Notifications Keep Coming!

[dbot3000]

Hi all,

I have an ISY 994i/IR Pro that I've been using for a couple years now. I use it with a light switch, an outlet, a door sensor and a thermostat, all installed at a remote cabin. The thermostat does not directly control an HVAC system. Instead, it acts as a simple thermometer and controlling device for the outlet that has a window air conditioner plugged in to it. In my very basic program, when the temperature reaches 94F, it turns on the outlet and the air conditioner comes on. Once it cools down to 80F, it turns off the outlet (and therefore, the air conditioner too). It sends me an email notification for each event (when the outlet is turned on and when it's turned off).

The problem I'm running into is that when the air conditioner brings the temperature back down to 80F and the outlet is switched off, I continue to receive the "off" notification emails constantly, rather than just a single message to tell me the temp reached 80, the outlet was turned off, period. It instead sends me a notification every 5 minutes or so. How can I get it to send the notification ONLY in connection to the singular event of the outlet being turned after it being on and the temperature being brought back down to 80F? In other words, I don't need to know every 5 minutes that it's still 80F or lower. But I would like to know when the temp was brought down to 80F by the air conditioner and the outlet was turned off in response... just that singular series of events. Is there a condition I can enter along the lines of, "if the outlet was ON within the last minutes AND it was just turned off, then send me the notification" (but don't send me the notification if the outlet wasn't previously on within the last 3 minutes, for example)?

Attached is a screenshot of the current, very simple program I'm using... the one that sends me a notification that the outlet is off every 5 minutes or so.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide! 

Best,
Danny

[larryllix]

Welcome to the forum!!!

 

Program1
If
    temperature <= 80F
Then
    turn A/C off
    notify my owner
    run (If) program 'Reset'
    disable This.Program   
Else
    ----

 

Reset (enabled to run at startup)   <--- need to always cock this baby or it may not fire.
if
     ----
Then
    Wait x hours
    turn A/C On?
    enable Program1
Else
   ----

[Techman]

Every time the temperature changes, when the temperature is less then 81, the then clause in your program will run.

You could also try the following:

IF

Status thermostat <=80 (temperature

and

status Outlet  is not off

 

THEN

your then statement 

 

 

[dbot3000]

Thanks, guys! I've tried Larry's and so far it's still sending the notifications periodically. Like Techman said, it's probably sending them whenever there's a degree change in temp. I haven't tried his method yet. I'll give that a shot in the next couple of days. If you have any additional suggestions or alternative recommendations, please send them along!

Best,
DP

 

[larryllix]

It's usually pretty easy to decide when to notify the human and cause alarms. The difficult part is deciding when to reset them, so they can activate again.

You will have to decide when that should occur.

• immediately - that was your complaint.
• after a time
• after the temperature returns to a defined tempearure (hysteresis)
• never
• a combination

[dbot3000]

My desire is to receive a notification immediately when the AC (outlet) is turned ON (because it reached the target temperature of 94F). That's working fine. And immediately when the AC (outlet) is turned OFF (because it reached the target low temperature of 80F). Those are the only two notifications I'm hoping to receive... nothing in between and nothing delayed.

I set the "reset" program to 15 minutes to help minimize the recurring "your AC was turned off" notifications after the outlet is turned off. But I'm still receiving them and for longer than 15 minutes after the fact.

I have attached screenshots of the updated "AC Off at 80F" program and the new "reset" program. Did I get something wrong here?

Thanks again for your help!

 

[larryllix]

58 minutes ago, dbot3000 said:

My desire is to receive a notification immediately when the AC (outlet) is turned ON (because it reached the target temperature of 94F). That's working fine. And immediately when the AC (outlet) is turned OFF (because it reached the target low temperature of 80F). Those are the only two notifications I'm hoping to receive... nothing in between and nothing delayed.

I set the "reset" program to 15 minutes to help minimize the recurring "your AC was turned off" notifications after the outlet is turned off. But I'm still receiving them and for longer than 15 minutes after the fact.

I have attached screenshots of the updated "AC Off at 80F" program and the new "reset" program. Did I get something wrong here?

Thanks again for your help!

 

Then you have set the re-alert time to 15 minutes and notifications will be as frequent as 15 minutes + time for the next degree change to happen.

I think this could all be simplified by just setting a smart thermostat to the temperature you want and changing it when you want it changed.

[dbot3000]

The thermostat does not actually control anything. It's just a thermometer and a "trigger" for the outlet that the window air conditioner is connected to. A program must exist between the two for any level of automation of the air conditioner. In a manual situation, I would have to keep an eye on the temperature throughout each day and turn the outlet on and off. That's just not practical in the summer months when the outdoor temperature in this location reaches 100-110F regularly.

Now that it's starting to cool down, this is less of a concern for the next 7 months or so. When I cool down the space with the A/C from 94 to 80, it typically takes about 90-120 minutes to get back up to 94F. So, I think I'll set the wait time to 90 minutes next time around.

Thanks again for the help!

 

[Screw Loose Dan]

Certainly seems like your program gets triggered everytime the temp changes, even if it's below 80F.

Personally I think I would have two programs set (two different) variables depending on the temperature.  One program/variable for temps =>94F and one for <=80F.  And, also have two different programs to control the outlet based on the state variables.

I'm not an expert at this, but something like (probably need to add something to check after reboots):

If
    temperature <= 80F
Then
    stateVar_lowTemp = 1
Else
    stateVar_lowTemp = 0
    
    
If
    temperature => 94F
Then
    stateVar_HighTemp = 1
Else
    stateVar_HighTemp = 0
    
If
    stateVar_lowTemp = 1
Then
    Set 'Outlet-AC' Fast Off
    Send Notification
Else
    
    
If
    stateVar_HighTemp = 1
Then
    Set 'Outlet-AC' Fast On
    Send Notification
Else

[kclenden]

On 10/12/2018 at 11:54 AM, dbot3000 said:

As Larry said, with these two programs you have setup a notification loop that begins when the temperature reaches 80 or lower and then keeps occurring every 15 minutes (plus the time it takes for the temperature to change by a degree).  Not to mention that the temperature is probably never going to get up to 94 because you always turn the AC back on 15 minutes after the temperature got to 80.  Why not have something like:

Temp too Hot
If
     Status 'Thermostat - Main' >= 94 (Temperature)
Then
     Set 'Outlet-AC' On
     Send Notification to 'Yahoo' content 'AC ON Message'
     Enable Program 'Temp too Cold'
     Disable Program 'Temp too Hot'
Else


Temp too Cold
If
     Status 'Thermostat - Main' <= 80 (Temperature)
Then
     Set 'Outlet-AC' Off
     Send Notification to 'Yahoo' content 'AC Off Message'
     Enable Program 'Temp too Hot'
     Disable Program 'Temp too Cold'
Else

 

[Charlie_Morlock]

Why don't you trigger the email on the status of the outlet?

Isn't that what you care about?

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