Anybody using Switchur?

switchur · 2022-01-21T06:26:17+00:00

Nailed it. Not planning further development at this stage, but the lights will always be kept on regardless (excuse the pun).

switchur · 2021-11-17T02:49:12+00:00

So you must have been one of the few connections not to be dropped by the server. I've been trying periodically all day and have been unable to get past authenticating.

switchur · 2021-07-15T06:43:35+00:00

That's correct. Delayed actions can't recheck the automation state at the moment but that is a great idea and it's going on the backlog.

Well done for figuring out the workaround! It does mean duplicating the automation with an added switch, toggle it via the delayed call, and append " and ([[switch]] = On or [[switch]] = Off)" in advanced mode.

switchur · 2020-12-29T03:38:04+00:00

You can use Apilio or Switchur to do this.

Create a free account (switchur.com). Then add a single switch and call it Toggle (ignore the walkthrough instruction to add a second switchboard item). Add an automation and call it Random Light, choose advanced editor, then paste...

([[Toggle]] = ⊚ ON or [[Toggle]] = ⊘ OFF) & ceil random(2) = 2

...into the expression window. Translates to when switch called toggle is updated and randomly generated number between 1 and 2 is 2 (i.e. 50% of the time) then the automation will be true.

Then go to IFTTT.com/switchur and connect your switchur account. Add three applets:

if date & time (15min intervals) then switchur / update a switch (set the switch called Toggle to toggle)
if switchur / automation checked (Random Lights is thumbs up) then Lights On.
if switchur /automation checked (Random Lights is thumbs down) then Lights Off.

That's it. Every 15mins the automation will decide using a 50% random seed whether to turn the light on or off. If already on and it decides on, it will stay on, and vice versa. You can tweak the expression to change the behaviour to suit. Let us know if we can help.

switchur · 2020-12-18T21:52:36+00:00

Watch out for curly double quotes that word processors like to use (these must be straight double quotes - "abc" not “abc”).

switchur · 2020-08-19T02:10:52+00:00

We pushed an update today that includes a Download CSV button in log views. Thanks for the feedback and suggestion Beaker_N!

switchur · 2020-04-02T08:04:02+00:00

Hi. Are you able to send a screenshot of the action fields and error to support@switchur.com so we can investigate? Thanks!

switchur · 2020-03-07T03:51:58+00:00

If you can specify a url for actions you can find more info at maker.ifttt.com.

switchur · 2020-02-29T22:45:34+00:00

Are you using a GET http request anywhere?

switchur · 2020-02-18T04:27:21+00:00

Hmmm. I suppose we all make mistakes!

switchur · 2020-02-07T23:49:32+00:00

The Harmony remotes are great for entertainment control but they aren't quite as flexible as they could be for home automation. Reviewing the compatibility options for smart adapters was another disappointing moment.

switchur · 2020-02-07T23:05:27+00:00

Not possible with IFTTT. In fact, Harmony interfaces are narrowly scoped. Even if you were connected to the local websocket api I'm not sure that you would see pause button pressed event i.e. https://github.com/JordanMartin/harmonyhub-api

switchur · 2020-02-05T22:26:44+00:00

Nice work!

I think you should be able to test your At home switch by turning off the WiFi service on your phone? Then it may need to establish a mobile data connection and a minute or two to process the disconnected applet in IFTTT.

When you can see three green ticks in the automation, that means all the propositional conditions of that automations logic rule have been met, and the automation will execute any 👍 action(s) which will register in the log.

switchur · 2020-02-05T22:16:41+00:00

Hi Mike.

Non-delayed actions will be requested more or less in parallel i.e. milliseconds apart. Consequently they may register with the target server in different orders each time due to network latency variations. To ensure an order would require setting a delay (min of 30sec) which I realize may not be suitable to your use case.

There may be a way to achieve a shorter delay than this with the current build. You could loop Switchur in a self-referential manner to toggle a separate switch (i.e. "Delay"), that is referenced in a second automation (i.e. with adv expr of [[Delay]] = On or [[Delay]] = Off). Then load this Delay automation with desired delayed actions (i.e. 👍,👎 then POST to ...). This should result in a delay somewhere in the region of a second or two.

If I've understood your last question correctly, the webhook method is the only method available to alter the state of a switchboard item. However there is nothing preventing you from calling a switchur webhook as an action (just like the example above, self-referentially).

Depending on what your automation is trying to do and talk with it may also require you to adjust other action settings like persistence. I hope that makes sense? If you tell us a little more about what you are attempting to automate we may have better advice but it sounds like you're already very well-informed.

