Announcing I'm almost home

[racerfern]

I have the plug-in working and configured. I have an event that speaks "Dad's on his way home" when I enter my zipcode. The event won't fire. Is it because my zipcode is actually the text of the zip? And if so how should I configure the event?

Obviously, this is oversimplification but I want to learn these types of events to use with PHLocation so I can create better events.

[racerfern]

+1

I'm still struggling with this. Can somebody shove me in the right direction? Please.

[randy]

The postal code is saved as a string not as a value, making it impossible to trigger on a value change with a standard HomeSeer Trigger. If you have Easy Trigger it is possible to trigger on a string change. Use Easy Trigger’s “This device’s string changed and becomes...”. This will allow you to trigger on a string change.

Just for further clarification, there are three things that can be stored in a device - Value, Status and String. Status and Value are interrelated and based on a numeric value. String is any combination of characters and numbers. HomeSeer’s Triggers and conditions deal with the Value or Status, not the String.
PHLocation has to store the postal code as a String because not all postal codes are pure numeric as in the US.

If you use GeoFency or another geofencing app, you can also create an outer ring for home. When my wife worked further from home, we used an outer ring of 2000 meters, allowing an announcement that she was on the way home. We still use the outer ring and the Home locations, but her work is now almost within the outer ring.

[racerfern]

Got it, I do have Easy Trigger so I'll work it that way and see what happens.

As always, thanks!

[racerfern]

So how do I know if the item stored is a string or a value? Trial and error? I'm thinking of latitude and longitude. 40.638128 could be either or lon, -73.xxxxxx

[randy]

So how do I know if the item stored is a string or a value? Trial and error? I'm thinking of latitude and longitude. 40.638128 could be either or lon, -73.xxxxxx

Look at the Advanced tab on the device configuration. Here is one of my PHLocation Postal Code devices:



You can see from the the device Reference ID and Technology Address. The next three are the Status (as referenced to Value in Status Graphics), the Value (numeric) and the String. You can tell how these fields are populated as to what you are seeing in the Device Manager. HomeSeer's standard triggers all deal with the Value or Status as referenced to a value.