Using "Repeat xx Times"

[AD8BC]

A couple of years ago I needed to call an ambulance for my wife and the paramedics had difficulty locating my home (even with well-lit address, etc). What I am trying to do is to write a program to flash the outside lights to make my home more visible. I have tried the following program:

 

If
       Status  'KPL_FOYER H' is On
   And Control 'KPL_FOYER H' is not switched Off

Then
       Repeat 10 times
          Run program '911 FLASH ON'
          Wait  1 second
          Run program '911 FLASH OFF'
          Wait  1 second

Else
       Stop program '911 FLASH'

 

It will run 10 times (I picked 10 times just to test it). It does what it says it will do -- flash 10 times and stop. I would like to make it flash until I turn it off (the 999 maximum would be OK) but I would also like a way to stop it by turning off the 'KPL_FOYER H' button. I made a separate program that stops this program if the button is turned off but this doesn't work (probably because the ISY continues to loop the program. And, since the program seems to loop without checking the "if" rung then it won't stop itself. I have also tried calling the program from itself to make it repeat (instead of using "Repeat xx times"), thinking that that would make it repeat until the program was false... it doesn't even repeat that way. I also copied the program to another program and used the end of one program to call the other and vice versa and it wouldn't stop flashing! I had to manually stop it from the ISY.

 

Any ideas?

[upstatemike]

I have always wondered with flashing programs if the traffic generated would present a problem for regular Insteon activities? If not, would it be practical to use this program to flash a keypadlinc button LED to act as an annunciator? Maybe have the LED flashing whenever an external light is on during the day so you are more likely to notice the indicator?

[Michel Kohanim]

AD8BC,

 

Some rules:

1. Adding delays below 3-4 seconds might work intermittently especially if you have devices you can communicate with intermittently

2. Instead of using a Program, create a scene called 911, and put all the devices that you want turned on/off in that scene as responders

 

Here's my setup:

If
       Control 'Entrance KPL A' is switched On
   And Control 'Entrance KPL A' is not switched Off

Then
       Repeat 65 times
          Set  Scene '911' Fast On
          Wait  3 seconds
          Set  Scene '911' Fast Off
          Wait  3 seconds

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

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[AD8BC]

I will try that after work!

 

Thank you sir.

 

Also ordered a pair of Accesspoints today. I do have some intermittant issues I want to see if I can take care of.

 

Other than those particular issues, it is working great. Got all my groups programmed, got some timers in for the outside lights to come on 20 minutes before sunset, to dim down at midnight, come on 30 minutes before sunrise and turn off at sunrise. I will be eventually adding motion detectors to brighten the outside lights for a few minutes when activated.

 

Also, all lights on/off works well, including LED follow.

 

As a quick comment, I am an industrial automation engineer, I program Allen-Bradley and Modicon PLC controllers and am getting into Siemens controllers as well. After spending all day with those programs, it is a treat to come home and play with the ISY-26!

 

-- Bill

[Michel Kohanim]

Bill,

 

My pleasure!

 

I cannot even fathom what's it like to program Modicon and Allen Bradley controllers! It must be really involved.

 

Please do let me know if this solution worked for you.

 

Thanks and with kind regards,

Michel

 

I will try that after work!

 

Thank you sir.

 

Also ordered a pair of Accesspoints today. I do have some intermittant issues I want to see if I can take care of.

 

Other than those particular issues, it is working great. Got all my groups programmed, got some timers in for the outside lights to come on 20 minutes before sunset, to dim down at midnight, come on 30 minutes before sunrise and turn off at sunrise. I will be eventually adding motion detectors to brighten the outside lights for a few minutes when activated.

 

Also, all lights on/off works well, including LED follow.

 

As a quick comment, I am an industrial automation engineer, I program Allen-Bradley and Modicon PLC controllers and am getting into Siemens controllers as well. After spending all day with those programs, it is a treat to come home and play with the ISY-26!

 

-- Bill

[jgraziano]

Bill,

 

My pleasure!

