PLEG event firing every 10 minutes for some reason

Plugins & Plugin Development Program Logic (PLEG)
1

I have the following set up in hopes to get a laundry done notification, and for some reason I get notifications just about every 10 minutes and I have no idea why. At first I thought maybe I set the wattage threshold too low and it was flapping, but it seems to happen no matter what I set it at. Just to be sure, I graphed out the wattage once per minute, and it’s definitely staying below the wattage threshold so I have no idea what’s happening. I would expect this kind of behavior if the Repeats checkbox was checked, but it is not… so either there’s a bug in my condition (possible, the syntax has been a lot to wrap around) or something else is going on.

Any ideas?

Edit: I’m running UI7 on a Vera3 for reference

2

I would probably only send the notification if the wattage dips below your threshold and stays below it for more than one minute… see if that works.

3

I thought that’s what I was doing with the condition t_washer_off AND (t_washer_off;NOW > 2:00) . If I understand correctly, wouldn’t that would be a 2 minute delay?

4

Ah, yes, I suppose. I missed that second big red circle somehow.

One would think that c_washer_finished would go from TRUE to FALSE at the same time t_washer_off does.

5

So I did an experiment and unplugged my washer from my Aeon Smart Switch, and I stopped getting notifications but as soon as I plugged it back in they came back like clockwork… very strange. Attached are the status reports from the last two times I got notifications

6

I should be able to fix this in PLEG …
You can also fix this by replacing trigger with a device variable WasherPower, for power usage and using a condition

WasherOff WasherPower < 4

7

@Richard, tried to do as you advised with the following resolve;

Vera is displaying msg; [glow=red,2,300]Speech PLEG[546] : p_WasherPower < 4 : attempt to compare nil with number[/glow]. Looking at the Device icon value it indicates a “0” vs nil am I missing something? I’ve also provided an abbreviated status file associated with the device properties and conditions.

Device Properties
Name Device Name Device Variable Value Last Change Previous Change
p_WasherPower Washer Watts 2015-10-27 20:23:55.100 2015-10-25 17:29:32.102

Conditions
Name Repeat Expression State Last True Last False
c_WasherFinsh No p_WasherPower < 4 true 2015-10-25 17:29:32.105 2015-10-25 17:29:22.713

8

Bump

9

I managed to get this working (so far) by adding a virtual switch then one condition to turn it on if use goes over 4 watts, another if it drops below 4 watts, and finally the notification when the virtual switch has been off for a 5 minutes. Using the property of watts instead of the regular trigger didn’t work and I was still getting repeat notifications even with repeat unchecked on the condition.

10

@zolakk, thank-you for the comeback, I understand how/what you did, question why did you wait 5 minutes? I would have thought I could have used the Watt value within PLEG to trigger the same, am I missing something or is this an issue with PLEG? I was hoping that Richard would have shed some wisdom on this, but it seems that support in regards to PLEG issues is waning of late. Mike

11

There’s no specific reason I picked 5 minutes, it was mainly to test and avoid getting flooded with messages if it didn’t work. I changed it to 1 minute and seems to work fine, but I wanted some kind of delay in case it dips below the threshold during run so I don’t get a false positive on it being done.

Ideally, I would be able to use the watts value straight in the notification trigger, but there seems to be an issue with that where it keeps triggering. Possibly because when my washer is sitting with nothing to do the watts bounce between about 1.8 and 1.9 watts (but still below my threshold of 4) so maybe when it changes it is somehow still causing the condition to trigger? Everything i’ve read says that shouldn’t happen unless you have the “repeats” box checked on the condition though so i’m not sure.

Here’s the report of my setup so you can get a good picture of what I did:

[code]Triggers

Name Description
t_washer_not_running Washer Running (virtual switch) is turned off
t_washer_off Whenever the energy usage for Washing Machine goes below 4 Watts
t_washer_on Energy usage for Washing Machine goes above 4 Watts

Conditions

Name Repeat Expression
c_washer_finished No t_washer_not_running AND (t_washer_not_running; Now > 1:00)
c_washer_on No t_washer_on
c_washer_off No t_washer_off

Actions

Actions for Condition: c_washer_finished
Device Actions:
Immediate
Device Action Arguments
VeraAlerts SendAlert Message=Washer is done!

Actions for Condition: c_washer_off
Device Actions:
Immediate
Device Action Arguments
Washer Running SetTarget newTargetValue=0

Actions for Condition: c_washer_on
Device Actions:
Immediate
Device Action Arguments
Washer Running SetTarget newTargetValue=1[/code]

12

@zolakk, many thanxs for sharing your solution, after review of your report, I assume that t_washer_off and t_washer_on are Pleg triggers that trigger on watts, whilst the virtual switch is named “washer running” and it gets set to a On/Off state via c_washer_on or c_washer_off condition statements? Makes sense, instead of having VeraAlert sending a notification message I will have my SONO make a verbal announcement “Attention! the washer has finished it’s washing cycle, please move the wet clothing to the Dryer, thank-you” Mike

13

Yeah, you got it. I control the virtual switch based on watts and the alert triggers based on how long the virtual switch has been switched to “off”. Using the switch to control the alerts seems to avoid the repeated notifications

14

@zolakk, works like a champ! I noticed that when I first restarted my system (after creating the Pleg) that I got a false announcement, will keep an eye on it (may have been a fluke) Mike