I got a new Iris motion sensor, is the best way to get the temperature to update every 5 min using the poll in RM? I use the temperature to control my vents, so I like to update them every 5 min.
Thanks!
Typically, these devices are designed to only send data when the temperature has changed enough. This conserves precious battery life. If you force poll these, you will have terrible battery life. I just checked one of my Iris Motion sensors and it seems to report temperature values once the value has changed by about 1 deg F.
If you want a sensor that doesn't rely on batteries, and allows you to customize the deadband and reporting frequency, you could try one of the following devices. I have two of them and they work very well.
I decided that since I need updates only when the central air is running that I would make a rule to refresh every 5 minutes when central air is running.
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There is no point in refreshing the Iris motion sensors. They will only update temperature as per their firmware spec (which is non-addressable or user-changeable)
Excessively refreshing them will achieve absolutely nothing other than draining their batteries faster; it most certainly will not speed up their "update time-frame". A "refresh" does not force a re-evaluation of the temperature, it only forces a resend of the last recorded / stored value.
You are better off setting a trigger in RM to do something when the temp does change, because sooner or later it will.
J
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You are probably right that the fw updates the temp at an interval of its choosing, but I do know if I refresh the sensor every 5 min I do get a different temperature, and that does fit my need. I suppose I could try to find the fw timing threshold, by setting the repeat on the refresh lower and lower, but for now every 5 min is good enough for me.
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Doesn’t that say that they are not reporting accurately? Why should you get a different temperature reading if the temperature has not changed.
I think I would put one of those in a drawer and repeat the experiment. If they always give you a different temp, then I wouldn’t rely on them for temp at all.
When I say I am getting a different temp, it is by tenths maybe hundredths of degrees, if the fw was not updating the temp, I’d get the exact same. I also turned the heat on in the room, and the temperature is ramping nicely.
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I bet the device will only send an update once the temperature has changed 'enough' to prevent flooding the zigbee network with traffic, and to preserve the device's battery life. Calling Refresh causes the sensor to send the most up to date value.
I think I would look for a temperature change in comparison to a virtual temperature sensor when the motion sensor sends one out, and then do the action based on the difference, rather than forcing polling to look for a change to make.
I have 2 temperature control rules:
- A space heater that I run if the temperature is below a certain temperature. It seems the Iris updates if it has changed +- 1 degree. Being the control freak I am, I want more resolution than that. So I poll the sensor when I want the heater to be controlled.
- The same sort of resolution is what I want for my keen vents which I control proportionally to how close the motion sensor is to the temperature I desire for the room.
That is why I like to have them update more frequently, when the heater is on, or my central air is heating or cooling.
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Tolerances are +/- 1 degrees Fahrenheit typically. But real world is usually +/- 2. Not really worth it in my opinion for ambient air temperatures that are going to fluctuate in that range anyway.
If you care about accuracy, you are correct. I care about how big is my control window. With normal updating, my control window is up to 2 degrees of swing. With refreshes, I can tighten that up considerably to about .5-.75 degrees of swing. To my wife and I, that is a large comfort difference.
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