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I want to setup some lights to intelligently turn on when the garage door opens, but only if it's dark downstairs (already have a working program for that), and only if it's X hours after sundown but before sun up (also easy), but not to do it if I just got finished turning the lights off (this is where it's breaking down). Example 1: I am gone and come home to an empty dark house at night, the lights leading into the house, through the kitchen and up the stairs should turn on so that I can carry a sleeping child without having to bang every light switch. Example 2: I just turned off all the lights in the house and then open the garage. The lights shouldn't turn right back on, even if it is dark. I had a set of programs that waited for the garage door opener event and could detect how long it's been dark in order to kick on the lights, but it wasn't working very reliably, so I disabled it. About 10% of the time, it would kick the lights on even if I had just turned all the lights off. In order for this program to work, I either need to be able to track how long a program has been resolving to true or come up with another idea altogether. I'm sure someone else has thought of this. What have you done? Am I overcomplicating it?

Thank you for the advice. I will order the recommended magnet contact switch and wire it as a NO switch.

Thanks, Brian. It has been a while since I setup the IO Linc, and that sort of thing is definitely not in my area of expertise. I do recall thinking the whole thing was backwards after I set it up, then learning about the 'trigger reverse' feature which got it to work correctly in my scene with a red KPL button so we don't accidentally leave the garage door open!

Thank you, Lee. That makes sense. I believe the kit I have is this one. I had assumed this was a programming issue, and was not anticipating having to buy a whole new kit. Is there a NO magnet switch you can recommend that would be compatible with my existing kit? And would I simply wire it into the NO port on the IO Linc instead of the NC port?

Tim, you are correct. It is the 4th program with the garage sensor that's being triggered. I am indeed using the trigger reverse feature of the IO Linc. The IO Linc is setup with the following options: Trigger Reverse, Momentary B, and 2.0 second hold time. Are you suggesting that the trigger reverse in combination with the Query All is what's momentary flagging the IO Linc to be 'open'? I have a few InLineLinc Dimmers that are not the most reliable things in the world. Usually just tapping a switch in the same scene again fixes it, but I also like the idea of the system re-sync'ing them periodically!

This is my first post here, but I've been using the ISY for a while now and have a question about an ISY program that misbehaves when the Query All program runs. I'm hoping someone with more knowledge can help. Basics of Programs I created a series of programs that uses the sun and the status of the all the downstairs lights to determine when it's been 'dark' in the downstairs part of the house for more than 15 minutes. Then when the garage door is opened, I look to see if it's been dark for more than 15 minutes and I turn on a bunch of lights that we would ordinarily turn on or need on when getting home. The reason I added the part about being dark for 15 minutes is that I don't want to turn off every light in the house while leaving, open the garage door to leave, and instantly have all the lights turn back on because technically it's dark and the garage door is open. I was trying to leave! Issue The first few days we had this program, it all worked great, but every morning my wife would go downstairs and find all the lights are on, even the stairs lights which are only really on while walking up and down the stairs. This went on for a couple days until I checked the logs and found out that apparently the Query All program that runs at 3am temporarily sets the garage door status to open, tricking my program into turning on the lights. Possible Solutions One way I thought to get around this would be to add a delay to make sure it's 'open' for more than a few seconds before triggering the lights, but I really would like the lights to turn on the instant the garage door opens. Another option is to simply remove the Query All program - I'm not sure what the implications of doing so, as I still don't know what purpose this program serves. A third option would be to set a blackout period in the program that's checking for the garage door to be open and if it's been dark for more than 15 minutes. This would work, but hopefully I never come home between 3:00 and 3:01 am. Also, as a developer by trade, this is just not the right way to do things. Now What? I'd love to know what is the recommended way to handle such a situation. I'd also love to know what purpose the Query All program actually serves. Any advice to rectify this issue would be appreciated. Program Code For Anyone Still Reading Here are the programs, for anyone curious or wanting to implement a similar idea. Also, for bonus points, you can tell me how to write these more efficiently! Downstairs Dark More Than 15 Minutes If Program 'Any Kitchen Lights On' is False And Program 'Any Living Room Lights On' is False And $Downstairs_Dark_More_Than_15_Minutes is 0 Then $Downstairs_Dark_More_Than_15_Minutes = 2 Wait 15 minutes Run Program 'Downstairs Dark More Than 15 Minutes Part 2' (If) Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action') Downstairs Dark More Than 15 Minutes Part 2 If Program 'Any Kitchen Lights On' is False And Program 'Any Living Room Lights On' is False And $Downstairs_Dark_More_Than_15_Minutes is 2 And From Sunset - 30 minutes To Sunrise + 30 minutes (next day) Then $Downstairs_Dark_More_Than_15_Minutes = 1 Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action') Downstairs Dark More Than 15 Minutes Part 3 If Program 'Any Kitchen Lights On' is True And Program 'Any Living Room Lights On' is True Then $Downstairs_Dark_More_Than_15_Minutes = 0 Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action') Garage Door Open Night If Status 'Outside / Garage Door-Sensor' is On And $Downstairs_Dark_More_Than_15_Minutes is 1 Then Set Scene 'Home' On Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action')