Sensing when Garage Door Opens

[Kentinada]

Do I have it right that if I want to trigger some actions (turning lights on or whatever) when the garage door goes up, that I must have a program running on my ISY994i that is continuously checking the status of the garage door relay? Maybe the program does a wait of 1 minute but it must loop back and check again. Is that the only way to monitor a device status?

[LeeG]

Do not check the I/O Linc Relay status. It is a Responder Only node so when it is told to turn On to move the door and it turns itself Off, the ISY does not know about that. Looking at the Relay state would not indicate if the door was open or closed anyway.

 

A Program that is checking the I/O Linc Sensor being On or Off indicates if the door is open or closed. Things in the ISY are event driven so the Program only triggers when a event happens. Something like

 

If Status 'iolincsensor' is On (or Off depending on which magnetic switch is used) indicates when the door is open.

 

If Status 'iolincsensor' is On

Then

turn something On

Else

[Xathros]

Do I have it right that if I want to trigger some actions (turning lights on or whatever) when the garage door goes up, that I must have a program running on my ISY994i that is continuously checking the status of the garage door relay? Maybe the program does a wait of 1 minute but it must loop back and check again. Is that the only way to monitor a device status?

 

No. The ISY is event driven. Anytime an event occurs, the ISY checks the program list to see if anything needs to be done. It is not constantly polling devices looking for changes.

 

There are 2 ways to do what you want. With scenes and with programs. For now, since you have th wrong mag switch, program is the way to go. Once you get the right switch in there, then you could drive a scene with the sensor.

 

Here is an example program:

 

If 
  Control GarageDoorSensor is Switched Off
  and Control GarageDoorSensor is NOT switched On

Then
  Set Scene KeypadButtonG On

Else
  Set Scene KeyPadButtonG Off

 

This program will trigger when the garage door sensor turns on (Door closed) or off (Door Open).

 

When it turns On, the Else path will run and turn off the scene with a keypad button light in it.

 

When it turns off, the then path will run and the scene is turned on.

 

We need the program to reverse the meaning of the sensor. Once you change out the sensor, you could simply make the GarageDoorSensor a controller of the KeyPadButtonG scene and the program won't be required.

 

-Xathros

[Kentinada]

Beautiful! This works great. Thanks very much.

[Kentinada]

Xathros,

 

Could you possibly shed a little more light on why the new sensor/switch will allow this to be done with a scene rather than a program?

 

Thanks,

Kent

[oberkc]

The difference with using a pogrm versus scene I based on the desire to have the kpl button indication be off=closed. Using the now-standard sensor, installing the sensor to be in contact when the door is closed would result in a ON indication with the door closed. Using a scene in this case would result in the button being ON=CLOSED.

 

Using the other sensor, installed as before, you have the option to choose (by wiring methods) whwhether ON or OFF= CLOSED.

[Xathros]

Xathros,

 

Could you possibly shed a little more light on why the new sensor/switch will allow this to be done with a scene rather than a program?

 

Thanks,

Kent

 

oberkc is correct above.

 

When the sensor changes state it sends either an on or off command. When you make the sensor a scene controller, the scene will respond to the on or off sent by the sensor. With the current mac switch installed, the sensor will turn the scene on when the door closes and off when it opens. Using the program, we watch for the on and off commands from the sensor and instruct the scene to do the opposite.

 

-Xathros

[Kentinada]

Well as I said, I ordered a new switch and will install when it comes but if I was comfortable using backward logic so to speak, I could still do this with a scene couldn't I? Turning the scene on would close the door rather than open it. Am I missing some subtle point?

[Xathros]

Sort of - you are now talking about controlling the door with a scene rather than a scene with the door. There are 2 parts to this - sensor and relay. While both are part of the one IOLinc, you might as well consider them 2 separate devices.

 

Thinking about that for a moment:

 

IOLinc relay is in momentary mode. Turn on a scene in which the relay is a responder, the relay will close for the preset momentary delay (2 seconds) and the door will move. Turn off the scene and nothing will happen. Turn the scene on again, the door will move to the opposite of what it is now.

 

To run the whole show with scenes, a KPL button would be configured as a scene controller with the relay as a responder. The KPL button would be configured for "non-toggle On only". Then you would add the KPL LED as a responder to a scene with the door sensor as controller. This way the door responds to every button press and the LED follows the door state. Only in this case the LED will be on when the door is closed and off when open (Until you change the sensor switch).

