How to automate a Zigbee light with SmartThings and the state of a smart lock

On our most recent IoT Podcast episode, Bob called into the voicemail hotline with a question about automating lights based on the state of his smart lock. He has a Schlage lock, uses SmartThings and wants to have a Zigbee light turn on for 30 seconds after the door is locked.

Bob has already automated his door to automatically lock after 30 seconds of an unlock, which is something I recommend, provided you have a manual way to unlock the door from the outside.

My door locks automatically after a few minutes in case I’ve left home and forgot to lock the door, for example. However, if I leave my phone inside, I can always get in the house through the keypad on my Nest x Yale lock.

Since Bob is using SmartThings for his automations, I looked into solving his request natively. Unfortunately, I found that the SmartThings hub doesn’t seem capable of firing off an automated action to a Zigbee light when his door state changes from unlocked to locked. However, there is an option.

There’s a SmartThings add-on app called Lock User Management available here with relatively simple installation instructions. When installed on a Smart SmartThings hub, Lock User Management adds a number of smart lock features to the Samsung SmartThings app.

The software provides many automation options based lock state, user (if you have separate unlock codes for a keypad lock) and more. So you could create automations for other smart devices in your home when your door is locked or unlocked.

When recording the podcast, I thought this solution used a custom device handler but I later realized that it simply extends the native Samsung SmartThings handlers for Zigbee devices. Regardless, it appears to offer the functionality Bob is seeking for his smart home and is worth the look.

To hear Bob’s question, as well as our discussion in full, tune in to the IoT Podcast below: