Timer ands program oddities after power failure

[andrew77]

This happens once in a while. 

I have some timers working and others not.

I went back to my post here previously and remembered to

restore the ISY

restore the PLM

or restore all devices.

 

I cant remember which one I should do.

Any help and advice would be great. I don't want to screw something up and have to do everything again.

Drew

[Techman]

What exactly is happening?

1st try rebooting the IPLM and then the ISY. I would hold off doing any restores until you clarify the issues.

 

[andrew77]

Hi Techman,

Thank you for the reply.

It seems my timers arent working.

But programs such as 

"If the SWL is off

and the device is switched off

then turn on light 25%"

work fine.

Usually when I have an issue like this no programs or timers work at all

How do I reboot the PLM and ISY?

By just unplugging them and then plugging in the PLM first, then the ISY?

 

Drew

[Techman]

Hi Drew,

Unplug the PLM and the ISY.

Wait about 15 seconds then plug in the PLM

Wait about 15 seconds then plug in the ISY, it will take a several minutes for the ISY to boot up and do its query.

If you're still having issues after the reboot then it could be your SD card, in which case you could remove the SD card and clean the contacts with a soft eraser and then reinsert it. Be sure to remove power from the ISY before removing the SD card.

You can also post a copy of one of your programs that isn't working 

[andrew77]

I've done what you've said.

Stupid question...

How will I know if its fixed my issue? 

Will I have to wait until tomorrow night when my timer program goes off?

 

 

[Geddy]

@andrew77 I don’t think your issue is going to be fixed by restarting the ISY.  You need to check on the program summary page to see if the programs are set to run at startup.  Also, any timers would need to have “catch up on reboot” set in the configurations tab.  
 

As for testing if the timer will run without having to wait for tomorrow you can right click any program and run the then or else directly to make sure they do what you expect them to do. 
 

You can also see in the summary page the last time the program ran to make sure it is actively running if it should be.

What kind of timers and programs aren’t working? You can share them here. Right click the program and select “copy to clipboard” and then paste here. You might have some other issues in the programs, but more than likely it’s that the program needs to be set to run at startup.  

[andrew77]

Heres a scene that didn't work this evening

Barns On - [ID 0006][Parent 0001]

If
        Time is Sunset 
 
Then
        Set Scene 'Outside Lights' On
        Set Scene 'Yard Lights' On
 
Else
   - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action')

 

Pretty straight forward. Here's another

Away - [ID 0014][Parent 0001]

If
        Time is Sunset 
    And Status  'Kitchen Sink' is Off
    And Status  'Kitchen Uppers' is Off
    And Status  'Hallway KPL-A Hall' is Off
 
Then
        Set Scene 'Away' On
        Send Notification to 'Email'
 
Else
   - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action')
 

I'm attaching a screenshot of the Programs Summary in hopes to shed more light on it.

If all works well tomorrow I'll assume everything is good.

Drew

[Geddy]

4 minutes ago, andrew77 said:

Barns On - [ID 0006][Parent 0001]

If
        Time is Sunset 

Did you reboot after sunset? If so this program is only going to run at the time of sunset. If you have it set to run at startup and catch-up programs it might trigger (I don’t have any programs like this so not exactly sure if this will trigger if power goes out and comes back after sunset).

Is there a reason to have one program for on and one for off? 

I have a program for outside lights to come on at sunset and go off after sunrise (next day). That is one program, and would run if the power goes off and back on after sunset.   
 

I’m on a mobile device currently so can’t copy/share my program, but basically:

IF = from sunset to sun rise (next day)

then = turn light on

else = blank

The program is set to run on startup.  (Right click on the program in the summary tab and select “run at startup”. This way if the power resets and the time is between sunset and sunrise the light will turn on (in case it wasn’t already on). 
 

 

[andrew77]

The reboot didn't help.

Anyone have any other thoughts?

Drew

[MrBill]

36 minutes ago, andrew77 said:

Anyone have any other thoughts?

I suspect that your program is running based on your screen shot that show the "next scheduled time", if so then the problem is a communication or links issue. 

To find out for sure, create a couple of new emails for notifications.... "barns On THEN running" and "Away mode Then running"  then add a notification to each program.    If the notification arrives then you have a different problem, either a bad PLM from a power outage surge or Insteon Communication issues.

