[SOLVED]: Trigger firing for no apparent reason

Hello,

I am somewhat new to triggers, and am having an issue with a trigger involving my INSTEON Thermostat [2441TH - Firmware: OD (i2CS Engine)]

The trigger is setup as follows
Name: Temperature Limit
[Trigger Tab]
Type: Device State Changed
Device: Thermostat
Cool Setpoint
Becomes Less Than 75

[Condition Tab]
Upon event or schedule perform actions: Always

[Actions Tab]
Type: Set Cool Setpoint (Thermostat Controls)
Device: Thermostat
To: 75 degrees

The problem is that the trigger seems to randomly fire and I have not been able to find the reason.

Here is a log snippet of the event firing and there was no Cool Setpoint changes made/sent during this time.

Aug 31, 2014 7:34:55 PM
Received INSTEON "Motion Sensor Upstairs" on (button 1)

Aug 31, 2014 7:36:01 PM
Trigger Temperature limit
Google Voice SMS Sending 'PML - Temperature Limit (Auto set to 75)' to 2096064030
Sent INSTEON "Thermostat" set cool setpoint to 75.0
Google Voice SMS Message sent successfully.
Received INSTEON "Thermostat" cool setpoint changed to 75.0

Aug 31, 2014 7:37:19 PM
(this is where I turned the thermostat back down after receiving notification that it has triggered)
Received INSTEON "Thermostat" off (button 1)
Received INSTEON "Thermostat" cool setpoint changed to 80.0

Aug 31, 2014 7:40:36 PM
Received INSTEON "Motion Sensor Upstairs" off (button 1)

Thank you for any help you might have on solving this mystery.

Richard

[matt (support)]

Hi Richard,

That is strange. Is it only that one Trigger that is having the problem?

Do you have any idea what the Cool Setpoint is before the trigger is fired? Is it even near the 75° threshold?

Hi Matt,

I have not had any problems with any other triggers, although this made me wonder, so I started adding Google Voice SMS Notifications to all my triggers so I could monitor them more closely

The temp hasn't been close to 75 degrees when it happens, one example is after a Scheduled event at midnight that sets the thermostat's cool setpoint to 80 degrees which happened as scheduled, and then 12 minutes later(12:12am) the trigger went off and changed the temp to 75 degrees, and last night, (original example) the thermostat was in Cool Mode with a set point of 82 degrees and at 7:36pm the trigger went off.

One thing to note is that I had not changed the default Wake/Leave/Return/Sleep settings which were set for 75 degrees (should not fire trigger because it is not 'below' the 75 degree threshold), but the thermostat was not in program mode.

Do you know if there is a more verbose logging mode that might provide a clearer picture of what is happening a t the time the trigger fires?

Thanks again!

Richard

try to add another action to the trigger:
log the variable / device state that triggers the trigger

if you need help how to log a variable/device state, don't hesitate to ask.

Karl

you could simply do an action: device action / thermostat controls / get set points/ of your thermostat. then the resulting numbers received will be logged.

[matt (support)]

Karl has a very good idea.

Create a new Trigger that occurs on the setpoint device state "has any change", then inside the action have it execute an action of type Server Actions->Script and File Actions->Execute Script. Then paste in an embedded python script that looks like:

Code: Select all

dev = indigo.devices["Thermostat"]
setpointPropStr = str(dev.coolSetpoint)
setpointStateStr = str(dev.states["setpointCool"])
indigo.server.log("cool setpoint prop changed to: " + setpointPropStr)
indigo.server.log("cool setpoint state changed to: " + setpointStateStr)

That will log what Indigo thinks is the cool setpoint (both property and states; should be the same) every time Indigo thinks that it changes. So let that run and then when you notice the Trigger firing randomly we should have a good Event Log trail of what is occurring.

Thanks Karl and Matt,

I've created the new trigger and will report back once I have more info.

Richard

Is there a good source for information on what the different "button(s)" for a given device equate to?
For instance
'Received INSTEON "Motion Sensor Downstairs" on (button 2)'
and
'Received INSTEON "Motion Sensor Downstairs" on (button 1)'

[matt (support)]

For INSTEON motion sensors, button/group 1 is the motion, and button/group 2 is the dusk/light sensor.

Matt,

The trigger fired off again this morning at 9:07am, looking at the log I still don't see any reason for it.

Should I post the log here or should I upload it somewhere?

Thanks,

Richard

[matt (support)]

Can you copy paste several lines before/after 9:07AM into a reply post?

Here is the log snippet:

Sep 3, 2014 8:34:05 AM
Received INSTEON "Thermostat" temperature changed to 83.0
Trigger Log Thermostat Temperature Change
Script cool setpoint prop changed to: 86.0
Script cool setpoint state changed to: 86.0

Sep 3, 2014 8:35:00 AM
Trigger Log Thermostat Temperature Change
Script cool setpoint prop changed to: 86.0
Script cool setpoint state changed to: 86.0

Sep 3, 2014 8:53:18 AM
Received INSTEON "Motion Sensor Downstairs" on (button 2)

Sep 3, 2014 9:07:02 AM
Trigger Temperature limit
Google Voice SMS Sending 'PML - Temperature Limit (Auto set to 75)' to 0000000000
Sent INSTEON "Thermostat" set cool setpoint to 75.0
Google Voice SMS Message sent successfully.
Received INSTEON "Thermostat" on (button 1)
Received INSTEON "Thermostat" cool setpoint changed to 75.0

