Does VeraPlus support Logical AND operations?

Other Devices & Integrations Lighting & Load Control
#1

All,

A Noob question here as I’ve tried several things and can’t seem to get a logical AND operation to work on my VeraPlus controller. Here’s what I want to do and it seems rather simple. Scenario: Whenever the Front Door is opened after sunset for my location, I want the Front Porch lights to turn on. I’ve tried using “Day and Night”, “Multi-Switch”, and “Combination Switch” plugins to try and get this to work to no avail. It seems like if I have two triggers it won’t AND them. It appears after some diggin’ the PLEG stuff may do the trick but it’s an extra expense and looks really complicated for my home automation level of noob inexperience. Any ideas on how to make this simple scene work? Thanks in advance for your insight. If in fact, the VeraPlus can’t perform a logical AND operation out of the box, that surely seems like a huge design deficiency in the product. Perhaps I’m just missing something here and the forum can help.

Regards

#2

A quick search of the forum will confirm your suspicions… this is not an ‘out-of-the-box’ functionality, as inconceivable as that may seem.

This thread may help if you pursue the non-PLEG route: Conditional Scene Execution: Some Examples

#3

What you describe is easiest done with pleg BUT it can be done out of the box.

In the scenes there is an option to write lua code with what your want to do there.

#4

I created 2 scenes using the door sensor device, and virtual device for exterior lights are on.

  1. If the door is opened and the exterior lights switch is off, the front porch light turns on. This does turn it on during the day, but that is okay for me.
  2. If the front door is closed and the exterior lights switch is off, it turns off the porch light.

I could add a trigger for Day/Night but my exterior lights turn on at dusk and remain on until dawn. The door opening scene is for that time of day when it is kinda dark outside but the porch light is off for whatever reason.

#5

All,

Thanks for the prompt and insightful replies. It appears the link provided with various lua code examples may have done the trick! Initial testing looks promising. Again, thanks to the forum for your help!

Regards

#6

PLEG is only $6 and it is way easier to program then editing LUA and it is super powerful. I would be willing to be as you get more into your home automation and become less of a noob, you will want/need it. I would recommend checking it out.

#7

PLEG for president! Once you got it, you will love it!

#8

Agreed

#9

Also agreed. I struggled at first, but over the last couple of days, it all clicked and I slapped my $6 down. Now my mind is constantly thinking of ways to do other automation things and I can’t wait until I add more HA hardware.

One of my future plans is to automate my house fan. Turning it on via my Echo and/or if the temp outside is cooler than the temp inside by 2 degrees and at least X number of doors/windows are open. With a fail safe though, if the house fan turns on any NO doors or windows are open, turn it off.

My wife just looked at me a shook her head when I was telling her about this.

#10

I have had a vera (actually on my second) and have never dipped my foot in the PLEG waters. Is there a FAQ or primer somewhere?

#11

PLEG Basics.

http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php/topic,21603.0.html

Once used, you will never go back.

#12
One of my future plans is to automate my house fan. Turning it on via my Echo and/or if the temp outside is cooler than the temp inside by 2 degrees and at least X number of doors/windows are open. With a fail safe though, if the house fan turns on any NO doors or windows are open, turn it off.

My wife just looked at me a shook her head when I was telling her about this.


I do this with a few more features:

  1. When any window open:
    Turn off AC
  2. When at least two windows are open:
    Turn on Window Fan ( i keep this in a quest room during the season when fresh air is great for managing house temp)
  3. Voice announcement when I should consider opening the Windows.
    Another voice announcement if I leave the windows open and the day starts warming.
  4. Fan On/Off is based on Thermostat temperature. I actually use a delta temp from the Thermostat setpoint.
    I will let it get cooler at night with fresh air in the house then what I would cool it to with AC.
#13

Am I missing something here? When the door opens at night, you want the porch light to come on?

Seems simple to me, without using PLEG, LUUA, etc.

What I did was have a scene that arms the door sensor at sunset, disarms at sunrise.
Then I have a scene that turns on the porch light whenever the door sensor is armed and tripped. Works flawlessly. My only issue I ever had was when the outside temp went down below 0 deg F and the battery in the door sensor got too weak. Changed the battery and all was well again.

I’m not trying to discourage the use of PLEG or LUUA, I use them myself, but why re-invent the wheel?

#14

[quote=“RichardTSchaefer, post:12, topic:195175”]I do this with a few more features:

  1. When any window open:
    Turn off AC
  2. When at least two windows are open:
    Turn on Window Fan ( i keep this in a quest room during the season when fresh air is great for managing house temp)
  3. Voice announcement when I should consider opening the Windows.
    Another voice announcement if I leave the windows open and the day starts warming.
  4. Fan On/Off is based on Thermostat temperature. I actually use a delta temp from the Thermostat setpoint.
    I will let it get cooler at night with fresh air in the house then what I would cool it to with AC.[/quote]
    I do the same with my AC now. (That’s why I have those duplicate t_DoorOpen triggers that I need to fix.)
    If you don’t mind sharing, I would love to see how you did the others. And where the voice announcement is coming from, assuming Vera Alerts.
#15

The alert could be coming from SONOS (it supports text-to-speech) or if you pre-record MP3 messages, you can do it with an Aeon Gen5 doorbell. It’s a pretty poor doorbell as about half the buttons are functionally defective, but it can store a ton of MP3s that you can play as needed.

I use the Aeon to play storm watch/warnings, flood warnings, etc.