It's not clear to me if Indigo supports a time/date action a set number of minutes BEFORE sunset. In the dialog box the '+' isn't a button that will toggle to a '-' sign.

The online help seems to suggest that this is possible but doesn't say how. Do I just enter a minus sign before the number of minutes? If so, I'd recommend a UI change to make this more intuitive.

Yes, just put a minus in front of the number. This issue has come up several times, so it is clear the UI isn't too intuitive on this.

Regards,
Matt

Is there some way to specify +/- hh:mm (or just +/- mm) in trigger action conditions? I'd like to have my motion detector turn on some lights but only between, say, an hour before sunset to an hour after sunrise.

I suppose I could define timed actions to "gate" the behavior of the script using explicit variables (i.e. define "ItsLightOutThere" and have it be turned on and off on a scheduled basis)? Is there a better way?

Thanks,
-Patrick.

pwd wrote:I suppose I could define timed actions to "gate" the behavior of the script using explicit variables (i.e. define "ItsLightOutThere" and have it be turned on and off on a scheduled basis)? Is there a better way?

You are on the right track, but there is a better way that doesn't require variables at all. Use the "Enable Trigger Action" and "Disable Trigger Action" Action Types. Create a new Time/Date Action (or two if you want sunset and sunrise to be the trigger times), set the Action Type to either "Enable Trigger Action" or "Disable Trigger Action" and select your original Trigger Action as the target.

The variable approach might be best if you have a bunch of trigger actions that need the extra conditional. You could create a "myIsDaylight" variable that gets set before sunset and after sunrise, then use this variable in all of the Trigger Actions.

Regards,
Matt

Ah! Interesting idea. The semantics are slightly different, though, and I'm beginning to suspect a trigger variable is better after all because I already want the action enabled/disabled when I manually change the light setting. I'm trying to work it so that the lights in the room come on at least minimally when I walk. Obviously I can't just blindly send that setting whenever I detect motion because I may have turned up the lights myself and wouldn't want it altered just because I'm moving around in the room.

Right now I've got it set to disable the motion detector when the light settings are changed, and re-enabling the motion detection when the ligths are turned off. If I now refine the motion trigger itself to only fire when it's dark inside, I think that'll do nicely.

Thanks for the tip!
-Patrick.

Thanks. This thread was helpful for me to solve a question in which I'd like certain keypad triggered scenes to only function at certain times of day.

Is there any hidden Indigo variable that just updates the current time of day? So that we could access the time as a condition for a trigger?

It would be easier to have a Condition within the Trigger that just says, e.g. "If time of day > 9:00pm" than to (1) create a trigger, (2) create a Time/Date action to enable it, and (3) create a Time/Date action to disable it.

Granted, the conditional above would only work between 9:00pm and 11:59pm, which would usually work for me, but I've seen some hints that multiple conditions will be supported in future Indigo releases, which would easily allow for a Trigger condition of "If time of day > 9:00" and "If time of day <6:00am"

eme jota ce wrote:Thanks. This thread was helpful for me to solve a question in which I'd like certain keypad triggered scenes to only function at certain times of day.

Is there any hidden Indigo variable that just updates the current time of day? So that we could access the time as a condition for a trigger?

It would be easier to have a Condition within the Trigger that just says, e.g. "If time of day > 9:00pm" than to (1) create a trigger, (2) create a Time/Date action to enable it, and (3) create a Time/Date action to disable it.

Granted, the conditional above would only work between 9:00pm and 11:59pm, which would usually work for me, but I've seen some hints that multiple conditions will be supported in future Indigo releases, which would easily allow for a Trigger condition of "If time of day > 9:00" and "If time of day <6:00am"

Yes, multiple conditions and date/time conditions are on the list...

support wrote:Yes, just put a minus in front of the number. This issue has come up several times, so it is clear the UI isn't too intuitive on this.

Regards,
Matt

Oh cool! Ultra cool even!

(maybe add a static text on the GUI page stating this could save these Qs?)

Yes, multiple conditions and date/time conditions are on the list...

Thanks Jay,

From reading the forum / learning how to uncover the power & flexibility of Indigo / Insteon, I can see that you have a long and growing list due to the nature of smarthome technology and the types of people who are attracted to it. Thanks for the updates and helpful forum.

Looking forward to multiple conditions and date/time conditions.

mjc

So just to clarify, it's not currently possible to setup an event to only happen
over a 5 min span etc.?

I was hoping to have my outside light just stay on for a minute or two
when I turn it on when I leave for work in the am which is typically about the same time.

Carl

P.S. Just playing around with some possibilities and discovered I could make a variable,
( a better name might be "State Holder") and have it's state change from true to false
depending on what time it is. If I turn on the light I want controlled while that state
is true I just have it turn on and auto-off after a few minutes.
Seems to work fine.

ckeyes888 wrote:So just to clarify, it's not currently possible to setup an event to only happen
over a 5 min span etc.?

I was hoping to have my outside light just stay on for a minute or two
when I turn it on when I leave for work in the am which is typically about the same time.

Carl

P.S. Just playing around with some possibilities and discovered I could make a variable,
( a better name might be "State Holder") and have it's state change from true to false
depending on what time it is. If I turn on the light I want controlled while that state
is true I just have it turn on and auto-off after a few minutes.
Seems to work fine.

Yep, that's the easiest non-AppleScript way of doing it.