 

I cannot even fathom what's it like to program Modicon and Allen Bradley controllers! It must be really involved.

 

Please do let me know if this solution worked for you.

 

Thanks and with kind regards,

Michel

 

I will try that after work!

 

Thank you sir.

 

Also ordered a pair of Accesspoints today. I do have some intermittant issues I want to see if I can take care of.

 

Other than those particular issues, it is working great. Got all my groups programmed, got some timers in for the outside lights to come on 20 minutes before sunset, to dim down at midnight, come on 30 minutes before sunrise and turn off at sunrise. I will be eventually adding motion detectors to brighten the outside lights for a few minutes when activated.

 

Also, all lights on/off works well, including LED follow.

 

As a quick comment, I am an industrial automation engineer, I program Allen-Bradley and Modicon PLC controllers and am getting into Siemens controllers as well. After spending all day with those programs, it is a treat to come home and play with the ISY-26!

 

-- Bill

 

Hi Michel,

A little OT here, but industrial automation programming such as AD8BC does (and I did for many years before going into sales) is involved, you're right, but is also lots of fun. It is extremely rewarding to see, via your programming, a manufacturing line a city-block long come to life and produce something we may see in our every day lives. Of course, along with that comes the liability and responsibility-health and safety of those operating the equipment are in your hands.

But it is fun, and very rewarding.

 

Sorry for the OT!

[Michel Kohanim]

jgraziano,

 

Thanks so very much for the OT! I have always wondered how these systems work and now I can surely appreciate the enormity of what's involved in programming them.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[AD8BC]

jgraziano,

 

Thanks so very much for the OT! I have always wondered how these systems work and now I can surely appreciate the enormity of what's involved in programming them.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

 

Michel, are you in Encino (where the contact address for UD is)? If so, next time I get out to Riverside, if I can get the OK from the customer, I will offer you a first class tour of one of the facilities that I programmed and commissioned (I can't mention the name of the customer here but it could be one of the hubs of one of the three or four shipping companies you use).

 

You are an expert in home automation and I will show you all about industrial automation.

[Michel Kohanim]

AD8BC,

 

Thanks so very much for the offer; it'd be a pleasure and I can actually learn something new.

 

Thanks again and with kind regards,

Michel

 

jgraziano,

 

Thanks so very much for the OT! I have always wondered how these systems work and now I can surely appreciate the enormity of what's involved in programming them.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

 

Michel, are you in Encino (where the contact address for UD is)? If so, next time I get out to Riverside, if I can get the OK from the customer, I will offer you a first class tour of one of the facilities that I programmed and commissioned (I can't mention the name of the customer here but it could be one of the hubs of one of the three or four shipping companies you use).

 

You are an expert in home automation and I will show you all about industrial automation.

[DEGoodrich]

As a quick comment, I am an industrial automation engineer, I program Allen-Bradley and Modicon PLC controllers and am getting into Siemens controllers as well. After spending all day with those programs, it is a treat to come home and play with the ISY-26!

 

 

Same Here! I have been having fun with this!

I have been programming Allen Bradley PLC's/SLC's for over 20 years now!

I finally great to be able to make thing in my house do what ever I want.

I already have close to 100 programs already. I am sure I will never stop!

[Michel Kohanim]

DEGoodrich,

 

That's excellent. Please do keep us updated with your progress!

 

With kind regards,

Michel

 

As a quick comment, I am an industrial automation engineer, I program Allen-Bradley and Modicon PLC controllers and am getting into Siemens controllers as well. After spending all day with those programs, it is a treat to come home and play with the ISY-26!

 

 

Same Here! I have been having fun with this!

I have been programming Allen Bradley PLC's/SLC's for over 20 years now!

I finally great to be able to make thing in my house do what ever I want.

I already have close to 100 programs already. I am sure I will never stop!

[DEGoodrich]

As mentioned before I am an advanced PLC programmer.

Sometimes I can't help trying to emulate a PLC instruction.

