Status problems

[davidn70]

I use some insteon outlets to control power to my garage door openers. I have two of them that are in a scene with 2 keypad links. This is a teeny extra bit of security (every house I've lived in has had the garage door open by chance with someone else's opener - just call me lucky, ha ha).

 

Anyway, this is also a good way for my ISY to know if I am home or expecting company. What I decided to to, is incorporate this into my program for my outside lights. I have a nighttime folder that allows programs to run between sunset and sunrise the following day. At sunset, I check to see if the garage door openers are on, if so, the outside lights come on....

 

I then have two programs in my nighttime folder that monitor the status of the outlet in the garage and turnn the outside lights on or off based on the status. My outside lights are X10 at this point. Basically, the outside lights turn ON when they are supposed to, but I have problems turning them off. Any hints? Here are my two programs - I've tried a lot of variations and nothing really works... When I activate the garage door opener power with the keypad link, the outside lights come on as expected. The problem is when I use the keypad link to turn them off.

 

Also - could you please clarify the difference between Status and Control and when I should be using which one?

 

Thanks!

David

 

 

************* Turn Outside Lights Off - I have them all on the "O" Housecode

If

Status 'GDO Outlet Vehicle' is Off

 

Then

Send X10 'O1/All Units Off (13)'

 

Else

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

 

 

***************** Turn Outside Lights On - I have some of them dimmed **************

 

If

Status 'GDO Outlet Vehicle' is On

 

Then

Run Program 'Outside Lights On' (Then Path)

 

Else

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

 

 

******************* Here is the program Outside Lights On *************************

 

If

Time is Sunset

And Status 'GDO Outlet Vehicle' is On

 

Then

Send X10 'O1/Off (11)'

Send X10 'O3/Off (11)'

Send X10 'O4/Off (11)'

Send X10 'O1/Dim (15)'

Send X10 'O1/Dim (15)'

Send X10 'O1/Dim (15)'

Send X10 'O1/Dim (15)'

Send X10 'O1/Dim (15)'

Send X10 'O1/Dim (15)'

Send X10 'O1/Dim (15)'

Send X10 'O1/Dim (15)'

Send X10 'O3/On (3)'

Send X10 'O4/On (3)'

 

Else

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

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi davidn70,

 

Very neat! The first thing I would do is to add 1 (or a little more) wait between the X10 offs.

 

The second thing I would do is to ensure that the lights controlled by these X10 devices are not generating noise when they are on. Perhaps, you can unplug them one at a time and retest the program.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[davidn70]

Michel,

 

Thank you for the reply. The multiple off commands are actually in the program that turns the lights ON - so those aren't the problem - turning them ON works great - it's the OFF that has problems. I dim some of my outside lights and the off commands make sure they are in a known state so they don't get too dim if the program runs twice.

 

The program that is supposed to turn them off in response to the status does an all units off on the housecode so it's just one command.

 

I know the lights are not causing interference because I can turn them off with the ISY using the REST interface. Being a former X10 junkie I used to use Heyu on Linux with a CM11A. I have a shell script that mimics heyu with the ISY by hitting REST URLs - works pretty well. When I use that or the admin interface to turn the lights off, they turn off immediately.

 

Any other suggestions? I think it's something in the programming that I don't quite get yet being an insteon noob.

 

Thanks!

David

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi David,

 

Ah, yes! How could I have not seen that?

 

So, sending All Unit's off via the REST interface (which calls the program) works fine but the program itself does not (once in a while). So, as you suggested, the problem could either be that ISY does not receive GDO Outlet Vehicle's status or that the X10 signal is not getting to its destination.

 

Would you be kind enough to open the Tools | Diagnostics | Event Viewer on level 3 and make sure you get status feedback from GDO Outlet Vehicle. If so, then would you be kind enough to try and send the off command twice?

 

The difference between Status and Control is this:

Status changes with every change in status! This means that when a switch is ON and then you press the ON button again, the status does NOT change.

 

Control is the actual physical activity imposed on the devices. So, if the device is ON, and you press the ON button, your program will receive another ON event.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[davidn70]

So am I correct in understanding that the ISY basically checks the IF conditions when something changes (time, status, control etc.) to see if it should run?

 

I added some OR clauses and I believe you are right about the ISY missing the status change. Now, when I turn the outlet off, the outside lights go off, start their ON sequence again and then turn off for a final time. Better than before but gives me something to go on.

 

Thanks!

David

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi David,

 

Yes, you are very correct: ISY reevaluates conditions only when one or more conditions have changed.

 

Now, we have to figure out why ISY misses the status changes!

 

With kind regards,

Michel

So am I correct in understanding that the ISY basically checks the IF conditions when something changes (time, status, control etc.) to see if it should run?

 

I added some OR clauses and I believe you are right about the ISY missing the status change. Now, when I turn the outlet off, the outside lights go off, start their ON sequence again and then turn off for a final time. Better than before but gives me something to go on.

 

Thanks!

David

[davidn70]

I think I figured out the problem but don't have time to do a lot of troubleshooting right now. I originally had both of my KPLs and both of my OutletLinks configured using X10. Now they are all in an insteon scene, however I never removed the X10 addresses. I presume what is happening is that the outlets are receiving multiple ON commands and multiple OFF commands, one via the scene and one via X10 when the KPLs turn on.

 

Does that make sense?

 

I've got to get the ladder out sometime and climb up to the garage ceiling to remove the X10 addresses from the outletlinks - unless someone knows an easier way to do it.

 

Thanks again!

David

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi David,

 

Thanks for the update and yes it does make sense.

 

Unfortunately, the only way to remove X10 address is via Factory reset.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

 

I think I figured out the problem but don't have time to do a lot of troubleshooting right now. I originally had both of my KPLs and both of my OutletLinks configured using X10. Now they are all in an insteon scene, however I never removed the X10 addresses. I presume what is happening is that the outlets are receiving multiple ON commands and multiple OFF commands, one via the scene and one via X10 when the KPLs turn on.

 

Does that make sense?

 

I've got to get the ladder out sometime and climb up to the garage ceiling to remove the X10 addresses from the outletlinks - unless someone knows an easier way to do it.

 

Thanks again!

David

[markens]

Unfortunately, the only way to remove X10 address is via Factory reset.

Most recent Insteon devices have the capability to remove X10 addresses without resorting to factory reset. Basically, put the device in Unlinking Mode and then send the X10 command three times. I've used this successfully on both OutletLincs and KPLs.

 

Smarthome's info here:

http://wiki.smarthome.com/index.php?title=Removing_the_X10_Primary_Address