I am trying to get a light group to turn on 1 hour before sunset and then turn off a 9:55 pm. It seems to turn on, although right at sunset (not 60 min before) and will not shut off at all. Please see this screenshot.
Are you sure that the light is turning on at sunset? The rule in the screendump is set to turn on an hour after sunset.
Are you sure your Hubitat is configured in the correct time zone?
At what time does the sun set where you live?
I recommend using basic rules also - but I have had much better luck since breaking into a separate "on" rule and and "off" rule - I know it looks like it should all work in the one since the option is there to configure it that way but I was doing the same thing with my landscape lights and they weren't turning off consistently either. My initial reason for doing this was because I couldn't see it the scheduled events log - apparently only fixed times show up, not event based like sunset.
Thanks everyone for the rapid responses. As advised I think I will try Rule Machine which I have for another automation and is working fine.
I even have a 2nd redundant rule just for off in Simple Automation Rules and still no luck.
And ya 1 hour after sunset is the target on time, so at least that is working. Off just seems to be the problem. Nothing showing up in the logs either so it does seem to be at the automation and not connectivity level.
You can enable logging in the SA rule to get more information on why the automation isn't turning off the lights. I use SA for an automation like this and it runs every day without issue. It should work.
I was also using SAR for this same type of automation and it worked. I had two setup, one for evening and one for morning. Then I had this idea to combine them into one simple RM rule. I like this rule because it does not "wait" overnight with the chance of being canceled from a reboot or other activities. The ON is always triggered and then it waits for the OFF.
The double ON activations is optional. I was having a problematic light that was being slow so I did this to make sure it turned on/off.
Thanks again to all who chipped in here. Not sure what the issue really was but I followed the recommendation and recreated the SARs in the Rule Machine an they seem to work fine. I have other SAR rules that work great but for some reason that one just wouldn't. More than one way to skin a cat I guess.
Thanks again.
Side note, this marks the final item off my list to complete the Wink / HE transition. Wink was actually pretty stable for the last while so make turning it off a little less celebratory. But nice to have everything local.
I do have to admit that at times I find HE unnecessarily complex to do pretty simple things and at times not a predictable as I would like (see point 1) but I'm getting used to that with the help of all the great people here.