Trigger on Door open

[marcuslee]

Hi All,

Would like to setup when door opens, that it checks light level and if Dim, then turn on lights.

However would like this to be operating independently / does not interfere with manual DFPH button which connects to the light (toggle function).


Is the best way to do the above, a General Logic, with inputs of Trigger on Door Open, and Dark Level Output, with output Light Turn On?

Thanks in advance,

Marcus

[Karam]

This sort of thing is usually handled by the light object without having to use your own logic. Is it that it is not appropriate for your particular physical set up?

[marcuslee]

This sort of thing is usually handled by the light object without having to use your own logic. Is it that it is not appropriate for your particular physical set up?

Thanks for reply Karam. If you mean use Presence, then the reason for that, is that currently I've not enabled Presence, as in it's default state, the Presence detection doesn't seem good enough (I think I'm going to have to sweep through and properly setup all the Connections and/or tweak some stuff to get it working accurately (possibly add/remove/adjust sensors etc)).

Hence the path of getting things going temporarily with General Logic.

(or maybe I should just put aside the time to get elbows deep into attempting to get Presence working correctly!)

[Karam]

Yes I'd say getting the presence inference working as well as you can is ultimately the best way. In practice it will be a scale of accuracy ranging from basic motion detect + long timer to timers of a few seconds simply to avoid too harsh a switching regime no matter that its accurate. Depends to a large extent on how well sensorised you are and to some extents the structure of the property. A bit of 'Tipp-ex' or white emulsion paint and a fine paint brush can be useful in honing sensor view if you have problems with sensor field of view extending to undesireable areas ;-).

You can probably still use the light object with leisurely timer values even if the presence inference is poor at the moment - so long as you make the appropriate connections (door and any PIR signals feed to room occupancy and then it is the latter and light level which feed into the light object). But otherwise yes you can use the logic blocks or even a macro. For example the door opening could trigger a macro which contains the logic: IF light level sensor Dark Output True, Turn On light, ENDIF

[ludditeal]

The masking of sensors was something I was wondering about to solve a problem we have. Our hall DFP picks up movement on the landing during the night making the hall lights come on. At the moment I just disable the lights after 01:30. I was contemplating fitting a seperate PIR which didn't "see" the landing. Can you effectively paint out cells on the DFP PIR sensor or is that just for a full blown Alarm type PIR?
Thanks
Allan

[marcuslee]

Yes I'd say getting the presence inference working as well as you can is ultimately the best way. In practice it will be a scale of accuracy ranging from basic motion detect + long timer to timers of a few seconds simply to avoid too harsh a switching regime no matter that its accurate. Depends to a large extent on how well sensorised you are and to some extents the structure of the property. A bit of 'Tipp-ex' or white emulsion paint and a fine paint brush can be useful in honing sensor view if you have problems with sensor field of view extending to undesireable areas ;-).

You can probably still use the light object with leisurely timer values even if the presence inference is poor at the moment - so long as you make the appropriate connections (door and any PIR signals feed to room occupancy and then it is the latter and light level which feed into the light object). But otherwise yes you can use the logic blocks or even a macro. For example the door opening could trigger a macro which contains the logic: IF light level sensor Dark Output True, Turn On light, ENDIF

Thanks Karam, also you happened to provide a very valuable tip (which was also on my mind) - how to "adjust" PIR sensor pickup, so thanks for that!

Also indeed there is one area where it simply is going to have to be logic blocks or macro - an outside side gate, where the only sensor is the reed magnet on it. And it opens into a "room" which literally doesn't have anything else other than a light in it.

So for that one I'm going to have at least the config of it turning on the light when dark.


Following on from that, Macro vs General Logic, is there any one which is "less work" than the other for Cortex (ie less CPU or otherwise), which would make one better to use?

[Karam]

The masking of sensors was something I was wondering about to solve a problem we have. Our hall DFP picks up movement on the landing during the night making the hall lights come on. At the moment I just disable the lights after 01:30. I was contemplating fitting a seperate PIR which didn't "see" the landing. Can you effectively paint out cells on the DFP PIR sensor or is that just for a full blown Alarm type PIR?
Thanks
Allan

Yes, its possible. A bit crude but sometimes can be a practical solution to the kind of issue you are describing.