When you are out of town it would be nice to have some of your lights turned on and off at random times so that people think you are home. Not all the lights should do this for example you want to keep your outdoor lights on their existing schedules. Also, you want some randomness to the lights so that people think you are home and operating the lights not just having them on a set schedule or automated set timer. You will want to control all the lights regardless of what technology you used to set them up such as Lutron or Kasa, etc. You will want to be able to turn this feature on easily either via voice or the mobile app.
Below I will walk you through the steps to accomplish this task with Alexa. There is also a post on how to do this with Google as well.
The first thing to make sure of is that Alexa is aware of and can operate all of the lights you want to be part of this task. If your lights are run by Lutron or Kasa, etc. You will want to link them to Alexa using the proper skill and make sure Alexa has discovered all the lights. The process is described in other posts for the specific technology you use
First, you must assign the lights that you want to control to the group of automated lighting. This was moved recently when Amazon moved some of the “Guard” functions behind a paywall. Fortunately, the “Away Lighting” feature is still free.
- Open up the Alexa App
- Navigate to the devices section by selecting it at the bottom of the app.
- Select the mode box to navigate to the mode area. Do not click on the home or away button yet.
- Select the settings option by clicking the cog wheel in the upper right-hand corner of the screen.
- Select the Away Lighting section
- Select the Away Lighting mode in the away mode option. If you set this to on and you allow Alexa to know your location via your phone this will use your phone location to determine if the away mode should be used. I normally do not select this as my phone might not be at home but my wife is a home and the lights turning on and off is not the best option.
- Enter the zip code of the home. This allows Alexa to determine sunrise and sunset and to calculate when people might be using their lights.
- Now select the lights you want to be part of this task. Only select lights that might be turned on by a person who is at the house. Also do not select any lights that are on set schedules like porch lights, garage lights, etc.
- If you don’t see all of your lights some of them may be controlled by automated plugs so you need to reclassify them as lights for them to show up.
There are a few ways to activate the away lighting when you leave.
- If you allow Alex to determine your location via your phone the “away lighting” will be activated when you leave the area of your home
- You can go to the devices section and select the home/away button on the mode panel
- You can use your voice to say “Alexa I am Leaving”
When you arrive back home you will want to deactivate the away lighting. Again there are several ways to do this.
- If you allow Alexa to use your phone location then once you arrive back home the “away lighting” will be deactivated.
- You can go to the devices section and click on the mode button to set it to home
- You can use voice to turn it off by saying “Alexa I am home”