Once again my outdoor plugs have stopped following my sunrise/sunset schedule. I have 2 plugs and they both are acting up over the past few days. @carverofchoice are you aware of any issues?
Thank you!
I’m not aware of any issues with this feature off hand, but I also rarely use some sudden sunrise schedules on my outdoor plugs. I mostly leave them on 24/7. How long has the issue been happening to you for or when do you last remember was definitely working?
I take it you have the schedule set to turn on at sunset and turn off at sunrise? Or is it the other way around? I have a couple of empty plugs I could try to test with to verify.
I do know there was recently a weird issue going on with automations in general within the last week or so, so it may have been related to the same kind of automation engine hiccup that was going on. But it’s my understanding that all got resolved now. What I would suggest for now to see if it helps, is to maybe go unplugged the outdoor plug, leave it unplugged for at least 10 seconds or so, and then plug it back in. Restart and if there was some kind of memory issue messing it up from when there was an issue with the automation engine. Maybe that will force it to pull everything fresh and go back to working while again. I know that some of the schedules on some of the smart plugs run locally, but I think the sunset and sunrise rules involve the automation rules engine in the cloud so that it can calculate the exact and constantly changing time of day for sunsetting sunrise.
As always, thank you for responding. I have 2 outdoor plugs and in each plug, one outlet turns on at sunrise and off at sunset and the other outlet turns on at sunset and off at sunrise. I had already tried unplugging them, with no avail, before reaching out to you. I also deleted the schedules and re-added them and that didn’t fix the issue either.
I will try to do a test run. In the meantime, you might be able to resolve it by selecting a static time instead of the dynamic/changing “Sunset” and “Sunrise” setting.
Might also be able to resolve it by linking your Wyze account to Alexa and letting the Alexa Routines use Sunset/Sunrise to turn the plugs off and on instead of the Wyze app. That might be the best solution.
I think this is an excellent idea for someone who’s already using a third-party smart home platform. My personal bias is toward using Google Home for this sort of thing, but that’s largely because I’ve been using it longer than I’ve been using Amazon Alexa (I use both), so most of my routines operate in that environment. This sort of thing is what I do with Wyze Plug Outdoors and Christmas lights in season—let Google Home run it for me.
I love google home, but they are the LAST platform I check because they have historically had terrible automation support, and terrible support for several kinds of IoT devices (Wyze Sensors for example). There are so many things Google historically can’t do with automations that I only suggest them as a last resort.
They did add some new improvements last fall though, including scripting which makes them more powerful in a lot of ways, so I was initially excited for all those updates, but they still had a lot of limitations that frustrated me with lack of triggers and actions support compared to Alexa, so I went back to ignoring them. Having said that, I am a big Google lover in general, but Google Home keeps disappointing me even though I use it. I have Google Speakers or displays or tablets in almost every public room in my house (as well as Alexa). So I definitely like Google. IF Google does support sunset/sunrise and plugs on/off, then it is a good option. I just didn’t check it due to my own bias from history of trying things with Google Home.
They do, and it supports offsets. I have some routines that will run, say, from 15 minutes after sunset until 30 minutes before sunrise. I think I was seeing that sort of thing available in Google Home even before I attempted doing the same thing strictly within the Wyze app, but, again, that’s just because I’ve used that platform for so long.
I understand your disappointment with Google Home, too, and I’ve had my share of that when they’ve broken things. Alexa breaks things, too. Even Wyze, with its broken Vacation Mode on some Bulb Colors and Plugs, has made me mistrustful of their ability to execute some things at the appropriate times. Pobody’s nerfect. 
I will try another schedule and see if that works. Funny, one of my plugs went off at sunrise this morning but the other didn’t. Unfortunately, I don’t have a third party platform, such as google or Alexa.
Selecting a specific time on the Wyze app worked for me. I have another one set in the Wyze app to try sunset tonight.
It’s understandable if you don’t want to try or use them, but just FYI, while a lot of people avoid them thinking they need to buy something from Google or Alexa to be able to use them, you can actually get an account completely for free without buying any hardware. You can just download the Google home app or the Amazon Alexa app and connect your Wyze account to them to use them just for Wyze completely for free. So if that is your hesitation, don’t worry about it. If you are intentionally avoiding them for other reasons, that’s understandable. Just thought I’d make sure you know you can get and use them for free.
@krr1975
After my tests, I’m guessing that your sunset and sunrise schedules to turn it on and off automatically. We’re failing from setting it up within the settings area of the plug?
Because I just ran a test using an automation within the Wyze app itself and it worked. It will turn on and off automatically at sunset and sunrise if you set it up using an automation trigger and action instead of using the settings schedule by clicking settings on the plug. So try going and setting it up under the automations.
From the Home tab, click the plus side and then select automations. Then select with a schedule. Then set it to sunrise, and for the action go select the plug and tell it to turn on or off.
It’s working for me to do it that way.
They must be breaking something from within the plug settings area for it to not work that way. This is not the first time that’s happened. I was just barely talking to another user about how my V3 Pro camera spotlight won’t turn on using the automatic settings within the camera settings area, but I can use an automation to have the spotlight turn on and off automatically using the automations engine. I’m not sure what they’re doing to break the settings automation integration, but it seems like somebody must have changed something on the automations engine or the app UI that is breaking some of that functionality for some reason.
Well, I believe my dad may have figured out the issue and I feel like an idiot! I was out of town the past 2 weeks and in a different time zone. I thought once the schedule was set, it went by the device and apparently it goes by the phone. So when I was out of town, I was 2 hours behind my normal time zone. I returned home Saturday evening. As of last night, both plugs are now working as normal. As a long time Wyze user, it never occurred to me the sunrise/sunset setting followed where your phone was located and not where the device was actually located!
That’s so irritating, and I wish it’s something they’d address. I don’t understand why they have a place in the app for users to set a physical address (Account ➜ Home) if they’re not going to use that to govern how devices’ times are determined for sunrise/sunset scheduling/automations and things like Vacation Mode.
Despite my continuing disappointment about that, I’m glad that you were able to solve this, and I appreciate your taking the time to share an update!
Ooh yeah, that makes sense. Others have reported that same frustration. I’m glad you figured it out.
Doesn’t make sense to me but I know now for the future. As always, thank you so much for your help!
It sure is and I couldn’t agree more! That’s why it never crossed my mind. Wyze started out great but is definitely not what it was use to be and that’s a shame!