Resetting timeout on Motion Sensor II

[sboultbee]

I have several Motion Sensor IIs controlling lights in various places in my house. While they all work well, in some places I need to have the timeout set to something greater than the default (say, 5 minutes) due to the nature of the room and the sensor location.

However, this also means that if we leave the room and turn the light of manually when we leave, it will not turn back on automatically until the timeout on the Motion Sensor II has elapsed. As I understand it, the Motion Sensor II is a controller only, not a responder so there's no way to send a command back to the motion sensor to tell it to reset its timeout. Is that correct?

With the recent updates to the plug-in to fully support Occupancy II mode (i.e., the "off" on a different group), it seems to me that I'll need to keep the motion sensor's timeout low, have it turn on the light and also start a timer for the duration that I want the light to be on. The timer will then turn the light off when it runs out. If I turn the light off manually, I can send a command to stop and reset the timer. And since the sensor's timeout will be set low, it should turn the light back on if someone comes back into the room shortly after turning the light off manually.

Does my logic make sense, or is there an easier way to accomplish this?

Thanks,

Steve

[Burrington]

I use Occupancy mode I, and keep the sensor timeout at 1 minute. Then use:

IF	Lighting Rec Room Bath Motion Sensor - Door - Occupancy Sensor has been No Motion for exactly 2m, 15s

to turn the light off. This way the motion sensor times out quickly, but the lights stay on as long as needed.

[mnsandler]

Steve,
i think you understand correctly the two different modes of the MS II. if you want to stick with the standard mode, i would just let the MS turn off the lights as well

Burrington's solution is good too. I actually use BLRadar as the interface between the motion sensor on/off and control of the lights.

[sboultbee]

I use Occupancy mode I, and keep the sensor timeout at 1 minute. Then use:

IF	Lighting Rec Room Bath Motion Sensor - Door - Occupancy Sensor has been No Motion for exactly 2m, 15s

to turn the light off. This way the motion sensor times out quickly, but the lights stay on as long as needed.

Did you mean Occupancy Mode II? Otherwise, I'm trying to understand why your light doesn't turn off at the 1 minute mark when the sensor times out instead of getting to your event time.

If you did mean Occupancy Mode II, then your solution is definitely simpler that what I'd thought up. Appreciate the suggestion.

[sboultbee]

Steve,
i think you understand correctly the two different modes of the MS II. if you want to stick with the standard mode, i would just let the MS turn off the lights as well

Burrington's solution is good too. I actually use BLRadar as the interface between the motion sensor on/off and control of the lights.

Thank you, Mark. I will definitely check out BLRadar as a possible solution.

Standard mode just isn't working as I'd like it to for the reasons stated in my original post. I think Burrington's suggestion or BLRadar will provide the flexibility I'm after. Time to go experiment a bit.

[Burrington]

No, you need to use Occupancy I so it sends the Off (NoMotion) signal. Otherwise the light will never turn off. The way it works is that if there is no motion for 1 minute, the sensor times out and sends an Off command to HS. HS doesn’t turn the light off immediately, but instead waits for it to remain Off for 2’-15” (in the case of my example) before it shuts the light off. If motion resumes before the 2’-15”, the sensor sends an On command so HS never times out. Note that the light will shut off after no motion for 3’-15”, the total of the motion sensor timeout plus the HS timeout.

The benefit of this method is that if someone shuts the light off manually, it only takes one minute for the sensor to reset and be ready for someone to come back into the room.

Occupancy II is intended for something that only needs one motion signal, like maybe to tell a camera to take a picture.

[sboultbee]

No, you need to use Occupancy I so it sends the Off (NoMotion) signal. Otherwise the light will never turn off. The way it works is that if there is no motion for 1 minute, the sensor times out and sends an Off command to HS. HS doesn’t turn the light off immediately, but instead waits for it to remain Off for 2’-15” (in the case of my example) before it shuts the light off. If motion resumes before the 2’-15”, the sensor sends an On command so HS never times out. Note that the light will shut off after no motion for 3’-15”, the total of the motion sensor timeout plus the HS timeout.

The benefit of this method is that if someone shuts the light off manually, it only takes one minute for the sensor to reset and be ready for someone to come back into the room.

Occupancy II is intended for something that only needs one motion signal, like maybe to tell a camera to take a picture.

Got it now - I see where I was misreading how the event and the timeout were working. In my head, I had the "Off" command as going directly to the light rather than the sensor simply updating its status to "No Motion".

Thanks again for your help. It's all working as I want now.

[mnsandler]

can you post your action definition so we can see how you solved this

[sboultbee]

can you post your action definition so we can see how you solved this

Basically used what Burrington suggested:

[Burrington]

Mark, I know you were asking how Sboultbee solved it, but here is what I do for the main bathroom, where you want the light to normally be on and then shut off right after the motion stops. But then the issue of a shower where you're out of the motion sensor's view, but still wants the lights to stay on. I added a "Light Lock" feature which changes the HS3 timeout from 1-1/2 minutes to 20. The sensor is still set for 1 minute. The light lock is activated by double-clicking the room light switch. If no motion for 30 minutes, light lock is switched off and the normal 1-1/2 minute timeout is resumed. Or it can be shut off by turning the light switch off manually.

I also have the lights go dim for 15 seconds before shutting off completely as a warning to activate the motion sensor if you're still in there. There is also a timeout to shut the light off if the sensor stays Motion for an hour, IE the OFF message from the sensor didn't get to HS.

It all works very well, except when you forget to explain it to overnight visitors...

Here are my events:
MainBathEvents.pdf

[Burrington]

sboultbee: How did you copy your event into your post? The only way I could figure out was by an attachment.

[sboultbee]

sboultbee: How did you copy your event into your post? The only way I could figure out was by an attachment.

I used the "picture" button shown here: