superjuice Posted December 27, 2014 Posted December 27, 2014 Greetings, I have a whole house fan the uses a proprietary rf remote to toggle on and off using the same button. By tapping into the remote button and hooking it up to the momentary relay of the IoLinc I can now toggle the button and turn the fan on and off. I am trying to figure out the best way to have control over the fan and be sure it is on or off. To do this I purchased a synchrolinc to tell weather the fan is on or off as the only command I can send is a momentary on. Currently the IoLinc is set for a .5 second momentary (A) command. I would not only like to be able to toggle a scene on and off with verification that it indeed turned on or off but also write a program to turn it on when the house is warmer than the outdoors during the summer. I have the weather module all ready to run my irrigation programs and will be getting a temp sensor for indoor vs. outdoor temp. So, can I trigger a scene with the IoLinc but have the state of the scene only change with the response from the synchrolinc? And how do I deal with the on only commands? Thanks for any input, John.
stusviews Posted December 27, 2014 Posted December 27, 2014 Turn the propriety RF on so that it's always on. Use the Synchrolinc as the only controller.
superjuice Posted December 27, 2014 Author Posted December 27, 2014 I wish I could, the unit has a insulated cover that opens when turned on and closed when off. I also tried to unplug it while running and plugging it back in just resets to off. I know I could rewire the whole thing and disable the cover but I paid a lot of money for it because it had the insulated cover. Your right though, hardwire would be the easiest solution and I may end up there. Thanks for the input!
stusviews Posted December 27, 2014 Posted December 27, 2014 Just because you paid a lot for something you don't need or want is no reason to keep it. Take our time share, for example--please!
Brian H Posted December 27, 2014 Posted December 27, 2014 Stu, Do you think a Micro Modules Sense input could be triggered when the fan is turned On or Off? Then it could send a signal back to the ISY controller.
stusviews Posted December 27, 2014 Posted December 27, 2014 Yes. I prefer a Micro Module for any wire-in On/Off situation. A SynchroLinc is the choice when a devices is always drawing some current, that is, anything controlled using an IR or RF remote. There's another concern here. Whole house fans are usually thermostatically controlled. Switches are sometimes added to turn off the fan, but the switch has to be on for automatic control. superjuice, with that in mind, provide more details about your whole house fan, brand, model(s), etc. Keep it green in '15
superjuice Posted December 27, 2014 Author Posted December 27, 2014 (edited) It is a master flow: http://t.homedepot.com/p/Master-Flow-1600-CFM-Tandem-Whole-House-Fan-WHFTAN1/100550564/ I cut a hole in the attic hatch and installed it in the hatch. The whole unit must be pushed up into the attic to enter the attic while standing on a step ladder. The remote is the only way to control it, it has 3 buttons on an rf remote. Button 1 is on/off, when pressed it triggers the lift mechanism for the insulated hood, then 5 seconds later one fan comes on. Press again and the fan stops and the hood closes. Button 2 is fan speed, press once while the fan is running and the second fan comes on. Press again and the second fan goes off. So it's not really a speed control but a second fan control as the unit is a tandem. The thrd button is a 4hr timer that once the fan is on can be enabled to shut it off in 4 hours. The only wiring is the 110v input. So I emailed the company and told them I needed a second remote and they sent one for free! Then I wired the remote for auxiliary inputs for the 3 buttons. If I had a second output on my IoLinc I would set it up to put the fan on high too but that's for later date. And there is no thermostat function, or else this would not need to be done. The fan itself sounds like a jet engine so I want to set it to only turn on when no one is home and it's warmer inside than out and it's above 80 or something. Edited December 27, 2014 by superjuice
stusviews Posted December 27, 2014 Posted December 27, 2014 If you are able to get at all three switch contacts, then you would need three relays to replicate those functions using an ISY. That requires three I/O Lincs. Smartenit has a 4-relay device, but I have no experience with that device. Neither a SynchroLinc nor a Micro Module is appropriate. I was not able to find any documentation for the remote, only for the fan. That manual doesn't even mention the remote. Keep it green in '15
superjuice Posted December 28, 2014 Author Posted December 28, 2014 I don't need or want the other options at this point. I would just like a scene that controls the fan on and off but relies on the status of the load sensor for state.
superjuice Posted December 28, 2014 Author Posted December 28, 2014 The problem I'm having is that the IoLinc only seems to send the momentary signal with the on command regardless of momentart setting. I.e. momentary A (triggered by either on or off) or momentary b (triggered by both on and off)
stusviews Posted December 28, 2014 Posted December 28, 2014 If the switch has a detent, that is, push it in and it stays in, push again and it pops out, then you need to set the I/O Linc to latching mode.
LeeG Posted December 28, 2014 Posted December 28, 2014 (edited) Momentary A accepts either On or Off "Scene" commands but not both. The On Level for the Scene Responder Relay determines which Scene command. Responder On Level 100% for Scene On command, 0% Responder On Level for Scene Off command. A Direct Relay On command turns the Relay On. Momentary B accepts both Scene On or Scene Off to turn the Relay On. A Direct Relay On command turns the Relay On. All the Momentary mode information relates to Scene commands. Edited December 28, 2014 by LeeG
superjuice Posted December 28, 2014 Author Posted December 28, 2014 I decided to use two programs as i did not realize the iolnic wanted scene commands until LeeG posted it, thank you for that. I went this route so that the state would be corrected by the synchronic if an rf command is missed, maybe add a repeat command to be sure a command is resent if the fan misses the on or off signal? WH FAN ON - [iD 0020][Parent 0001] If Status 'Load Sensor 1 - WH FAN' is Off And Control 'Bedroom.D - Fan' is switched On Then Set 'IOLinc - Relay - WH FAN' On Set 'Bedroom.D - Fan' On 15 / Off 7 (Backlight Level) Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action') WH FAN OFF - [iD 0028][Parent 0001] If Status 'Load Sensor 1 - WH FAN' is On And Status 'Bedroom.D - Fan' is Off Then Set 'IOLinc - Relay - WH FAN' On Set 'Bedroom.D - Fan' On 0 / Off 7 (Backlight Level) Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action')
superjuice Posted December 28, 2014 Author Posted December 28, 2014 I disabled the above programs to try the scene route as it would be easier to trigger remotely or with the future climate variables. I now have a scene called WH FAN with the iolinc as a responder and a keypadlinc button as a controller. It works ok but the fan misses a command once in a while and the state becomes incorrect. I was hoping i could use the syncrolink in a program to watchdog the scene and resend the command if it is missed. Unfortunatly scenes cannot be used in the IF statement as far as i can tell. Is there another way to do this? Thanks again for all the feedback, it is greatly appreciated!
LeeG Posted December 28, 2014 Posted December 28, 2014 ISY Scenes can be less reliable if comm to the particular device is marginal. Suggest running Tools | Diagnostics | Event Viewer at LEVEL 3. Issue a few Direct On commands and post the event trace. The Hops Left count in the 1 and 0 range, particularly if the Hops Left count changes over a few Direct On commands indicates questionable comm with the Relay. The state of the Relay is not helpful (using Scene or Direct commands) as it will be On all the time as Momentary mode is turning the Relay off which the I/O Linc DOES NOT report back to the ISY.
superjuice Posted December 28, 2014 Author Posted December 28, 2014 How does this look for resending the command if missed? Does it need the else statement? WH FAN STATE ON - [iD 0029][Parent 0001] If Status 'IOLinc - Relay - WH FAN' is On And Status 'Load Sensor 1 - WH FAN' is Off Then Wait 5 seconds Set 'IOLinc - Relay - WH FAN' On Run Program 'WH FAN STATE ON' (If) Else Set Scene 'WH FAN' On WH FAN STATE OFF - [iD 002A][Parent 0001] If Status 'IOLinc - Relay - WH FAN' is Off And Status 'Load Sensor 1 - WH FAN' is On Then Wait 5 seconds Set 'IOLinc - Relay - WH FAN' Off Run Program 'WH FAN STATE OFF' (If) Else Set Scene 'WH FAN' Off
LeeG Posted December 28, 2014 Posted December 28, 2014 See my post just before your last post regarding Relay On/Off state.
superjuice Posted December 28, 2014 Author Posted December 28, 2014 posted at the same time, I guess i need the scene state in the if command instead of the iolinc state.
superjuice Posted December 28, 2014 Author Posted December 28, 2014 my program from post 13 worked great except i can't think of how to trigger it remotely, only by using the physical keypadlinc key. also i ran the event viewer, I'm not versed in the code yet though, ill read more about that now. ISY-Events-Log.v4.2.21__Sat 2014.12.27 10.35.19 PM.txt
LeeG Posted December 28, 2014 Posted December 28, 2014 The Event Viewer must run at LEVEL 3 to evaluate device comm quality. There is a Level pulldown at the bottom of the event viewer window.
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