I want to turn on my heated blanket, but only when I'm present. There is an Away mode, but not a Present mode. I see no way to say 'not away' or present. Presence should also be flexible to understand multiple people.
If you want the blanket to be on only when you are in the room, you could associate it to a motion sensor that turns on the plug when there is motion and turns it off X minutes after there is no motion.
...or set Modes to all but Away as a restriction.
1 Like
Are you selecting Mode Changes or Mode Transitions, or Arrival/Departure?
If you are using Arrival/Departure, do you have presence sensing devices like a Smartthings fob? Have you set up your phone(s) to be presence devices?
Try one of the combined presence apps. I use and like this first one, but there are others like the second Presence Plus app below that are just as good and have different features, so use whichever fits your needs.
1 Like
Hi. thanks - I've no need for combined presence at this time- the phone sensor for presense works great. I set up simple automation rule but there is no clear way to set 'present' - it seems to be missing. Selecting 'all the modes but away' would work except in situations where I want to have a specific phone present (my roommate has a phone, I have a phone - we each have our own rooms so the solution would be 'present' as I suggested. Motion wouldn't help as the rule is to turn off the blanket in the middle of the night, when there is no motion. I understand there are many ways to approach this - but I'm suggesting there is a big missing piece for present. the opposite of away. In Control4 there is one, and as I recall in Smart things there was one but I don't see it in Hubitat. Am I missing something? I tried to look at the options for the phones but I don't see it.
So just "being present" isn't a trigger. It is a condition. If you want to trigger it to happen when you arrive, then use "arrival/departure".
Otherwise, if you want it to come on at 7PM but only when you are home, then set the trigger as the time and put a condition that your presence device is home. (I am pretty sure this has to be Rule Machine though as it is no longer a "simple" automation)
2 Likes
You can use combined presence to "Understand multiple people" like you requested in your first post.
Please post a screenshot of your rule, we are guessing how you have it set up, and we can try to duplicate what you are seeing much easier if we can see the rule.
Thanks for the replies - but this happened with me once before in these forums - folks want to help, but aren't hearing what I'm saying. It is my opinion that there is a missing element to the concept behind Presence. In boolean there are 2 states, On or Off. In the case of Hubitat there is a pre-defined 'off' state (away) but no 'on' state. Yes, I can write code to make up for this lack, I can implement modules, I can 'trick' it. But it adds to the level and complexity and therefore the frustration with Hubitat. Personally Rules Machine is a sledgehammer for use in turning a switch on or off.
As some have suggested using arrival/departure - which isn't offered. Using 'all but Away' is not Presence as Modes are 'Time of Day' values- not Presence states. Someone wanted to see the rule, the image is attached.
We are hearing, but not understanding because you can do what you want.
I am not sure what you mean? Isn't it implied that if you are NOT away that you ARE present? What am I missing?
You didn't answer my question above about having arrival or departure devices. You certainly can have arrival/departure. Many here do.
Only if you set it up that way. In Mode Manager, you can select devices to change modes upon presence. You also can make your own modes (customize) to reflect presence. In fact, I did exactly that. I have Day and Home, Night and Home, Day and Away, Night and Away, and so on.
So in your rule, you can just select all modes where you are present, everything except Away.
Do you really want this to run 23.5 hours a day? 4:30 AM to 4:00AM would run nearly continuously. If that is the case, why use time as a trigger? Wouldn't presence be a better trigger if you want this to always be on when you are at home?
Hi - What I'm attempting to do is control a heated blanket. Most blankets that I know of, if you toggle their power using a plug, when the plug comes back on, the blanket does not. (I'm working on a rPi device to hack that controller so this would ultimately be moot). What I'm attempting is to 'auto-shutoff' the blanket. This same plug also controls a strip light. That strip light has a motion rule I want that strip light to be re-enabled in case I get up early. But we're off target and in the dialog I was hoping to avoid! I DO appreciate help, and that folks care.
The initial statement 'Presence is missing' is what I'm interested in discussing. the "Mode" Away came from somewhere. I believe it was created when I added a Presence device or simply as part of the HE initially. So why not a mode of 'Present'? That is my question. And as I said before, I know 100 ways to skin this cat - HE is quite flexible! I could buy more equipment, I could build the rPI I've been lazy about, I can add a rule to create a mode set of my own... etc etc etc. I just don't see the out of the box of HE on the Present mode !!!
Modes can be used for whatever you want to use them for. There are some predefined modes, but they have no function until you breathe life into them. The most common way to do this is to use Mode Manager.
Presence detection is a capability of some devices, including a mobile device running our mobile app. There are other presence sensor devices also. These report one of two events: present or not present. In the Simple Automation Rule app different words are used for these two events/states: Arrival and Departure. But these are related specifically to presence devices. Simple Automation Rule allows a trigger on any presence arriving (any becoming present) or all leaving (all becoming not present). This is useful for things that should happen when everyone leaves or when anyone has returned.
One of the things that can be done is to set the mode to Away when everyone leaves. And then to set it to some other value when someone arrives. This is the most common use, and one that is supported by Mode Manager.
If you want a mode called Present, you could create one. And a simple rule could set the mode to Present when anyone arrives, and then set the mode to Away when everyone leaves. But most users find it convenient to have more than one 'present' mode, to distinguish between different periods of the day, but all with the implicit interpretation that someone is present.
Modes are somewhat limiting as there is only one that can be set at any moment, so in effect a linear set of modes exists. Some users get creative and have extra modes such as Away-Day and Away-Evening, and Home-Day and Home-Evening. Again, with the implicit understanding that Away is used for no one home, and the others implicitly 'present'.
Modes and presence devices can work together, but don't have to. Apps can use either as triggers for various things you want to control.
2 Likes
Away is one of the modes that is created when the platform first loads on your hub.
I think there’s a misunderstanding here, which @bravenel explains pretty well in a fair amount of detail.
But the tl;dr version is that any of your modes can be configured to function as a “present” mode. You can even create a new one, or re-name one of the preexisting ones, and call that “present.”
And at the risk of offering some additional unsolicited/unwelcome advice, be careful when bypassing a safety feature of a device that could cause burns or even a fire if left on for too long!
Sorry couldn’t help myself, safety first! 
4 Likes
So totally true. Personally I would never consider hooking up a heating device to HE even in stock form.
3 Likes
Thank you all for the replies. The warning sort of goes without saying, but it's valid of course. It's actually one of the reasons why I'm researching this - to increase the safety. And in honesty, the things I've seen hooked up to automation would freak OSHA / UL out :).
As the brillance of Bravenel describes, I can and will create a mode for 'Present' as I alluded too initially. But as he also points out, Modes are linear (not sure thats the word I want) and the limitation of HE surrounding modes is a stumbling block for the gui for idiots like me. I now need to go modify all my automations. Are modes Boolean? ie; can I say checkbox mode 'Day' and mode 'present' or as described must create and manage twice the set of modes? Thinking about it - it must be an OR statement...
I'll go experiment. My instinct tells me to take Bravenel succinctly and that it's a single value. Which brings up, a different weakness apparently, If you allow and pre-build 'Days of the week' why not 'times of the day' and separate modes from Calendars. But I digress - my code work on events/calendars in Drupal/wordpress is kicking in.
It'd be great if there was an AND statement there! Anyways. Please don't mind me. Thank you all - I consider this issue closed. Thanks for the time you spent, it's appreciated.
Shu
