way the timer gets triggered is by closing the garage door.  Of course the drawback is that I need two outside services and a smart plug to make this all work.  I need SmartThings because IFTTT doesn't have a timer and can't use Kasa as a trigger.  I need IFTTT because Smartthings can't talk to the garage door opener.  And I kind of have to 'waste' an HS103 plug (not a big deal as these are down to $7) to act basically as a trigger/relay switch.

 

Anyhow, maybe you find this useful, or maybe you know of a more simpler way to make this work.

Thanks for reading.

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