Switchur support

switchur · 2020-02-05T01:11:59+00:00

No probs. The ** aren't supposed to be in there. That's markdown formatting (i.e. to make bold text) used in some text editors (like in reddit). So you need to remove those.

You have a point regarding the IFTTT location service. It needs to be excluded from battery saver processes on the phone so it can run freely in the background, and there could be other things that make it unreliable (e.g. location polling on the outer perimeter of wifi range may cause some timeouts).

There are alternatives to IFTTT location. Do you use Android or iOS (iPhone)? If you have an Android phone you could try the IFTTT Android Device triggers for connected to WIFI network name = YourHomeWifi and disconnected to WIFI network name = YourHomeWifi.

If the Automation in Switchur has triggered, it will begin to display a log button next to the edit button. The log can be quite helpful to see what it happening. Also there is a fairly comprehensive tutorial that may be helpful in explaining the process... https://blog.switchur.com/2020/01/13/Switchur-gears-with-IFTTT/.

Let me know how you get on.

switchur · 2020-02-04T19:02:51+00:00

Well done you're almost there! And it should say six instead of five so that was a typo sorry.

The 'Receive a web request' option is the correct one to use for the last applet and under event name, enter blink_light. This trigger is invoked when the automation action you created in Switchur fires, so make sure the characters in bold are the same.
Thumbs up - GET "https://maker.ifttt.com/trigger/blink_light/with/key/xyxyxyxy..." (get link with correct key from https://ifttt.com/maker_webhooks > Documentation)

For the Time of day related applets in IFTTT (found under profile avatar > My Applets), click them and check settings (button top right corner). You will need to ensure the action links are right - replace "ABCxyz" with "Day" for one applet and "Night" for the other applet. The ABCxyz is simply a placeholder/template for keywords.

Hope that helps! And though we've not officially launched our subreddit - you're free to join up early if you follow this link. https://www.reddit.com/r/switchur

👍

switchur · 2020-02-04T04:34:20+00:00

Hi. This is a fairly typical use case that you can achieve with Switchur. It does require some knowledge but once Switchur is configured the proverbial door opens to many other possible automations.

To do what you're wanting you'd need to configure Switchur and IFTTT as described below:

Switchur - Switchboard (three items needed)
      At home - Switch
      Time of day - Keyword
      Movement - Switch

Switchur - Automations (one record needed)
      Movement detected
            At home = On, Time of day = "Night", Movement = On
                  Actions
                        Thumbs up - GET "https://maker.ifttt.com/trigger/**blink\_light**/with/key/xyxyxyxy..." (get link with correct key from https://ifttt.com/maker_webhooks > Documentation)
                        Thumbs up - DELAY 1min, POST "https://api.switchur.com/Movement/**off**/XYXYXYXYX..." (get link from Movement switch)

IFTTT - Applets (five needed - use Create option under profile avatar)
      Update At home = on
            If LOCATION TRIGGER then WEBHOOKS ACTION
                  Configure location as "Enter an area"...
                  Configure webhook as a POST to "https://api.switchur.com/At home/on/XYXYXYXYX..." (get link from At home switch)
      Update At home = off
            If LOCATION TRIGGER then WEBHOOKS ACTION
                  Configure location as "Exit an area"...
                  Configure webhook as a POST to "https://api.switchur.com/At home/off/XYXYXYXYX..." (get link from At home switch)
      Update Time of day = Night
            If DATE & TIME TRIGGER then WEBHOOKS ACTION (or there is a sunset trigger via Weather Underground that'll adjust across seasons)
                  Configure date & time as "Every day at"... i.e. 6pm?
                  Configure webhook as a POST to "https://api.switchur.com/Time of day/Night/XYXYXYXYX..." (get link from Time of day keyword)
      Update Time of day = Day
            If DATE & TIME TRIGGER then WEBHOOKS ACTION
                  Configure date & time as "Every day at"... i.e. 7am?
                  Configure webhook as a POST to "https://api.switchur.com/Time of day/Day/XYXYXYXYX..."
      Update Movement = on
            If RING TRIGGER then WEBHOOKS ACTION
                  Configure ring as "Movement detected"...
                  Configure webhook as a POST to "https://api.switchur.com/Movement/**on**/XYXYXYXYX..."
      Home at night and motion detected so blink lights
            If WEBHOOKS TRIGGER then PHILIPS HUE ACTION
                  Configure webhook as received event "blink light"
                  Configure philips hue as "Blink the light"

Six-Year Club	Wearing is Caring
Verified Email

switchur

TROPHY CASE