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The "Vacation" Button


Mark Sanctuary

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Here is two ways you can implement an away from home vacation button.

 

Version 1:

 

Create a "vacation folder" then set this program to the folder.

 

If
   Control 'Vacation Button' is On

Then
   Allow the programs in this folder to run.

And in the rest of your "normal folders" that you don't want to run while on vacation set those folders with this program.

 

If
   Control 'Vacation Button' is Off

Then
   Allow the programs in this folder to run.

This will give the least amount of code by only needing the programs to be in folders that will run when the button is on and when it is off.

 

Version 2:

 

Create a program call "On Vacation".

 

If 
   Control 'Vacation Button' is On 

To allow triggers to run during Vacation; us this as one of your tests.

 

If 
   Program 'On Vacation' is True 

To prevent triggers from running during Vacation; use this as one of your tests.

 

If 
   Program 'On Vacation' is False 

Any programs that do not have one of the above tests will effectively ignore the Vacation Button.

 

Toggling the LED:

 

To control the LED you can: Create a scene and add the KPL "Vacation Button" button to it as a responder, Then you can then turn that scene on/off using ISY Programs, thereby turning on/off the KPL button/backlight. This however does not count as a button press.

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How do I "reset" the KPL button?

 

For example, if I turn on an "Away" button, but I forget to turn it off, a program will run each day at 6am and turn it off for me, so that it doesn't trigger events the next day which check that button's status. (or CONTROL, since it's a weird KPL!)

 

When I try to set an Action when making a program, the KPL buttons (other than the load) are not options.

 

Thanks!

 

~shawn

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You can use a Folder condition and put the vacation programs in that folder.

Whenever the 'Keypad A' button is switched On (your vacation button), the 'Vacation' folder will allow programs within it to run up until 6:00AM the next day.

 

NOTE: The 'is not' part of 'Vacation On' may not work correctly for the current 2.4.9 beta. It will work for the next beta drop.

 

Folder 'Vacation' (put your vacation programs in here):

Folder Conditions for 'Vacation'
Add conditions to limit when programs in this folder are allowed to run.

If
       Program 'Vacation On' is True
   And From    Last Run Time for 'Vacation On'
       To       6:00:00AM (next day)

Then
  Allow the programs in this folder to run.

 

 

Program 'Vacation On' -- do NOT put this program in Folder 'Vacation'

If
       Control 'Keypad A' is switched On
   and Control 'Keypad A' is not switched Off 
Then
  - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action')

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

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  • 1 month later...

So to reset the button should we use:

If
       Time is  6:00:00AM

Then
       Set  Scene 'Vacation Button' Off

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

within the Vacation On drawer?

 

And Mark, is 'If Control is On' supposed to be:

If
       Status  'Family Room KPL 2' is On
   And Control 'Family Room KPL 2' is not switched Off

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

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

 

Thank you,

Rand

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  • 7 months later...

Thought I'd try to jump start this topic. I'd be interested to hear what others are using for 'vacation programs'. I'm thinking there would be at least 3 types of programs:

 

- conserve energy (lower thermostats, etc.)

- simulate occupancy (lights going on at random times, etc.)

- security notifications (email based on unexpected activity, such as motion, door openings, etc.)

 

For this post, I'll concentrate on randomizing some commonly used lights to simulate someone being home.

 

Here is a program we might want to use for a young child's bedroom that typically goes to bed around 8pm:

 

 

VACATION YOUNG CHILD BEDROOM

If
       Time is  8:00:00PM

Then
       Wait  10 minutes  (Random)
       Set Scene 'ChildBedroomLamp' On
       Wait  10 minutes 
       Wait  10 minutes  (Random)
       Set Scene 'ChildBedroomLamp' Off

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

 

This would turn on the bedroom lamp between 8:00pm and 8:10pm, and turn it back off 10-20 minutes later. For an older child's bedroom or master bedroom, you might want to adjust the times and/or increase the wait time to simulate typical use.

