Motion sensor activated light

[fuzzer]

I know this has got to be simple, but I can't seem to get it to work.

I have a ms13a motion sensor, and want to use it to turn on a light(lamp module) when motion is detected after 11pm but before 7am.

I can get it to turn on with motion, it then turns off 1 minute later. I didn't change the auto-off settings, but may want to.

Also, how do you delete the auto-off signal from HS?

ms13a B5
Lamp B5

the more I search and read, the more complicated I seem to be making it.

[Jim'll]

Firstly you will need to set the lamp module and motion detector to different address setting. (Avoid useing the address after the motion detector If motion sensor A1 then do not use A2, just until you become more familiar what the sensor can do.)

Then create an event in homeseer (lets asume the sensor is A1 and the lamp is A3)in the trigger tab "by x10 command A1 on" then in the devise action tab you can Select "lamp ON" this should turn the light on when the motion sensor is trigered. Do another event to turn it off. the lamp should now turn on and off. Finaly in the trigger tab tick the coditions box and you can then add any conditions that you want eg after 11:00 before 7.30am etc it will then only turn on if the coditions are met.
Hope this makes sence and it helps
Jim

[jay]

I don't have one of those devices but here's one way of bracketing the time upon a motion detection event.
sub main()
if time > cdate("11:00 pm") or time < cdate("7:00 am") then hs.triggerevent "your light event"
end sub

[jay]

Jim and I posted simultaneously. His approach is simpler.

[fuzzer]

Doing it Jim's way I was able to get the conditions to work, only now it seems to take several seconds for the light to come on.

When I had the motion sensor and light on the same code the light came on immediately, but I couldn't get the conditions to work. Any Ideas.

[MichaelD]

That is the downside of having HS do the switching, X10 signals take a while to get though the system, and you probably have one going to HS, then another out of HS, so it takes longer to react.

There are two options for making it faster:

1) Have the PC pick up the signal directly from the motion sensor, this avoids one of the slow X10 transmisions. An MR26 or a W800 connected to the PC will do this

2) Go back to having the motion sensor on the same house and unit code as the lamp module, set the sensor so that it doesn't send off signals, and let HS handle the switching off.

There isn't much difference in reaction, option 2 may be slightly faster, but they are both acceptable - somwhere less than a second is normal

[BrettS]

Hi Fuzzer... the problem is this...

When an X10 motion sensor is activated it sends an X10 ON command for the address it's set to. When it doesn't sense motion for a while it sends an X10 OFF command to the same address. When you have your light set to the same address as the motion sensor then it will turn on and off with the sensor no matter what. In this senario HomeSeer has nothing to do with it. The motion sensor (through the tranceiver) simply puts the X10 command on the power line and the light responds.

When you set the motion sensor to a different address than the light, then you can use HomeSeer to add conditions to it. Because the motion sensor will send the ON and OFF signals on one address the light (on a different address) will ignore the signals. HomeSeer, however, can listen for the signals from the motion sensor, and then turn on the light if your conditions permit. This obviously allows for much more flexibility, but the problem is (as you discovered) speed. Setting it up this way requires two X10 commands - one from the motion sensor, and one from homeseer to turn on the light. X10 commands aren't terribly quick - nearly a second per command, so that's why you're seeing a bigger delay.

The solution is to use a different transceiver - one that connects to the computer instead of the power line. The MR26A from X10 and the WGL W800 are both transceivers that will connect to the serial port of your homeseer computer and listen for your motion sensors (and other RF devices) without using one of the standard X10 transceivers. One of the advantages of doing this is speed. When it's set up this way HomeSeer will get the signal from the motion detector almost instantly and can then apply your conditions and send one X10 command to turn on the light. This way you can still have your conditions and still have the light respond quickly.

HTH,
Brett

[fuzzer]

Now we're getting somewhere. I do have an MR26. And set up as Brett says, it works, only the delay seem to be around 5 sec or more. Is this normal?

My config:
PC
HP
1.2ghz
256 MB ram
80 g HD

HS 1.7
cm11a (on main serial port com1)
mr26 (on dual serial card com6)
ms13a (B3)
lm465 (B5)

[BrettS]

There is going to be some delay, but 5 seconds sounds a bit high. Check the setup for the MR26A and make sure that you don't have "Retransmit to X10 Interface" checked. If you do, then you'll still be getting two X10 (slow) signals for motion detection. One when the motion detector is activated - the MR26A will receive the signal and then transmit the X10 signal, and another when HomeSeer processes it and sends the signal to turn the light on.

HTH,
Brett

[Jim'll]

mine takes no more than 1 secound Z-wave seems quiker still
Jim

[MichaelD]

5 seconds is very slow, it should be less than 1 second. Are you running much else on the PC?

[fuzzer]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> BrettS: make sure that you don't have "Retransmit to X10 Interface" checked <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thanks all for the inputs. Once I unchecked this, it started working quicker.

Steve

[lambert_denis]

Retransmit to X10 Interface not checked for MR26A

Wow, that works.

I was having this kind of slow reaction behaviour. First I told myself "Hey let's have a look in the forums". And that's it. That does the job. It accelerate the ON signal (A3) from my motion sensor to an instant ON effect at my light (C3). Previously, I was operating with a 10-12 SECONDS delay!

Thanks.

-Denis