[andrew77]

4 minutes ago, MrBill said:

To find out for sure, create a couple of new emails for notifications.... "barns On THEN running" and "Away mode Then running"  then add a notification to each program.

I'm sorry for being a dullard but I'm not exactly sure what you're asking me to do here.

Do you want me to make a new program and add an email alert to it?

 

[dbwarner5]

@andrew77 You may want to check what time the ISY thinks Sunset is. For some reason, after the time change this weekend, my sunset and sunrise were off an hour yesterday, even though the ISY clock was correct. 

It is correct today.

Edited March 14, 2022 by dbwarner5

[MrBill]

2 minutes ago, andrew77 said:

I'm sorry for being a dullard but I'm not exactly sure what you're asking me to do here.

Do you want me to make a new program and add an email alert to it?

 

Yes, but not a new program, add an email to your existing program. 

Actually the second program has an email, but only it's only sent when all conditions are met, so for that one the notification would be for the ELSE (my prior reply above is incorrect on that one).

Barns On - [ID 0006][Parent 0001]

If
        Time is Sunset 
 
Then
        Set Scene 'Outside Lights' On
        Set Scene 'Yard Lights' On
        Send Notification to 'Email' Content 'BarnsON'
 
Else
   - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action')

 

Pretty straight forward. Here's another

Away - [ID 0014][Parent 0001]

If
        Time is Sunset 
    And Status  'Kitchen Sink' is Off
    And Status  'Kitchen Uppers' is Off
    And Status  'Hallway KPL-A Hall' is Off
 
Then
        Set Scene 'Away' On
        Send Notification to 'Email'
 
Else
        Send Notification to 'Email' Content 'NotAway'

[andrew77]

3 minutes ago, MrBill said:

Yes, but not a new program, add an email to your existing program. 

Just added a notification to the barns program.

I already have a notification on the Away program.

 

6 minutes ago, dbwarner5 said:

@andrew77 You may want to check what time the ISY thinks Sunset is.

Good call. For some reason I was on Los Angeles time when it should have been Toronto.

Maybe that was it?

I'll see if the program runs this evening.

 

[dbwarner5]

3 minutes ago, andrew77 said:

Good call. For some reason I was on Los Angeles time when it should have been Toronto.

 

In Admin console, check the top on the main screen

[MrBill]

13 minutes ago, andrew77 said:

I already have a notification on the Away program.

Since that notifications fires only when all the conditions are met, you could add a second notification to the now empty ELSE... then you would know if the program runs If you get one notifcation you know its from the THEN and AWAY is on, if you get the other notification from ELSE then you know the the program ran, but you're not away.

Of course these are for testing purposes and can be later deleted.

[DennisC]

11 hours ago, dbwarner5 said:

In Admin console, check the top on the main screen

This was an error in the UI only. It didn't impact the next time a program would run. If you check the next run time of all potentially impacted programs they were set to the correct time.

[MrBill]

12 hours ago, DennisC said:

This was an error in the UI only. It didn't impact the next time a program would run. If you check the next run time of all potentially impacted programs they were set to the correct time.

We may be getting confused here.  I'm pretty sure the OP @andrew77 is using an ISY994.  ISY on Polisy (IoP) had a problem with Sunrise/Sunset times after daylight savings time.  @dbwarner5 was showing @andrew77 where to find Sunset and Sunrise time because drew is having issues with programs running.  It turned out one of drew's problems was that he had the wrong timezone set.  I don't believe anything in this thread deals with the problems experience on IoP after the time change. 

Edited March 15, 2022 by MrBill

[lilyoyo1]

On 3/13/2022 at 9:45 PM, andrew77 said:

Heres a scene that didn't work this evening

Barns On - [ID 0006][Parent 0001]

If
        Time is Sunset 
 
Then
        Set Scene 'Outside Lights' On
        Set Scene 'Yard Lights' On
 
Else
   - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action')

 

.

Drew

One thing I'd change is your scenes. I would create a new scene with all devices in it and run that single scene instead of 2 separate ones back to back (unless it would become a large scene)

[andrew77]

Hi guys,

I waited a few days before posting to keep an eye on the timers etc.

The problem was indeed that it put me on LA time, which I believe is 3 hours different. 

Not sure why that was but I'll remember to check it if theres an issue in the future.

 

Thanks again for everyones help.