I've been using a change in mode to trigger a number of lights to come on or off. The mode changes based on time relative to sunset or sunrise for modes of "Day" or "Evening" to turn on some lights. All the lights should turn off at the push of a Samsung switch or a set time of 10:15 pm which sets "Night mode. The reason I chose to use modes as the trigger is when we entertain we don't want all the lights to turn off at 10:15 pm when we still have guests. We use the fourth Mode to keep from turning off the lights.
This has worked reasonably well. However, on occasion, I've had a problem with some lights not recognizing the mode change to "Night" and not turning off. It's an intermittent problem meaning the majority of the time the lights do turn off. All of the switches, plugs, and dimmers are Ge/Jasco products.
Since I've had these intermittent problems is there a more intelligent way to set this up,
I don't see anything in that setup description that shouldn't work, but if you're not sure, it may be helpful to share a screenshot of your app (or rule).
One note:
The bulbs don't know what mode it is. Perhaps you're just using creative language, but if not, it's the role of an app to respond to events and perhaps perform actions on devices, so I'd definitely make sure you aren't expecting this to happen from something on the device/driver alone.
Using mode should work. However, I set mine up to work based on specific times (or times relative to sunrise and sunset),
For example, I have some outdoor lights that come on 15 minutes after sunset and turn off 15 minutes before sunrise.
The kitchen lights go on at 5:15 am each morning as we normally get up around 5:30.
A light in the family room comes on 20 minutes before sunset and turns off at normal bedtime.
The bedroom lights turn on 30 minutes before our normal bedtime so they are on when we head up to get ready for bed.
We are retired, so our daily schedules is similar every day. When we go on vacation, we let the lighting follow the normal schedule to make any observer believe we are home. If you have one schedule for the work week and another for weekends, that can be accommodated in your scheduling of lighting.
I also have several lighting routines scheduled to function only during the hours when we are normally in bed. If any of the motion sensors or door contact sensors trigger in the middle of the night, all the lights except the ones in the bedrooms will turn on to deter a bugler.
Yup. Mode as a trigger works fine as you have stated.
But if you have a bunch of rules all triggering at the same time and all sending z-wave commands then it’s not surprising that some devices are missing their messages.
It’s much nicer to have one rule trigger for a specific mode and then sequentially flip the lights you want to act on.
That is why I have rules set for specific times with a few minutes between activations so there is no confusion.
1 Like
Something you might try is using groups instead of just turning off a bunch of switches. Groups allow metering, which basically means you can add delay between each command.
I originally had a RM rule that I setup that turned off all lights in the house when we switched to Night mode. Occasionally I would have a light not turn off. I was using a set switch off and selecting every light I wanted turned off. By making a group called ALL LIGHTS I could add some delay, I haven't seen a miss since, but I only did this a few weeks ago, and it wasn't very often to begin with. I saw someone mention on the forum about the metering being added to groups and it seemed like a good idea.
2 Likes
I had the same with large 'off' commands.
The option I chose in the end was basic rule, and group the 'offs' by room (for simplicity) so that their in smaller chunks, didn't bother with a delay and haven't had and misses since
Also advantage with BR is I can also turn stuff on in the same rule like night lights, bedside power ..
2 Likes
OT, but does z-wave not utilize acknowledges like tcp/ip does? Seems like many issues would be resolved if it did
I do use groups and scenes. What I’ve also done is upgrade the hub from C5 to C7. That appears to make everything operate with out delays and no lights that stay on. If I see drops in messaging I’ll set up more of a sequencing of groups or rooms.
Thanks for the advice.
