Leak Sensors - A (Suggested) Complete Program Package

[SkipMorrow]

Hi guys. Lat posted here in April and this program is working great.... until I have a power outage. It seems that each time my ISY99i loses power, for the next week or two I am wrestling with clearing the "2" codes on each sensor. Sometimes I have to trigger the sensor by dipping it in water, and then hit the button on top. I may have to do this for a few days before it will finally clear. I guess I thought the expected behavior was that the sensors and the code should survive an ISY reboot without any error messages or user interaction with the actual sensors. 

Any thoughts on what I may have missed?

[simplextech]

May I suggest getting a UPS?  I have all of my "critical" gear, network equipment, servers, routers etc etc on UPS.

[SkipMorrow]

That thought has crossed my mind, but I guess I was hoping there would be some clever auto-running initialization code that I could be using???

[lilyoyo1]

1 hour ago, SkipMorrow said:

Hi guys. Lat posted here in April and this program is working great.... until I have a power outage. It seems that each time my ISY99i loses power, for the next week or two I am wrestling with clearing the "2" codes on each sensor. Sometimes I have to trigger the sensor by dipping it in water, and then hit the button on top. I may have to do this for a few days before it will finally clear. I guess I thought the expected behavior was that the sensors and the code should survive an ISY reboot without any error messages or user interaction with the actual sensors. 

Any thoughts on what I may have missed?

Battery operated devices are "asleep" until triggered which is why you have to activate them (depending on age they should have a heartbeat that check in every 24hrs).

Are you using the 99 or 994?

[SkipMorrow]

I am using the ISY99i.

I thought the water sensors were really meant for Insteon Hub. Are you saying that even folks that use the hub with water sensors have to go around and re-trigger all of their sensors each time there is a power failure? In other words, they are in the same situation?

In my mind, yeah, the sensors are battery powered. They can't be triggered over the air in any way. They don't listen. But the sensors do send out a heartbeat once a day, every day. They don't know that the ISY has had a power failure and rebooted. They still send out the heartbeat. And the ISY should receive that heartbeat. So it seems that the issue with needing to reset the sensors after an ISY power failure is actually an issue with the ISY. Now, the issue could very well be with my coding and implementation, so I am not suggesting it is a hardware issue. I'm just saying it seems to the that the issue lies in that box somewhere. Am I missing something?

[lilyoyo1]

25 minutes ago, SkipMorrow said:

I am using the ISY99i.

I thought the water sensors were really meant for Insteon Hub. Are you saying that even folks that use the hub with water sensors have to go around and re-trigger all of their sensors each time there is a power failure? In other words, they are in the same situation?

No, that's not what I'm saying. Leak sensors are battery powered so they will not automatically reconnect once your Isy comes back online. The heartbeat is once a day. Depending on when you lost power, duration, etc. the isy could miss the initial heartbeat. The insteon hub was made for insteon devices in general. The leak sensors not specifically for that per se. Hub users technically have the same problem until check-in or manual intervention. Since the hub auto updates most likely the check in process works for them

In my mind, yeah, the sensors are battery powered. They can't be triggered over the air in any way. They don't listen. But the sensors do send out a heartbeat once a day, every day. They don't know that the ISY has had a power failure and rebooted. They still send out the heartbeat. And the ISY should receive that heartbeat. So it seems that the issue with needing to reset the sensors after an ISY power failure is actually an issue with the ISY. Now, the issue could very well be with my coding and implementation, so I am not suggesting it is a hardware issue. I'm just saying it seems to the that the issue lies in that box somewhere. Am I missing something? 

Being that you have a 99 which was discontinued years ago, the problem may be your isy. Since it hasn't received updates in years, most likely it doesnt have the latest firmware that would allow it to receive the heartbeat. 

 

[macjeff]

I use these with the ISY and they work great.  I did have the same issue and realized there is a step towards the end of the instructions that says to make a certain program to run at startup.  It has been a year but no issues since I fixed that with lots of power outages.

Now one important thing-   Having lots of problems with random issues where they stop communicating (the same problem but NOT due to power outage).  I have found that over time the battery pushes on the connector inside and eventually loses contact.  The solution is to pull it out a little on the plus side.  Dont pull it off but just pull out a little on the connector so the battery is tighter in there.

And a testimonial, which I already gave to UDI to post but I use NodeLink with my Honeywell Alarm system and Alexa.   I had a REAL water pipe burst under the Kitchen sink.  The sensor was tripped.   I got the leak email and text but also set it up so Alexa announced throughout the house and turned off the water.   I also had it trigger my alarm system and an automatic valve to shut off the water.   It basically saved me thousands of dollars of damage.

 

[Captain]

I had one sensor (w/994) that worked great.  I recently added six additional and have had issues.  I found two different mistakes (one with a variable and one sensor program) I made on the programming and in the process I received some heartbeat checks.  Since my last correction, I have received nothing.  I'll go back through the programming again soon.

[SkipMorrow]

OK, a couple of updates. 

First of all, I do have a 994. I forgot that I upgraded a few months back... *sigh*

And I reviewed all of my code and I found that I had errors in my vc2 programs. The conditions if-then were set to "status" rather than "control". I fixed them and rebooted the ISY, so time will tell if it all starts working again.

