Invert the reported "normal" state of a sensor?

Community Playground General Discussions
1

Is it possible to invert the “normal” or state of a sensor (in my case, a HRDS1 door/window sensor) from not tripped to tripped?

I have a sensor on a door that I’m monitoring to make sure it is not left closed for long periods of time (so the animals can go downstairs where the cat door is, etc when we are away). I don’t think this is possible, and it’s not a big deal if that is the case, but I thought I would ask. So far, I’ve just gotten used to seeing the red “tripped” state in my dashboard, and on my remotes, but I’m wondering if I can reverse the normal state for just this sensor so that it will display as tripped when the sensor is actually in a not tripped state.

2

I’ve asked both HomeManagebles and Aeon Labs about this. I was looking for a configuration parameter to make them send and OFF when tripped instead of an ON. HomeManageables was willing to make a firmware change if they were purchased in large quantities and Aeon Labs said this was on schedule for the next release of the Door/Window sensor. No idea when that will be.

3

Interesting, thanks Barry.

4

Am I incorrect to gather from ASIHome’s response that this cannot be done within the MCV?

I have just installed and configured an Insteon IO Linc garage door controller, which seems to be working fine. I am being a bit anal, but the closed position means that the sensor is tripped, and therefore the red icon is displayed. In this scenario, my preference would be to show the green icon, meaning that it is secured (i.e., closed).

Within the UI5, I am unable to find a way to modify this. A search of the forum yielded only this topic.

5

@Ds514 - You can do it, if you’re willing to do a fair bit of work. You could create a custom device or a plugin with icons of your choice. Information on how to do it can be found here.

If you simply alter your existing device files reversing the icon names, you can also get it to work, but the changes will be overwritten when your firmware is updates. A plugin would be the better choice.

6

@Z-waver, thanks for the response. Apparently my laziness is overwhelming my analness.

Really, however, I suspect that this solution may be a solution within UI5, but would not change the behaviour of third party apps towards the sensor.

I am trying to convince myself that red means stop, as in you cannot enter the door when it is closed.

7

DS514, I struggled with the same thing for a few hours yesterday. I couldn’t find a reasonable way to do it so I took a middle of the road approach. I ended up using a Virtual Switch to track the device status and then change the Text1 and Text2 variables to say “Door Closed” or Door Open" so that I didn’t have to keep tricking my brain. I also had to do it for “Alarm Armed” and “Alarm Disarmed” as I had the same problem.

Not a perfect solution but easier than some of the others.

8

Thanks for the recommendation. I will look into this. Having a clear indication that the garage door is closed would be great, as I currently go through a 3 step mental process each time, which includes questioning myself on my interpretation of the indicator.

FWIW, the Garage Door plugin is similarly fooled by the configuration of the IO Linc device. I went so far as to buy a Z-Wave sensor to correct this, but the recent installation of numerous Insteon switches into the network made reliability of the IO Linc so solid, that it seemed foolish to install the additional sensor.