How to override motion sensor light?

[2Charlie]

1) Give a description of the problem
When I manually press the switch to on, I want this action to override the motion sensor.
2) What is the expected behavior?
If I press manually turned on the switch, I want this behavior to override the motion sensor and have the light to be on indefinitely until I manually turned it off. Else, the motion sensor will turn on the light when it sense motion and stay on for 2 minutes.
3) What is happening/not happening?
At this point, regardless if I manually turned on the light or not, the light will turned off in 2 minutes.
4) Post a Green Snapshot of the piston
I don’t have one yet. However, before I start developing one, I like to know if there is any existing ones that I can use or modify to meet my needs.

5) Attach any logs (From ST IDE and by turning logging level to Full)
Again, I don’t have one yet. I’m just starting. If are any that already exist, links to them are much appreciated.

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[ike2018]

Hi @2Charlie
You can do that with a simple variable…

variable = {lightstatus}

if motion sensor changes to active
and
if {light status} is true
then
with lights TURN ON

if motion sensor stays inactive for 2 minutes
and
if {light status} is true
then
with lights TURN OFF

If switch turned on
then
set variable {light status} = false
turn on lights

If switch turned OFF
then
set variable {light status} = true
turn lights OFF

this is just a draft and it can be written better.
I didn’t want to share my working example because many other things in the piston might be confusing… But if you want I can share it.

[2Charlie]

Thanks! That’s pretty straight forward. I’ll give it a try and see what happens.

[2Charlie]

What should I set the initial value of the variable lightstatus to?

[2Charlie]

Second question, how do I specify “2 minutes” in the if statement? I don’t see that option. All I see is the following:

[ike2018]

What do you see (options) when click on "What kind of comparision)

[2Charlie]

These are the options.

Second question: On the “if switch turned on”, do I need to create a virtual switch? Or is this “switch” referring to the physical light switch I turned on and off?

[ike2018]

• you need to post the piston because these are conditions but we need triggers.
• I assume your switch is SMART SWITCH on the wall right? not a regular switch.

[2Charlie]

I apologize for the newbie questions but what do you mean by “post the piston”. Below are the trigger options. Which one should I use for the 2 minutes inactivity?

[2Charlie]

Okay, I think this is what I need.

[ike2018]

Yes exactly…

[2Charlie]

For the “if switch turned on”, I don’t think the following looks right. The “Kitchen Light” is a physical mart switch on the wall. I do not see the option “turn on” or “Turn Off” under Compare to.

[ike2018]

Changes to ON and OFF means TURN ON and TURN OFF
And I don’t think you need PHYSICAL INTERACTION but test it…

[2Charlie]

What’s the different between “physical interaction” and “Any interaction”? My guess is “Physical interaction” means when I physically press the paddle on the switch to turn on or off. And with “Any interaction” is that it includes both physical and when the switch is turned/off via code or some type of automation.

[ike2018]

I never use physical interaction so I don’t know/…
But even for the smart switches on the wall I always use ANY

[2Charlie]

Okay, so I think I’m done with the script. How do I start testing it? This is my first time using webCore with SmartThings. Do I need to remove my existing Smart Lighting automation rules first?

[ike2018]

Yes for sure remove that…

and pls post the picture of your piston just to make sure.
IMPORTANT : Before posting it please clik on the green camera picture and post the safe version of your piston

[2Charlie]

Okay, here’s my piston. I do not see the lightStatus variable declaration in here but it does show up in the Global variables on the right side.

[ike2018]

Line 18
Change that to CHANGES TO ACTIVE so it becomes a trigger. Now it’s a condition.

Line 50
Change that to CHANGES TO OFF so it becomes a trigger. Now it’s a condition.

other than that looks good to me… but you can’t be sure (since I am not a pro coder ) until you test it…

[WCmore]

I agree with Ike. Line 18 & 50 should be triggers as he mentioned…

Other than that, it looks good…

The only other change I would make is to change your global variables to local variables. They are quicker to respond, and motion sensors have a habit of changing very frequently.