Request for Enhancement to Hubitat Safety Monitor

jtmpush18 · December 26, 2022, 3:51pm

I am using HSM (custom alert) to notify and alert when there is a water leak.
I am implementing this as a custom alert, and not as a built-in water alert because I can cancel this particular alert when the water leak has been dealt with (can't do this with the built in water alert).

I am requesting the capability to turn off a water valve when/if this custom water alert is triggered.
(This capability is available in the HSM built-in water alert!)

(This was also requested in 2019.)
P.S. I know that I can make a separate RM to do this, but it really belongs in HSM because it's there in the built in version.

garz · December 29, 2022, 3:22pm

I also thought it belonged in the custom rules for HSM.

I ended up just making a RM rule that tracked the status of the water sensors. It's also missing sirens... If it's custom within the app, i'd also assume it would have all the functionality available from the rest of the app in the custom rule options. It's actually ironic because on the bottom of device selection it says other types of devices are supported in HSM. Just not in custom rules. Unless that's a bug...

Can't have it all, but it would be nice though for simplicity's sake.

jtmpush18 · December 29, 2022, 6:11pm

Actually , some of those are selectable in HSM Custom Rules.

For example, contact sensor.
I have a specific custom rule that monitors a contact sensor (with temperature) that I have placed at a client's site. If the contact sensor is open for more than 10 minutes, an alert is raised, and a flag is set. The client has to correct the issue, and then turn off the alert by turning off that flag. Once that flag is turned off, then I re-arm the custom rule.
The custom rule:

Again, the reason that I use a custom rule is because it is only with custom rules that I can turn off that particular alarm, and rearm that particular custom rule.
Again, yes, this can all be done by custom RM rules without involving HSM.
But it's much easier to do in HSM.
If Hubitat didn't want use to use HSM (to make our lives easier), they wouldn't have put it in.

@bravenel : Any comments about HSM for the future? Should we be continuing to use it?

bravenel · December 29, 2022, 6:31pm

Why wouldn't you? I guess I'm missing something other than the feature request for valve shut. I'll get to that at some point in the not distant future. And the other sensor types...

acr2001 · January 4, 2023, 8:42pm

I just want to say nice things first: Hubitat is amazing and all of the things that it can do are just mind-blowing. Tons of work and support goes into this product and I notice it. I am amazed at the community also.

The not so good things: HSM stinks. It's just so strongly lacking in options and customizations. I have over a dozen rule machine rules so far that "fix" HSM problems or feature omissions. I don't want to belabor the point but I will give one solid example of a problem that I still can't find a good workaround for: on my tablet dashboard, I want to be able to modify the pop-up window that occurs when you click the HSM status tile. Let us decide what options we get in there. Right now there are tons of options in there that I do not use, which is just confusing to others. Not to mention the buttons CHANGE THEIR PLACE depending on what the HSM status is - terrible UI design on that one. Every time a custom rule is armed or disarmed it simply says the time and "rule" - useless, get rid of it or fix it. Why can't we have more than one pin code? Why is there no option for it to use the lock code manager? I do use it for my keypad in the garage, but I want the dashboard to offer similar functionality as would be logical. It was already over a days work to get the dashboard and keypad to arm/disarm/delay-arm together at the same time, as this also seems to be poorly designed by default.

I went through a lot of trouble today to create my own dashboard buttons in rule machine, to allow multiple disarm codes and log the identity based on who's code was used. This pops up on my alarm display/log in the dashboard. After doing all of this, I realized that on my tablet, this leads to a ton of extra taps and makes you use the android keyboard to type the pin, which is broken (the enter / go button does not work, so you have to exit the keyboard then click the tiny button in the tile). It's worse than the HSM pop-up! I deleted all the work I did.

Can we just have a way to use lock code manager and be allowed to customize that pop-up? Please? The HSM dashboard options need to function the way a keypad does. I did try some other keypad apps that were written by amazing community members, but it was too cumbersome and took up too much screen real estate for my use.

I hope this post will be taken as intended - as a critique and not a complaint. I love everything this system can do, and without HSM I would be in a much worse place!