Occupancy Hold for Axxess Motion

[me23]

Got an axxess motion and using 10 min for occupancy hold.  I have programmed when it senses motion---reset a 15 min timer.

When the timer expires it cuts off a light, very simple programming.  I'm having issues with the timer never getting reset on the motion and I'm wondering if I need to

decrease my occupancy hold time.  Is it because the motion is being detected in that 10 min window and it is not seeing it as new motion?

[Cyknight]

Very possible. Occupancy hold will keep the status alive as hold - ignoring loss of motion, but effectively also the sensing of 'new' motion.

[me23]

You got any suggestions?  What do you do with yours?

[South Africa C4 user]

Decrease the occupancy hold time...

[me23]

How much before it starts really draining the batteries though?

How about it I stop the timer on motion sense and reset when motion ends?

[South Africa C4 user]

I have mine set for between 10 seconds and half a minute and have had no battery issues... I have set up a low battery warning (email and push notification) when it drops to 25% and have yet to have any of my sensors reach this threshold...

[MudAndSnow]

Occupancy hold timers should already do what you are trying to do with the timer you created.

Set the occupancy hold timer to 15 min.

When motion detect - turn on light

When motion end - turn off light.

Motion end event will be triggered when no motion has been detected for whatever time the occupancy hold timer is set to.

[South Africa C4 user]

@MudAndSnow is right, the best way to use these sensors is with the occupancy hold time setting. I certainly would not recommend a separate timer and the hold setting (above a bear minimum) unless you really have to and really know what you are doing. So my first rule of thumb is either use the occupancy hold setting or a timer not both.

I tend to use a timer (with a short 10 to 15 second) occupancy hold setting. The reason I do that is all my motion sensing lights have a button that overrides them (turns them off). A long occupancy hold setting will then mean that if they are turned off early in the cycle motion won't turn them back on (until the current cycle ends) which is not what I want. There is currently no way (that I am aware of) to cancel the occupancy hold and have the sensor start checking for motion again. That would be really neat, but would probably negate the power saving advantage of the current hold feature ?.

As an aside, all my motion sensing lights can be turned on permanently with the same button and I use a Boolean variable when the timer expires to determine whether to turn them off or not.  

The LED on my keypad is blue when the lights are turned on manually and thus won't go off after motion (and the timer). Black when lights are off and black (I could use another colour but black works for me here) when they have been turned on by motion. The switch always turns them on or off to the opposite of the current state.

 

[msgreenf]

Have you looked at the timer on the houselogix website?

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

[me23]

That's why I'm using a timer, so I can also have a manual override. 

[South Africa C4 user]

Then you do need to drop the occupancy hold time right down

[South Africa C4 user]

4 hours ago, msgreenf said:

Have you looked at the timer on the houselogix website?

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

Will definitely be looking at this...

[me23]

7 minutes ago, South Africa C4 user said:

Then you do need to drop the occupancy hold time right down

I think I do, because the the motion detector doesn't detect new motion in that long of a time period.

I just dropped it from 10 mins to 45 seconds and now it is working.

[South Africa C4 user]

Sounds good... Good luck!

[me23]

Now im trying the override and see if this makes sense or if there is a simpler way.

Hallway Hall recess level changes

If 2nd recess is off

----->variables>hall lights bypass motion = false

 

when hallway hall recess top button is triple tapped

Variables->hall lights bypass motion=True

 

Now for variables

?if variables->hall recess bypass is True

----->Stop Timer

?if variables-> hall recess bypass is False

------>reset timer

 

[jfh]

Looks fine

[me23]

Ok great!  Thanks everybody. 

[RobbieF]

@South Africa C4 user --- How do you define the colour of the LED's on the Keypad based on how the light came on???  That sounds Magic......

& Have you set it that when you triple click a light switch it changes the Boolean state (As someone else suggested) --  Or do you just use the start here app as the primary way to amend the C4 boolean?

[South Africa C4 user]

A simplified version of my code is as follows (I am assuming a hold rather than a timer in the code below and the light is set up to follow the load):

When the motion sensor senses motion:

If LIGHT is off

  set toggle LED on the LIGHT to black when on

  Turn on the LIGHT

  Variables AutoLIGHT = true

 

When the motion sensor stops sensing motion:

If Variables AutoLIGHT is true

  Turn off LIGHT

  Variables AutoLIGHT = false

  Delay 2 seconds

  Set toggle LED on the LIGHT to blue when on

 

The keypad button is bound to the LIGHT and has the following code on press:

  Variables AutoLIGHT = false

  Delay 2 seconds

  toggle LED on the LIGHT to blue when on

 

[South Africa C4 user]

The above does not need any variables that are set elsewhere. The only variable used is set up based on whether motion or a button push turned on the light. As it happens, my code is a bit more complex. I have a variable (that for convenience I access, change and view in StartHere) that determines whether motion sensing is used for turning on lights or not. I also have multiple motion sensors in the same room, so use timers quite a bit and other variables to cross reference what is happening motion wise.

[RobbieF]

That's great - Thanks for sharing   I've also got the Motion Variable with Timers etc....  and can see my programming getting more complex, as per your setup....  This certainly helps me move it forward!