Sep 3, 2014 9:08:01 AM
Trigger Log Thermostat Temperature Change
Script cool setpoint prop changed to: 75.0
Script cool setpoint state changed to: 75.0

Sep 3, 2014 9:13:01 AM
Trigger Log Thermostat Temperature Change
Script cool setpoint prop changed to: 75.0
Script cool setpoint state changed to: 75.0

[matt (support)]

Something doesn't look right with that. Can you tell me how the Trigger panel (don't worry about condition/action panels) are defined for both Triggers:

Log Thermostat Temperature Change
Temperature limit

What doesn't make sense is why the former wasn't fired at the same time as the latter. Do you have:

Device: Thermostat
Cool Setpoint

selected for both? The only difference between the two should be the last popup control (Has Any Change versus Becomes Less Than 75).

Looks like I misunderstood what you wanted, I had the Log Thermostat Temperature Change set as

Name: Temperature Limit

Type: Device State Changed
Device: Thermostat
Any Temperature Changed

And the Temperature Limit set as

Type: Device State Changed
Device: Thermostat
Cool Setpoint
Becomes Less Than 75

I will update it and post the next time I catch it.

Richard

[matt (support)]

Sounds good, thanks.

Well, this is definitely interesting!

Sep 3, 2014 7:16:39 PM
Received INSTEON "Thermostat" on (button 1)
Received INSTEON "Thermostat" temperature changed to 87.0

Sep 3, 2014 7:22:21 PM
Received INSTEON "Thermostat" off (button 1)
Received INSTEON "Thermostat" temperature changed to 86.0

Sep 3, 2014 10:14:30 PM
Received INSTEON "Thermostat" temperature changed to 85.0

Sep 3, 2014 11:21:02 PM
Trigger Temperature limit
Trigger Log Thermostat Temperature Change
Action Collection This is where the Thermostat would be set to 75 degrees
Google Voice SMS Sending 'PML - Temperature Limit (Auto set to 75)' to
Script cool setpoint prop changed to: 1.0
Script cool setpoint state changed to: 1.0
Google Voice SMS Message sent successfully.

Sep 3, 2014 11:22:03 PM
Trigger Log Thermostat Temperature Change
Script cool setpoint prop changed to: 86.0
Script cool setpoint state changed to: 86.0

Sep 4, 2014 12:00:00 AM
Created new log file (Indigo Server version 6.0.14)

Sep 4, 2014 12:29:44 AM
Received INSTEON "Thermostat" temperature changed to 84.0




I also later grabbed the whole thermostat 'state' and logged it, show the same

Sep 4, 2014 6:06:57 PM
Received INSTEON "Thermostat" on (button 1)
Received INSTEON "Thermostat" temperature changed to 87.0

Sep 4, 2014 6:13:22 PM
Received INSTEON "Thermostat" off (button 1)
Received INSTEON "Thermostat" temperature changed to 86.0

Sep 4, 2014 6:53:02 PM
Trigger Temperature limit
Trigger Log Thermostat Temperature Change
Action Collection This is where the Thermostat would be set to 75 degrees
Google Voice SMS Sending 'PML - Temperature Limit (Auto set to 75)' to
Script States : (dict)
humidityInput1 : 29 (real)
humidityInputsAll : 29 (string)
hvacCoolerIsOn : off (on/off bool)
hvacDehumidifierIsOn : off (on/off bool)
hvacFanIsOn : off (on/off bool)
hvacFanMode : 0 (integer)
hvacFanMode.ui : auto on (string)
hvacFanModeIsAlwaysOn : false (bool)
hvacFanModeIsAuto : true (bool)
hvacHeaterIsOn : off (on/off bool)
hvacHumidifierIsOn : on (on/off bool)
hvacOperationMode : 2 (integer)
hvacOperationMode.ui : cool on (string)
hvacOperationModeIsAuto : false (bool)
hvacOperationModeIsCool : true (bool)
hvacOperationModeIsHeat : false (bool)
hvacOperationModeIsOff : false (bool)
hvacOperationModeIsProgramAuto : false (bool)
hvacOperationModeIsProgramCool : false (bool)
hvacOperationModeIsProgramHeat : false (bool)
setpointCool : 1 (real)
setpointHeat : 45 (real)
temperatureInput1 : 86 (real)
temperatureInputsAll : 86 (string)
Script cool setpoint prop changed to: 1.0
Script cool setpoint state changed to: 1.0
Google Voice SMS Message sent successfully.

Sep 4, 2014 6:54:02 PM
Trigger Log Thermostat Temperature Change
Script cool setpoint prop changed to: 86.0
Script cool setpoint state changed to: 86.0

Sep 4, 2014 7:04:10 PM
Received INSTEON "Thermostat" on (button 1)
Received INSTEON "Thermostat" temperature changed to 87.0

[matt (support)]

It looks like your thermostat is returning bad setpoint values to Indigo, when Indigo polls the states from the thermostat. It could be that your thermostat is marginal/failing, but my guess would be that it is a firmware bug in the thermostat (those thermostats have a few).

Open the device dialog and try unchecking the Read (poll) device state every N minutes checkbox. If I remember correctly, that thermostat will broadcast out changes as they occur, so the polling is superfluous.

Does the problem still occur after you do that?

And if you manually change the setpoint on the thermostat itself does that show up in the Event Log still (it should)?