Garage door (IOlinc) questions

[tome]

I searched the forum but didn't find answers to this specific question, so here goes.

 

I just installed a garage door sensor/control kit (IOLinc V36). I think it is working but not quite the way the instruction sheet says.

 

When my door is closed the LED is on, rather than the other way around (and the ISY shows the Sensor On). I would rather have the LED on when the door is up, off when door is down as the instructions indicate.

 

I see that both the sensor and relay have the following options and I am not sure how they should be set. I don't see most of them mentioned in the instructions. The only one I do see mentioned is to set the IOLinc to Momentary Mode C, but is that correct? I don't want to trigger anything on sensor input - I don't THINK...

 

Momentary hold time (10th of seconds) - 20 is default

Local Programming Lockout

X - LED on TX

Relay Follows Input

Send X10 Send On (or Off)

Trigger Reverse

 

X - Latching: Continuous

Momentary A: Triggered by either On of Off

Momentary B: Triggered by both On and Off

Momentary C: Trigger based on sensor input

 

I was probably going to use JacquesB (long) program for control, as I want to tie control/indication to my KeypadLinc. But before I do that I want to have the basic settings right.

 

Tome

[Brian H]

For the magnetic switch. Did you use the Black and Green wires or the Black and Red wires?

[tome]

For the magnetic switch. Did you use the Black and Green wires or the Black and Red wires?

 

Black and Green as shown on the Quick Start Guide sheet...

 

Tome

[brad77]

Use the black and red wires instead of the black and green to switch from normally open to normally closed.

 

For future reference:

 

Green: Normally open (NO)

Red: Normally closed (NC)

Black: Common

 

Refer to the owner's manual on the contact sensor.

[tome]

Use the black and red wires instead of the black and green to switch from normally open to normally closed.

 

For future reference:

 

Green: Normally open (NO)

Red: Normally closed (NC)

Black: Common

 

Refer to the owner's manual on the contact sensor.

 

Thanks, so that will turn the led off when closed, on when open. What about the other settings? Do I not set trigger reverse then, or do I keep that enabled?

 

Do I use Momentary C like the quick start guide says, or Momentary A like the Wiki says?

[brad77]

Do I not set trigger reverse then, or do I keep that enabled?

 

Do I use Momentary C like the quick start guide says, or Momentary A like the Wiki says?

I'm not sure. I use Momentary A and Momentary: Both (which I'm assuming is Momentary , but I'm not linking my IOLinc to a switch or keypad.

[tome]

I changed the wiring so now I have the sensor reading Off when closed, On when open. I also turned off the trigger reverse, but I may still need that as I am not sure how to program things yet...

 

I looked at JacquesB program and there is more to it then I need to do.

 

I have one KPL button that I want to indicate the state of the door (open = button on, closed = button off) and pushing that same button will either close (if open) or open (if closed). I could use two buttons if need be.

 

I would also like to flash the button light if the indicator was on, someone pushed it to go down and it didn't. Same for the reverse direction (indicator was off, someone pushed it to go up and it didn't).

 

Does this sound reasonable to do?

[brad77]

With the way I have it configured, the "on" command on the relay will always activate the door opener. There's no need to get complicated if all you are going to do is raise or lower the door with the press of a single button. Just assign the state of the sensor to the light on the button and have the button activate the relay. After two seconds, the relay will turn itself off again. Press again to toggle. On my ISY, I have a query that runs within 30 seconds to query the relay just so the ISY has the correct status as my IOLinc does not send a broadcast when the relay is turned off.

 

That said, I do have two programs that I use to raise or lower the door conditionally (the "close door" program always closes and the "open door" program always opens). It comes in handy from time to time.

[tome]

With the way I have it configured, the "on" command on the relay will always activate the door opener. There's no need to get complicated if all you are going to do is raise or lower the door with the press of a single button. Just assign the state of the sensor to the light on the button and have the button activate the relay. After two seconds, the relay will turn itself off again. Press again to toggle.

 

This is just done as a scene, yes?

 

On my ISY, I have a query that runs within 30 seconds to query the relay just so the ISY has the correct status as my IOLinc does not send a broadcast when the relay is turned off.

 

Is the query a program? How is it scheduled?

 

That said, I do have two programs that I use to raise or lower the door conditionally (the "close door" program always closes and the "open door" program always opens). It comes in handy from time to time.

