How to create a countdown timer

[Kevb]

I've asked for them so many times, I've stopped. NASA sort of launches rockets with countdown time. But I guess that it is rocket science.

Aren't NASA's countdowns started at T minus (counting up)? i.e. negative 30 minutes- can you start the timer at a negative number and count up to zero? Otherwise delayed device actions/ cancel a delayed device action work really well for me. Hope all get this figured out.

[George]

I know you can set the timer as a negative number and it will count up. But does it stop at 0 or then become positive? As stated before, if you set it to a negative number when you display it the minus sign is not shown. So you have to look at it to see if it's getting bigger or smaller. But it will go past zero once it hits it and you have to handle it. A real count down timer can be set, count down to zero, fire a trigger and then stop at zero.

I'm not holding my breath of seeing a magical change. But then again, I have no place to go to HS4 even though I preemptively purchased an HS4 license.

[scooterman]

Negative numbers work, but it goes past 0. At that point, you can trigger other things on 1 if you want (I couldn’t set a event trigger on 0)

[George]

Yup, so close but no cigar!

[Roger D]

Instead of triggering on zero set your trigger to
If timer > -1 (Which will trigger at zero)

Roger D

[dotBob]

Thank you all so much for this thread. I was trying to find a way to initiate a 5 minute wait before turning off the bathroom vent when the fan controller's bottom paddle was double-clicked, and went through several iterations before coming to a working setup. I wanted to be able to cancel the delayed shut off of the vent fan if the top of the paddle was clicked once (to "turn it on"). Secondarily, I also set the LEDs to blink green during the wait, and also turned off the light at the end of the delay.

I couldn't figure out why the event wasn't being canceled until I removed the delay from the action and made it a separate Wait. In other words, not like this:



But like this:


Then the second event for a single press at the top of the paddle cancels the above event without issue:


If I didn't use the Wait, but put a delay in the action, it would cancel only after the delayed action was performed. I had tried all 3 cancelation variations, but this is the only one that worked for me. Please let me know if I missed something that would handle this more cleanly.

[Roger D]

Greetings dotBob,

Welcome to the HomeSeer Forums!

The original post was to achieve a different effect. For your last event I believe it can be simplified further. I'll post a suggested event later today.

BTW, which model Z-Wave devices are you using for the light and fan?

Thanks, Roger

[dotBob]

Greetings dotBob,

Welcome to the HomeSeer Forums!

The original post was to achieve a different effect. For your last event I believe it can be simplified further. I'll post a suggested event later today.

BTW, which model Z-Wave devices are you using for the light and fan?

Thanks, Roger

Thanks, I'm happy to learn better ways.

I'm using a WS-200+ for the exhaust fan (what I'd called a vent fan), for which I'd found conflicting info regarding the impedance load. I definitely didn't want to use a dimmer. I'm using another WS-200+ for the light. Is there another switch recommended for exhaust fans?

In the rest of the house I have a mix of WS-200+ and UltraPro (Jasco) switches because I'd purchased the Homeseer gear about 3 years ago, and finally got around to getting all of the paddle switches and dimmers installed recently, after WS-200+ were no longer available.

Thanks again.
.bob

[randy]

What you want to do is create a Delayed Device Action, read here. To cancel a Delayed Device Action you will removed the queued delay, read here.

Here is a common use example. When there is motion a Delayed Device Action is created. Subsequent motion before the 5 minute delay is up deletes the old Delayed Device Action and creates a new one. As long as there is motion the light stays on. When there is no motion for 5 minutes, the Delayed Device Action is run then deleted.

[dotBob]

What you want to do is create a Delayed Device Action

I had originally tried using a delayed action, but it didn't work out the way I had expected it. I couldn't find a way to set the LED so that I could change its mode back using a delayed action: I wanted an LED to blink during the delay, then turn off afterward. Can that be handled as part of the delay? That's the only reason why I changed the logic to how it ended up (with the Wait step), to be able to change the LED status when the event is canceled. I put those changes of the LED status in the single press paddle events so that if I pressed up or down on the paddle, it would cancel the event as well as change the LED status to off, and set the LED mode to normal.

Again, this is my first time (last 2 days) doing anything with events at all with Homeseer, so I'm still finding out what I don't know.

Thanks for your time.

.bob

[randy]

I had originally tried using a delayed action, but it didn't work out the way I had expected it. I couldn't find a way to set the LED so that I could change its mode back using a delayed action: I wanted an LED to blink during the delay, then turn off afterward. Can that be handled as part of the delay? That's the only reason why I changed the logic to how it ended up (with the Wait step), to be able to change the LED status when the event is canceled. I put those changes of the LED status in the single press paddle events so that if I pressed up or down on the paddle, it would cancel the event as well as change the LED status to off, and set the LED mode to normal.

Again, this is my first time (last 2 days) doing anything with events at all with Homeseer, so I'm still finding out what I don't know.

Thanks for your time.

.bob

By LED I’m guessing you mean status LEDs on a wall switch. If you could write exactly what you want to do and we can probably help you build the Event(s). Here is guess. This is with a HS-WS200 and a ceiling vent fan. The first Event starts the LED blinking and launches a delayed Event when the Central Scene is set to the bottom pressed twice if the fan is On.



The delayed Event will turn the fan off and stop the status LEDs in 5 minutes.



A third Event will remove the delayed Event and stops the blinking status LEDs with a top double tap before the 5 minute delay has lapsed.

[pseudocode]

I have countdown timers for a number of Pause functions - most of my automation status devices have a pause feature, which allows me to pause the automation for a number of minutes/hours if I don't want the lawn mowed, blinds to close or whatever.

The pause button runs an event which adds 60 (minutes) to the value of the pause feature, and the countdown is an event which subtracts one if the value is greater than zero. This is now much nicer, I only need one event with several conditional actions.

[dotBob]

Thanks, Randy. I hadn't used manual events yet. That definitely makes it more modular, so the delayed event can be canceled by other events more efficiently. That way if my wife just wants to turn the fan off right away, a single press of the bottom paddle turns off the fan and overrides the timer after the cancel event call.