 

 

 

For a more lived-in room, such as a kitchen or living room, I'm using 2 separate programs since 'turn on' time is more related to sunset, but 'turn off' time is typically still related to time of day:

 

VACATION KITCHEN ON

If
       Time is Sunset  + 20 minutes

Then
       Wait  20 minutes  (Random)
       Set Scene 'Kitchen' On

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

 

 

VACATION KITCHEN OFF

If
       Time is 10:00:00PM

Then
       Wait  20 minutes  (Random)
       Set Scene 'Kitchen' Off

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

 

This would turn on the kitchen light between 20 and 40 minutes after sunset, and turn it back off between 10:00pm and 10:20pm.

 

 

For a bathroom, you might want shorter duration spurts, like this:

 

VACATION BATHROOM

If
       Time is Sunset  + 20 minutes

Then
       Repeat 5 times (Random)
          Wait  1 hour  (Random)
          Set 'BathroomLight' On
          Wait  10 minutes  (Random)
          Set 'BathroomLight' Off

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

 

This would turn on the bathroom light between 20 and 80 minutes after sunset for between 1 and 10 minutes, then repeat up to 5 times randomly every 1-60 minutes.

 

I'd love to hear what others are doing!

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VACATION KITCHEN ON

If
       Time is Sunset  + 20 minutes

Then
       Wait  20 minutes  (Random)
       Set Scene 'Kitchen' On

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

 

 

VACATION KITCHEN OFF

If
       Time is 10:00:00PM

Then
       Wait  20 minutes  (Random)
       Set Scene 'Kitchen' Off

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

Hi Mike,

 

These programs look good, but I'd also like to point out how the From/To can be used for this because I think it may not be well understood for most people. By the way, this is just an alternative; having seperate programs is fine.

 

To clarify

 

- When the From time arrives, the schedule entry 'Becomes True', When the To time arrives the schedule entry 'Becomes False'

 

- Then should be thought of as 'Becomes True', and Else should be thought of 'Becomes False'. Therefore the Then runs when the schedule becomes true (the only If condition for this program), and the Else runs when the schedule becomes false.

 

VACATION KITCHEN ON/OFF

If
       From    Sunset  + 20 minutes
       To      10:00:00PM (same day)

Then
       Wait  20 minutes  (Random)
       Set Scene 'Kitchen' On

Else
       Wait  20 minutes  (Random)
       Set Scene 'Kitchen' Off

 

You could expand this to shut off the lights at 11:30pm + 0-20 minutes on Fri/Sat, and 10:00PM + 0-20 minutes on the other days ...

 

VACATION KITCHEN ON/OFF with weekends

If
       On Sun, Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu
       From    Sunset  + 20 minutes
       To      10:00:00PM (same day)
    Or On Sat, Fri
       From    Sunset  + 20 minutes
       To      11:30:00PM (same day)

Then
       Wait  20 minutes  (Random)
       Set Scene 'Kitchen' On

Else
       Wait  20 minutes  (Random)
       Set Scene 'Kitchen' Off

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Doh! I don't know what I was thinking, I've used the FROM/TO in that manner before.

 

Thanks for the tip Chris!

 

 

Based on Chris' FROM/TO tip, it might be cleaner to change the bathroom program to something like this:

 

VACATION BATHROOM

If
       From    Sunset  + 20 minutes
       To      10:00:00PM (same day)

Then
       Repeat Every  1 hour 
          Wait  45 minutes  (Random)
          Set 'Bathroom' On
          Wait  10 minutes  (Random)
          Set 'Bathroom' Off

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

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VACATION BATHROOM

If
       From    Sunset  + 20 minutes
       To      10:00:00PM (same day)

Then
       Repeat Every  1 hour 
          Wait  45 minutes  (Random)
          Set 'Bathroom' On
          Wait  10 minutes  (Random)
          Set 'Bathroom' Off

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

 

Hi Mike,

 

Your original program was fine but you certainly can change it to use From/To as you have done. When using From/To (or in fact any condition that can make your program 'become false') you must take one more thing into consideration. I'll explain it as an example:

 

1) The program is currently running the Then, and is in the 'Wait 10 minutes (Random)' action

2) 10:00:00PM Rolls around, causing the schedule to become false

3) The Then is stopped, and the Else is run.