 

Thanks for talking me through this!

[tome]

I have my setup mostly working and thought I would post my settings for my garage door control with the SmartHome package Part # 74551 and ISY99i running 2.7.7 beta.

 

What I want:

One KeypadLinc button to indicate On for door open, Off for door closed

Same KeypadLinc button to put door down if up and put door up if down.

 

In a nutshell I want it to work just like my garage door remotes that my family are used to, but with the added feature of the light to indicate up or down.

 

I have the IOLink sensor wired with the red and black wires so door closed = (led)off, door open = (led)on.

 

I created two scenes:

 

1. GarageControl with KPL.D as controller and Garage-Relay as responder

2. GarageIndication with KPL.D as responder and Garage-Sensor as controller

 

I have KPL.D set to Non-Toggle [On] which means it should always send the On command.

 

"Momentary hold time (10th of seconds)" of 20 which is 2 sec.

IOLink set to "Momentary B: Triggered by both On and Off"

LED TX is also checked, but all other settings are unchecked.

(Note: the above settings can be done from either the relay or sensor device in the list)

 

The only thing remaining to do is to create a program that will put the door down no matter it's current state, and one to put the door up.

 

Tome

[brad77]

This is just done as a scene, yes?

I don't have one, but yes, you can make it a scene. Make the IOLinc relay a responder and your keypad button or other switch a controller.

 

Is the query a program? How is it scheduled?

Yes. Here is the program:

 

If
       Status 'Garage Door Opener' is On

Then
       Wait 30 seconds
       Set 'Garage Door Opener' Query

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

My garage door takes about 15 seconds to open/close, so I wait for it to finish before querying so as not to collide with any signals from the sensor's status change. 30 seconds is probably overly long, but I can live with it.

 

While I'm at it, here are the conditional programs:

 

Conditional Open:

 

If
       Status 'Garage Door-Sensor' is Off

Then
       Set 'Garage Door Opener' On

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

Conditional Close:

 

If
       Status 'Garage Door-Sensor' is On

Then
       Set 'Garage Door Opener' On

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

Make sure to uncheck the "Enabled" checkbox on these programs to prevent them from firing under "normal" conditions. You only want to fire these from other programs. In that case you would always use Run (If).

 

Thanks for talking me through this!

No problem!

[tome]

This is just done as a scene, yes?

I don't have one, but yes, you can make it a scene. Make the IOLinc relay a responder and your keypad button or other switch a controller.

 

How else do you do it if not a scene?

 

Yes. Here is the program:

 

Cool, thanks for that.

 

Make sure to uncheck the "Enabled" checkbox on these programs to prevent them from firing under "normal" conditions. You only want to fire these from other programs. In that case you would always use Run (If).

 

Yes, good idea, I had them enabled!

 

I am still trying to get my head around scenes vs programs and when to run what.

 

I have my KPL that controls the door all set up. Let's say, though, that I want to control the door from the ISY (or even better, an iPhone App that is talking to the ISY). I can look at my devices list and see that the door is down from the sensor state, and so send On command to the relay to raise it. Or, I have my two scenes which are used control/indicate garage door to KPL and I can control the door from those as well.

 

However, I want my wife to use an iphone app and I don't want her to have to understand the interactions between sensor, relay, on commands, buttons, etc etc.

 

So I created the door up and door down programs (same as yours) thinking she could just run door up, or door down. But I don't see where I can do that. I can run the "if", or the "then", or the "else", but there is no just "run program".

 

Do I create another scene and somehow reference these programs. If it is a scene then she is going to see this scene as well as my two scenes for the KPL, and will she use the wrong thing. I guess this specific question is what is the best way to simplify things for my family (is there a non-admin view of the ISY)?

 

You can tell I am a little confused here...Part of what I am asking is about programs vs scenes, part is about scheduling or running programs, and part is about the user interface to the ISY from the iPhone.

[brad77]

How else do you do it if not a scene?

I was describing how to make a scene. If you already know how to do that, there's nothing new to see there.

 

I am still trying to get my head around scenes vs programs and when to run what.

When it comes down it, scenes don't require the ISY and programs do. Scenes provide INSTEON devices with a way to talk/coordinate with each other. Although scenes can be setup and manipulated with the ISY, the devices in the scene communicate directly with each other.

 

Programs are a construct of the ISY and do not exist in the world of INSTEON. That is to say, program logic cannot be stored in an INSTEON device.

