I have a three way switch in my garage one at each door. The auxiliary switch is located at the entry to the house the main switch at the door to the back yard. I put an automatic time off on the lights they control using a trigger, the trigger is the primary (auxiliary is not visible to vera) if the primary switch is turned on then turn it off after 20 mins. Everything works with the two switch, I can turn on and off the lights by physically pushing either switch.
Here’s where I encounter problems:
If I turn on the lights using the primary switch everything is ok, they turn off after 20 mins as intended.
If I turn on the lights using the auxiliary switch, the light turn on and the p[primary switch appears to toggle state as the blue light on it goes off. Vera however does not see that the light has been turned on and so the trigger never activates to start the turn off timer and the lights stay on indefinitely.
The dashboard does not recognize the switch as being on or off if I use the auxiliary to toggle it.
Has anybody seen this before and is there a way around it?
I though about polling the primary switch but given the dashboard doesn’t see the change in state issues by the auxiliary it doesn’t work either.
I cant move the primary to the house due to the existing wiring in my house. In either case I want the time off to work regardless of which switch is pressed to turn the lights on.
Thanks for any help, its been driving me nuts for a few days now.
I saw your topic and decided to try it with my three-way switch. I never ran into this because I don’t have an automatic shutoff of my three-way. However, when I tested my three-way (GE/Jasco) by turning on my auxiliary, instead of the primary switch, I see the same thing you described. Using the auxiliary switch to turn “On” my lights, my dashboard and AutHomation don’t immediately show the status On or Off until they are “polled” via the normal polling routine of my Vera3. As the “polling” takes place the status changes. I would expect the “polling” takes place based upon the “polling interval” defined and the number of devices in your network. The Vera documentation uses an example whereas it could take up to 16 minutes based upon 100 devices. Probably less time for a “normal” installation.
As far as a resolution to the timed “shutoff”, I would have to test different scenarios to see how to perform an automated shutoff based upon the auxiliary switch and updated polling.
You don’t say which switches you are using, but the behavior is consistent with the GE/Jasco 45614 set made up of the 45609 and 45610. Unfortunately/stupidly this switch set does not support “Instant Status” for actions on the 45610 remote switch. Frankly I can’t understand why not, but it doesn’t. Instant Status works for actions from the 45609, just as you describe, but not from the 45610. This is a limitation of the 45609 switch not Vera.
So, actions performed on the 45610 remote switch will not show up in Vera until the 45609 main switch is polled, as @mwp described above. But, it should eventually show up in Vera, start your timer, and finally shut it off.
You have three choices in this case:
Live with an extended delay.
Increase the polling frequency and live with a less extended delay.
Replace the switches with a switch set that supports Instant Status from the remote switch, such as Cooper or Leviton.
I set-up a test for the Auxiliary Switch and it worked fine. Here’s how it was configured and ran.
My Light Switch → GE/Jasco 3 Way Switch
Scene → Turn OFF Garage Lights → Immediate
→ Garage Lights → ON
→ Manage Delay → 20 minutes
→ Garage Lights → OFF
Trigger → Auxiliary Switch ON
Device: #67 Garage Lights (#67 is my device number)
What type of event is the trigger?: A device is turned on or off
Name for this trigger: Auxiliary Switch (What I named mine)
Which mode Device is turned on (Selection from drop-down menu)
Optional: Which of the following users should be notified when the event occurs?:
[x] myname (For testing I set-up notification)
Also, I set-up a notification from the Device → Notifications → [x] myname
When I turned ON the light from the Auxiliary Switch I was notified when the “polling” occurred and it gave me an SMS when the light update
turned ON and OFF.
What I found was when you turned the Garage Lights on from the “Primary Switch” my lights turned OFF twenty (20) minutes later. When I turned ON the lights from the “Auxiliary Switch” the lights were “polled” (on my system) approximately 13 - 16 minutes later (Garage Light ON), then the scene and trigger activated and the “Garage Lights” turned OFF 20 minutes (managed delay) for a total of 35 minutes from “Auxiliary Switch” activation.
There may be a more direct way. I am learning and testing the PLEG Plugin’s and they may provide a more simplistic way of doing this automation. Also, Luup code could probably be used.
The GE gear does not support instant status. The fact that it appears to work for the primary, is because of some other techniques in Vera. It does not work from the aux switch.
It is believed, based on what people have reported here, that this may only work when the GE primary is in direct radio range of Vera. That is, you can’t rely on this always working.
The only realistic option is to lower the polling interval on those devices that you use for automation.
The down side of this is that there is much more Z-Wave chatter going on … which can cause collisions … which can cause legitimate events to be missed and have to be rebroadcast. There are always trade-offs …
That’s why I always recommend the higher $$ switches … often users do not understand the impact of saving a few $$ with their switches. And initially they are happy to just turn them on remotely or on a schedule. But more sophisticated automation requires knowing the current state of devices … And these lower $$ devices can’t deliver in a reliable manner.
In fairness to those users, the manufacturers are not at all clear about the features and functions that their devices do or do not support.
All the user sees is some blurb about all Z-Wave devices being compatible and able to work with any other device that has the Z-Wave logo. It’s not unreasonable to take that at face value.
It’s only later, when they have made the purchase and encounter trouble that forces them to dig deep, that they discover that there are different Z-Wave versions, instant status, beaming, end nodes that won’t route, problems with LED or low wattage loads…
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