Hello.
I have two Sonoff S55 that I along with the EWeLink app use for controlling the engine heaters on my two cars. Is it possible to make them always automatically turn off after 3h after turning them on?
I have tried to make a scene like “If engine heater 1 ON, then start a timer for 3h and then engine heater 1 OFF.”
But the problem is that engine heater 1 is not available in the list of smart devices under “Then-commands”.
Any suggestions?
Thanks.
/Martin
There is an “Inching Mode” specifically for your situation…
Inching mode you can set the device to turn itself off 3 hours after turning it on. And it will work 24/7/365. It will always count down the set time from ON.
The second option is the “Loop Timer”, which you set to “Repeat” mode, the Off action and the time to be performed. Additionally, it is possible to define the first date from which it should start working.
However, from my observation, it works slightly differently than Inching - the time is not counted from the ON moment, but from the first defined date/time. Which may cause the device to turn off much earlier or later than 3 hours from the moment it is ON.
In my opinion, in your situation, the best solution will be “Inching Mode”, and it will always work even when there is no Internet.
Hi
today i am observing also problem with Sonoff switches where statuses having big delays or randomly changing. Using them in Home assistant .
Thanks for your reply, morgan. Unfortunately the maximum time duration for inching mode seems to be 1 hour, which is too short for my application. Engine heaters must be on for 2-3 hours depending on outside temperature.
As you already mentioned the Loop Timer starts from a defined set time and date, and that is not really what I’m looking for.
The developers should really decrease the inching mode time frame.
/Martin
Create a push to trigger OFF scene.
You can then activate the push to trigger scene with an automatic scene. It’s not as good as having it completely based on the device, so maybe worth turning it off again after 15minutes in case the first operation does not work, which I think means creating a BACKUP OFF scene.
You’re right, 1H… I somehow forgot about it. 
Ok, so let’s do it based on scenes…
We need two scenes. One master and the slave.
The first scene must be automatic and have an appropriate trigger to initiate it.
The Scene Master turns on the S55 and performs the Scene Slave.
Example based on S26… Replace with your devices and select your appropriate trigger for the Master scene.
You can also do it based on just one scene…
You can also create a Master scene and perform it manually.
Of course, you can add both devices together per scene if they are to behave identically.
And then in the application you have a tile that you just need to press to turn on the heating and that’s it. But you say it depends on the outside temperature, so I guess the trigger must be a temperature sensor.
They should, but we probably won’t see it soon, if at all.
Combining an automatic scene with a manual scene seems to do the trick! Thank you guys! 
