Do While Piston Help

⚙️ Custom Apps and Drivers webCore
1

Attempting my first do while piston and it isn't quite working.
Goal: have a heater cycle on and off while the temp is below a certain measurement. Have the heater turned off once the temp climbs above a certain measurement.

What IS working:

  • After I get it going it is cycling as desired

What is NOT working:

  • Once created (while the temp was below the trigger) I had to hit 'test' on the piston to get it to start cycling.
  • Once the temp went above the threshold for the cycle, it continued to cycle
  • Once the temp went above the threshold to turn off, it did not appear to execute the action

Any help appreciated!

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2

Just my 2 cents here, but I do not ever control a heater with an unreliable on/off. Webcore functions well, but not 100%. I do not trust webcore to turn off a heater. Are you using a smart switch with a dumb heater? Another step that can fail. JMHO

3

Yup, smart outlet with a dumb heater. It's not hyper critical either way (diesel truck block heater). Appreciate the thoughts though, thank you.

4

I think about this a little differently. Here is one I copied and adapted from my hot water recirculator. I don't use a loop. Instead, it only goes on if it's been off for set time.

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I would also add presence/mode conditions to this. Like, only turn it on if the mode is not Away.

I usually add everything at the top as variables to make testing and changes quicker. :laughing: You should be able to test this by importing it and changing your two devices at the top.

5

This is a bit wording but you can cut it down.
I use these a lot for temp control.
@Pantheon is right about trust. I have a piston that is a Heater Watchdog to kill/notify me of errant heating. I also use a heater with a temp dial so that is physically set to just above my max limits and taped off.

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6

Well...tried this, didn't work at all. Bizarre. Guess I'll look into some of the suggestions above.

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7

"Wait" statements and loops have notoriously been troublesome for me. Have you tried the "Never cancel tasks" under the Task Cancellation Policy?

8

I have not, will give that a shot

9

Reconfigured the logic a bit:

  • There are two situations in which you want the heater to turn on (cooled down or has been off for a set time while cool.
  • There are two situations in which you want the heater to turn off (warmed up or has been on for a set time).

The example below is not tested. I just created trigger conditions to match the above description. The variables might be overkill but it helps to follow what is happening in the anonymized snapshot.

Example Piston

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1 Like
10

I FAR prefer loop-less pistons in my environment.

2 Likes