Results 1 to 4 of 4

Thread: Light Level Ignored - Am I being stupid?

  1. #1
    Automated Home Sr Member eddr's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Posts
    51

    Default Light Level Ignored - Am I being stupid?

    Hi all,

    Just put my first modules into a room, and they're PIR + Light level and a 2x relay for the light(s).

    The light level is working fine, I have set a dark threshold, assigned one of the relays to a light and setup the light to come on when it's 'dark' and someone is present - But for some reason the dialog shows the light level as being ignored ? (Light level is grey and underneath says ignored, sometimes it has said something like 'waiting for poll' or 'polling')

    I have played around and just cant get this option to work - Works fine using the buttons or just setting to come on when someones present. I just can't for the life of me get it to use the light level aswell!

    Forgive me if I have missed something obvious!

  2. #2
    Automated Home Legend Karam's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Posts
    863

    Default

    Sounds to me like you may have overriden the light state in some way (e.g via a button).

    Imagine you have a light who's state is determined by presence, by light level and by time of day. Then say you walk into the room during a valid lighting time period and its dark, so the automation brings the light on. Then say you press a button to 'override' the automation - in other words to switch off the light. Rather than simply turn off the light Cortex in fact effectively chooses to temporarily ignore one of the conditions which made the light come on, for example it may ignore the light level input. The reasons for this are that overriding automation's decision is not just a matter of turning off the light otherwise you will at some point later have to press a button again to re-instate automation and this detracts from the IDRATEK automation ethos . Instead Cortex temporarily overrides its current decision in a kind of indirect way and is then able to automatically remove the override later based on some hopefully sensible heuristic, e.g if room becomes unoccupied or the operating period transits or some other.

    If you examine the history log (activity list button at lower left of behaviour menu) for the light you might be able to decipher the sequence of events which led to the ignoring of the light level.

  3. #3
    Automated Home Sr Member eddr's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Posts
    51

    Default

    Ok - makes perfect sense to me! I shall check this out today, what you say rings true about overiding it, i'll have a play - so many hidden options! Must of read the help 3 times over and still finding new stuff!

    Cheers Karam

  4. #4
    Automated Home Ninja Viv's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Posts
    284

    Default

    Their are two messages that may appear below the Light Level Icon in the Light Behaviour menu. One is 'Ignored' and the other is 'Pending'. It may also be blank.

    Imagine the light is turned on by the Dark input going true. It is dark and light turns on. Light turning on causes it to be no longer dark. Light turns off. Cycle repeats and you get oscillation. So 'logic' is required to prevent this. Their are internally five factors which may cause the 'Ignored' message to appear. Karam has described the general idea.

    The 'Pending' message is when the blocking of Light level affecting the logic is waiting to be removed. The reason for this is that it takes time for the light sensor to settle when the light level changes and even though the light may be turned from on to off in a room it takes time for the sensor to register the new state which may be Dark or Bright depending on natural light.

    Viv.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •