When does a device not respond?

[edokid]

Just curious as I have an insteon LED bulb on my front porch which never gets turned off from the switch.  I was hoping to write a program that would notify me if the switch goes off by mistake, or ideally if someone outside unscrews the bulb to make it darker.  I tried one saying "If status of device is not responding" but when testing it (by physically turning off the switch and the load) its been 5 minutes and no notification and ISY admin console doesn't show anything out of the ordinary.  Is there a time that it takes before it is considered not responding, or am I supposed to write another program to periodically query it?  Didn't think that was necessary with Insteon but was only able to make it run by actually manually selecting Query.  Thanks!

Edited April 14, 2015 by edokid

[LeeG]

There is no time limit. The ISY does a Query at 3AM but that would not help your situation. A Query or perhaps an On command since the bulb is On all the time. That is going to introduce Insteon activity 24 hours a day 7 days a week.

 

If the switch was Insteon turning the switch Off would be detectable with an If Status 'switch' is Off. That would leave the bulb being unscrewed or a bulb failure as an open item to solve. Perhaps something that sensed light that would trigger an I/O Linc if the bulb stopped producing illumination.

[edokid]

Great thanks, not a huge issue was more just thinking it would be handy but I'll probably eventually switch it to a SwitchLinc so wouldn't help there anyway.  Thanks!

[Techman]

Why not just take the switch out of the circuit by tying the two wires together with a wire nut. I don't think you would want to put a Switchlinc in series with an Insteon bulb.

[edokid]

Oh no sorry I mean I just have an Insteon LED there because I had a spare, but ideally it should be replaced with a normal LED and a SwitchLinc, wouldn't have both there.

[Techman]

Oh no sorry I mean I just have an Insteon LED there because I had a spare, but ideally it should be replaced with a normal LED and a SwitchLinc, wouldn't have both there.

 

In that case you can write a program to send you a text or email anytime the Switchlink is manually turned off. I don't think you can verify if the bulb is removed as there's no way to determine if there's a load connected to the Switchlink.

 

One thought would be to mount a motion sensor close to the light and use the dusk/dawn feature to notify you if it's dark

[edokid]

Thanks that's a good idea as well as I was thinking of putting a motion sensor out there eventually anyway as I'd like to have exterior lights on but dim all night, but if motion is detected raise the brightness basically being like I see you..