Newbie question about an Event I have created not working

[pcgirl65]

I am new to Homeseer and I have only added a couple of zwave devices to test things out. I have added a zooz ZSE18 motion sensor and a zooz wall switch. I am trying to create an event to turn the light on when motion is detected and then turn off the light after 1 minute if no other motion is detected. However, it doesn't turn the light on. I can run the event and it will turn the light on and then off again but when I walk in the room, nothing. What am I doing wrong? I have also noticed that when creating the event, I have to select the sensory binary motion child part, right?

[mikee123]

Your event is disabled (at least in the picture you posted). And yes, looking at your device looks like the sensor binary motion is the one which changes state (looking at the time stamp)

[pcgirl65]

OMG! I am learning. Thanks! I am not familiar with the little icons meanings. I did get it working after reading somewhere on the forum a similar issue. This was what they had for the event:

[randy]

I recommend looking through the items in the Event Clinic table of contents post and especially the Navigating the Event Management page thread. While there is still more that I would like to make the time to add, it covers much Information. I also recommend reading the Virtual Device Creation and Modification thread which will give insight to how HomeSeer’s devices work. All HomeSeer’s Devices are based on the same template.

[lveatch]

I do this the first way you did it with a small change. The light would turn off in one minute after the initial motion was detected in where you could still be in the room moving around. To mitigate that, add another action as the first "then" to remove a delayed device action choosing the appropriate light switch.

[pcgirl65]

I do this the first way you did it with a small change. The light would turn off in one minute after the initial motion was detected in where you could still be in the room moving around. To mitigate that, add another action as the first "then" to remove a delayed device action choosing the appropriate light switch.

Wouldn't the second Event that I posted do this as well?

[pcgirl65]

Thanks for the links! I will look at them for sure! I hadn't noticed them yet in the forum. I am familiar with the IF THEN statements as I have been using Rule Machine in Hubitat and WebCore in ST. And now I am here testing out Homeseer in search of a stable HA system.

[lveatch]

Wouldn't the second Event that I posted do this as well?

Yep. Just one event vs two. Both ways have advantages.

[randy]

For me, HomeSeer has been extremely stable and it is quite powerful. The key is to understand the way the Event Engine works and to learn the language. It is not a standard programming language. It is capable of IF, THEN, ELSE execution, but not in a conventional programmatic way. Instead it is based on a Triggered (or multiple Triggered) Event structure using Actions that are common to all Triggers. Perhaps this thread illustrates it best.

My system is quite busy with over 1500 Events and thousands of devices, yet it has never crashed due to problems with HomeSeer’s software. It just works. We rarely interact directly with HomeSeer, it just percolates day in and day out in the background - since 2014.

[pcgirl65]

My system is quite busy with over 1500 Events and thousands of devices, yet it has never crashed due to problems with HomeSeer’s software. It just works. We rarely interact directly with HomeSeer, it just percolates day in and day out in the background - since 2014.

This is what I am looking for! My hubitat hub crashes all the time. I don't even have much running. Maybe 40 devices.

[pcgirl65]

lveatch is it necessary to have the event check if the light is on or off first as in my second event?

[ksum]

You can always send an on command and if the unit is on already it will stay on. I do not check the status of I want to force a device on (or off).

[pcgirl65]

Thanks! This has been very informative!

[lveatch]

As you state you are new to homeseer, a little bit more education / exposing homeseer magic. Delayed actions and delayed events are homeseer generated events which are placed in either the "delayed actions" or "delayed events" event groups which are both dynamically created and removed.

[pcgirl65]

Delayed actions and delayed events are homeseer generated events which are placed in either the "delayed actions" or "delayed events" event groups which are both dynamically created and removed.

Not sure what you mean by "they are placed in event groups"?