What Causes This? Multiple ON Commands

[jgcharlotte]

Office lights are under program control from a motion sensor.  Simple motion sensor 'on' turn lights 'on'.

But sometimes I get this flurry of 'on' commands, maybe 20 in a minute, one after the other.  Is it because it is under program control and also the motion sensor is linked?  I have another one that doesn't do that.

It's a refurb, maybe I should have defaulted it when I installed it.  It works fine, I just get this sometimes.

Thanks.

[LeeG]

Would need to see an Event Trace to have more data.  That many On messages often indicates the battery is low causing Motion Sensor to operate incorrectly. 

 

A Motion Sensor normally generates two On Group Broadcast messages and one On Group Cleanup Direct message for each Responder linked to Motion Sensor.

[Techman]

Office lights are under program control from a motion sensor.  Simple motion sensor 'on' turn lights 'on'.

But sometimes I get this flurry of 'on' commands, maybe 20 in a minute, one after the other.  Is it because it is under program control and also the motion sensor is linked?  I have another one that doesn't do that.

It's a refurb, maybe I should have defaulted it when I installed it.  It works fine, I just get this sometimes.

Thanks.

 

Some of the motions sensors have a firmware bug that causes them to send multiple on signals when the batteries get low, this precedes a low battery signal which sometimes is never sent.

[KeviNH]

Office lights are under program control from a motion sensor.  Simple motion sensor 'on' turn lights 'on'.

 

I agree with the earlier diagnosis of why a motion sensor might keep sending signals.

 

There are a couple of ways to ignore repeat signals in programs, easiest for this use would be:

If 
     Status OfficeLights is Off
     and Control OfficeMotion is switched On
Then 
     Set OfficeLights On

That keeps the program from running if the office lights are already on, even if they are dimmed.

[jgcharlotte]

Hmmm, might be the battery issue.  Since it was a refurb, did not come with a battery, I just used one I found in drawer  

Didn't even check the voltage.

It is also an older firmware revision than the units I just bought on Amazon.

Putting the status check in there is a good idea, too.

 

Thx.

[jgcharlotte]

This is nuts.  The sensor is sending just one 'on' command, then the program generates multiple 'lights on' commands.

 

[larryllix]

 

This is nuts.  The sensor is sending just one 'on' command, then the program generates multiple 'lights on' commands.

 

Are you using a condition in your "If" section based on the status of the light you are controlling?

[MWareman]

Can you post the actual program?

 

What happens if you manually 'RunThen' the suspect program? Does it generate multiple alerts then?

[LeeG]

jgcharlotte

 

"This is nuts.  The sensor is sending just one 'on' command, then the program generates multiple 'lights on' commands"

 

I'm concerned about being moved in the wrong direction by that log.   You cannot tell what is actually happening because the log is showing change in state, not what messages are actually flowing from device.  The Program may be triggered by messages that do not appear in the Log because state did not change.  The Log is good but not for knowing what messages are actually flowing.

 

Need to run Tools | Diagnostics | Event Viewer at LEVEL 3 to follow actual messages being generated and what they caused to happen. 

[jgcharlotte]

Office Floor Lamp ON - [iD 0039][Parent 002E]

 

If

        Control 'Office Motion Detected' is switched On

 

Then

        Wait  1 second

        Stop program 'Office Floor Lamp SLEEP'

        Set 'Office Lights' On

 

Else

   - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action')

 

 

This is the program.  The SLEEP program it refers to sets the lights at 10% if no motion is detected for x minutes, then turns them OFF after 2 hours (if no motion).  So if motion is detected, this program turns them ON and halts the OFF delay.

 

I ran the 'then' several times manually without multiple ON commands being sent.  If it is the device, I would think the device's 'switched ON' status would show up in the log, wouldn't it?  Haven't tried a new battery yet.

 

Thanks to all for the help!

[LeeG]

Each Tool in the ISY serves a purpose.  The Event Viewer will show the messages received regardless of whether the message reflects a state change.

[jgcharlotte]

Ah yes, I'll look at the event viewer.

[MWareman]

Office Floor Lamp ON - [iD 0039][Parent 002E]

 

If

Control 'Office Motion Detected' is switched On

 

Then

Wait 1 second

Stop program 'Office Floor Lamp SLEEP'

Set 'Office Lights' On

 

Else

- No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action')

 

 

This is the program. The SLEEP program it refers to sets the lights at 10% if no motion is detected for x minutes, then turns them OFF after 2 hours (if no motion). So if motion is detected, this program turns them ON and halts the OFF delay.

 

I ran the 'then' several times manually without multiple ON commands being sent. If it is the device, I would think the device's 'switched ON' status would show up in the log, wouldn't it? Haven't tried a new battery yet.

 

Thanks to all for the help!

Can you post all programs involved? I suspect you may have a trigger loop in there somewhere (I'm always suspect when we encounter wait commands).

 

As otherwise mentioned - a level 3 log when the even occurs will also shed some light on goings on.

[jgcharlotte]

Ok, I may be misunderstanding the option settings.  Looking at the event viewer it appears that the sensor is sending an OFF 2 seconds after the ON.  My timeout is set for 20 minutes and 'as motion is sensed' is checked.  I thought that means it will sense motion as it happens instead of waiting for the timeout but it won't send an output signal until after the timeout.

IE, as I move about the office it will be constantly resetting the internal timer and only when that timer reaches 20 minutes (no motion) will it send an OFF signal.  It appears that's not the way it works.  But if I uncheck 'as motion is sensed' (only after timeout), the internal timer will not reset and will always go to 20 minutes and send OFF?  I just want it to never send an OFF as long as I am moving around the office, pretty typical scenario, not time out then wait for motion again.

I can do my own off delay, but that will put a lot of extra traffic on the network, like I'm getting now.

[LeeG]

The Motion Sensor has no option for sending an Off 2 seconds after the On.   The smallest increment is .5 minutes (30 seconds).

 

Try a new battery. 

[LeeG]

Completed test where Motion Sensor triggered a Program multiple times before .5 minute time elapsed.  Motion Sensor did not issue an Off command until the .5 minutes had elapsed without sensing motion.