Stringify and Evohome vs IFTTT

[IvanOpinion]

IFTTT is great, but quite limited. I'd like to set an IFTTT applet (previously called a recipe) that triggers an Evohome quick action to turn on the heating whenever the outside temperature falls below -2C, but only on Thursdays. (Too complicated to explain why I want to do this.) But in IFTTT, you can only have one "IF" condition, so you can do this every Thursday (regardless of the outside temp) or every time the temperature falls below 5C (whether it is Thursday or not), but you can't have a double condition (IF X AND Y).

Stringify is a service similar to IFTTT, except it allows multiple conditions and multiple actions. So, it would seem to be the answer I need, except it does not seem to have Evohome integration. It does, however, have other Honeywell heating systems. Does anyone know if Evohome integration is coming?

Or has anyone worked out how to link Stringify to IFTTT? (ie, set up the multiple conditions in Stringify, with the action being to trigger an IFTTT applet which turns on the heating with Evohome)

[Mavis]

I use IFTTT using Google calendar and Evohome. (When son is on Day shift at the weekend) I make a calendar entry with the title 'Day Shift' and created an Applet for each Evohome zone. Then raises the temp for an hour in the zones I want.

Can you use something to make a calendar entry if the temp falls below -2c then make an applet to pick up the calendar entry to do the evohome bit i.e. do IFTTT in two stages or use stringify first and then IFTTT for the second bit.

I haven't solved it for you but it might help you work out a way of doing it.

[paulockenden]

I love Stringify - and wish there was an Evohome integration. It's much more flexible than IFTTT.

P.

[IvanOpinion]

Mavis, thanks. I see how I do a Stringify "flow" (=applet) to create a calendar entry of "chilly" if it is Thursday, 6am and the temperature is below -2. So, I then create an IFTTT applet to check Calendar and if the word "chilly" is there, trigger a quick action to turn a zone set point to 18C. Do you know how often IFTTT checks Calendar? Assuming it checks every 15 minutes, won't it keep triggering every 15 minutes, the rest of the day?

Edit: Ah, I think I see. If I can specify the time of the calendar entry to be, say, 6.15am, IFTTT triggers once, within 15 minutes of that time, and not again.

[IvanOpinion]

I love Stringify - and with there was an Evohome integration. It's much more flexible than IFTTT.

P.

You mean wish, rather than with?

[paulockenden]

You mean wish, rather than with?

Yes! Bloody autocorrect!

[dty]

I don't really use either, but I see Stringify has an IFTTT recipe that can trigger IFTTT actions when a Stringify flow runs. Would that work?

[dty]

This looks relevant: https://ifttt.com/applets/UjLU9hEW-s...leave-for-work

[IvanOpinion]

Thanks, dty. That's what I was asking about: whether anyone had worked out how to use the Stringify Service on IFTTT. I'd tried this, but couldn't figure out how to make it work.

I persevered today and finally managed it. It works quite well, once you know how.

You need to authenticate an IFTTT "thing" in Stringify (this is their term for what IFTTT calls a Service), so that Stringify is able to sign into your IFTTT account. This is what I was struggling with, because I kept entering the login for IFTTT, and it would login and show me my IFTTT account (within Stringify), but I couldn't work out how to get back to Stringify without losing its connection to IFTTT. In the end, I just closed the Stringify app whilst it was connected to IFTTT, then reopened the app. Voila, IFTTT appeared as a "thing" that I could use in a "flow" (ie, what IFTTT calls an applet and previously called a recipe). The flow can have multiple conditions (in my case, the flow triggers every Thursday at 5am, but only if the outside temperature is below -2C, according to Weather Underground). But this isn't the point where you specify which IFTTT action you want Stringify to trigger; you do this in IFTTT.

So, you then go to IFTTT and connect the Stringify Service in IFTTT to your Stringify account. Then create an IFTTT applet using Stringify as the IF. It gives you a drop down menu of all your Stringify flows, and you chose the one that you want to trigger your applet. Then specify the THEN action (in my case, turn the heating up for 3 hours).

Quite tricky to figure out, but easy if I set up another linked flow/applet.

So, there is now a pretty easy way to make IFTTT applets with multiple conditions or actions. (You could, for instance, set up a Stringify flow that changes the temperature in two Evohome zones at the same time. I currently have duplicate applets, to do this.)

[IvanOpinion]

Oooh, this is getting better! The options for Google Calendar are better on Stringify than IFTTT. Google Calendar in IFTTT can trigger an action at the time an event starts, but I have long wanted to automate turning the heating on to warm up our meeting hall ready for parties. With Google Calendar in Stringify, you can set the trigger to happen up to 90 minutes before the event. We already have the events in our bookings calendar, so now I have a flow that detects the events 90 minutes in advance of their start time and this triggers an applet to turn up the setpoint for 5 hours.