Garage Door Acts Erratic

[jmed999]

I have the following program for each of my 2 garage doors...

 

If
       Time is Sunset 
   And Status  'Garage Doors / Garage1 - Sensor' is Off

Then
       Send Notification to 'My text' content 'Garage1'
       Wait  5 minutes 
       Set 'Garage Doors / My Garage - Relay' On

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

 

Sometimes this actually opens the garage door. Like tonight...my garage door was closed but at sunset it opened. This happened to my wife's garage door a couple weeks ago when we were out of town for Thanksgiving. Her garage door was open for 2 days.

 

Any idea what the problem may be?

[TJF1960]

I am assuming when your garage door is closed the Sensor is On.

I see only 2 ways that program will run true (Then).

1) The program was called by another program (or manually thru the admin console)

2) The sensor status was "off" when sunset occured.

 

Maybe go back thru your logs for the previous 24 hrs to see if the sensor turned off but not back on.

[jmed999]

I am assuming when your garage door is closed the Sensor is On.

I see only 2 ways that program will run true (Then).

1) The program was called by another program (or manually thru the admin console)

2) The sensor status was "off" when sunset occured.

 

Maybe go back thru your logs for the previous 24 hrs to see if the sensor turned off but not back on.

 

Correct....then sensor is on when the door is closed.

-There are no other programs that call for the garage doors to close.

-The sensor must have been off when sunset occurred I think is it. Not sure why the sensor would be off if the door is closed.

 

Any ideas why the garage door sensor is off only sometimes when the garage door is closed?

 

Thanks.

[Brian H]

Magnet and Switch are at the edge of activating and sometimes the switch does not close.

Switch itself maybe going intermittent.

[LeeG]

Check the Green LED on the I/O Linc at the wire connections. It is On when the Sensor is On. If the Green LED is Off when the door is closed the problem is related to the magnetic switch, how close together, wiring, etc.

 

If the Green LED is On and the Admin Console shows the Sensor as Off (assuming Trigger Reverse is not being used) there is a comm problem between the I/O Linc and the PLM. Run the Event Viewer at LEVEL 3, controlling the I/O Linc Relay from the Admin Console. Look at the Hops Left=x counts. Are the counts consistent across may Relay operations? Is it Max Hops=3, Hops Left=0 which is at the edge of reliability. Hops Left=2 is preferred, Hops Left=1 is okay if the number is consistent. If Hops Left count moves around between 2/1/0 it indicates a comm problem.

[jmed999]

The green lights are on when the garage doors open when they shouldn't. How would a comm cause the device to do the opposite of what it should. Seems like a comm issue would just cause it not to act at all.

[LeeG]

The Green LED being On when the door is open indicates a problem with magnetic switch or associated wiring. There is no Insteon communication involved.

[jmed999]

The green lights are on when the garage doors open when they shouldn't.

 

This means the green light in on when the garage doors are closed but the program opens them up. The program should be closing them.

[LeeG]

“Correct....then sensor is on when the door is closed. “

 

"The green lights are on when the garage doors open when they shouldn't. "

 

Are these two results inaccurate. It was my understanding the I/O Linc Green LED is normally On when the door is closed. I understood from the post two back the Green LED was also On when the door was open.

 

That indicates a wiring or magnetic switch problem.

 

The state of the Green LED is key. It reflects the true On or Off status of the I/O Linc Sensor, independent of what has or has not been communicated to the ISY.

[jmed999]

Tonight was a great example of the erratic behavior....

 

I have programs that close the 2 garage doors at sunset and another set of programs that will close the doors at 10PM. After a while they started to open when they were closed instead of just staying closed. So I added a notification 10 minutes before sunset and 10 minutes before 10PM if the garage doors were going to close.

 

Tonight 10 minutes before 10PM I got a text telling me at 10PM the ISY was going to close the garage doors. I immediately walked into the garage and noticed they were both closed and the little green light was on both devices. I waited and at 10PM the ISY opened one of the garage doors.

 

I believe this means nothing is wrong with the sensors. Does this mean it must be a comm issue? How can I further diagnose the problem?

 

Please help!

[jmed999]

Sorry I think this statement is confusing you...""The green lights are on when the garage doors open when they shouldn't. " It means the green light is on when the garage doors are closed but the ISY opens it anyways. So the green light is on when the garage doors are closed which is the "on" position of the device.

[LeeG]

If the Green LED is On and the ISY shows a Status of Sensor Off (assuming Trigger Reverse is not being used) the ISY Sensor status is not in sync with the I/O Linc. Run tools | Diagnostic | Event Viewer with LEVEL 3 selected. Open and close the garage door several times with the manual button in the garage and watch the Insteon traffic generated. Likely the traffic does not accurately reflect the change in I/O Linc Sensor state. Look at the Hops Left=x count. The smaller the hops left count and/or the hops left count changing across open/close cycles, or state changes being missed altogether indicates a comm issue with the I/O Linc location.