Scheduling an outlet to operate at certain times

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1

Greetings to all. I am a inexperienced Hubitat user and first time poster. Forgive me if this topic has been broached before or if I have put it in the wrong spot. I spent a while searching for answers before writing this.

I switched from Wink after their multiple implosions. I moved from a condo to a house 7 months ago and haven't installed all of my hard Lutron stuff yet (which was my primary use for condo automation) but I'll get around to it eventually.

In the meantime, I have some Leviton DZPA1-15A outlets that I use for various things. At the condo I used them for Christmas lights and a couple lamps. At the house I have various uses for them but the one I need help with is my dehumidifier and its schedule.

The darn appliance runs almost constantly even when set to its highest humidity level. I thought I could write a rule or automation that allows it to run for a half hour, every 4 hours. That is, 30 minutes ON followed by 3 hours and 30 minutes OFF. With a start time of 7AM so I hear it come on. Bonus points for sending a notification to my phone.

I've tried multiple iterations. A Basic Rule with times laid out caused it to come on at 0700, but it then ran again at 1120, 1520, 1920, 2320, 0320 but then it reset back to ON at 0700. This was despite having 3hrs30min specified between ON events. This drove me nuts so I deleted it out of spite...

I tried a Rule Machine that turned the outlet on at 0700 or when the switch was turned on. This is my second try at it and it hasn't worked. The Repeat doesn't bring it back to the On command, instead repeating a delay of 30min and then turning the outlet off.

Dehumidifier image
Dehumidifier image833×511 64.5 KB

What approach should I take to solve this? It is highly likely that I just don't understand how to set it up correctly. Your time and help are appreciated as I learn my way through this.

2

Your repeat is malformed. The actions between "Repeat x times every y" and "END-REP" is what gets repeated. For you, that's nothing. :smiley: See the docs for various examples of repeats. In your case, it seems like you could get what you want by putting your "On" and "Off" actions inside that block.

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3

That makes so much sense it has to be exactly what I was doing wrong…! Thanks. I will implement it later today when I have time.

4

I'm using this app ([Release] Lighting schedules app) to schedule my dehum and some smart plugs. It can control any switch.

5

Last I used my dehumidifier, it ran the fan for a bunch of time...hardly ever turned itself off.
I think it's by design. Maybe use a power plug to verify?

6

This is an older unit and it makes a pretty good racket when the compressor runs which is unfortunately any time it’s on. The whole unit shuts down once it has achieved whatever humidity level it thinks is correct and then it comes back on a minute or two later and runs forever, and ever. It does the job and I got it for free. I just don’t want it to seriously run up my electric bill.

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I will take a look. Thank you for the suggestion!