One scene in program not executing

[jgraziano]

Well it's happened to all of us at one time or another, at the designated time some things work and some don't. And a lot of times we complain about Insteon being flakey.

This happened to me tonight. At Sunset minus 1 hour, two scenes are supposed to fire, one for downstairs and one for master bedroom lamps. The MBR lamps did not turn on. And I was in the den when the others went on, I noticed they seem to go on erratically. I checked the status in the ISY, and it thought they were all on.

Well I did a little investigation. I've turned on the Java keystroke reporting, so I opened the console and looked at the log (I added the names):

 

2008/01/26 16:44:15 : [ X10] hc=A uc=5 cc=3 Hall Motion Sensor

 

2008/01/26 16:45:13 : [ A 8B D2 1] ST 127 Liv Rm Lamps

2008/01/26 16:45:13 : [ 9 35 3A 1] ST 127 Den Corner Lamp

2008/01/26 16:45:13 : [ A 91 E8 1] ST 127 Den Reading Lamp

2008/01/26 16:45:13 : [ 5 D2 0 1] ST 127 Den Recliner lamp

2008/01/26 16:45:14 : [ 9 32 A 1] ST 255 MBR Lamp 1

2008/01/26 16:45:14 : [ A 94 12 1] ST 255 MBR Lamp 2

2008/01/26 16:45:14 : [ X10] hc=A uc=5 cc=3 Hall Motion Sensor

2008/01/26 16:45:27 : [ X10] hc=A uc=5 cc=3 Hall Motion Sensor

2008/01/26 16:46:41 : [ X10] hc=A uc=5 cc=11 Hall Motion Sensor

 

From this its very clear what happened. I believe my wife was coming into the room at the same time. At any rate, the motion sensor fired at precisely the same time as the scene and apparently stomped on the Insteon signals for that scene.

 

A couple of points here:

 

-A good log is a wonderful thing. I know we have the log in the console, but it does not log x10 events and you cannot watch it in real time if you need to. The Java log is better in that regard, but it does not resolve any names. Guys, we would really appreciate a good logging function.

 

-Traffic. Try and keep it to a minimum. That motion sensor is used in a program once per day. To turn on the den lights the first time someone walks in there in the morning and then does nothing until the next day. But it is still 'seeing' the activity and sending out x10 commands. I can't turn that off. I'll probably move it to somewhere that will still catch that first motion of the day, but less other motion during the day.

 

-Don't automatically assume when something doesn't work right it's just flakiness or poor design or whatever. If you go looking, you may find that there is a perfectly rational explanation.

 

I'm sure this has been covered here before, I just thought I'd throw it out there again!

[Algorithm]

Jim, good report!

 

One comment below.

 

I've turned on the Java keystroke reporting, so I opened the console and looked at the log (I added the names):

 

2008/01/26 16:44:15 : [ X10] hc=A uc=5 cc=3 Hall Motion Sensor

 

2008/01/26 16:45:13 : [ A 8B D2 1] ST 127 Liv Rm Lamps

2008/01/26 16:45:13 : [ 9 35 3A 1] ST 127 Den Corner Lamp

2008/01/26 16:45:13 : [ A 91 E8 1] ST 127 Den Reading Lamp

2008/01/26 16:45:13 : [ 5 D2 0 1] ST 127 Den Recliner lamp

2008/01/26 16:45:14 : [ 9 32 A 1] ST 255 MBR Lamp 1

2008/01/26 16:45:14 : [ A 94 12 1] ST 255 MBR Lamp 2

2008/01/26 16:45:14 : [ X10] hc=A uc=5 cc=3 Hall Motion Sensor

2008/01/26 16:45:27 : [ X10] hc=A uc=5 cc=3 Hall Motion Sensor

2008/01/26 16:46:41 : [ X10] hc=A uc=5 cc=11 Hall Motion Sensor

 

From this its very clear what happened. I believe my wife was coming into the room at the same time. At any rate, the motion sensor fired at precisely the same time as the scene and apparently stomped on the Insteon signals for that scene.

 

A couple of points here:

 

-A good log is a wonderful thing. I know we have the log in the console, but it does not log x10 events and you cannot watch it in real time if you need to. The Java log is better in that regard, but it does not resolve any names. Guys, we would really appreciate a good logging function.

 

Seconded!

 

-Traffic. Try and keep it to a minimum. That motion sensor is used in a program once per day. To turn on the den lights the first time someone walks in there in the morning and then does nothing until the next day. But it is still 'seeing' the activity and sending out x10 commands. I can't turn that off. I'll probably move it to somewhere that will still catch that first motion of the day, but less other motion during the day.

 

Absolutely, keep traffic to a minimum! Cardinal rule! I noticed your X-10 motion sensor fired ON at 16:45 and OFF at 16:46. Since you are not making use of that OFF signal, you can set your motion for the longest possible timeout [can't remember off the top of my head what that longest interval is--could it be as long as four hours?]. That way, you will avoid an OFF to match every ON that occurs throughout the day, which will save you some traffic.

[jgraziano]

Since you are not making use of that OFF signal, you can set your motion for the longest possible timeout [can't remember off the top of my head what that longest interval is--could it be as long as four hours?]

 

Thanks, Joe, you're absolutely right. That was probably the default and I left it that way out of laziness I suppose. But you can bet I will change it! I believe it does go to about 4 hours. I'm also going to move the sensor to the stairway facing in so it will catch that first morning motion but not see normal activity downstairs or upstairs during the rest of the day.

 

I checked the log and from 8:52 am today until 4:44 pm today that motion sensor fired off 92 X10 commands. That's a bunch!