oberkc

I notice that the second-generation insteon motion sensor has the option to power via usb. I did not know that battery motion sensors did not update status properly.

In addition to the response from lilyoy1, I would add that (unfortunately) not all z-wave devices have light sensors. At least, the couple that I purchased do not. Maybe others do. For the desire to trigger lights based at dusk, a couple of ideas come to mind. One, you could trigger them based upon time relative to sunset or, two, you could use an insteon motion sensor in a protected location to detect darkness (such as near a window). I have used insteon motion sensors outside for several years. I do, however, take care not to expose them directly to precipitation. I also have mostly first-generation sensors. I have experienced one failure of a motion sensor. I replaced it with a second-generation sensor. I absolutely recall that it was claimed to be rated for exterior use. I wonder what changed.

I take it from a lack of response that most, like me, cannot find a programmatic reason why your program would run true under the set of conditions described. I guess one must conclude that it is possible that something else is calling the program (then path?), that somehow the conditions from darksky are not correctly translating, or there is a bug in the ISY software. Is this program disabled? Is this program last run consistent with with the specified time at night when are calling it? When is your "$RainTodayAmountz" reset back to zero each day?

One thing that is catching my attention is that I don't see any way to extend the 30 minute time. Is this your intention? What do you mean, in statement above, "if no one presses anything"? Do you intent to have something to press in order to keep the lights on?

I understood that Z-wave devices support scenes. Having said that, I am not sure whether the ISY-994 supports z-wave scenes. I use Z-wave devices in scenes, but these scene also include insteon devices. Given this, it seems pretty intuitive that the Z-wave scene functionality goes through the controller, since z-wave and insteon cannot talk to each other. I suspect that this is true even for scenes that contain z-wave devices exclusively.

Yes, I was focusing mostly on program 1. You may be correct regarding program 2. Perhaps adding a command at the beginning of program 1 to halt program 2 would solve that problem?

Neither do I understand why you have a "'Inside / Hallway / Hallway Bathroom Light' is switched Off" in the first program. Regardless, simply pressing the switch ON again would cancel the wait condition and restart the program 30 minute count. Did you say that this was a keypad button? (I was not certain.) If so, is it a six-button or eight? Is the button triggering the program the primary (load controlling) button or one of the secondary buttons?

I just try to avoid insulation, good windows and doors, and house wrap. My air exchange happens the old fashioned way.

I don't know that the wait "fails", but you should consider the possibility that the time change retriggered you program during the wait period, at which point the program was halted. I don't know what your program looks like at this point so I can only speculate.

That is what I do. I have perceived no additional benefit with using insteon for this function, since all that I want is a simple timer, manually activated. If I wanted more sophisticated automation for the fan, I might reach a different conclusion.

Ah. I was unaware of that code. Thanks.

Code violation!? There are many, many houses with constant power to the fixture. Most of those use a switch loop to control the light, but some have a simple pull chain. There are codes requiring switches at certain locations, but these codes seem more concerned with being able to see at night rather than the inherent safety of the electrical system . I would definitley be interested in knowing what code violation this would be.

Keypad buttons have a couple of options: toggle, non-toggle (on), and non-toggle (off). The non-toggle (on) mode will cause the keypad button to always turn on when pressed. I use this mode on a couple of buttons, but I have never used it on a primary button A. Understand, too, that these "non-toggle" buttons could still be turned off by the ISY or by being a responder to a scene. I am not sure what benefit this has to simply providing unswitched power to the ceiling fixture.

Keep in mind that if you disable the folder (disarm elk) during the night, the ELSE will not trigger at sunrise+1. This may not be a problem for you, but 8 wanted to point that out.

OK. Then I guess the program must have run again to make they ISY think that it was off? The point of this, in my mind, is that this could be problems communication between the switches and PLM. It is for that I would be looking.

OK. Then, how were they turned on when the ISY said they were "all off"? This is the first I recall hearing of a sensor. Did the sensor turn them on? Is the sensor part of the scene? Sounds like there is more going on here than I understood.

One thing that looks a little inconsistent is that the folder conditions (sunset to sunrise) and program conditions (sunset-1 to sunrise+1) would result in the program folder being false when the program would normally trigger. Why not get rid of the folder condition relative to sunrise/sunset? What does that condition do for you?

Does this happen when you manually turn on the lights? If so, I am more suspecting communication errors. - how old is your PLM? - is the PLM on an outlet or circuit that includes lots of other electronic gadgets? - are you able to associate the misbehavior with something else being on?

I have had the experience that insteon devices can get a little obstinate. If there is a consistent bad actor, swapping it out can sometimes solve the problem. I have no particular advise troubleshooting comms issues other that trial-and-error. Unplug devices that could cause interference and see if that helps. Filter those that cause problems.

Yes, strange. If the earlier behavior (which switch came on, which one did not) was consistent, then, it makes me wonder if one of your link records became corrupted. I must admit that I do not understand why running the program manually would work, but triggering the program naturally would not work. Well done.

If 'breezeway light' is a scene, and turning on that scene activates only some of the devices in the scene, I would look and try a couple of things. - manually run (then path) the program. Does the problem persist? - manually turn on the scene. Does the problem persist? - check the ON levels for the devices in the scene. Are any set to zero? - consider the possibility of communication problems. I don't see a programmatic problem here if, in fact, "breezeway light" is a scene.

yes, which really limits the usefulness of these devices for me and those that live with me. I am not really interested in having to memorize and pronounce a bunch of exact phrases (turn on TV? Watch TV? Tell harmony to turn on TV? Watch Roku? Watch family room TV? ) and even less so are the others in the house. It is simply easier to push the remote button or to toggle a switch. Besides, they are cloud based, so I view them as secondary.

good luck with this. I have had mixed luck with Alexa recognizing devices. I suspect that there are reserved names and phrases that can cause ambiguity with alexa. Additionally, I have come to suspect confusion by alexa when I have devices with similar names or names having common words (living room TV versus Family room TV, for example). If you discover anything interesting, let me know.

lilyoyo is probably correct about Alexa forum. Having said that, my experience is that alexa can only control a single harmony hub per account. Do you have a single hub with multiple apple TV devices linked to it, or separate harmony hubs?

I am not sure what this means to "install" a trigger.