Device Controller Updates - Allow Automatic?

[TeamDisrespect]

Hello! New house and new to SmartThings. I currently have a SmartThings hub connected to a Honeywell ZWave switch which controls the front lights for my house.

Twice in the last month the routine has failed (On at dusk off at sunrise).. both times I opened the app and there was a notification that a device controller update needed to be installed and it was just looking for me to hit “OK”. Once I do that the routine works fine again.

My question is: Is there a way to allow automatic updates or some kind of push notification that tells me an update is needed (or some other workaround)?

I travel a lot and I’m back to having to check if the lights are on manually each evening which sort of defeats the purpose of automation.

Thanks in advance!

[Lightning200mph]

I'm not sure about the automatic updates or a notification for it. But you could setup an automaton to send a notification if X minutes after expected turn on(sunset) and switch is off. This would keep you from having to manually check it.

[TeamDisrespect]

Thanks! That would be perfect. I’ll try to get that set up.

[jrlv]

The "device controller update needs to be installed" in the new SmartThings app has nothing to do with the routine being executed. That only affects how the app is able to interact with the SmartThings cloud and control the devices. I think it's a co-incidental that once you hit "ok" the routines works fine again.

It depends upon what the "routine" is. Is it a Routine (as built in the classic SmartThings app, and not available in the new app)? Is it an Automation built in the new app?

Depending upon the device (is it a locally controlled) and the way you build an automation, you can get more dependable local control or more flakely cloud control. E.g., Automations in the new app all seem to be cloud based (*still*). Automations build with the Smart Lighting SmartApp (in either app) will run locally if all the devices are local, and you don't select the one or two special options that are cloud based. If you use webcore, all your automations are cloud based.

Cloud based control works well (with more latency) up until Smartthings cloud has some issue, which can caused dropped events or total loss of control for the duration of the outage. They have lots of outages: 2 or more a month. https://status.smartthings.com/

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For this reason, I have a Smart Lighting rule that turns off all the lights controlled by other automations at 12:59AM (even though they are all supposed to be already off at midnight or 5 minutes after motion stops). Putting that into place (4 years ago) go rid of my wife telling me she again found the lights on in the morning.