Turn on light when door is opened.. what am I screwing up?

Plugins & Plugin Development Program Logic (PLEG)
1

Hello RTS (and anyone else who cares to chime in!):

Thanks so much for the great plugin work you have done. I’m trying to do a (seemingly) simply thing: When I open my door from my house into the garage I want the garage light to turn on. Then I’d like it to turn off 5 minutes later. I have a DSC alarm system integrated with my Vera so that’s how I know the door was opened. This seems to work the first time I try it…light goes on…goes off 5 mins later.

The problem comes the next time I open the door: The light starts strobing on and off until I close the door. Now, I had planned to open a disco in my garage…but that’s not for a few more weeks so in the interim I’d like this to work without the strobing feature.

Here’s (what I think is) the relevant code:

Triggers:
GLightIsOn Garage Light is turned on
GEntryDoorOpen Z2:Garage Entry Door is tripped
GEntryDoorClosed Z2:Garage Entry Door is not tripped

Conditions:
TurnOnGLightEntry (NOT GLightIsOn) AND (GEntryDoorClosed; GEntryDoorOpen)
AutoOnGLightEntry TurnOnGLightEntry; GLightIsOn < 10
TurnOffAutoOnGLightEntry AutoOnGLightEntry AND (GEntryDoorClosed; NOW > 5:00)

What have I mucked up? I’ve done several other PLEGs but mostly by stealing scenes from the forum. I’ll freely admit I don’t understand the PLEG syntax fully yet. For example, I’m not sure why I have the GLightIsOn < 10 in there…but it seemed like it belonged from the code I was using to model this.

Thanks for any help you can offer.

-Bill

PS: PLC v5.2 if it matters…

2

I think you can simplify the logic and prevent the disco-effect:

Conditions
TurnOnGLightEntry (NOT GLightIsOn) AND GEntryDoorOpen
TurnOffGLightEntry GLightIsOn AND (GEntryDoorClosed; NOW > 5:00)

3

Thanks for your response…unfortunately I tried it and I still get the strobing. Works the first time after setting it up. Subsequent times it’s all flashy-flashy… Is it some kind of weird delay from the alarm? Here’s what I have now:

Triggers

Name Description Last Trigger State
GarEntryOpen Z2:Garage Entry Door is tripped 2013-10-27 10:45:04.048 false
GarLightOn Garage Light is turned on 2013-10-26 20:16:30.618 false
GarEntryClosed Z2:Garage Entry Door is not tripped 2013-10-27 10:45:11.010 true

Conditions

Name Expression Last True State
TurnOnGLightEntry (NOT GarLightOn) AND GarEntryOpen 2013-10-27 10:45:04.050 false
TurnOffGLightEntry GarLightOn AND (GarEntryClosed; NOW > 2:00) 2013-10-26 20:16:30.622 false
Actions

Actions for Condition: TurnOnGLightEntry

Immediate

Device Action Arguments
Garage Light SetTarget newTargetValue=1
Actions for Condition: TurnOffGLightEntry

Immediate

Device Action Arguments
Garage Light SetTarget newTargetValue=0

4

Try:

TurnOffGLightEntry GarLightOn AND GarEntryClosed AND (GarEntryClosed; NOW > 2:00)

5

Hey! That seems to have done the trick…sometimes the fix is so simple :slight_smile:

Thanks!

6

To expand on this a little further. In addition to the garage entry door logic, what if I wanted to only turn on the light when the garage door (not the entry door but the overhead door) is open and it is night. Also, turn on the light if the garage door is shut regardless of the time of day.

I have the inputs set up but I’m not sure how to write the conditions using the Day/Night plugin and a contact sensor for the garage door.

7

You could have modified this example as follows:

Add a Input Trigger:
Night Day or Night indicates Night

And modify the condition as:
TurnOnGLightEntry Night AND (NOT GarLightOn) AND GarEntryOpen

8

Thanks! I’d like to add the overhead garage door to this as well.

So if the overhead garage door is opened and it’s night, the light should come on.

-or-

If the door to the garage is opened and the overhead garage door is closed, turn the light on.

I tried this but it isn’t working:

((NOT isDay) AND (NOT GarageLightOn) AND GarageDoorIsOpen) OR (GarageEntryOpen AND GarageDoorIsClosed AND (NOT GarageLightOn))

I think it’s the OR that’s tripping me up.

9

That should work …
But it can be simplified as:
(NOT GarageLightOn) AND ((NOT isDay) AND AND GarageDoorIsOpen) OR (GarageEntryOpen AND GarageDoorIsClosed))

10

[quote=“RichardTSchaefer, post:9, topic:177532”]That should work …
But it can be simplified as:
(NOT GarageLightOn) AND ((NOT isDay) AND AND GarageDoorIsOpen) OR (GarageEntryOpen AND GarageDoorIsClosed))[/quote]

Thanks!

This is what I ended up going with (there were what I think were small typos in the condition above):
(NOT GarageLightOn) AND (((NOT isDay) AND GarageDoorIsOpen) OR (GarageEntryOpen AND GarageDoorIsClosed))

11

Great APP just wish I understood the syntax more. Im trying to setup a similar situation and can only get the first half thanks to this post.

I want to set it up so that at night, when i open and close the back door (let dogs outside), the porch light comes on until i open the back door again (let dogs back inside). and then if possible have an override for the switch so i can turn it on manually and it stay on indefinitely. my door sensors are alarm sensors if that helps and light switch is on/off switch non-dimmer.