Using NEST camera to turn on porch light, but only at night

[Isaac]

I have a NEST camera, and my porch light is on a schedule to turn on the porch lights at sunset and off at 9:45pm.
I would like for the lights to come on when NEST detects activity. Currently I use "Smart Away" to do this, but it turns the lights on in the middle of the day- not just from 9:45 till sunrise.

I don't want the lights turning on in the middle of the day. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I might accomplish my goal?

The app can be used to program individual lights on a schedule, but scenes cannot be scheduled. Lutron support suggested I use IFTTT, but I'm no programmer.


Lutron developers, why would you want "Smart Away" to turn on *any* lights during the middle of the day?


Thanks,
Isaac

[Isaac]

Nobody? I can't be the only one.

[davisadm]

"Smart Away" should only turn lights on and off between 6pm and 11pm. Do you have the time and location set correctly? Check your time zone in Settings --> Advanced --> Time and Location. Mine works perfectly fine!

[Isaac]

between 6pm and 11pm.

Smart away is making my lights come on at all times of the day. Not just 6p-11p
If someone approaches my door from sunset to sunrise I want my light to come on.

The 6p-11p is for the randomization option, which I don't have turned on. I do have the Nest Cam option enabled, to turn on the light when the camera detects a person. This is making the light come on at all times of the day, not just at night.

[davisadm]

Smart away is making my lights come on at all times of the day. Not just 6p-11p

Then the lights are not being controlled by the Lutron Smart Away setting.

The 6p-11p is for the randomization option, which I don't have turned on.

What you call "randomization" is the Lutron Smart Away.

I do have the Nest Cam option enabled, to turn on the light when the camera detects a person. This is making the light come on at all times of the day, not just at night.

I am not sure if Nest Cam has an option to set a trigger during certain times.

[Isaac]

Thank you guys for responding to the post, I appreciate it.

Perhaps I'm calling "Smart Away" the wrong thing. Here is my user experience:
I open "settings", and then "works with Nest", and then "Smart Away &Nest Cam"
The title of the screen is "Smart Away", and there are three options
1. "Randomization" turns on lights temporarily from 6-11, and I can select which lights are affected (cool)
2. "Nest Cam" turns on the lights temporarily when Next Cam detects a person, again can select which lights
3. "Activate Automatically" turns on Smart Away when phone leaves the home, or Smart Away can be enabled by pressing the icon on the home screen

On the Home Screen, if I do not have "Smart Away" turned on the lights do not turn on automatically when Nest detects a person. This is what is turning on the light (when it's turned on).


My frustration is I can't imagine a scenario where I'd want a light to come on in the middle of the daytime- whether it's a porch light or a lamp inside the home... it just doesn't make sense. In the early ninety's I installed a set of ugly floodlights above the garage. It had a sensor to detect movement and a setting to keep the lights OFF in the middle of the daytime. I just thought since this is 2017 and smart is a thing then not turning on the lights in the middle of the daytime would be a no-brainer.


My posting has two goals
1. I am hoping this information would get forwarded to the developers for consideration in a future version.
2. I am hoping someone can suggest a workaround. Perhaps I chose the wrong product for my needs- Is there something within the Lutron family? I certainly don't want a set of early ninenties floodlights!


Again, thanks for reading and being a part of this discussion with me!



Isaac

[kurtisblo]

Hi All. I have the same question/issue. I'm trying to use the Lutron switch to connect with Nest Camera and turn the lights that are on that switch if a) motion is detected on the Nest camera AND b) it is night time.

Does anyone know if that is possible? There is conflicting info above and i can't figure out if it is possible or not. I don't want to install and then have my lights coming on with motion during the day

[Isaac]

Hi All. I have the same question/issue. I'm trying to use the Lutron switch to connect with Nest Camera and turn the lights that are on that switch if a) motion is detected on the Nest camera AND b) it is night time.
Does anyone know if that is possible? There is conflicting info above and i can't figure out if it is possible or not. I don't want to install and then have my lights coming on with motion during the day

It's been my experience that this is NOT possible with this combination. If that's what you are trying to do I'd recommend looking elsewhere.
I've had these two products for a year now. If I had to do over again I would avoid the NEST altogether. It alerts me to movement outside the specified zones I set up, the movement inside the zones alerts me even though it's not a person (I have the option to set to alert only when a person is detected, not just movement), several times when someone approached my door the bandwidth was suddenly too great and the connection is lost, and finally the option to detect a person at night and relay to Lutron to turn on the lights doesn't work. In addition the subscription price is too high if you have multiple cameras, and I tend to keep the cameras switch OFF when I am home because of the high amount of bandwidth it uses. I have the cameras set to turn off when we are home, but this is less than ideal in the middle of the night when I'd want any movement in my driveway recorded in case anything happens to our vehicles in the driveway.

The Lutron product itself is just "ok". I can schedule my porch light to be on from dusk until 10:00, and the inside switch overrides at any time, but there is no option to turn on the lights when someone approaches my door at night.

[Monster Force]

It is astonishing that this is not possible. I guess that's what I get for buying this without doing research as I sit here trying to figure out what I was doing wrong, which apparently was buying the wrong product. This is the exact scenario I was looking to achieve, have the lights turn on at night when the cameras detected a person. I guess I am stuck with randomization and scheduling. #whatilearnedtoday

[digit1]

I have no affiliation with any manufacturer other than Lutron- the company I work for is a residential dealer.

I have no idea if this works, I'm sure there are bugs, but it may help you get closer to your goal:

https://ifttt.com/applets/ZCSThi7x-a...ht?term=lutron