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Motion sensing programs for different times of day


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Posted (edited)

I recently put a Aeotec Multisensor in our kitchen with the idea to utilize the motion sensor.  Thought it would be easy enough, but I'm a bit perplexed and figure I'm missing something obvious.  Hopefully someone can gently point me in the right direction.

I have three different programs to cover different times of day, where I want different things done.

Daytime;

Daytime - [ID 0061][Parent 0020]

If
        From    Sunrise
        To      Sunset  - 30 minutes (same day)
    And 'Kitchen / ZW KitchMot Motion Sensor 1' Status is Off
 
Then
        Set 'Kitchen - All' Off
 
Else
   - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action')
 

Evening:

Evening - [ID 0062][Parent 0020]

If
        From    Sunset  - 30 minutes
        To      11:30:00PM (same day)
    And 'Kitchen / ZW KitchMot Motion Sensor 1' Status is Off
 
Then
        Wait  10 minutes 
        Set 'Kitchen / Kitchen ceiling' Off
        Set 'Kitchen / Sink' Off
 
Else
   - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action')

Overnight:

Overnight - [ID 0063][Parent 0020]

If
        From    11:30:00PM
        To      Sunrise (next day)
    And 'Kitchen / ZW KitchMot Motion Sensor 1' Status is On
 
Then
        Set 'Kitchen / Under Cabinet' On
 
Else
        Set 'Kitchen - All' Off

I didn't notice it until after sunset, but all three trigger every time the motion sensor is triggered off.  For instance, they all triggered at 8:32:19 PM last night while testing, well after sunset but before 11:30 PM.  Also, the under cabinet lights (which are in the "Kitchen -All" scene shut off.

MotionSensorPrograms.thumb.png.238605aae24c891d1a50e1598526de23.png

Am I missing something obvious?  Do I not understand how the time schedule works?

 

 

ISYabout.png

Edited by Screw Loose Dan
Posted

The 'Overnight' program runs Else each time the motion sensor turns off (time doesn't matter). I suspect that's not what you intended. If the lights should turn off when the motion sensor turns off, you need to have a separate program.

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Posted

To add to what @jfai said, I am using less and less times directly in program conditions.

I have moved to having multiple programs that enable/disable other programs as needed.  Then in the program, I have just the conditions (motion sensor status in your case).

This way I don't have programs triggering at odd times.

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Posted

@jfaiand @PurdueGuy - Thanks for the input!  Jürgen was absolutely correct, I appreciate the extra set of eyes.  I knew I was missing something obvious. 

Interesting idea about not using times directly in programs.  While troubleshooting this I switched to using a variable (an integer variable = 1 for Daytime, 2 for Evening, 3 for Overnight).  This way there's no way of overlapping these programs, and I can use the variable for other similar/related programs.

Posted
15 hours ago, PurdueGuy said:

To add to what @jfai said, I am using less and less times directly in program conditions.

I have moved to having multiple programs that enable/disable other programs as needed.  Then in the program, I have just the conditions (motion sensor status in your case).

This way I don't have programs triggering at odd times.

I have a state variable $sDark

that can have 3 values:

  • 0 = Daytime, from sunrise to sunset
  • 1 = Early Evening, Sunset to Bedtime
  • 2 = Late night, Bedtime to Sunrise

Bedtime when we are home is determined by a specific button press, if $sAway is set bedtime is a random number of minutes (up to 72) after 9:46pm

A huge advantage to using a state variable is that for testing purposes it's very easy to shift to "Early evening" or "late night"  mode at any given moment.  For example I can manually change the variable right now to see how things work during a different time period. 

Most programs that occur at a time use a combination of $sDark and $sAway in their conditions instead.  The Exception is there is a folder of lighting programs that run when $sAway mode is on... the programs in that folder all have there own timers to make a random 'someone is home' look. 

I did end up with an area specific variable also... $sDark.kitchen has very similar except that Early Evening occurs at Dinnertime, or Sunset (whichever comes first).  "Dinner time" is either pressing a KPL button or saying "Alexa, it's dinner time".

  • 0 = Daytime, from sunrise to sunset
  • 1 = Early Evening, Sunset or "dinner time" to Bedtime
  • 2 = Late night, Bedtime to Sunrise
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Posted (edited)
36 minutes ago, MrBill said:

I have a state variable $sDark

that can have 3 values:

  • 0 = Daytime, from sunrise to sunset
  • 1 = Early Evening, Sunset to Bedtime
  • 2 = Late night, Bedtime to Sunrise

Bedtime when we are home is determined by a specific button press, if $sAway is set bedtime is a random number of minutes (up to 72) after 9:46pm

A huge advantage to using a state variable is that for testing purposes it's very easy to shift to "Early evening" or "late night"  mode at any given moment.  For example I can manually change the variable right now to see how things work during a different time period. 

Most programs that occur at a time use a combination of $sDark and $sAway in their conditions instead.  The Exception is there is a folder of lighting programs that run when $sAway mode is on... the programs in that folder all have there own timers to make a random 'someone is home' look. 

I did end up with an area specific variable also... $sDark.kitchen has very similar except that Early Evening occurs at Dinnertime, or Sunset (whichever comes first).  "Dinner time" is either pressing a KPL button or saying "Alexa, it's dinner time".

  • 0 = Daytime, from sunrise to sunset
  • 1 = Early Evening, Sunset or "dinner time" to Bedtime
  • 2 = Late night, Bedtime to Sunrise

These are some of the values I use for a few different state variables that control banks of lights.

371297078_ISYConstantvariables.thumb.jpg.718f5954714f5839544f6bad91cdc257.jpg

Edited by larryllix
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