MIOS SmartSwitch as Power Monitor Only

Community Playground General Discussions
1

Hello Everyone,
This is my first post of several after lurking for some time here. I got my system up and running after lots of programming and resetting and reading. As I get to know the system more there are questions that I have tried to figure out but have been unsuccessful in finding. Here is my first one.

I am using 2 MIOS SmartSwitch devices on my Living Room Home Theatre and Bedroom Home Mini Theatre which I only want to Monitor the Power Consumption. The reason I am doing this is so I can see the power consumption AND also tell if I left one of them on when I left my home. It works very well with the exception of I have mistakenly turned one off once in a while. Is there a way I can “disable” the switch portion of the SmartSwitch so I dont accidentally turn them off or maybe a “2 part Action” that will turn it off so its like a Safety if I must turn it off remotely? I have been waiting for the ZWave Power Strips but like most items seem to be VaporWare at the moment.
Thanks for any help you can give me.
B

2

I think no, the switch part can’t be disabled in those switches.

A workaround would be to make a scene that turns the switch back on if the switch turns off. Not ideal if you’ve got your PVR plugged into it though…

3

Has then been any update to this. I have the exact same need. I would like to put it on my Refrigerator but do not want my food to spoil if I accidentally turn it off.

4

I don’t think anything has really changed. How are you accessing it remotely? In Garrett’s Authomation you can hide devices so as not to mess with them while out. With Home Buddy it’s a two step process to change a device state, so it’s harder to mess something up.

I just noticed that with AutHomation you can also see how many watts the switch is pulling. So if your main fear is turning it off while you’re away, you could hide the switch and when your paranoia takes over you could un-hide it and make sure it was still on. To do this hit the menu button, then device category, then check the hidden category to re-display the device.

futzle’s suggestion also still applies. And I’m sure there is some way to code a scene to a virtual switch so that as long as the virtual switch was on the Smart Switch would either always turn back on or couldn’t be turned off. Some of the more proficient coders could help out here. I can see it happening, but getting from point A to point B is sometimes cloudy.hehe

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[quote=“mundyb, post:4, topic:169855”]How are you accessing it remotely? In Garrett’s Authomation you can hide devices so as not to mess with them while out. With Home Buddy it’s a two step process to change a device state, so it’s harder to mess something up.[/quote]I have been testing iVera and Automator. I am using an iPhone so have not tested Authomation. Automator does have a hide feature but iVera does not appear to have one. Part of my problem in using this workaround is that I would need to do the same on 4 devices (2 iPhones and 2 iPads) for both my wife an I. I think we really need the ability to Monitor without being able to turn the device off easily. Since this is sold by the Vera folks I would think they would be interested in adding this feature.