I usually figure out a work-around. Sometimes when trying to

emulate a simple PLC instruction, it turns out to be a very lengthy and complex program.

I have a couple of requests for future updates.

Maybe "AD8BC" could try to better explain what I am trying to acomplish.

 

#1) Being able to "nest " within prograns.

 

#2) Ability to "force" a program to be true or false.

So when a program is no longer running or stopped, it would be false.

 

3) Ability to use "program running" in an "if" argument.

 

4) This one I will definately need help explaining.

ability to use the "wait" instruction status. (like PLC timmers)

"/EN" enabled, "/TT" counting, "/DN" done.

Aslo the timer progress, like "/ACC" accumilated.

so if a timmer it set for 60sec, and it is enabled and counting,

you could make a trigger like:

if timer is enabled, counting, and greater than 30sec then ....

 

5) is it possible to use fractions of seconds?

 

I know, I know, I am getting a little carried away with this.

Good thing I live alone, any one would go crazy trying to figure out all of the scenes and button/paddle tap sequences.

I would have to write a manual for all this.

 

My neigbhor has already asked me "what are you doing in that house in the middle of the night", "I see lights going off and on all over the place", "I know you can't be running around the house turnning light off and on that fast" I explaind it to him. His question was "WHY?" and "You need to get a life!"

[Chris Jahn]

#1) Being able to "nest " within prograns.

You can use Folder conditions to accomplish most nesting

 

#2) Ability to "force" a program to be true or false.

So when a program is no longer running or stopped, it would be false.

You can force a program to be true or false. A program is true when 'Then' runs and false when 'Else' runs. If you want it to be false after the 'Then' completes, add 'Run Program (Else Path)' as the last action in your 'Then'.

 

3) Ability to use "program running" in an "if" argument.

You could simulate this by changing the true/false state of a dummy program by adding a 'Run' as the first action, and a 'Run Else' as the last action, then comparing the true/false value of that dummy program.

 

4) This one I will definately need help explaining.

ability to use the "wait" instruction status. (like PLC timmers)

"/EN" enabled, "/TT" counting, "/DN" done.

Aslo the timer progress, like "/ACC" accumilated.

so if a timmer it set for 60sec, and it is enabled and counting,

you could make a trigger like:

if timer is enabled, counting, and greater than 30sec then ....

I'm not sure I understand this one, maybe a more detailed example would help.

 

5) is it possible to use fractions of seconds?

 

Can't use fractions of seconds now; what would you use them for?

[DEGoodrich]

Thanks for the tips!

 

As far as the fraction/secconds, I will try to make this breif, but....

 

I have EZIO8SA that will not work for what I want them for.

The inputs are useless, but the outputs work just fine.

 

I have 4 ceiling fans with lights. I have not been able to find an X-10 or Insteon fan speed control. So I have to make use with the RF remote/module with the EZIO8SA and the ISY.

What I have done is I took 1 of the remotes appart and soldered wires to the PCB:

1-Common

2-Light

3-Low

4-Med

5-Hi

6-Off

7-Address DIP SW 1

8-Address DIP SW 2

(00=1, 01=2, 10=3, 11=4)

 

Then I connected to the relay outputs.

 

My program first set and holds the fan address,

then pulses for 1 second the selected fan speed,

then releases the address.

 

This works perfect for the fan, but the light is a little more tricky.

If the output is pulses for less than 1 sec, the light turns off or on.

If the output is held for more tan a seccond the light brightens.

 

Also I would like to install a KeypadLink in the wall for each fan.

But I am not sure yet if you can use then just to interface with the ISY and not connect the load wire.

I would use the large buttons for the light and the other 4 for the speed.

 

This is a much too expensive and complicated work-around.

I wish they would make a Insteon Dimmer type controller.

 

I did try to use 2 in-line dimmers.

It worked fine for the lights, but not the motors.

They just vibrated and buzzed.

Then I tried an in-line relay for the fan.

It was like having a huricane in the house.

We get enough of those here as it is!