How to tell if a TriggerLinc has stopped working (battery)

[MikeB]

I use a TriggerLinc in my home to automatically turn on/off my master bedroom closet when my door is opened/closed. If the battery dies it's obvious.

 

However, there are other uses for a TriggerLinc where failure might not be quite as obvious. For example, I just switched to TriggerLincs to sense if my garage doors are open and if so light up an indicator in my master bedroom.

 

Since my GarageDoorStatusLight is way up in my master bedroom, and the primary use of this is a reminder that a garage door is open before going to bed, it might be quite a while before I notice that a garage door was left open and the status light was not on.

 

Since we use the garage doors pretty much every day I wrote programs that run when a door is opened. Once a door is opened a countdown is started. If the ISY does not show that same garage door is opened again within 72 hours it will assume something might be wrong and send an email to me. If that door is opened again within 72 hours, the counter restarts itself.

 

Best case is that I will know in a few days if a TriggerLinc is not working. Worst case is I'll get a bogus message if I'm on vacation for a week and no one is using the garage doors.

 

Here are the programs:

 

GARAGE DOOR 1 BATTERY CHECK

If
       Control 'GarageDoor1Sensor' is switched On

Then
       Wait  72 hours 
       Send Notification to 'Email' content 'GarageDoor1 Battery'

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

 

GARAGE DOOR 2 BATTERY CHECK

If
       Control 'GarageDoor2Sensor' is switched On

Then
       Wait  72 hours 
       Send Notification to 'Email' content 'GarageDoor2 Battery'

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

 

 

Obviously you can adapt this to other uses. However, to be practical, the sensor must be used fairly often. Using this on a TriggerLinc attached to a window that is opened only 3 times per year might not be helpful.

 

Hope this helps someone looking to do something similar!