This question was discussed a lot of time here but I cannot get it work.
What I want to do is simple. When light is on and area becomes inactive → start countdown to turn off the lights BUT reset the timer when movement was detected after the area became inactive within the timer time.
I tried to use two different apps without success. Now I try to get it work with the Cronograph app.
My problem is that it doesnt matter what time I set, it is ignored by the app and simply triggers the next action right away ignoring the time I set.
Could someone tell what I´m doing wrong, please?
I created a short flow as attached. When the area becomes inactive, the timer doesnt start but triggers the next event instead.
I can attach tags to the field “Name” but do I need to and if yes, which one? Same for “Duration”.
Maybe you can switch (temporarily) to normal flow and use “when zone is inactive for x minutes”. I have not used extended flows, so I don’t know if this card is available in your flow.
Thanks for the hint.
This option is also available in advanced flows and is some kind of a solution but there you can only add minutes. In few specific cases I need to set seconds as a minute is too long. So, I thought a timer app would help but I cannot get it run correctly.
Try replacing the nam “Test / 10s” by “Test_10s” to get rid of the dash slash. As this might be a special character.
When you click on the “i” you get information how to use the card.
I use the app countdown. This works perfect and I use your setup. In the configuratian. you define a time (for instance lightstimer)
In dutch the cards are named zandloper.
Then the flows are
IF THEN
IF THEN <start zandloper ligthstimer 180>
IF AND IF THEN
IF THEN
The problem is that you gave the timer 2 different names: Test and 10 s
Either use the drop-down menu and select an existing timer, or enter a name in the Name field:
I dont know how to get the Countdown app work. It doesnt matter what delay I set, it turns off the lights after few ms. Same happens in Chronograph app.
As others work with it, like you, there must be a mistake on my side and I try to figure out what it could be.
Do I add the timer, give it a name set the time? Is it all or do I have to specify something else somewhere?
Believe me, only 1 field needs to be used.
Please delete the flow card, save the flow and add the card again and only fill in 1 field.
If you use several Chronograph flow cards in the flow, please do this with all flow cards.
Edit
If an error is displayed, please take a screenshot and post it.
Hé Alex, it looks you are reporting about 2 different apps. That is complicating the discussion in here, as I have a very limited view of your system.
So I suggest to make the most simple flow to test the timer. Start a flow manually, make a delay and switch on a lamp after the delay, or send yourself a message. Then share you flow and results here.
Back the beginning. As the clicking on the i-button of the cards says: enter a new name for a new counter, or select the name of an existing counter.
In normal flows it looks like:
This is how it works with the countdown app you are using. This option is not available in the chronograph app that he uses. You can simply enter a timer name in the “Name” field, or use the “Pick” drop-down menu to select an existing name and/or create a new timer name.
And even that might not be the problem, as I just found out that the “chosen one” is leading. However, the only way to find the problem is to exclude all possible causes.
Okay, I didn’t know that. When Arie added the picker, at first I also used both fields, but with identical names, and that worked too.
However, it makes no sense to speculate further here if @Alex_S1 doesn’t give us any feedback, including the error notification he receives when he uses only one field.
