How to put your house in "vacation/unoccupied mode".

[ILoveC4]

Due to popular demand...

http://www.c4diy.com/how-do-i-put-my-house-in-vacation-mode-so-it-looks-occupied-while-im-away/

[Jay]

Hi Dan,

First thanks for the great how to on vacation mode.

I follow everything you did, except how to stop each individual event. Example... how to stop the morning event, the scheduler has a start time, but no stop time.

Thanks,

Jay (Noob)

[prabeau]

I have the same question asked 2 years ago and would love to find the answer. I am very new at this and if the answer is obvious take it easy on me thank you.

[CFUG]

^I didn't bother to read the DYI but it's very simply to answer. Scheduler controls time of event trigger and timers control duration of stage(s). To answer Post#2 Q, there are at least two ways to halt an event- one is to let the timer run out and the other is to change the state of a logic variable such as through a KP toggle which in turn puts the mode back into "STAY" mode.

[prabeau]

But I don't see anywhere on the scheduler where there is a run time just a start time and repeat………?

[CFUG]

...yeah, but you assign an action when the schedule kicks-off. Something like, start a timer and turn on some lights.... There are three parts to this-

1. Create a schedule

2. Make a timer or timers

3. Create a variable to toggle the whole thing on or off

Under 1, turn on your lights and start the timer. 2, turns off the lights and 3, turns the feature on when you leave and off when you arrive.

[prabeau]

Awwwww I get it thank you for your patience

[Tokead]

...yeah, but you assign an action when the schedule kicks-off. Something like, start a timer and turn on some lights.... There are three parts to this-

1. Create a schedule

2. Make a timer or timers

3. Create a variable to toggle the whole thing on or off

Under 1, turn on your lights and start the timer. 2, turns off the lights and 3, turns the feature on when you leave and off when you arrive.

I've got schedules to turn on a device (tv) or scene (lights), and I have schedules to turn off devices, such as the tv at 10:30, lights at 9, etc. trying to emulate normal night if we were home

[CFUG]

^You can do that too, especially if you need a link to dusk/dawn. I don't. I just find it easier to push one button (say for example, at the front door) as a STAY/AWAY toggle and if the lights are in progress, that same button will kill them off.

[C4 BEAR]

I am very new to this, but thanks to your wonderful DIY I was able to get all the way to the very last step and then I got stuck. I got to the part where you say, "In the top right corner in the “Device Events” pane scroll all the way down and click on scheduler. You will need to go through each of the scheduler items you just made and set programming to execute at those times. Remember to pay attention and go through the day chronologically, setting lights to turn on and off. You can also have other things happen like the radio turning on/off, the televisions, etc…it just depends on the level of integration in your home, and how much you want going on. Also, don’t forget to make the programming under each scheduled event to be conditional based on the home being in “Vacation Mode”. See an example below of the programming you may want to have fire for these scheduled events while “Vacation Mode” is turned on."

 

When I click on SCHEDULER I see the list of all of my scheduled events, but I can't seem to figure out how to add them to the vacation mode. If I click on one, it shows up in the middle pane, but I am not able to get them to be part of the vacation mode. What am I doing wrong?

 

THANKS!

[abeasst]

You just put "IF VACATION MODE IS TRUE" before all your programming. Nest all programming under that if statement.

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[Ingoiolo81]

website with the guide seems to be down?

[vstar]

not free but there is this pay driver that i have seen recommended on this board:

http://www.pocketwaredesigns.com/products/always-home/

looks like it may be a little less time consuming to configure and may have a bit more functionality/versatility ?

[ILoveC4]

website with the guide seems to be down?

The guy I sold the site to fails to stop auto renew for the URL. Every year about this time it goes down for a little while. Sometimes hours, sometimes weeks.

[Gary Leeds UK]

not free but there is this pay driver that i have seen recommended on this board:

http://www.pocketwaredesigns.com/products/always-home/

looks like it may be a little less time consuming to configure and may have a bit more functionality/versatility ?

We use this driver and it works great - Even turns the TV on and off

[eggzlot]

i have that driver too - very simple.  Had a custom button made to trigger the driver on, and another button to trigger it off.  Turns lights on/off as as mentioned TVs too (if you want).  Could not be any easier.