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Presence simulator

Mel shared this question 9 years ago
Answered

I do not understand presence simulator. I just want to turn certain lights on at a certain time when away. I have seen the video and read some comments, but still confused. I cannot figure out this issue. Please provide me a simple RULE and directions as to how to create a presence simulator sensor. Thanks

Replies (6)

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Hello Mel,


I presume you are referring to our article: https://community.zipato.com/knowledge-base/article/rule-example-presence-simulator and "presence simulator virtual switch" mentioned in the article. Before you create your rule like the one given as example you should create new virtual switch on your Zipabox. You can name it Presence Simulator just like we did in our example. With this new virtual switch you will be able to enable/disable your rule from other rules as well or from virtual switch menu and/or mobile applications.

If you do not need previously mentioned options just skip this "IF" condition when creating your rule.

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The presence simulators could be anything. If you would like to have something automatically detecting if you are home or not it will depend on what you have to work with.

I for instance use family members smartphones and wifi to set if home or not (with tasker)


You can use a button to set youre presence when you get home or based on moment detectors or arm state of zipato or a magnetic sensor on a door that is only closed when not home and so on.

all depends on what you have to work with and what makes youre setup uniq when no one is home.


Most basic would be to do as in the zipato video where they just have a http device that can be turned on or off in the app or via a http call


PS if you use the HTTP device don't forget that it "forgets" its state after reboot, updates and other situation. it will look like it remebering it when connecting to the zipabox via app or http. BUT the local device will have forgotten the status (zipato.. please fix this, so frustrating)

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FYI here's an example of what I just built (and seems to work so far). It turns on and off a light at random moments and random durations in between predefined times.

5e839115c13aa22718bbe0c5b57ea63a

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Ignore the image in the post above. It had a small mistake. Correct version is here:8bff0d225ebd1112ce4baf855d605f9e

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Mel,

Presence simulator is one of the first tasks that anyone would like to add to their smarthome, however it may be simple or fairly complicated based on your requirements, type of hardware and amount of lights to be controlled. In this case I don't recommend you to try to pack everything in one complicated rule, is always easier to debug smaller chunks of code.

See my guide below to create a basic configurable presence simulator using Zipato, this is my simple approach (not the simpliest) but it works good. Take a look at it and feel free to contact me if you have questions.

Best Regards.

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Im trying a different, more randomized, and more efective way of doing presence simulator with rule creator. Does anyone knows if this approach is valid on WAIT puzzles?

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