Program Not Triggering for Sunset

[mvgossman]

Never had this happen before, a program for turning on the Christmas Light SL's and a Lamplinc for 30 minutes prior to sunset.

 

It doesn't trigger! When I "Run Then" manually, bam it's fine.

 

Why isn't this triggering? I confirmed the time of day down by ISY994i is correct.

 

See screenshot. That's right, we have a leg lamp.

By the way, the green stripe means that the condition is true. What does it mean in a situation like this where the condition is only true for an instant when the specific time arrives?

 

Mitch

[mvgossman]

Currently I have two programs - the one shown at disk (-30 min from sunrise) to turn on and one triggered at 1:00am to turn off. Why has this arrangement worked before but not now? But probably clearer and cleaner the way you describe.

 

Mitch

[apostolakisl]

That program should work.

 

What does the program summary page say?  It should list the next run time (whatever sunset minus 30 is).  It should also say the last time it ran and whether it ran true or false.  Of course, if you have a done a manual run on the program then it will tell you those times.  But come next sunset minus 30, see what it says.

[G W]

Currently I have two programs - the one shown at disk (-30 min from sunrise) to turn on and one triggered at 1:00am to turn off. Why has this arrangement worked before but not now? But probably clearer and cleaner the way you describe.

 

Mitch

Did you notice that in your screenshot the Lights Off is running. I suggest that the Off prgram is turning the lights off as soon as they are turned on.

[apostolakisl]

Did you notice that in your screenshot the Lights Off is running. I suggest that the Off prgram is turning the lights off as soon as they are turned on.

That program is not running.  The half green means it last ran true, not that it is currently running true.  If it is just a simple "at x time then do such" it will always be that way.  There is no false.

[G W]

I have created two test programs and I'm waiting to see if they both trigger. It will be about 5 minutes to turn on time.

 

 

 

Test 1 just turned on the light.   Wait 10 minutes to see if Test 2 turns off the light.

 

The lights turned on and off. 

 

 

 

I have no idea why your programs are not working.

[oberkc]

I agree with apostolakisl.  This should work.  The program should run.  There are no ways it cannot run.

 

Why do you think it is not running (is it based on lights being not on)?  After it runs, what does the ISY admin panel say about the status of the three devices?  Does the ISY believe they are on?  Is it possible that something is going on near sunset that is not going on when you manually run the program?

 

Is the ISY sunset time accurate for your area?

[G W]

That program is not running. The half green means it last ran true, not that it is currently running true. If it is just a simple "at x time then do such" it will always be that way. There is no false.

I don't use the Admin Console enough to remember what those little hard-to-see icons mean.

[G W]

Back to the icons. The On program is neither Red (it hasn't run) or Green (it has run) so what does that mean?

[stusviews]

Red indicates that the last time the program ran, it evaluated as false (Else statements, if any, ran), green means that the program evaluated as true (Then statements were run). There is no color indicator if the program is new or was recently modified and hasn't yet been evaluated.

[apostolakisl]

What Stu said.

 

To complete the story

 

1) all red = currently running "else" (repeat or wait for the most part, a simple else clause will just blink red more or less)

2) all green = currently running "then" (same idea as above)

3) half green = not currently running, but last time it ran, it ren then.

4) half red = not currently running, but last time it ran, it ran else.

5) no color = hasn't run either then or else since last save.

 

The "if" clause does not need to have ever triggered.  Above applies regardless of how the "then" or "else" was made to run.  In other words, a manual run then/else will do it, or if another program runs the then/else.

 

 

But back to the matter at hand.  Look at your program summary page and see what it says happened.

[Kush]

1) Click any line in the Then

2) Click Update

3) Click Save

4) Your program will Run

[ScottAvery]

I've always done my timers as From XX to XX with the on in Then and the Off in Else.  Is there a good reaosn to separate them?

[ScottAvery]

Also, OP, could you show the content of your Off programs?  The If conditional there should be identical to the conditional in the On, just at another time.