 

In this case, the 'Bathroom' light will remain 'On' because the Then was stopped before it could be turned off.

 

To prevent this situation, the Else path must do the cleanup:

 

VACATION BATHROOM

If
       From    Sunset  + 20 minutes
       To      10:00:00PM (same day)

Then
       Repeat Every  1 hour 
          Wait  45 minutes  (Random)
          Set 'Bathroom' On
          Wait  10 minutes  (Random)
          Set 'Bathroom' Off

Else
       Set 'Bathroom' Off

 

You must consider this type of situation in general. For example, if you decided to use an 'Away button' instead of a Schedule, you would have to do the same thing:

 

AWAY BUTTON BATHROOM
If
       Status  'Away Button' is On

Then
       Repeat Every  1 hour 
          Wait  45 minutes  (Random)
          Set 'Bathroom' On
          Wait  10 minutes  (Random)
          Set 'Bathroom' Off

Else
          Set 'Bathroom' Off

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Makes perfect sense. The only thing I didn't like about my original program was that the amount of time between sunset and 10pm changes dramatically around here. I prefer fixing the time range with a FROM/TO instead.

 

Thanks for the clarification!

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For security, some people might want the ISY to notify you via email and/or text message if something unexpected happens while in 'vacation' mode. For example, a garage door opening.

 

If your garage door is Insteon-enabled, you can use the ISY to notify you if it opens. For example:

 

VACATION GARAGE NOTIFICATION

If
       Status  'GarageInput1' is On
    Or Status  'GarageInput2' is On

Then
       Send Notification to All

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

 

 

If your garage door is not Insteon-enabled, see this post for a solution:

 

http://forum.universal-devices.com/view ... arage+door

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  • 5 months later...
Here is two ways you can implement an away from home vacation button.

 

Version 1:

 

Create a "vacation folder" then set this program to the folder.

 

If
   Control 'Vacation Button' is On

Then
   Allow the programs in this folder to run.

And in the rest of your "normal folders" that you don't want to run while on vacation set those folders with this program.

 

If
   Control 'Vacation Button' is Off

Then
   Allow the programs in this folder to run.

This will give the least amount of code by only needing the programs to be in folders that will run when the button is on and when it is off.

 

Version 2:

 

Create a program call "On Vacation".

 

If 
   Control 'Vacation Button' is On 

To allow triggers to run during Vacation; us this as one of your tests.

 

If 
   Program 'On Vacation' is True 

To prevent triggers from running during Vacation; use this as one of your tests.

 

If 
   Program 'On Vacation' is False 

Any programs that do not have one of the above tests will effectively ignore the Vacation Button.

 

Toggling the LED:

 

To control the LED you can: Create a scene and add the KPL "Vacation Button" button to it as a responder, Then you can then turn that scene on/off using ISY Programs, thereby turning on/off the KPL button/backlight. This however does not count as a button press.

 

I'm a beginner, so please forgive me for such a simple question, but I understand the plan for two folders, one for vacation and one for not vacation. But how do I toggle the switch to vacation or not? To be more specific, in version 1, what is "Vacation button" and how do you switch it on / off?

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The 'Vacation Button' is any device you want to turn on to indicate that Vacation On is True. I have a button on a keypad that I can use if we have an unplanned away period.

 

I also use a series of programs for specific dates.

 

I have one program that checks for the button to be On or any of those programs to be True, thus enabling the Vacation timers.

 

Rand

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