Just a heads-up: these are designed to live under the eaves of your roof. They’re a bit pricey, so if you use them for a different project, they might not last as long as expected.

Pennsylvania winter is officially over, which means the back patio is clean, put back together, and ready for action! Regular blog readers know that outdoor lighting has been a major trial-and-error journey for me. First, we tried solar flame lights. Then came the Philips Hue era—which, unfortunately, only lasted a few years before connector corrosion cut their lives short.

So as you can see below we got it all cleaned up and now it was time to put the Govee lights to the test.

It wasn’t hard running the lights basically just digging out the ground and hiding the wire’s and making sure the Govee LED’s were not exposed. I’m sure there might be easier and cheaper ways of doing this however I just had these lights sitting in a box and I wanted to put them to use.

So now that the lights have been all buried in the ground it was time to wait for night and see how they actually look. It actually came out really cool check out the YouTube video below for the results. I loved this so much I decided to do this in the front of my house going up the sidewalk. That post will be coming soon.

PURCHASE Govee Outdoor Lights 2: https://amzn.to/4v9MbS7

Watch the video

If i’m doing the dishes and want music to only play in the kitchen I can press a Logitech Pop button and have music playing instantly in the kitchen.  They also have 2 other settings which is a double press, and a long press.  I have all mine configured the same so “Double Press” would skip to the next track.  “Long Press” will pause the current speaker (or all speakers).

One of my biggest downsides was every time I pressed the button to play something it would either pickup where it left off or it would start at the beginning of the list again.  I searched everywhere but I could figure out how to make the Logitech Pop button start with “Shuffle“.

I was playing around with some of the music services Sonos had to offer and I saw that Plex was now a beta option.  Since I’m a huge Plex user for all my Video, tv shows and movies.  I figured I would try adding some Music and letting Sonos stream from there.  (In the beginning it took awhile to get Sonos to actually talk to Plex I think it was something to do with the routing with Google Wifi, however not sure how but we fixed the problem).

When I added the Plex account I noticed it had a “Shuffle” all songs option.

Here are the steps for Adding Plex to your Sonos and having Logitech Pop start with “Shuffle” on press.  (Assuming you are already a Plex user).

Step 1.  Login to your Sonos app on your android device.  Click the (3 arrows at the top to display Options in Sonos).  Once there Click on “Add Music Services“.  Choose Plex.  It will ask you to login to your account.

Step 2.  Verify that Plex music service will play to one of your Sonos speakers and that “Shuffle All” is an option.

Step 3.  Launch the Logitech Pop application on your phone and update your Play buttons to (Shuffle All) from your Plex server.  Viola it was that easy.

I know it sucks if your coming from Spotify or Google Play and you have to physically store all of your Media on your server or computer.   Also if your computer or server is not running 24/7 you can now use Plex’s Cloud option.

I’m starting to love these buttons more and more they recently came out with an update that now I can control my Lutron caseta switches; Phillips Hue Bulbs and other smarthome options all with a press of a button.

How I have my house configured as my car approaches the house I want my Yale Smart Deadbolts to unlock, and turn on my Front porch and side porch lights; they are wired to (Lutron Caseta Switches).

Everything worked great however I had a Tasker profile that would wait 10 minutes and turn off the porch lights.  At first I tried creating a rule in SmartThings but it would turn the lights off constantly after 10 minutes even if I manual turned them on.  I figured out what I need to create is a SmartThings Virtual Switch.

SmartThings offers a 'power allowance' feature which lets you set up a device so that it will always turn itself off after a specified number of minutes.

Below is my configuration.

Step 1.  Create a virtual switch to be the timer.

To create a Virtual Switch

• Login to the IDE @ https://graph.api.smartthings.com/
• Click “My Devices“
• Click the “New Device” Button
• Enter a “Name” for the device, this can be whatever you want.
• Enter a “Label” for the device, this is optional and can be whatever you want.

-Enter a “Device Network Id” This can be anything you want. I recommend short and sweet but it cannot duplicate other device ID’s. Lets say it was a virtual switch for your living room lights, maybe call it DNID01

• “Zigbee” Id should be left blank
• Select a “Type” from the dropdown, this should be Simulated Switch (or just Switch).
• “Version” should be published
• “Location” should be your hub location, probably “Home“
• “Hub” should be your hub name.
• “Group” you won’t be able to select when creating, but these are Groups you’ve created in the Things page in the SmartThings app.
• Click Create

Now you have a Virtual On/Off Switch in Things on your SmartThings App.  You can use this Virtual Device just like any physical device.

