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    Motion Sensor & Light Question

    So I've created a rule if a motion sensor is active to turn on a light and anothe rule that if the motion sensor is inactive for 1 minute to turn off the light.

    What happens if I walk away and the motion sensor goes inactive and I walk back in and it becomes active. Does it stop/reset the motion inactive event.

    #2
    I'm not an expert, but coming from Hubitat, I think HomeSeer has two ways to handle this:

    1. By adding a "cancel delayed events" action on your Motion On automation much like RM in Hubitat.
    2. By using "if motion sensor stays inactive for X mins" on your Off automation. - This is what I use with another condition like "and if Light is not already off" to prevent sending unnecessary OFF action events to Hubitat.

    I'd look through here to get started:

    https://forums.homeseer.com/forum/ho...le-of-contents


    I'm also using the Easytrigger plugin for simplifying some complex scheduling, I think it's well worth the money!

    Comment


      #3
      I'm with natemate on this. In my home, there is a storeroom that gets no outside light. When you walk in, there is a motion sensor (only seeing entrance) that goes ON. An event is triggered IF the light is OFF which then turns the light to dim 95%. Another event will turn the light OFF if the dim level is 95% and the motion sensor has been OFF for exactly 5 mins. By using the dim level 95%, this allows a person to stay in the room for more than 5 mins without the light going off just by tapping the dimmer switch to ON, that prevents the OFF event from running. The only thing is that they need to manually turn the light off. In the past I've tried several ways to get this scenario to work well using timers. Didn't work nearly as well as the current strategy.

      Also, big +1 on Easytrigger

      Comment


        #4
        Originally posted by natemate View Post
        I'm not an expert, but coming from Hubitat, I think HomeSeer has two ways to handle this:

        1. By adding a "cancel delayed events" action on your Motion On automation much like RM in Hubitat.
        2. By using "if motion sensor stays inactive for X mins" on your Off automation. - This is what I use with another condition like "and if Light is not already off" to prevent sending unnecessary OFF action events to Hubitat.

        I'd look through here to get started:

        https://forums.homeseer.com/forum/ho...le-of-contents


        I'm also using the Easytrigger plugin for simplifying some complex scheduling, I think it's well worth the money!
        Okay so I'm doing option 2 only. I'm assuming this will cancel it out then ?

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          #5
          Yup, the timer resets since the motion sensors didn't "stay" active. I have multiple motion sensors in one room (the cheap 3326-L sensors from eBay) that I group together into a "Virtual Occupancy" sensor for each room. Then the logic runs like If ALL of these sensors stay inactive for 5 mins, set Room Occupancy off. If ANY becomes active (accomplished with OR triggers), set occupancy on. Then I have another set of automations for lighting on and off that runs just when the virtual occupancies trigger on or off.

          I just find this easier to keep organized, YMMV.

          Comment


            #6
            Also quick note for your ON automation - since this is governed purely by a trigger(s) that happens occasionally, I don't think you need the "and if Kitchen Undermount = Off".

            I also see that you use the Simplex plugin for bringing in Hubitat items, I'm using the same! I did have to manually rename everything since I had all devices named by room in Hubitat just like you. Just had to delete the room name in HomeSeer and setup Location 1 as Room Name and Location 2 as Source, so all my devices end up looking like "Bedroom Hubitat Ceiling Motion Sensor" in the dropdowns.

            Comment


              #7
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              Originally posted by natemate View Post
              Yup, the timer resets since the motion sensors didn't "stay" active. I have multiple motion sensors in one room (the cheap 3326-L sensors from eBay) that I group together into a "Virtual Occupancy" sensor for each room. Then the logic runs like If ALL of these sensors stay inactive for 5 mins, set Room Occupancy off. If ANY becomes active (accomplished with OR triggers), set occupancy on. Then I have another set of automations for lighting on and off that runs just when the virtual occupancies trigger on or off.

              I just find this easier to keep organized, YMMV.
              Make sense. I'm actually stuck trying to figure out how to have an event look at two motion sensors.

              So you're saying to group them? Is there another way in events to do this?

              Comment


                #8
                Originally posted by natemate View Post
                Also quick note for your ON automation - since this is governed purely by a trigger(s) that happens occasionally, I don't think you need the "and if Kitchen Undermount = Off".

                I also see that you use the Simplex plugin for bringing in Hubitat items, I'm using the same! I did have to manually rename everything since I had all devices named by room in Hubitat just like you. Just had to delete the room name in HomeSeer and setup Location 1 as Room Name and Location 2 as Source, so all my devices end up looking like "Bedroom Hubitat Ceiling Motion Sensor" in the dropdowns.
                Seems like an excellent plugin. I just started working on this today. It's going to take a bit to migrate stuff over...

                Comment


                  #9
                  I'm sure there are ways to do it by using multiple motion sensors and conditions in a single event, but the logic gets difficult to follow. See below for my setup to get an idea of what I'm doing - it works really well. The "Keep lights off" trigger is something I do with Alexa with a virtual switch - sometimes I don't want the lights to come on at all. With Alexa routines, you can even make a timer that manipulates the virtual switch.

                  The "Virtual Occupancy" devices were created using HomeSeer - just create a new device and fill in the On and Off values to whatever you want.

                  It took me about 3-5 days to get around how things work in HomeSeer, but it was well worth the effort!

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                    #10
                    Originally posted by mik3y View Post
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                    Make sense. I'm actually stuck trying to figure out how to have an event look at two motion sensors.

                    So you're saying to group them? Is there another way in events to do this?
                    Look at Easytrigger groups. I have all my battery devices in a dynamic group. It could be adapted to a group of motion sensors.

                    Here is the group definition in EasyTrigger. Simple.

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                    Here is the event trigger using the group.

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                      #11
                      Originally posted by logbuilder View Post

                      Look at Easytrigger groups. I have all my battery devices in a dynamic group. It could be adapted to a group of motion sensors.

                      Here is the group definition in EasyTrigger. Simple.

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                      Here is the event trigger using the group.

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                      Is this a plugin ?

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                        #12
                        I'm still getting confused here.

                        How do you select to devices to control. For instances if two lights have a value of ON.

                        How do you select more then one light?

                        Comment


                          #13
                          You mean control multiple devices within the same event? If you press the + button in the "Then" section, you can perform multiple actions (turn off different lights, switches etc.) all within the same event. It's not like Hubitat where you can select multiple devices within the same action.

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                            #14
                            Originally posted by natemate View Post
                            You mean control multiple devices within the same event? If you press the + button in the "Then" section, you can perform multiple actions (turn off different lights, switches etc.) all within the same event. It's not like Hubitat where you can select multiple devices within the same action.

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                            Okay I figured that, but I'm trying to do an event like so

                            If Motion sensor has been inactive for 3 minutes
                            AND IF light has a value equal to ON
                            OR IF Light has a value equal to ON - THERE IS NO "has a value equal to" for an OR IF.

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Originally posted by mik3y View Post

                              Okay I figured that, but I'm trying to do an event like so

                              If Motion sensor has been inactive for 3 minutes
                              AND IF light has a value equal to ON
                              OR IF Light has a value equal to ON - THERE IS NO "has a value equal to" for an OR IF.
                              OR IF is a new Trigger. Something has to change to trigger it not just sit there.

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