Countdown Timer motion controlled lighting

[HiIQHA]

Countdown timer. These devices make it easy to configure how long the timer runs or how much to increment the timer under different circumstances without digging through events with embedded configuration values. The configuration devices also make it possible to easily manipulate the configuration values through Events. For example you may wish for motion to increment the timer by 10 minutes during the day, but just 1 minute while the house is asleep as it may be more likely someone is staying in the room longer during the day but just passing through the room at night. Here are the Countdown timer virtual devices seen in the deviceutility page:




Device descriptions:

• The Motion Control device is used to enable motion control when in Countdown mode, disable motion control and leave lights off in Leave Off mode, and disable motion control and leave lights on in Leave On mode. This mode is set based on HS-Wx100+ switch presses in the example events below but could also be set via the deviceutility page, HSTouch or other events you create whether or not you have HS-Wx100+ switches.

• The MotionIncrement device is used to determine how much to increment the Countdown timer each time motion is reported to the controller. Note that Ecolink motion detectors have a timer built in of 3-4 minutes of no motion detected before they report No Motion to the controller, which would essentially be added to the configured MotionIncrement value. They do have a test mode set via internal jumper to reduce this to 5-10 seconds, but setting this mode will likely result in shorter battery life. Some have reported running in this test mode for close to a year and counting without changing the battery.

• The Motion Max device is used to limit how much the Countdown timer can increment via motion, useful if there can be many motion reports to the controller while in the room followed by room exit, preventing the lights from staying on much longer than desired.

• The On Cmd When Off device is a catch all for setting the timer when the light is turned on by means other than motion, such as by Voice control via Echo/Dot or Google Home, HSTouch, remotes, or the deviceutility page.

• The PressOnIncrement device is used with HomeSeer HS-WD100+ and HS-WS100+ switches. Each single press of the top of the switch will increment the timer by the configured value.

• The Countdown timer itself is the bottom device in the picture. It is manipulated by various events to be set, incremented and decremented. When other Events see it become greater than zero they may turn lights on, and when still other Events see it become zero they may turn lights off.

There are many triggers and conditions considered in the following events, but in summary things can set the Countdown timer to values (in minutes) greater than zero or set it to zero. Events run every 6 seconds to decrement the Countdown timer by 0.1 minutes depending on conditions. When set greater than zero lights may turn on depending on other conditions, and when the Countdown timer reaches zero lights turn off if they were on. The timer is set and decremented regardless of day or night. One effect of this is that if it becomes night and the timer increments or decrements to a value greater than zero, the lights can turn on. Some events use the EasyTrigger plug-in, but could be replaced with script commands not covered. We prefer to keep things Easy.



Event descriptions for the first pictured events follow.

• The first event is used with HS-WD100+ and HS-WS100+ switches. When the bottom paddle is tapped twice quickly, it sets the Motion Control device to Leave Off mode.

• The second event will set the Countdown timer to zero and reset the Motion Control device to Countdown mode if an Off command was sent (such as via Voice, HSTouch, remote etc.) or the bottom of an HS-Wx100+ switch was pressed once.

• The third event is used with HS-WD100+ and HS-WS100+ switches. When the top paddle is tapped twice quickly, it sets the Motion Control device to Leave On mode.

• The fifth and sixth events are used with HS-WD100+ and HS-WS100+ switches in conjunction with the fourth event above. They use a timer and a counter to see if the switch was pressed just once or more than one single press. If pressed On just once then no announcement is made, since this would be the most common scenario and people likely would not want to hear every time the light was turned on how long it is being left on. If pressed On more than one single press within 3 seconds, it keeps waiting for 3 seconds to elapse before considering you are done with single presses and then announces the Countdown timer value. It loads the rounded Countdown timer value into another virtual device (RoundTimer which is $$DVR:1334: in the example) before announcing its value so you hear a number of minutes announced without any decimal point value.

Event descriptions for the second pictured events follow.

• The first event increments the Countdown timer when motion is reported and conditions include being in Countdown mode and the Countdown timer being below the Motion Max value. The Do Not Log option is checked to reduce logging every time motion is reported.

• When Leave Off mode is set the second event sets the Countdown timer to zero where it remains until the Motion Control mode is changed, and announces the lights are being left off, i.e. motion control is being disabled. The mode could have been set by the double tap event described earlier, via the deviceutility page Leave Off button, or other events you define.

• When Leave On mode is set the third event sets the Countdown timer to 1 minute where it remains until the Motion Control mode is changed, and announces the lights are being left on, i.e. motion control is being disabled. The mode could have been set by the double tap event described earlier, via the deviceutility page Leave On button, or other events you define.

• The fourth event will set the Countdown timer to the configured value and reset the Motion Control device to Countdown mode if an On command was sent (such as via Voice, HSTouch, remote etc).

• The sixth event decrements the Countdown timer by 0.1 minutes (6 seconds) if it is greater than zero, Countdown mode is enabled, and the motion detector is in the No Motion state. Because of the No Motion condition, the timer pauses while the motion detector is in the Motion state, and resumes counting down when it changes to the No Motion state. This event has the Do Not Log option set to prevent filling the log with the many timer decrements happening.

Event descriptions for the third pictured events follow.

• The first event turns off the light when the Countdown timer reaches zero while the motion detector is in the No Motion state, or if the state changes to No Motion and the Countdown timer is at zero, or if the Leave Off mode is set.

• The second event turns on the light full brightness day or night when the Countdown timer becomes greater than zero and the house is Awake, or if the Leave On mode is set. This event would typically be used in a room with no windows where you always need the light to turn on. If the room has windows use the next event instead.

• The third event turns on the light full brightness at night when the Countdown timer becomes greater than zero and the house is Awake, or if the Leave On mode is set. This event would typically be used in a room with windows and you do not need the lights on during the day.

• The fourth and last event turns on the light 25% when the Countdown timer becomes greater than zero, it is nighttime, and the house is Asleep.

To learn more, guess a place on the web based on my User Name. That's about all I am permitted to say on this forum. Happy Automating!

John

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Closest I got was the Indiana Quarter Horse Association