Step 2.   Once you have created the virtual switch, it will show up in any list of your switches, including in Smart Lighting.  (If you have not already installed Smart Lighting, do so now).

To install Smart Lights:

1. Tap Marketplace 
2. Tap SmartApps
3. Tap SmartThings Recommends
4. Tap Smart Lights by SmartThings

To access Smart Lighting after installation:

1. Tap Automations 
2. Tap SmartApps
3. Tap Smart Lights

Step 3.   Create the first smart lighting automation to set the timer.

Use the “power allowance” feature in smart lighting to set the virtual timer switch to always turn off after X minutes.

You do this by selecting the virtual switch as the one you want to “control” and then saying that you want to turn it “off” (not on) and then when asked how you want to “trigger” it, scroll all the way to the bottom of the page and there will be an option for “power allowance exceeded.” After you select that, you will be given a new page where you can fill in the number of minutes.

Step 4.   Create the second smart lighting automation to have the real device “follow”‘ the virtual switch. That way the real device will turn on whenever the virtual switch turns on, and turn off again whenever the virtual switch turns off.

You do this by selecting the real switch as the switch that you want to “control,” choose “turn on” and then when asked how you want to “trigger” it say by switch and then choose the virtual switch from that second list. You will also be given the option to “turn off as well” – – choose that so that the real switch will also turn off when the virtual switch turns off.

Step 5.   Create the third smart lighting automation to trigger the virtual switch.  Now you just need to set up something to turn the virtual switch on based on the trigger conditions you want, like time of day or someone arriving home or a particular mode. Usually this would be a smart lighting automation, but it could also be a routine or another smart app. Or you can just turn the virtual switch on by voice with Echo or Google home.

There you have it. The trigger condition occurs, the virtual switch turns on, the real device turns on because it is following the virtual switch, the virtual switch turns itself off because of the power allowance, and the real device turns itself off because it is following the virtual device. A virtual timer.

To change the length of time, open the smart lighting automation from step two (The one that uses the power allowance feature) and change the amount of time there.

You can set up different virtual timers for different trigger conditions or different lengths of time. Just remember that once you set a power allowance, that will always apply to that particular device for the conditions specified in that smart lighting automation.

You can also use the same method to set up a countdown timer which delays a switch turning on for X minutes. The only difference is that in step 3 instead of having the physical device come on when the virtual timer comes on, you will have the physical device come on when the virtual timer goes off. You also need to change the default “turn off as well” so that it will not apply.

After getting all my Lutron Caseta light switches installed, my Yale deadbolts installed and attached to the SmartThings hub.  I was finally able to play around with the Samsung SmartThings Arrival Sensor fob.  I loved the idea that I can just place this product right on my key ring and its so compact and lightweight.

So I set up my SmartThings app, and created a rule automation routine that when I was in the area it would turn my porch lights on and the deadbolts would unlock.  It worked great the first few times but it was never reliable.  It worked probably about 80% of the time and this was killer to me; i just wanted the product to work.  After about 3-4 weeks of using the fob/sensor the battery was already down to about 30%.  When it went below 30% the device just stayed “Away” in the SmartThings app it never came back.  I had to change out the battery, remove it from my SmartThings app and re-add it.

I went to the Community forum, and started posting my findings a lot of people had good work a-rounds but still worked about 80% of the time.  Every time I came home and it didn’t work correctly I was pissed off.  I was ready to just scrap the entire idea of having anything Smart related especially if the products just didn’t work.

That same post topic another user suggested I follow this method using Tasker/SharpTools/AutoLocation.  You need to have the paid version of these apps which will cost you about $5.00  which is nothing since i’m already about $1000.00 invested in SmartHome products.

So basically my review of the SmartThings Arrival sensor is absolute garbage.  I want a product that’s just going to work 100% of the time and changing batteries monthly is another downfall.

Please check back for my post about using your Android or iPhone device as your SmartThings proximity sensor with Tasker/SharpTools/AutoLocation.  I’ve been testing it so far for a week and it’s been 100% all of the time. It’s a long process on getting it installed on your device but it’s definitely worth it.

