Sunset program problem

[MstrD]

I have simple program that turns outdoor lights on/off based on sunset until 11:15pm . It's pretty straight forward. Up until fairly recently, it has always seemed to work fine.

 

If
       From    Sunset 
       To      11:15:00PM (same day)

Then
       Set Scene 'Outdside Lights' On

Else
       Set Scene 'Outdside Lights' Off
       Set Scene 'Garage Lighting' Off

 

From the summary page, it appears that it is executing at sunset, but the lights never turn on (or off for that matter). I changed how I was setting the scene - I was using 100% vs. On. I'm not sure if that would make a difference or not. It seems to be the same every day. I suspected it's a communication problem, but if I go in and set the on time specifically to say 4:45pm, it turns on.

 

I really think it's some kind of communication problem, and tried to trace that. BUT, it connects fine from my admin console, and I can turn it on/off without any problem. I can connect via my iphone to the browser page and it works fine. This si a keypadlinc, and the other buttons are all in other scenes, and all the other buttons respond properly, it's just the main switch that seems to have issues.

 

By any chance, is there something funky that could have happened about daylight savings time related to the sunset variable? I can't say that's exactly when it started misbehaving, but it's about that time. Alternatively, I guess I'll have to have to view the log to see if it's actually executing the commands or it just thinks it does. It's just odd that this problem started recently. Not ruling out that I've done something completely stupid either, it won't be the first or last time.

[apostolakisl]

If you can turn the scene on/off without trouble from the admin console then it is not a comm issue unless you only have comm issue at sunset. Do you have any other programs that are running at sunset that might have a load that is messing with things?

 

If your program summary page states it is running "true" at sunset, then you can also check your log and see if the Insteon command was actually sent.

 

Also, try doing a "run then" and a "run else" on the program and see if it turns the lights on off.

[MstrD]

A run then or a run else works fine. That's why it all seems so odd. I've changed it today for a schedule with a fixed on time. I'll see what that does. It works fine testing it at night with a fixed time, but maybe there is something else going on at about 5pm. Maybe I do have some other sunset program running, and there is some network traffic conflict that somehow makes it unstable, but only at sunset. I'll keep troubleshooting. It's just odd that's it been working fine, and now it's not.

[LeeG]

Sunset is a moving value. There may be a fixed Timed event the Sunset driven Program walked into as Sunset time changes.

 

Also household activities that generate Insteon activity or powerline noise may now be overlapping Sunset.

[MstrD]

I think I solved my problem. I had a bunch of lights set to come on at sunset - front door lights, fireplace accent lights, etc. and each was in it's own program. There were 5-6 programs all being triggered at the same time. I think I was probably getting some traffic issues. I realized I had a few different lights that probably weren't always running according to schedule besides the one I was aware of. It was hit or miss.

 

I replaced them with a single program, that goes from Sunset to 11:30pm. I then put each scene change in this program, with a small WAIT in between each step. Everything seems to be working correctly now. I'm guessing it stopped working when I added the last device that turned on at sunset. Just too much going on simultaneously.

 

This is probably a better way to go anyway.

[apostolakisl]

The other option is to create a single scene with all of your devices that you want to turn on at sunset. When they are all in one scene it then is a single Insteon command for the whole group. This is probably a slightly better option since short delays like 1 second don't necessarily prevent Insteon traffic pile ups when several repeats are responses are involved.

[MstrD]

That probably is the better way to go. I often make too many scenes when one would work. I'll give that a try. Thanks!