Please review my simple program

[dirty laundry]

I posted earlier in communications issues forum and my questions are quickly morphing into programming questions so I moved here.

 

I have a 24 hour Laundromat with a large water heating boiler that I would like to turn off when not needed.

I also have a pump that keeps hot water circulating in 200 feet of uninsulated 1 1/2" copper piping. 

The problem I'm having is that the actual state of the inline links is sometimes different from what is indicated on the dashboard and the admin console so I end up with a  no hot water condition.  I think the problem is mostly communication/noise related, but I know next to nothing about programming and want to eliminate the programing as the cause.

 

My goal is to have the boiler and pump turn on when motion is sensed and off after 5 minutes for the pump and 30 minutes for the boiler. To do this I have 2 programs for each.

The first program is:

Motion

      If status motion is on

      and status boiler is off

      then set scene boiler on

2nd program is:

Off delay

      If status boiler is on

      then wait 30 minutes

      set scene boiler off

 

I set up a scene for each device, do they need to be scenes, or can I just set the devices on or off?

I'm using if status,  is that correct, or should I be using If control? I don't understand the difference.

 

It has been suggested that I add a program to query the status of both devices every minute or so to correct the incorrect device status

I figured out how to query a device, but I don't know how to endlessly repeat an action every minute.

 

Please comment

 

[stusviews]

You need to solve the communication (or device) problem first or no program controlling those devices will run successfully every time or at all.

 

What Insteon device detects "motion?" What Insteon device controls the boiler?

 

Scenes cannot be given a condition, that's under the realm of a program. A program can run a scene or control a device. Scenes are preferred if more than one device is involved. Querying a device every minute will keep the power line busy and may cause commands not to work. Once you fix the communication problem, then you can query less or not at all.

[larryllix]

I posted earlier in communications issues forum and my questions are quickly morphing into programming questions so I moved here.

 

I have a 24 hour Laundromat with a large water heating boiler that I would like to turn off when not needed.

I also have a pump that keeps hot water circulating in 200 feet of uninsulated 1 1/2" copper piping. 

The problem I'm having is that the actual state of the inline links is sometimes different from what is indicated on the dashboard and the admin console so I end up with a  no hot water condition.  I think the problem is mostly communication/noise related, but I know next to nothing about programming and want to eliminate the programing as the cause.

 

My goal is to have the boiler and pump turn on when motion is sensed and off after 5 minutes for the pump and 30 minutes for the boiler. To do this I have 2 programs for each.

The first program is:

Motion

      If status motion is on

      and status boiler is off

      then set scene boiler on

2nd program is:

Off delay

      If status boiler is on

      then wait 30 minutes

      set scene boiler off

 

I set up a scene for each device, do they need to be scenes, or can I just set the devices on or off?

I'm using if status,  is that correct, or should I be using If control? I don't understand the difference.

 

It has been suggested that I add a program to query the status of both devices every minute or so to correct the incorrect device status

I figured out how to query a device, but I don't know how to endlessly repeat an action every minute.

 

Please comment

 

Motion

  If status control motion is switched on    <----change to control so every motion detected restarts timers

OR

  If control motion2 is switched on        <-------need to be sure every corner gets scanned for users

     and status boiler is off   <--- not needed. no problem setting a device that s already on.

      then set scene boiler on  <---why a scene? Device has more secure communication and retries

2nd program is:       <-----put into one program so it doesn't turn off while motion is still being detected

Off delay

      If status boiler is on     <-----not needed for one program

      wait 5 minutes

      set pump off

      then wait 30  25 minutes

      set scene boiler off

 

 

Need to fix your comm problems, as Stu stated above, or you may get customer complaints about no water when it fails unless you want to be called lots.

[apostolakisl]

I bet you have lots of fluorescent lights with noisy ballasts.  That is probably your com issue.  If all your lights are on one or two circuit breakers, consider putting a filter on that entire circuit.  X10 has filters for that purpose which are very cheap and work just fine for Insteon.  Of course, any circuit you filter will also filter out Insteon signals, so you can't have Insteon devices plugged in (although you could use dual band devices and rely on the rf comm).

 

EDIT: and the other thing is that in a commercial complex you may have 3 phase power.  You need to have comm bridges between the three phases, or use dual band devices.

[larryllix]

I bet you have lots of fluorescent lights with noisy ballasts.  That is probably your com issue.  If all your lights are on one or two circuit breakers, consider putting a filter on that entire circuit.  X10 has filters for that purpose which are very cheap and work just fine for Insteon.  Of course, any circuit you filter will also filter out Insteon signals, so you can't have Insteon devices plugged in (although you could use dual band devices and rely on the rf comm).

 

EDIT: and the other thing is that in a commercial complex you may have 3 phase power.  You need to have comm bridges between the three phases, or use dual band devices.

Reported in another thread

"In the past when I didn't have the phases bridged, there would be an exclamation point appear on the admin console.  The inline lincs are both on the same circuit, and they are both on the same phase as the PLM."

 

The fluorescents are an excellent point, and if the building has a few years on it they are very likely suspect. I second that one.

[dirty laundry]

I rewrote the program as suggested.  Many more on commands are being sent and now I get error messages for lack of communication quite often now.

I am not surprised by these communications problems, they just weren't showing up as communication errors before.  This is a step in the right direction.

 

I ordered a couple filters for the boiler and pump and a couple extras.  It sounds like they will end up  going onto the fluorescent lighting circuits.

I also ordered a couple more devices in the hopes of strengthening the signal.

 

Thanks for your help. I will report back.

[stusviews]

It's often a waste of $$ filtering devices that don't need filtering--even it you think they do. The only way to determine if a device needs filtering is to disconnect it and see if communication improves. If it's more than one device that's causing problems, then the procedure is a bit more involved.

 

One method is to turn off all breakers except the one powering the ISY and PLM. Test communication to whatever has power. Then turn on the breaker that powers a problem device.

 

Good communication? Then the culprit is on another circuit. Turn on breakers one at a time until the problem surfaces. The problem device is on that circuit.

 

Poor communication? The problem device is on that circuit.

 

Unplug or disconnect everything on that circuit. Turning things off is not sufficient, they must be unplugged or disconnected. Now start plugging in or connecting devices until the problem recurs. The last device connected needs to be filtered.