HomeKit Does "Sunset" use work?

[donawalt]

Last week I got my first Homekit smart device, a simple smart electrical outside outlet plug. It is made by Meross, and is Apple Homekit compatible. I followed the directions exactly, setting it up in Apple Home app on my iPhone, then using the Meross app mostly to just check for firmware updates (there was one), and making sure the timezone and long/lat is correct. I actually went to one of the web sites that shows map locations based on entering the longitude/latitude - the map showed right behind my house! Neither the Homekit or Meross app had any problems, both found the device on my network immediately, and the lights on the outlet indicated that it was happily on the network.

So - I have been testing this the last 3 days. I have set up several Homekit automations; having the 2 outlets turn on or off based on a time works perfectly. However, having the outlets turn on by "Sunset" is not even close. Around here, sunset is around 4:15 PM, the automation seems to think that sunset is around 2:15 - 2:30 PM. I have tested the automation manually, I have tried things like "Sunset minus 30 minutes", and it seems consistently around 2 hours off in sunset time.

Does the use of "Sunset" just not work reliably or am I doing something wrong? Thanks!

 

[JBaby]

Sunset works for me. I have my ceiling fan light to come on 15min before sunset daily. And it works even in conjunction with location based automations too.

 

[malcky77]

Do you have location services enabled in whatever your home hub is?
And just in case...has all your iPhones/iPad’s have the correct time zone for you too?

 

[donawalt]

Thanks for the reply @malcky77 ! I am not sure I have a Home Hub...I see the ability to turn on my iPad as a Home Hub, but it is off - it appears that is just needed to control things while away from home, which I don't need right now. I am just looking for 'set it and forget it' through the Home app on my iPhone or iPad. I did go into the Meross app and even did a 'verify location' (may not be the exact words), and I saw the long/lat blink like it got refreshed - and it is absolutely correct. It reports in the correct US time zone too. And yes, my iPad and iPhone are in the correct time zone!

 

[dotme]

A Homekit hub is required for Home automations. That hub needs to have location services enabled so it knows where it is. Your Home app on the iPhone shouldn't allow you to set up automations if you don't have a hub, so chances are your iPad is the hub whether you're aware of it or not. For best results, iPad should be connected to power and always at home. If you're doing automations in the Home app, it controls the locations and sunset times, not the Meross device or app. Hope this helps!

 

[donawalt]

Really? From what I read HomeKit hub is only needed for remote control out of the home. What if someone doesn't have an iPad or Apple TV, they have to buy one just for a smart plug? Why then do the automations with set times work, and it clearly lets me add/delete/manage automations on my iPhone?

 

[dotme]

Really? From what I read HomeKit hub is only needed for remote control out of the home. What if someone doesn't have an iPad or Apple TV, they have to buy one just for a smart plug? Why then do the automations with set times work, and it clearly lets me add/delete/manage automations on my iPhone?

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208940 <- See the "Here's what you need" section.

In the Home app on your iPhone (Assuming iOS 14.1) can you hit the Home (House) icon in the top left corner of the main screen, choose "Home Settings" from the list, then "Hubs and Bridges" - Is there anything in there that claims to be a Home Hub?

 

[donawalt]

Thanks @dotme, I posted a reply to this when the site went down for upgrades this morning, it looks like it was lost. I can now say after some investigation that I have 2 entries there, my Apple TV 4K devices on basement and 1st floor. One says connected, one says standby. I read that Apple TV 4K will automatically register as hubs, which is why I didn't know. I checked both Apple TVs, while I could not find anywhere to know exactly what time it thinks it says, I assume it's correct - the time zone is correct, and is set to update automatically.

 

[dotme]

Thanks @dotme, I posted a reply to this when the site went down for upgrades this morning, it looks like it was lost. I can now say after some investigation that I have 2 entries there, my Apple TV 4K devices on basement and 1st floor. One says connected, one says standby. I read that Apple TV 4K will automatically register as hubs, which is why I didn't know. I checked both Apple TVs, while I could not find anywhere to know exactly what time it thinks it says, I assume it's correct - the time zone is correct, and is set to update automatically.

Nice - So yes, those will interchangeably act as hubs to run your automations (and out-of-home control). The idea is that automations need to run whether you (and your iPhone) are home or not so they always execute on a hub.

It's been a while since I dived into AppleTV menus but I'm reasonably confident there are "Location Services" settings in there that are used by Homekit to determine things like your time zone. Make sure Homekit is always allowed to use the location of the AppleTV, and that both AppleTVs are set up that way since either could be the active hub at any given moment.

I hope this fixes your sunset time issue - If all else fails, you can sometimes fix a Homekit data sync issue by signing out of iCloud on all hubs, choosing System -> Restart on those hubs, then signing back in.

 

[donawalt]

Thanks @dotme, I checked on the Apple TV 4K and I don't see any Location Services setting for Homekit. The only place I see Location Services at all, unlike iPhone or iPad, is under Settings/Apps - each app is listed, and inside each one you can see Location Services "only while using", etc. There is no Home/Homekit app on the Apple TV 4K. I am logged into the same user/iCloud account.

 

[dotme]

I'm still on TVOS 13.x (Long story) but assuming they didn't move it under TVOS 14, try this in the Apple TV Settings menu:

General -> Privacy -> Location Services

Make sure Location Services is set to "on", and then somewhere on that same screen look for HomeKit and make sure that's set to "Always" (If Time Zone is also an option in there, that should also be "Always"). Repeat on other Apple TV too. Of course these things may already be enabled, in which case I'm stumped and don't know why your sunset triggers don't fire on time.

 

[donawalt]

Oh Geez, how did I miss that... 🥴 Anyway, Location Services is on, and Homekit set to 'Always' on both. Oh well! I'll keep testing it. Thanks for all your help @dotme!!!

 

[Artimac]

Did you find a solution?
I have the same problem. All settings seems to be ok, but sunset arrives more than 3 hours too early. 3 hours and 22 minutes today. It seems like my hub (AppleTV) is in another location.

 

[donawalt]

No, never got it working. I just turn it on/off at a set time, which works great (and proves it's not a location problem.)