ISY Control of Thermostats with TriggerLinc

[dstewart]

Hello,

I am new to the forum and to ISY programming which is why I desparately am seeking programming help from an expert.

Have ISY99i with Dual Band PLM controlling a Venstar T1800 Thermostat (naturally with adaptor). This is installed in a vacation rental property where the guests seriously abuse the Air Conditioning. I have numerous TriggerLinc switches installed to turn off the AC when doors or windows are left open.

I wrote 2 small programs as follows:

 

Program Name: Main Thermostat OFF

 

If

Status "Main Thermostat" is Mode Cool

And Status "Pool Door 1-Opened" is On

Or Staus "Front Door-Opened" is On

Then

Wait 1 minute

Set "Main Thermostat" Mode Off

 

There are actually a lot more switches but you get the idea of the program. This all worked just fine.

Then I realised that guests would not be happy having to turn the AC back on manually after each time they opened a door and then closed it later.

So I wrote a little program to automatically turn the AC back on once they closed all the doors and windows:

 

Program Name: Main Thermostat ON

 

If

Status "Pool Door 1-Opened" is Off

And Status Front Door-Opened" is Off

Then

Set "Main Thernostat" Mode Cool

 

This also seemed to work fine in the above circumstance. However, I quickly realised that in situations where the AC was already off but someone then opened and closed a door it turned the AC on unintentionally. This happened with cleaners coming in when the house was empty - obviously not what was desired.

 

So the question was - how to get a program that turns the AC back on but ONLY when it had already just been truned OFF by the first program and not in other situations where the AC was already manually off?

I tried the addition of the following line at the start of the "Main Thermostat ON" Program:

 

If

Program "Main Thermostat OFF" is True

And Status "Pool Door 1-Opened" is Off

And Status "Front Door-Opened" is Off

Then

Set "Main Thermostat" Mode Cool

 

This addition seemed to stop the program from running when the cleaners came in. However, to my surprise, it also seemed to stop the program from running ever, including in the desired circumstances.

 

It is difficult to test changes since I have to access the system remotely from Canada down to Costa Rica and I have to be sure there will not be any erratic situations occur for guests. So I am seeking any ideas or guidance about how to get this second program to run only when the first program has just been activated. Within the standard pulldown commands in ISY I just don't see any other way and I am not sure yet how to enter BASIC commands that are not on the pulldowns. Any help would be much appreciated

Thanks

Duncan

[Michel Kohanim]

Hello Duncan,

 

You seem to be quite well versed with ISY programming so I am going to make this short and quick:

1. You can use the state of a program as variables and therefore as conditions for other programs

2. To make a program explicitly true, in the Action section of Thermostat Off, choose the variable program and then apply Run Then. To make if false, choose Run Else

3. Use the status of this program in your Thermostat On program. i.e. this program could have only been turned to true if and only if Thermostat Off was run

 

I hope it makes sense.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[dstewart]

Hi Michael,

Thank you so much for your response. I am going to have to spend some time working through the logic of this as part of my learning (regrettably your kind statement about my level of kmowledge in ISY programming is not accurate - I am a complete beginner at this).

I am going to try and create a new program based on your input, but I am not confident I will get it right and I dare not experiment with live guests incurring the consequences in our rental property.

If there is any way you could spell it out more fully as to the actual program changes you would recommend I would be most grateful

Best wishes

Duncan