I built a simple rule in the Basic Rules app. Its purpose is to turn a hot water circulator on and off throughout the day. It doesn't work.
Hub: C-8 not a pro
Item being switched: generic Zigbee outlet
Several other powered Zigbee devices are nearby including one about 9 feet away.
When Time of Day is 07:30 ...
Turn on Circulator Hot Water
Wait until Time of Day is 10:30, then ...
Turn off Circulator Hot Water
Wait until Time of Day is 13:30, then ...
Turn on Circulator Hot Water
Wait until Time of Day is 14:45, then ...
Turn off Circulator Hot Water
Wait until Time of Day is 17:30, then ...
Turn on Circulator Hot Water
Wait until Time of Day is 20:15, then ...
Turn off Circulator Hot Water
Am I on the right track or should I be doing this or is rubbish? I looked at something called the "events log" and it shows no activity at all.
Can you turn the zigbee plug on and off on it's device page? I would first want to make sure the device is responding to commands from the hub.
I have never used simple rules and I don't have it installed but I assume in your rule there is a way to turn on logging? If so turn it on and then open the logs, menu on the left and then post what is happening when/if the rule triggers.
Also post a screenshot of you rule. Someone might see something your missing.
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Something that stands out to me is for that rule to start at all you have to pass 7:30am. Then the series of events starts. To me that leaves allot of potential for it to fail. I would probably break this up into multiple rules for each of the on/off actions or a single rule with eachtime as the trigger.
Similar to the above post i haven't use simple rules though, bute Rule Machine.
What you could do is something like this:
When time of day is 7:30, 10:30, 13:30, 14:45, 17:30, 20:15
Then toggle Circator Hot Water.
That would accomplish the same thing and be much easier. Just make sure you are already in the right state.
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Answering your question: yes.
Also, I have a Rule Machine rule that, as part of a morning startup routine, turns on the pump without a hitch.
I will do some further experimenting here and come back with the results.
I let the following morning arrive and the rule kicked in at 7:30, and has worked fine since. This includes the rule cycling out in the evening, and restarting this morning. All is well.
If you don't mind just to validate my concern. Please try letting it start and then rebooting the hub half way the day. I suspect the reboot would break the cycle.
It will not. The "Wait until time..." creates a scheduled job, which will persist after a reboot and execute at the scheduled time regardless of what happens in between. This is easy to test without waiting by rebooting and verifying that the scheduled job is still there. (Of course, if the hub is off at that time, all bets are off.)
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