 

-Xathros

[Kentinada]

Whoa, I'm going to have to have to chew on that one a bit.

[EricK]

Hi,

I have a seco-larm 226 garage door sensor, for closed circuits (door closed, circuit intact, sensor shows on) connected to an io linc. I had this set up with house linc with a scene with the io linc sensor as a controller and a kpl button as a responder. This worked fine, garage door open, KPL light on. I had an event, sensor open, (meaning the garage door is open), send a message at night. This now seems to not make sense. If the sensor is open that should mean door open or off, so thise should not turn the KPL button on. However there is a property for the io linc in HL to reverse the sensor repsonse.

I set this up with my new ISY. The door is currently closed, and the sensor shows off. I assume this means that I need to set up a program for the kpl to show the device status. I do have the notification set up to text me if the door is open, sensor is off at night. Is there a way to reverse the sensor with the ISY. Probably I will just order the three wire sensor so I can have door closed, circuit open, sensor off.

Thoughts.

Eric

[TJF1960]

The ISY does have trigger reverse option for the iolink, however if you have the nightly query program it will change the status of the sensor and may trigger any programs you have for the garage door. I would get the 3 wire door sensor if it were me.

[Kentinada]

Why are both lines in the If test required to make this work? It seems like I should be able to just check the status of the GarageDoorSensor to see if it is Off or On but this code does not work without the 2nd condition.

 

If

Control GarageDoorSensor is Switched On

and Control GarageDoorSensor is NOT switched Off

 

Then

Send Notification to 'Garage Door' content 'Garage Door Open'

 

Else

Send Notification to 'Garage Door' content 'Garage Door Closed'

[LeeG]

If Control statements trigger the Program only when the command received matches the command specified. Without the NOT SWITCHED OFF statement the Else clause will not execute.

[Kentinada]

Revisiting this topic...

 

I have a program that sends me a txt when the garage door is opened or closed based on code in my post on 10 Jan 2014 above.  But when I look at the code now, it looks like this: 

 

If Control GarageDoorSensor is Switched On

and Control GarageDoorSensor is NOT switched Off

Then 

Send Notification to '5' content 'Garage Door Open'

Else
Send Notification to '5' content 'Garage Door Closed'

 

And I can't figure out for the life of me how this works!   I don't know why there is a "'5'" there.  I don't see my phone number defined anywhere in the ISY994a configuration so I'm not sure how I'm getting a text.    I haven't done anything with this code in almost a year and I'm struggling now to come back to it and understand why it works. Any help would be appreciated. 

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi Kentinada,

 

Please go to Configuration | Email&Notifications tab. There's a list of recipients at the bottom and 5 is the name on one of the entries.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[Kentinada]

I only see 4 entries there.  I don't see a way I can paste in a screen shot or I would. 

[Kentinada]

Also when I look at the line with the '5' in it for closed in the program editor, at the bottom of the screen under Action I see

 

Notify   To               Default

             Content     Garage Door Closed

 

And I cannot select anything other than Default.

[Teken]

I only see 4 entries there.  I don't see a way I can paste in a screen shot or I would. 

 

I have seen this problem before as you have listed. It was some how associated to a one of the Beta releases which obviously had a bug in it.

 

Once I reverted back to a older firmware the numerical values went away and the actual (expected) names were restored. I have also seen this same problem when the firmware load fails and corrupts the ISY data base.

 

In both cases reloading a good known back up or moving to a proven firmware release has resolved this issue for me.

[Kentinada]

I've never loaded beta software.  Not sure how this would have happened. 

[Teken]

I've never loaded beta software.  Not sure how this would have happened. 

 

What does your ISY Help say you're on?

[Kentinada]

So I just edited my setup and deleted the line of code with the '5' reference in it. Hopefully that will stay fixed. 

[Kentinada]

My ISY994i is running V4.0.5 dated 2013-05-24

[Teken]

I believe that is the current RC.

 

 

Encrypted By: Phoenix Security Solutions

[LeeG]

4.0.5 is the last "Official" release that came out some 18 months ago.

 

4.2.18 is the latest "Release Candidate" (RC) which was released about 2 weeks ago.