No Status Trigger prevents value change triggering?

[BrunDog]

Hi, I have an Aeon Labs Home Energy Monitor (HEM) that provides current power usage in watts "Total Power" every 10 seconds, and total accumulated power used in kWh, "Electric Watts Meter" every 5 minutes. I am trying to execute a script that calculates my electricity costs based on the above, but I cannot get the event trigger which executes the script to work.

I am trying to trigger the script off the Electric Watts Meter value changes, using "Set to any". But, while the log showing a new value comes in every 5 minutes, (e.g. Device: Power House Energy Monitor Electric Meter kW Hours value set to 54415 (544.146 kW Hours)), the event does not get triggered. If I use Total Power value change as the trigger, it works fine - I just don't want the script to run every 10 seconds.

I noticed the Misc settings for Electric Watts Meter Additional Information says, "Status Only, No Status Trigger, Z-Wave Child". The Misc settings for Total Power says, "Status Only, Z-Wave Child". The difference here is the "No Status Trigger" setting.

Although I am triggering on a value update, is this the reason my script will not trigger? If so, how do I change this setting? Is there another way to trigger the script with the Electric Watts Meter? I looked at myTrigger but I don't think it can do string updates.

TIA,

BD

[mrhappy]

Not to answer your question (I have no idea, it should work as long as the value changed according to the help file) but an alternative may be to run the script at an interval less than 5 mins and store the old value, check if the old one is different to the new one and if so do what you need to do.

[Wadenut]

Are you certain the DeviceValue is being updated, or only the DeviceString?
You can verify this by running this as an immediate script...

& hs.writelog "Test",hs.DeviceValue("A1")
[ change A1 to your device ]

If the result doesn't agree with the device String you see on your Status page then the Value (which I suspect will be "0") isn't being updated and thus will never trigger.

[BrunDog]

Wadenut,

Thanks for the reply. Yes, I checked this already, and even tried again based on your recommendation, and indeed the value shows and updates properly in the log. The change simply does not trigger the event! Totally stumped!

-BD

[Uncle Michael]

I am trying to trigger the script off the Electric Watts Meter value changes, using "Set to any". But, while the log showing a new value comes in every 5 minutes, (e.g. Device: Power House Energy Monitor Electric Meter kW Hours value set to 54415 (544.146 kW Hours)), the event does not get triggered. If I use Total Power value change as the trigger, it works fine - I just don't want the script to run every 10 seconds.

Two thoughts:
-There may be a subtle problem with your event. Sometimes when I run into puzzles like this I've found that it helps to delete the event, restart HS, then recreate the event from scratch.
-As long as the Total Power value change works, you might also use that, but add a value in the 'Do not retrigger' box to get the event frequency where you want it. Not a very satisfying solution, but it might get you going while you puzzle over the problem.

[BrunDog]

Thanks UM, will try deleting, restarting, and recreating. Your second solution, while not ideal, is a good one that I hadn't contemplated.

-BD

[BrunDog]

Well, per UM suggestion, I deleted the event, restarted HS, then recreated the event from scratch and no joy. While the log happily reports the value update, and the additional information for each of these devices shows new values every few minutes, the event is simply not triggered! I have tried "Set to any" or "Any value", then all the others, including "Not equal to", "In the range", etc. with no luck. I can read, write, and mathematically manipulate the value via a script, so I know it is a number.

This seems like a major functional bug - any of the HS programmers have any feedback or direction here?

-BD

[Uncle Michael]

Since I don't use Zwave, I have no experience with the device types that can be generated. I've never encountered a device that claims "no status trigger". You might try calling HST on the phone to see if you can get a clarification, or submit a bug report. It certainly appears, however, that whatever callback function detects device value changes does not work with this device.

Aside from MrHappy's recommendation, and my previous one, the only other option I can think of is to run a recurring event, say every 10 min. Since the value is cumulative it should not matter if you are not perfectly synchronized with the updates.