ctviggen1 Posted July 21, 2023 Posted July 21, 2023 I have a bunch of "away" programs I use when I go on vacation. Like "upstairs hallway away", "master bathroom away", where I turn on/off lights to make it look like someone is here. I enable these before vacation and disable them after vacation. I want to create one main program where I enable all of them, then disable all of them. Currently, I'm just enabling all of them in the "Then" part of a program, then disabling them in the "Else" part of the program. Is this reasonable? If I want to run the "then" part of this program manually (eg, through the Admin Console), can I do this? If so, how? I will likely add this to ISY portal and use Alexa to turn everything on, because I'd like to test this so I can create another similar program (eg, "getting back late" or "going to dinner"). (I would use something like "going on vacation" as the key words.) Is there any reason NOT to use Alexa?
TheA2Z Posted July 21, 2023 Posted July 21, 2023 2 minutes ago, ctviggen1 said: I have a bunch of "away" programs I use when I go on vacation. Like "upstairs hallway away", "master bathroom away", where I turn on/off lights to make it look like someone is here. I enable these before vacation and disable them after vacation. I want to create one main program where I enable all of them, then disable all of them. Currently, I'm just enabling all of them in the "Then" part of a program, then disabling them in the "Else" part of the program. Is this reasonable? If I want to run the "then" part of this program manually (eg, through the Admin Console), can I do this? If so, how? I will likely add this to ISY portal and use Alexa to turn everything on, because I'd like to test this so I can create another similar program (eg, "getting back late" or "going to dinner"). (I would use something like "going on vacation" as the key words.) Is there any reason NOT to use Alexa? I do it with setting a vacation or Away variable. If I set my Elk alarm away it sets the variable to 1. Then all my away programs look for my away variable if 1. When I disarm my alarm the away variable is set by to 0. You could also use UD Mobile to manual set an away variable. Im not into microphones being in my house. Not that Im saying anything concerning. I just value my privacy. I know some will say what about your phone or your Roku device that is listening. I set all those off for microphone listening. Whether they do so or not is another story. That being said, when I sell my house, I will most likely convert my Eisy controller to whatever the most simple controller there is and add Alexa or whatever else is popular at that time. High probability of whoever is buying house not being a techie.
ctviggen1 Posted July 22, 2023 Author Posted July 22, 2023 That's an interesting idea. I have never used variables. I'll have to look into these. I have not set up UD Mobile yet. Mainly because we run everything through Alexa, which my wife also has on her phone and she can control everything too. At some point, I'll get to installing that. I'm too far into Alexa to stop now. We can say things like "watching movie", and a bunch of lights go off and on for movie watching; my kids use it to turn on/off lights and their ceiling fans; we have a "dog lights", which turns on at least 4 different sets of lights to light up the area at night while the pup goes out. I resisted Alexa for a long time, but once you get used to it. it's hard not to have it. I also don't know what will happen when we sell the house. Most people wouldn't know how to program the EISY. I have an MSEE, so it comes relatively easy to me. For the program I'm using now, I realize I can also disable some things while we're away, like a towel warmer. Nice to have when you're here (and dries the towels during the summer), but a waste of energy when you're not.
Andy P Posted July 22, 2023 Posted July 22, 2023 Pul all of the away programs in a folder. I use the name Random because the lights have a random pattern. Create a State (boolean) variable $State_Random. Set the folder condition to IF $State_Random is 1 Put a scene controller by the door that you exit - use that to turn the random mode on and off. Very easy as you leave the house! Assign one of the buttons of the scene controller to a scene called Switch Random. Create these programs SC Random On Switch If 'SC / Mudroom Scene.B' is switched On Then Run Program 'Turn Random On' (Then Path) Resource 'Notify Random On' SC Random Off Switch If 'SC / Mudroom Scene.B' is switched Off Then Run Program 'Turn Random Off' (Then Path) Resource 'Notify Random Off' Turn Random On If - No Conditions - (To add one, press 'Schedule' or 'Condition') Then $State_Random = 1 $State_Random Init To 1 Set 'Switch Random' On Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action') And Turn Random Off If - No Conditions - (To add one, press 'Schedule' or 'Condition') Then $State_Random = 0 $State_Random Init To 0 Set 'Switch Random' Off 1
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