Home Presence starter not working

[salbando]

I have the following starter

starters:
- type: home.state.HomePresence
   state: homePresenceMode
   is: AWAY

and I get the following warning (not error) in the script...

"This routine may perform better if more presence signals are enabled across the household."

I have presence selected for my home and the phone successfully leaves and returns through the geofence, but the script fails to trigger.

I also have my Google speakers set to recognize that someone is home if they hear an "Ok Google" command.

The script did trigger once, one day. So it is certainly capable. Any ideas? 

[Hollen_ar_mor]

Home / Away status are not very reactive...

You give the permission in your phone to check your position ?  The GPS is working ?

[salbando]

Yes. The Home app successfully shows "Away" and "Home" when I am away and home. I feel if I could satisfy that warning it gives, then it may work more reliably. Like I said, it triggered successfully one time so I know it can work.

[Hollen_ar_mor]

That's curious.. I have Home / Away starters and they work.

Could you paste all your Automation script ?

[salbando]

Here it is, but I can't see how the rest of the script can keep the starter from triggering.

BTW, I see that the editor masks my email at the end, you'll just have to trust me that it is entered correctly.

metadata:
  name: Open garage door alert
  description: Sends message to phone if garage door is open and no one is home
automations:
  starters:
    - type: home.state.HomePresence
      state: homePresenceMode
      is: AWAY
  condition:
    type: device.state.OpenClose
    state: openPercent
    is: 100
    device: Garage door - Playground
  actions:
    - type: home.command.Notification
      title: Garage door is open
      members:
        - Mark J - #

[Hollen_ar_mor]

If you #comment the "condition". You have the notification ?

[salbando]

I commented out the condition, but still no trigger and no notification. The log shows no activity at all. No starter condition met and no notification.

[Hollen_ar_mor]

The routine is "activated" ?

The Home/Away mode is not activated on an other phone ? (Your wife, child, former phone...)

[salbando]

Everything is correct.  I have determined that if I use the Google Home App and set my phone as "Away" my camera turns on as instructed, but the light I have turning on in the same "Away" routine does not turn on. However, if I go to Favorites and select Home and select Away, then the camera and the light turns on. If I then go back to my phone setting I see that it has been toggled to "Away" and if I select "Home" for my phone, both the camera and the light turn off. So the presence sensing understands that when the home is marked as away then everybody is indeed away, and when my phone is marked as home it is like someone came home. My problem is, that it seems that the camera comes on with less restriction because if I was gone but an intruder was in my home then the camera should be on to record this intruder. But other devices won't trigger because somehow my home is considered occupied even when I am gone.

[Hollen_ar_mor]

I don't understand... Your Automation doesn't talk about camera. It's for a garage door.

Home / Away is triggered by the Nest Cam I think. If it see you, the "Home" status is set I guess.

[salbando]

I am referring to other tests I performed with various devices in my home to try to figure out which one is sensing my presence. The automation I showed you doesn't trigger because my home always thinks I am home, even when I set my phone to Away. It works just fine if I set my home to Away, but it won't do it automatically as I leave the geofence area. I have unplugged and turned off every smart device in my home and still the only thing that turns on when I leave the house is my camera. I assumed it might be the problem so I eliminated it too.... No luck. The only smart device I didn't unplug was my Google router and its nest points. But if I unplug it, I would have no network and so that wouldn't be good. I am aware that the second gen Google router has a Soli sensor in it, but I don't believe mine does and furthermore it should not sense me when I am physically out of the house.