My first post here, so I’m hoping I don’t say something stupid!
I have recently installed a Vera 2 and several Z-wave switches and thermostats. All appear to be working well, except for the last project. I hope someone here can shed some light on the problem.
I am using a Dakota Alert long distance driveway sensor and base station. The base station has a contact closure output when motion is detected. I have wired this interface to a Homeseer door sensor, which has a contact closure input set of contacts (actually, it is a contact-open sensing interface, but that is a minor problem since the DA base station releases the closure contacts in just a few seconds, which is the event detected by the door sensor). I hope all this makes sense. So far, it works as expected.
Now, for the problem. I have programmed a scene which is triggered by the door sensor alarm, and the scene issues a command to turn on my outside flood lights for 10 minutes. Works fine. However, I dont want the lights to come on during the day time, so I need to condition the command on the time of day (i.e., after sunset and before sunrise only). The only way I could think of to implement this, was to set up two more scenes triggered by timers, one to alarm the door sensor at sundown, and one to bypass it
during the day. This does not work. The lights still come on any time driveway motion is detected. I tried manually commanding bypass of the door sensor, but that does not work either. So, either I do not understand what ‘Arm’ and ‘Bypass’ are supposed to do (most likely!), or I am failing to understand how to do a proper scene with conditions. I know there must be a more elegant way (‘Luup’…?) to do what I am trying to do, but I am just to ignorant to see it.
If someone could help me understand the problem, it would be much appreciated! Thanks in advance,
Without all of the LUUP confusion, I do similar to this with my garage door sensor. The sensor has a function to arm and dis-arm which I presume your HomeSEER door sensor will as well. Set up a scene with timer to arm it at sunset then set the lighting scene to activate when an armed sensor is tripped. Set another scene to disarm the sensor at sunrise and your all set. If your light is turning on with the sensor dis-armed than you probalby missed the setting for when an armed sensor is tripped.
Thanks to everyone that replied. I think the problem is now solved.
Strangely, thank you for the Luup code. I have inserted it in the scene and it has stopped the light triggering during the day time. I’ll check it again after sundown, but I am confident it will work. I knew there had to be a more elegant way to condition the event than the brute force way I was trying.
Raskell, the arming/disarming scheme you suggested is exactly what I was trying and failing to get to work. The HM-DW001 Home Manageables door sensor I am using shows up in the Dashboard under Devices as having an Arm button and a Bypass button. I can click the Bypass button, save the change and the sensor still responds to the driveway alarm contact closure. It seems to make no difference whether it is Armed or Bypassed. Do I have a defective sensor, or is my ignorance the problem?
To all others: Since I posted the above, I have discovered that Lua is a widely used programming code, and I need to at least get to the point where I can make use of the ‘canned’ Luup scripts in my system. I have no interest in learning to do basic programming (I am an old, grisly, retired engineer, and unafraid of technology, with too many other hobbies to undertake to become a Lua programmer). However, I am beginning to understand when and how to search for Luup scripts when attempting to do something beyond one-step basics in my scenes, but I am sure I will have to ask for help in this forum in the future.
Glad to hear you have something working for you. As for my suggestion, do not use the buttons for arm and disarm but create a scene to arm the sensor. I use 30 minutes before sunset then after 10 hours disarm.
You would then create a scene for ‘motion sensor tripped’ and in that scene, create an event where the device is the door sensor and the event type is ‘when an armed sensor is tripped’. On the command tab, pick the light you want to turn on and set it as on then after x minutes off. When done properly the light will only come on when the armed sensor is tripped.
It would be nice if you could test this out and get it working as this sort of thing is done regularly with motion, door and window sensors.
Glad to hear you have something working for you. As for my suggestion, do not use the buttons for arm and disarm but create a scene to arm the sensor. I use 30 minutes before sunset then after 10 hours disarm.
You would then create a scene for ‘motion sensor tripped’ and in that scene, create an event where the device is the door sensor and the event type is ‘when an armed sensor is tripped’. On the command tab, pick the light you want to turn on and set it as on then after x minutes off. When done properly the light will only come on when the armed sensor is tripped.
It would be nice if you could test this out and get it working as this sort of thing is done regularly with motion, door and window sensors.[/quote]
I suspect the previous scene he created was “a sensor is tripped” rather than “an armed sensor”
I’m interested in how you’ve been getting on with your Dakota driveway alarm and the homeseer door module? I’ve been looking for something that I can integrate into my Z-Wave network that will alert me when someone comes down our long driveway.
Which model of the Dakota alarm do you have? Would you recommend it? On taking apart the homeseer module is it fairly obvious where to make the modifications?
Cheers, Mark.
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