Program ran, but scene not triggered

[MustangChris04]

I've had the same program the past two years that would turn my lights off at 11:59:59 (midnight) 

Outside Lights Off - [ID 0004][Parent 0001]

If
        Time is 11:59:59PM
 
Then
        Set Scene 'Outside Lights' Off
        Set Scene 'Outside Landscaping' Off
 
Else
   - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action')
 

Today I woke up and all my lights were still on. I checked the Programs Summary tab and saw that the program ran and finished at 12:00:00 midnight. I checked the Log in excel and there was not a single entry for either of the scenes being triggered or the status of the devices in the scene. The same program (but set for ON) ran correctly at 8PM and it showed in the log. 

 

Has anybody ever had issues with the reliability of running a program and it not actually triggering the scene?

 

 

[larryllix]

Do you have other Insteon devices that were not on?

 

Also, view your event logs in level 3 after operating these in question several times and compare the "hops left" count. Try the same after operating at the midnight usual time and see if you get variances. This usually indicates comm problems.

[MustangChris04]

There were 4 devices in the scene, and all 4 were on this morning when they should have been off. I believe this issue is not related to communication, as the event log doesn't even show that the scene was triggered. 

 

Let's say the issue was communication and the 4 devices all didn't respond to the scene, I would suspect that the scene would still show in the log that it was ran. 

[Techman]

MustangChris04

 

The scenes reside in the PLM, not in the ISY.  It's possible that the PLM is starting to fail. The ISY logs will not show the status of a scene, only the status of the devices in the scene.  How old is the PLM, and what is its firmware version

 

Try running a scene test for the scene that is at issue.

[MustangChris04]

MustangChris04

 

The scenes reside in the PLM, not in the ISY.  It's possible that the PLM is starting to fail. The ISY logs will not show the status of a scene, only the status of the devices in the scene.  How old is the PLM, and what is its firmware version

 

Try running a scene test for the scene that is at issue.

 

The PLM is v9B and is 14 months old. 

 

There first scene has 4 devices, and second scene has 2 devices. Both scene tests succeeded on all devices. 

 

Here is what I would normally see in the log when the program runs correctly and the scene turns off:

 

 

Scene:Outside Lights      Off         Wed 2015/07/29 12:00:00 AM     Program

Scene:Outside Landscaping         Off         Wed 2015/07/29 12:00:00 AM     Program

Upstairs / Stairway Keypad Light / Stairway Keypad - Outside Lig               Status   Wed 2015/07/29 12:00:00 AM                System

Downstairs / Laundry Keypad - Light / Laundry Keypad - Outside Ligh      Status   Wed 2015/07/29 12:00:00 AM                System

Outside / Front Door Outside Light          Status   Wed 2015/07/29 12:00:00 AM     System

Outside / Outside Garage Lights                Status   Wed 2015/07/29 12:00:00 AM     System

Outside / Palm Tree Lights           Status   Wed 2015/07/29 12:00:00 AM     System

Outside / Royal Palm Light           Status   Wed 2015/07/29 12:00:00 AM     System

 

 

The first two logs show the scene ran from a program. The next six logs show the status of each device for the scene. 

 

When this scene didn't run, I had nothing, nada, no log of anything, yet the program summary shows the program had run at midnight. Had the devices failed to respond, or the PLM was failing, wouldn't the first two logs still show the scene ran from a program? (As you said, the ISY doesn't know the status of the scene, so it would record the scene ran regardless of the outcome)

 

Thanks,

Christopher

[Techman]

The log would show that the program ran telling the scene to perform but there's no way to know if the scene actually triggered.

 

Another possibility is that there's interference on the power line around the time the scene is supposed to turn off the devices.

 

Most of the older PLMs fail around the two year mark. Sometimes they become intermittent before that completely fail. This is usually due to defective capacitors. Is the green led on the PLM lit?, if not then there's an issue with the PLM.

[MustangChris04]

What I am saying is that the log is NOT showing that the program ran, but the program summary page showed the program DID run. If the log is correct and the program didn't run (even though the program summary page said it did) then of course the scene wouldn't respond. I don't see why the PLM has anything to do with this if the ISY logs show the ISY "forgot" to run my program.

[Techman]

The ISY log will show if a device has changed its status, it doesn't log if a program ran. The program summary shows when the program last ran and when it's scheduled to run again.

 

If the program summary shows that the program ran then the problem is either with communications or the PLM. Being that the scenes reside in the PLM and assuming that you have no other issues controlling devices then I would focus on the PLM,  power line interference around the time the program ran or if you have multiple programs running at the same time then they should be separated by 10 seconds or so to avoid collisions.

 

Does your ISY log show any other activity about the time your program was supposed to turn off the lights?

[Techman]

MustangChris04,

 

Were you able to resolve the problem?

 

Techman

[IndyMike]

Christopher,

 

I agree that if your program ran, you should have received both a "Program" log entry as well as "System" log entries for each device in the Scene.

 

I have a "recirculation pump" program that runs twice daily.  I've been logging entries for this program daily even though the applicancelinc that is Scene uses was removed months ago.

 

I don't have a good explanation for why your program indicated "run" but you have no log entries.  This is probably a Michel question.

 

My only observation would be that 12:59:59 may be a rather busy time for the ISY.  You could try moving the trigger time a few minutes in either direction. 

 

I've never seen the ISY "miss" a program operation.  Nonetheless, I do think this needs to be investigated. 

[MustangChris04]

Fortunately, this has only happened once in the past two years. Unfortunately, it would be very difficult to try and intentionally produce this issue. 

 

I checked the logs at midnight and nothing was happening before of after. That is a quiet time around my house and the ISY doesn't do a query until 3AM. 

 

If I unplug my PLM from the wall and let the program run at midnight, it would still show a log entry for the program. As IndyMike mentioned, I should have had a log entry. 

 

I'll have to keep an eye on this one. My Missed Schedule Grace Period is set to 10 minutes. I don't know if this matters, but I wonder if there could be a possibility where the ISY was frozen during the time of the schedule and it was missed.