[mvgossman]

Did you notice that in your screenshot the Lights Off is running. I suggest that the Off prgram is turning the lights off as soon as they are turned on.

 

Back home. If that is true, then when I activate the "Then" manually they should be promptly turned off by that rogue program. I'll post the lights off program next.

[mvgossman]

Good suggestions all.

 

See the screenshot of the "Christmas Lights off", triggers at 2:00 AM. Nothing unusual, and when I got up this morning they were indeed off.

 

See the screenshot of activity, it shows that today, 30 minutes prior to sunset at 4:02 that program ran. I gather that it ran "TRUE" according to that report and should have turned those lights on. They did not today!

 

I did Kush's advice to select a THEN item, update, and save, will see what I come home to tomorrow. It did turn off the green stripe, it was fooled into thinking it is a fresh program that hasn't run an IF yet. If nothing works, I will convert to the THEN ELSE construct instead of separate On and Off programs and see what happens.

 

Gary Funk: Thanks for testing it. What is your ISY Firmware? Mine is 4.6.2, the current non-beta. Maybe there's a bug.

 

Oberkc: My basis for feeling that the program isn't working is the fact that the lights do not turn on. Two of them have no switch, they are LampLincs that no one would mess with and I rely on the program to turn them on and off. The current state of the tree one for example is "Off" so ISY thinks it's off too.

 

I just ran the "Then" and everything snapped on like it should.

 

If nothing works tomorrow after the Update/Save trick above, I will convert to the THEN ELSE construct instead of separate On and Off programs and see what happens.

[G W]

Good suggestions all.

 

See the screenshot of the "Christmas Lights off", triggers at 2:00 AM. Nothing unusual, and when I got up this morning they were indeed off.

 

See the screenshot of activity, it shows that today, 30 minutes prior to sunset at 4:02 that program ran. I gather that it ran "TRUE" according to that report and should have turned those lights on. They did not today!

 

I did Kush's advice to select a THEN item, update, and save, will see what I come home to tomorrow. It did turn off the green stripe, it was fooled into thinking it is a fresh program that hasn't run an IF yet. If nothing works, I will convert to the THEN ELSE construct instead of separate On and Off programs and see what happens.

 

Gary Funk: Thanks for testing it. What is your ISY Firmware? Mine is 4.6.2, the current non-beta. Maybe there's a bug.

 

Oberkc: My basis for feeling that the program isn't working is the fact that the lights do not turn on. Two of them have no switch, they are LampLincs that no one would mess with and I rely on the program to turn them on and off. The current state of the tree one for example is "Off" so ISY thinks it's off too.

 

I just ran the "Then" and everything snapped on like it should.

 

If nothing works tomorrow after the Update/Save trick above, I will convert to the THEN ELSE construct instead of separate On and Off programs and see what happens.

I am running 5.0.11.

[apostolakisl]

Good suggestions all.

 

See the screenshot of the "Christmas Lights off", triggers at 2:00 AM. Nothing unusual, and when I got up this morning they were indeed off.

 

See the screenshot of activity, it shows that today, 30 minutes prior to sunset at 4:02 that program ran. I gather that it ran "TRUE" according to that report and should have turned those lights on. They did not today!

 

I did Kush's advice to select a THEN item, update, and save, will see what I come home to tomorrow. It did turn off the green stripe, it was fooled into thinking it is a fresh program that hasn't run an IF yet. If nothing works, I will convert to the THEN ELSE construct instead of separate On and Off programs and see what happens.

 

Gary Funk: Thanks for testing it. What is your ISY Firmware? Mine is 4.6.2, the current non-beta. Maybe there's a bug.

 

Oberkc: My basis for feeling that the program isn't working is the fact that the lights do not turn on. Two of them have no switch, they are LampLincs that no one would mess with and I rely on the program to turn them on and off. The current state of the tree one for example is "Off" so ISY thinks it's off too.