[Mustang65]

I just finished installing 5 new "Leak Sensors" and after going through this entire thread, with all the changes along the way, is there a copy of the latest and greatest code anywhere?

Thanks

[larryllix]

1 hour ago, Mustang65 said:

I just finished installing 5 new "Leak Sensors" and after going through this entire thread, with all the changes along the way, is there a copy of the latest and greatest code anywhere?

Thanks

Not that I know of. I wrote my own but basically I would copy the Belias programs verbatim and then use the mass change features in Admin Console to swap in sane name for variables, and programs, that mean something to a reader. Then I would create some Integer variable constants to identify codes with sane names.
eg: set $sLD.dishwasher = $cLEAK.DRY

[Mustang65]

Well, that project will begin tomorrow

Thanks

[macjeff]

The original leak sensor program still works for me.

there is a flaw in the leak sensors themselves.  The battery connector over a few months gets pushed in and the battery stops responding. 
the leak sensor program will send you an error 9 which is no response from sensor.   9 out of ten times the issue is the Battery connector.  Gently pull them forward so the battery fits tight.   Usually then I push and hold the set button until I get the blinking light.  If that works sensor is ready to go.   If not replace the battery.   But again most of the time it’s not the battery.  .  

[Mustang65]

I just noticed that I have 2 versions of the leak sensor. 1 leak sensor is V.43 and the other 4 are V.44.

Issues with using the 2 different versions?

[macjeff]

Sometimes the version change is hardware.  However it could be an internal software thing. One negative on Insteon though is it’s not firmware upgradable.  The average life on devices is about 7 years.  Mine are dying constantly since I have had my main network 7 years now.  
 

soooo. No way to know what the difference is and I am sure it would be hard to get an answer from them.   You do have a 30 day return on them so you could try for a newer version.   I hope it fixes the battery port issue I mentioned in previous posts.   I have about 9 sensors and about every 2-3 weeks one of them has no signal and I have to adjust the battery port.  On average probably each sensor reports every 6 months since its not the same one over and over every 2-3 weeks.  

[Mustang65]

The V.34 leak sensor I have had sitting on my desk for the last 2 years, so returning it is out of the question. Will post if there is an issue or if not.

[larryllix]

I have one LD under my dishwasher and the heartbeat misses about once per year, despite the five year old unit working just fine for years after.

I decided to create a monitoring program that resets itself and continues to check the heartbeat and report it in another/every 48 hours. If I was away on a month long vacation I don't want notifications more frequently but I need a reminder for when I get back. Notifications that get sent once tend to be forgotten when I get back.

Note: I write all my device monitoring in the positive context so if they show green (running Then) everything is fine. They also get labelled "XXX Ok". Also note the usage of constants so I don't have to guess what the codes are two years from now. A common program monitors the state variables and does the common things using ISY's event based logic engine design.

Leak.Kitchen.OK - [ID 0164][Parent 00CD]

If
        'Kitchen / Kitchen Leak.dry / Kitchen Leak.heartbeat' is switched On
     Or 'Kitchen / Kitchen Leak.dry / Kitchen Leak.heartbeat' is switched Off    <------some units do not use this
 
Then
        $sLeak.Kitchen Init To $cLEAK.DRY
        $sLeak.Kitchen  = $cLEAK.DRY
        Wait  25 hours 
        Run Program 'Leak.Kitchen.OK' (Else Path)                <-------- display a red icon
 
Else
        $sLeak.LowBatt.room Init To $cROOM.KITCHEN               <------where to look for lowBatt, log in ISY, power blink survivable
        $sLeak.LowBatt.room  = $cROOM.KITCHEN
        $sLeak.Kitchen Init To $cLEAK.LOWBATT                    <------- trigger common alarm programs, power blink survivable
        $sLeak.Kitchen  = $cLEAK.LOWBATT
        $sAlarm.level  = 2                                       <------- ring some local beeper alarms
        Send Notification to 'Text  Larry' content 'Leak Detector Heartbeat Missed'
        Send Notification to 'eMail Larry' content 'Leak Detector Heartbeat Missed'
        Wait  23 hours 
        Run Program 'Leak.Kitchen.OK' (Then Path)                 <------- start over and retest
 

 

[larryllix]

The last two LSs were a defective design were the case cover can never be closed. If you open them from one end instead of the side when you hinge the lid it breaks off the tuning coil and is a dead duck.

 

[TheA2Z]

Ive a couple of questions.  I have been using the program for a couple of years.  I started with the original version then went to the version with the VariableControl 2a and 2b programs.

1) Since the original program in this thread was not modified to the variable 2a and 2b version, does that mean we should use the original?  Were there issues?

2) In the screen shot attached, I noticed in the original variable 1 program an else clause that I have not been running.  The original var 1 program has an else set leak variable to 1.  Since in a no leak condition this else clause will run, wont the leak variable always be a 1 no matter if the Var 2 program sets it to a 2, or the Var 3 program sets it to a 3?  The var 1 program will always reset the leak variable to 1 immediately.  What am I missing?