 

Programs will allow you to add any conditional logic you might need along with more complicated command sequences. They can be run on demand or in response to an event, schedule, etc. On the downside, programs will not respond as quickly as a scene if they are triggered by an INSTEON event (turning a switch on, for example). Lastly, you cannot link programs and scenes.

 

Does your wife need to toggle the garage door opener or conditionally open/close the door? If it's the former, all she needs to do is activate the Garage Door Opener's relay (turn it on) or activate a scene that does the same. Or are you thinking that she would want to close the door if she were away from the house but couldn't be sure if it were indeed open?

 

For the door programs we're talking about, you should always use Run If. You should probably familiarize yourself with how programs work, which you can find in the Wiki. It has a great rundown of what all of this means.

 

In a nutshell, Run If makes sure that your condition is evaluated. Then, the THEN or ELSE portion of your program runs based on the result of evaluating the condition. In the garage door example, the door close program only toggles the relay if the door is already open.

 

Running the THEN or ELSE of the program bypasses the condition and simply does whatever is listed in the THEN or ELSE part of the program.

 

Make sense?

 

I agree with you on the ISY web interface. It's definitely geared towards the more advanced user/admin. I wouldn't even consider having my wife use it. I'm sure that she'd be able to figure it out, but it's just too complicated for her use. She'd have to sift through dozens of programs, scenes and devices.

 

You might want to consider a different interface for her, like Touchswitch. It installed directly on the ISY and provides an alternate web interface. It doesn't support programs, but it can provide a more intuitive interface for checking the status of your garage door sensor. It also looks better on an iPhone. Note that Touchswitch requires the Networking module, which I believe comes at a discount when you purchase them together.

[tome]

When it comes down it, scenes don't require the ISY and programs do. Scenes provide INSTEON devices with a way to talk/coordinate with each other. Although scenes can be setup and manipulated with the ISY, the devices in the scene communicate directly with each other.

 

Programs are a construct of the ISY and do not exist in the world of INSTEON. That is to say, program logic cannot be stored in an INSTEON device.

 

Nice concise explanation, thanks.

 

Lastly, you cannot link programs and scenes.

 

Ah, that I didn't realize.

 

Does your wife need to toggle the garage door opener or conditionally open/close the door? If it's the former, all she needs to do is activate the Garage Door Opener's relay (turn it on) or activate a scene that does the same. Or are you thinking that she would want to close the door if she were away from the house but couldn't be sure if it were indeed open?

 

Would be nice if she had both options if she needed.

 

For the door programs we're talking about, you should always use Run If. You should probably familiarize yourself with how programs work, which you can find in the Wiki. It has a great rundown of what all of this means.

 

Make sense?

 

Yes, got it. Run If is essentially Run from the start. Thanks for the wiki link. I have read a bunch of stuff there, but didn't find the How-Tos.

 

 

I agree with you on the ISY web interface. It's definitely geared towards the more advanced user/admin. I wouldn't even consider having my wife use it. I'm sure that she'd be able to figure it out, but it's just too complicated for her use. She'd have to sift through dozens of programs, scenes and devices.

 

Yep. Seems like an opportunity on the iPhone as well. All the apps give full access to the ISY. It would be nice to be able to present just a select list of devices and/or programs that a person can run.

 

In fact, it would be nice if the ISY had multiple privilege levels, so I could use, say iLinc (iphone app) on my wife's phone but with her login she would only see a condensed set of devices and programs.

 

You might want to consider a different interface for her, like Touchswitch. It installed directly on the ISY and provides an alternate web interface. It doesn't support programs, but it can provide a more intuitive interface for checking the status of your garage door sensor. It also looks better on an iPhone. Note that Touchswitch requires the Networking module, which I believe comes at a discount when you purchase them together.

 

I guess I'll stick with iLinc and just do some training...

 

Again, thanks for all your help.

Tome

[brad77]

I guess I'll stick with iLinc and just do some training...

Ah, yes. iLinc. I forgot about that one. I'm not an iPhone user myself.

[tome]

I guess I'll stick with iLinc and just do some training...

Ah, yes. iLinc. I forgot about that one. I'm not an iPhone user myself.

 

iLinc supports the Thermostat which I plan to use at a vacation house [next year after Venstar updates it to handle 2-speed heat pumps].

 

Tome