 

I just ran the "Then" and everything snapped on like it should.

 

If nothing works tomorrow after the Update/Save trick above, I will convert to the THEN ELSE construct instead of separate On and Off programs and see what happens.

 

From the program summary page, the program ran true at ~4pm.  True means the "then" executed.  How the lights did not turn on is a mystery to me.  One explanation is that you have another program that turned them off in an unanticipated way.

 

I doubt resaving the program is going to do anything.  The if section clearly is correct which you can see from the program summary page.  The then section is correct since you can manually do a run then and get the correct result.

 

You could debug it by a program such as this.

 

If

status of a light in the scene is off

 

 

Then

send me an email

 

Else

send me an email

 

This program will send you an email every time your designated swithc in the scene changes status.  

[G W]

I suggest you set on time to a time you will be able to watch the program and test it. Maybe you can see something in the Admin Console that will show you why the lights don't stay on.

[mvgossman]

I was going to wait until tomorrow to do a rigorous test because maybe something's different and magical about "before sunset" that makes it fail. But I did just to a test with a specific time and I watched it run correctly, lights went on. I then ran it for 1 hour 58 minutes after sunset and it also turned the lights on correctly.

 

I'm wondering if something got corrupted in the program "IF" clause somehow, bet it works tomorrow. Stay turned!

[G W]

My Test On just ran and the light came on..

[oberkc]

Oberkc: My basis for feeling that the program isn't working is the fact that the lights do not turn on. Two of them have no switch, they are LampLincs that no one would mess with and I rely on the program to turn them on and off. The current state of the tree one for example is "Off" so ISY thinks it's off too.

 

The fact that the lights do not turn on is not necessarily conclusive evidence that a program did not run.  Perhaps the program ran, but the lamplincs did not respond.  Perhaps they turned on, but something else turned them off.  Personally, I have never knowingly had a program not trigger and run when it should.  This is why I suspect something else is going on.  

 

Were this me, I would check status at admin panel right after program run to see if three devices match actual status.  If not, there is a problem with communications most likely.

 

Failing that, I would be looking at the program log to see if there are other programs being triggered immediately after this one.  Is it possible that the change in status of one of these devices is triggering a program somewhere?

 

But, maybe there is some bug somewhere.  I can only say that a program so simple like this one is one I use multiple times a day and it fires every time.

[mvgossman]

The fact that the lights do not turn on is not necessarily conclusive evidence that a program did not run.  Perhaps the program ran, but the lamplincs did not respond.  Perhaps they turned on, but something else turned them off.  Personally, I have never knowingly had a program not trigger and run when it should.  This is why I suspect something else is going on.  

 

Were this me, I would check status at admin panel right after program run to see if three devices match actual status.  If not, there is a problem with communications most likely.

 

Failing that, I would be looking at the program log to see if there are other programs being triggered immediately after this one.  Is it possible that the change in status of one of these devices is triggering a program somewhere?

 

But, maybe there is some bug somewhere.  I can only say that a program so simple like this one is one I use multiple times a day and it fires every time.

 

I did just that - I confirmed that the program ran, it ran as true, and there is no other reference to "Christmas Tree" anyplace in the system.

[stusviews]

Post the part of the log from, say, two minutes before the program runs until two minutes after or at least one minute on each side if there's a lot of traffic.

[oberkc]

I am thinking same thing as I suspect is stusviews,  Unfortunately, I am not much good with the log, so I tend to prefer the program status list.  I sort them by 'last run time' and look for things that ran near the same time as this program.  I would find the time to be there at sunset-30 and check immediately.  

 

Given that your devices respond to manual program activation, I tend to discount device failure as a cause.  I still am having trouble believing that the program did not run (all indications from the admin panel are that it ran, and ran true).

 

If nothing else shows up, my next instinct would be to change the program time from sunset-30 to something else.  Alternatively, delete the program and re-create.

 

Very strange.