If you need help pairing the Aeotec/Aeon labs doorbell with SmartThings visit the link below.

How I was able to pair Aeon Labs Doorbell with SmartThings

First things first you need to login to your SmartThings IDE

https://graph.api.smartthings.com

Next Click on “My Hubs” (this was my biggest problem at first, it wasn’t actually pulling up my devices so the Device Handler at first was never getting installed to my Hub).   If you see a message that says “You don’t have any hubs yet. Please use the SmartThings mobile app to claim your hub.”  You need to click on “My Locations“, then Click on your Hub Name mine was  called “Home“.  It should ask you to login again.  You should now see your Hub information.  Great you are now actually logged into your account.

Step 2.  Now that you are logged in we are going to be creating a new SmartThings SmartApp.  So click on My Smart Apps at the top.

Next Click on “New Smart App” in green on the top right of the page.

Next Choose “From Code“.

The following code I used thanks to SmartThings Community can be found by clicking here.

Once your code has been pasted Choose “Save“, then “Publish“.

Next Open up your SmartThings application on your android or iPhone.

Click on “Add a SmartApp” at the bottom.

Next all the way down and choose “My Apps” since this was a custom App that we added.

You should now see your Sonos Notify with Sound_Multiple.  This will allow you to choose multiple Sonos speakers for your Doorbell notifications.

Here’s how I set up my doorbell.  I made sure on the Doorbell Button Press (Aeotec Doorbell) was triggered it would play the custom .mp3 that I have added.  ( I will explain in my next post on how to add your own custom sounds to the list).   If you used my code from the top you will notice I added the “National Lampoons Christmas Vacation Doorbell“.  It’s also set to play throughout my Sonos speakers.

Here’s some more settings you can also set.  I wanted to make sure if I was playing music and someone rang the doorbell, the music would continue playing.

Also I wanted to temporarily change the music volume so I could hear the doorbell notification sound.

Purchase:  Aeotec by Aeon Labs ZW056 Doorbell

The hardest part was installing a custom Device Handler through the Smartthings IDE.  Please make sure you do not pair this device yet with your SmartThings app.

First login to your SmartThings IDE

https://graph.api.smartthings.com

Next Click on “My Hubs” (this was my biggest problem at first, it wasn’t actually pulling up my devices so the Device Handler at first was never getting installed to my Hub).   If you see a message that says “You don’t have any hubs yet. Please use the SmartThings mobile app to claim your hub.”  You need to click on “My Locations“, then Click on your Hub Name mine was  called “Home“.  It should ask you to login again.  You should now see your Hub information.  Great you are now actually logged into your account.

We are going to be using the custom Device Handler created by krlaframboise on the SmartThings Community – [RELEASE] Aeon Labs Aeotec Doorbell

On the SmartThings IDE Page, at the Top Click on “My Device Handlers”

Next Click on “Create New Device Handler” button in Green.

Navigate over to the GitHub Device Handler Code at https://github.com/krlaframboise/SmartThings/blob/master/devicetypes/krlaframboise/aeotec-doorbell.src/aeotec-doorbell.groovy be sure to copy the entire code contents.

Now that the code is copied we want to place it back in the SmartThings IDE Device Handler.  On the Create New Device Handler Page, Click on “From Code“.  (Like shown below).

Once the Code has been Pasted in, hit the “Save” button then hit the “Publish” button.

That’s the complete setup for getting your Custom Device Handler added to your SmartThings hub.  The next step is you want to pair your new Aeon Labs Doorbell to the SmartThings hub.  Like I said in the beginning if you already have your device connected to the Hub you need to Remove it and run the exclusion tool to remove the device.

Open up your SmartThings App and Choose “Add a Thing” Make sure this is the only way you add the device, do choose from the List it needs to find it manually and apply the Custom Device Handler.

Once the SmartThings application finds your new Doorbell it should say “Aeotec Doorbell” if it does not and says something about a Siren, your device handler is installed wrong.

In the image below is what the settings will look like over your Aeon labs / Aeotec Doorbell in Smartthings.

Now that my Custom Device Handler was installed correctly.  I was able to go and Create a Custom Automation Rule so when the doorbell was pressed it would trigger an event.

I made it so the Automation Rule would turn on my (2) Hue Blooms and starting playing my Sonos Kitchen speaker on the event the “Doorbell” button was “Pushed or Held“.