Question About "Vacation" Program

[birdman]

Recently moved into a new home and I have been really enjoying programming scenes and managing the lights through my ISY 99i. I have also spent a lot of time reading through these fourms (just reg'd this morning) and there is a ton of useful info. (One of the most important pieces of information that I came across was that when you designate a switch as a "Controller" in a scene, it automatically assumes that the switch is ALSO a Responder. This may seem self evident, but it wasn't to me and it made many questions I had just simply vanish. Thanx for that throw away comment.

 

Here is my question. I am trying to write a couple of programs for Vacation. I am ok with setting different conditions and events to take place within the "Vacation" program, but what I do not yet follow is how I "activate" the Vacation program to the exclusion of the other programs. For example, I have some simple programs to turn on Stair Lights and Front Door Overhead light around Sunset and then turn them off at Sunrise. I also have a few other programs that run on their own every day. But if I establish a Vacation program to take into account, for example, being away over a particular weekend, how do I get that Vacation program to run and NOT for the other programs that would normally run every day, to run during the Vacation program? Do I have to go into the programming screen and "disable" or somehow turn the other programs "OFF"?

 

Thanx in advance

[oberkc]

How I (and, I dare say, most) do this is to use a Keypad button as the designation for home or vacation modes. Your first decision is how you want to designate the vacation mode.

 

Assuming you want to use some type of insteon switch (on=vacation, off=home), you can approach this a couple of ways. One would be to create two program folders. One folder would have the condition:

 

if
status 'vacation switch' is on
then
run the programs in this folder

The other would be:

if
status 'vacation switch' is off
then
run the programs in this folder

 

In each folder you would place the programs you want to run when away (switch on) and home (switch off), respectively.

 

Alternatively, you could simply place a condition in each program who's execution you want to be based on the condition of the vacation switch. The condition would be identical to those above.

[birdman]

Thanx. (I think) this makes sense to me. Basically what you are saying, is develop the program and then designate a button on one of the keypads to trigger the "Vacation" programs. I guess the only potential downside issue with that, is with 4 kids running around "pressing" buttons, they could inadvertently put it all into Vacation mode.

[oberkc]

(I think)

 

Mu suggestions were very general in nature. If you decide to adopt the approach, and later find a specific detail to be unclear, feel free to post more specific questions.

 

I guess the only potential downside issue with that, is with 4 kids running around "pressing" buttons, they could inadvertently put it all into Vacation mode.

 

If this is a real concern, perhaps there are options to mitigate this risk. One that comes to mind is to send yourself an EMail notification anytime this button is pressed. Another might be to locate a keypad switch in some out-of-the-way location, perhaps even in a desktop enclosure under the bed. You could even use one of the android or ipod/pad apps to make access a bit more convenient.