Event Time Confusion

[toddaa]

Does anyone know if its possible to limit an event from being successfully triggered to a certain range of time.

For example, I want my thermostat to be triggered at 7AM so it decreases the heat to 60 degrees. If the same event is triggered by another means (manually or through another event) and its past 4PM I'd like this event to fail.

Can something like this be done?

[Uncle Michael]

I want my thermostat to be triggered at 7AM so it decreases the heat to 60 degrees. If the same event is triggered by another means (manually or through another event) and its past 4PM I'd like this event to fail. Can something like this be done?

Yes, definitely. How you go about it will depend on the circumstances of the unwanted trigger that you want to prevent, though.

You could simply put time constraints on the event. Something like:

And If the time is after 6:50 AM
And If the time is before 7:10 AM

But that assumes the unwanted trigger respects conditions.

If you share more about how you suspect an event trigger could occur at an unwanted time, I'm sure someone will be able to come up with a way that will prevent it.

[toddaa]

Uncle Michael,

Yes, I have done exactly that. My event reads like this:

IF The time is at 7:00:00 AM
AND IF The days of the week are: Weekdays
AND IF The Group Conditions are all TRUE
AND IF The time is after 7:00 AM
AND IF The time is before 4:45 PM
Then Set Device HVAC Controls Thermostat Heat Target to 60 F

My group condition for this is the device value of a virtual device which I am attempting to use as a system mode (normal or away...away would be like vacation mode). For this event to run the group condition is looking for the virtual device to be equal to "normal".

All of that works fine, but when I manually trigger this event at 6AM it still sets the thermostat to 60.

I also have another event which is triggered when the virtual device changes to "normal". My plan was to just rerun the above HVAC event and some others. If the time after/before constraints worked like I thought they would then only one of the HVAC events I have would succeed since each event I have is limited to a section of the day.

[Uncle Michael]

As you've discovered, when you run the event manually (I assume you mean by pressing the run button on the event) the event runs, ignoring any conditions you have set. That is a "feature" of HS that allows you to test the event actions without worrying about the conditions.

However, if you trigger this event from another event, then you can specify that you want HS to run the event only if the conditions are true.

If you have a button that you press to run the event manually, and you want to prevent the event from running when your event conditions are not satisfied, then you need to create an intermediate event. That event will run when you press your button, but it will have the event action to run the temperature set event only if the event conditions are satisfied.

Would that scheme do what you want?

[toddaa]

Yes, I believe that's exactly where I'm at, and I think I just discovered what you are regarding to...the little airplane button I believe?

[Uncle Michael]

Yes, I believe that's exactly where I'm at, and I think I just discovered what you are regarding to...the little airplane button I believe?

That't it. (That's the symbol for 'Advanced' mode.)

PS. I'm originally from Battle Creek. Went to college in Albion - a long time ago. But Michigan still has a special place in my heart.

[toddaa]

Yup, I just tested this out and its now all working as intended. That little hidden checkbox was the key.

[toddaa]

That't it. (That's the symbol for 'Advanced' mode.)

For some reason I thought "Advancement Mode" was enabled at the global level. Doesn't seem to work like that which is probably why I missed this setting.

Thanks again for your input.