Spotlight doesn't follow sunset schedule if phone in a different time zone?

Since I recently bought some plugs that are scheduled to turn on at sunset, I wanted to know if they will follow the schedule properly if I am traveling in a different time zone. So I ran a simple test. I turned off wifi on my phone and set my phone time to London time. My plugs turned on at sunset. So far, so good.

I then looked at the spotlights connected to my cam V3’s. One is set to go on at sunset. It was not on. The other is set to go on with motion, it did not go on when I stepped outside.

I then turned on wifi on my phone and reset the phone time to local time. This was not an immediate fix. I first had to go to the settings for each cam and click on the spotlight setting. Then they turned on. This is disappointing. I would like the spotlights to work properly when I travel.

These spotlights have some buggy issues (as reported in another post). The one that is set to go on with motion, goes on and stays on. I have to reset it every night.

If you are using a Rule to do this, then the rule will ask for the device’s location when you select either Sunrise or Sunset. That location stays fixed wherever your phone is.

If you use the Plug’s Schedules menu item (Plug 2021 and above), then your phone should be set to the Plug’s time zone when you create it. After that I believe it will use that time zone’s sunrise and sunset as long as you don’t edit the schedule when elsewhere.

I believe this is also dependent on your phone’s time zone when you enable the feature. So whenever setting up any sunset/sunrise schedule, always be sure your phone is set to the same time zone.

So the “Timer” setting has not been turning off the light after whatever you have it set to? It should be submitted in a Fix-it (first) Friday bug if so.

In the meantime, there is a trick you may be able to use. If you have a spare Plug or Bulb lying around you can use them as a proxy to turn off the light. What you do is set up a Rule that says if the camera with the spotlight detects motion (which turns the spotlight on), then turn on the Plug or Bulb. Then you set a second Rule that says if the Plug or Bulb has been on for x minutes, turn the Spotlight plus the Plug or Bulb off. Bonus is if you light a light, then you can see when the spotlight is on from inside the house. :slight_smile:

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Where is fix-it friday?
Otherwise, thanks for your comments.
However, I already indicated that turning off wifi and changing the phones timezone did not adversely impact the plugs setting to turn on at sunset. Three plugs use the schedule and one plug uses the rule because that was the only way to set it to turn on 30 min after sunset. And yes, I used the correct timezone in the rule.
The problem is that changing the phone per above (no wifi, different timezone) screwed up the spotlight schedule for each spotlight. One is set to come on at sunset and stay on until sunrise. It did not come on. The other spotlight is set to come on with motion. It did not come on. They only came on when I reconnected wifi and timezone after going into their individual settings.
I tried setting up a trigger rule, but there is no setting to turn off the spotlight after some period of time (e.g., 30 sec or 1 min). I couldn’t figure out a workaround. I may consider your proposed workaround, but I’m not sure I really want to connect another plug/light to do what should be a simple thing.

Keep an eye around the beginning of the month for a new thread similar to this one in the Wyze News catagory:

That is this months. At the beginning of the month a new fix it Friday will be posted, then be open for a bit so you can submit your bug reports and vote on ones that others have posted. You can read the one above to get a lay of the land and see what the hot topics were fir this month.

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It was only suggested to resolve the issue until whatever the root problem is gets fixed. :slightly_smiling_face:

After some further testing, I’m not sure my original post is correct. I suspect the spotlights may not have turned on immediately at sunset because it was still somewhat light out. In other words, the spotlights turned on maybe 15-20 mins after sunset. I will keep checking on this.

I have this same problem. My outdoor plug is in New Hampshire but I spend the winter in Michigan. The outdoor plug is using the Michigan sunset time, which is an hour later. I was told by Wyze Support that it uses the sunset time at the location of the iPhone with the app. There should be some way to specify the device location so it knows the proper sunset time.