Erratic Activity with ISY

[paauto]

I updgraded to the ISY994 a few months ago and all has been working well until last evening when I noticed several lights in and out of the house were set "on" apparently randomly. I logged into the ISY and the scenes were not turned on, just individual devices within some scenes (for example, I have four pier lights on one scene controlled by two individual inline lincs and one of inline lincs (controlling two exterior lights) was on and the other off. There are no switches on the circuit - the only way the scene can be turned on is via the ISY.). In this particualr case, both inline lincs are on the same circuit (i.e. the same stab from the breaker box). I had several other examples of this occur last night.

 

The ISY showed the devices to be on, but not the scenes. I checked the log and there was no indication of the devices or related scenes being turned on.

 

In any case, I did an "all off" from the ISY (scaring my kids b/c it was dark out!) and then unplugged the ISY and PLM and re-plugged them in. All seems to be working fine now.

 

Any thoughts on what appears to be a random event?

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi paauto,

 

Yes, we have had this reported on multiple occasions and it's related to PLM's signal handling.

 

If you have any programs that check the status of "something" (especially motion sensor) and then turn on/off the backlight on a KPL, then please do make sure you put a delay (Wait) before activating each button.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[paauto]

Thank you Michael. I do indeed have an I/O Linc that checks the status of my rain sensor. I have few irrigation programs that check the status of the I/O Linc and if "off" (i.e. it hasn't rained) will run. I have a KPL that allows me to manually turn irrigatation zones on/off and the KPL is in the scene for the programs mentioned above (i.e. the "Side Yard" key lights up if the program has triggerd the Side Yard irrigation scene to run. Nothing though with backlighting. I will nonetheless add "wait". How long of a period should I add?

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi paauto,

 

Excellent! I would say 2 seconds should be fine.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[paauto]

I had another bout of bizarre activity again this morning. Was at work and the wife called to say the basement lights were turning on and off every second or so.

 

I had her go to the breaker box and shut off the circuit to those lights, but when she powered it back up they were still flicking on and off. I then had her unplug the ISY and the PLM and plug them back in and everything was fine.

 

I checked the log and here's what I found. But first a little background. I have a scene called "Entire House" which includes essentially all the light switches throughout the house. I can can control it thru a couple of KPL's (one at the entry door from the garage and one on either side of the bed. I also have a program that turns the "Entire House" scene on for 30 minutes if an I/O Linc connected to my burglar alarm is actviated).

 

Reviewing the ISY log, here's what I found. At 11:22:16 AM today the garage door was opened and the I/O Linc tied to its sensor turned off. 11 seconds later - at 11:22:27 AM - all of the devices in the "Entire House" scene that weren't already on were turned on. The scene itself was not turned on, just the devices in the scene. One second later all the devices in the "Entire House" scene were turned off. This occured alternatively until 11:22:31 when it stopped, leaving the devices off. Remember, the "Entire House" scene was not turning on & off, only the devices in it. At that point, a scene entitled "Basement Lights" was turned on and off alternately every second until I had the wife pull the plug on the ISY.

 

Thoughts?

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi paauto,

 

This is bizarre and something we have never experienced before. If they are alternating, then it seems there is an ISY program that's doing this. Can you look at the logs for that time period and look for any entries with the User being Program?

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[paauto]

OK Michael, I think you're on to something. Indeed, after reviewing the log, the scene "Basement Lights" was being turned on and off by a Program. A little more background. I have two banks of recessed lights in the basement ceiling. At the bottom of the steps there is a switchlinc that controls each bank independently (Bank 1 and Bank 2). I have both of the banks as responders to a scene enttiled "Basement Lights". At the top of the steps there is single switchlinc that controls the "Basement Lights" scene.

 

I think straight forward thus far.

 

I wrote a couple of programs to do the following. The first says if Bank 1 and Bank 2 are Off, then set Scene Basement Lights Off. The second says if Bank 1 and Bank 2 are 100%, then set Scene Basement Lights 100%.

 

It sounds like some type of conflicting loop was created. Perhaps I need to add some waits in the program so the devices can properly report out their status? Also, I noted in many of my programs instead of a simple "on" in the then statement, when creating the program the software would put in 100%. I have since gone thru and updated each of my programs to be a simple "on".

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi paauto,

 

Yes, indeed sounds like a loop. You really do not want to have programs that a) have conditions based on devices in a scene and impact the same scene.

 

For those, it's best to just use the scenes without programs.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[paauto]

Thanks Michael. I agree and will remove. But, there's a little more to the story. I was talking to my 8 year old this morning and it turns out he was in the garage and pressed the "Entire House On" button on a KPL out there and then repeatedly pressed "Off" and "On", which sounds like it may have set the loop problem in motion. That KPL is a controller for a scene entitled "Entire House".

 

After looking at the log, the interesting thing is there is no indications that the scene "Entire House" was ever turned on or off, just the devices in the scene show up. I ran a test this morning turning the Entire House scene On and Off with that KPL and checked the log - same thing. Devices showed up as on or off, but not the scene.

 

Any thoughts? Seems like the scene itself should show up.

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi paauto,

 

That's normal since it was not the scene turning on/off but the controller in that scene as such nothing in the log. You will get a log entry if someone explicitly turns on/off the scene on ISY.

 

With kind regards,

Michel