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Flow - turning lights on and off with countdown timer

malysanuymalysanuy Member
edited March 2018 in Questions & Help
Hello everybody, how are you today ?

I have been struggling for a while with Homey and its flows. I set up two flows for the lightning : 

1/ When The Motion Alarm Turned On... Then... Start Countdown Timer (180 sec) + Turn On Living Room Light 

2/ When The Motion Alarm Turned Off ...And... Timer Not Running (Countdown Timer) ...Then... Turn OFF Living Room Light. 

But it does not work. I have also read and tried many flows like this one here : https://forum.athom.com/discussion/3199/solved-switch-off-after-60-min-no-movement but still not working :(

Could you help me to solve this problem, please ? Have I done something wrong with my flows ?
Thank you :) 
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Comments

  • casedacaseda Member
    It is easier to switch it around.

    1. If motion is detected, turn on light and Stop the timer.

    2. If motion stops, start the timer

    3. If timer is zero then turn off lights
  • keverjeroenkeverjeroen Member
    edited October 2017
    I have it like this:

    1. IF motion - THEN turn on light + start timer 300 sec.
    2. IF timer is empty - THEN turn loght off.

    This works great! And you only need 2 flows.

    p.s. flow 1 resets the timer everytime there is motion. So flow 2 is really only started as there is really no motion for 300 seconds.

    -edit- I've posted an example in the examples-topic. That example is a bit more advanced, but I think you get the point.

    https://forum.athom.com/discussion/comment/59830/#Comment_59830
  • ericr90ericr90 Member
    Instead of using a timer you can also use the delay function in action cards.

    Like this: if motion stops -> turn light off (with a delay of 2 minutes)

    The only thing is that you cannot cancel this action afaik, something you can do with a timer.
  • malysanuymalysanuy Member
    edited October 2017
    Thank you very much for your help. I'm gonna check this out and try these flows. I will let you know :) 
  • RocodamelsheRocodamelshe Member
    keverjeroen said:
    I have it like this:

    1. IF motion - THEN turn on light + start timer 300 sec.
    2. IF timer is empty - THEN turn loght off.

    IF there is motion and the motion lasts more then 300 sec (like the wife is cooking and keeps moving in tha kitchen) ur lights WILL go off when using f.e. a fibaro motion sensor. That's because it will only send an off command after a specific amount of time. Now u can tell me that's a wyrd case but i can tell u: It happens!
    There is only 1 good option for this and that is @caseda 's option.

    ericr90 said:
    Instead of using a timer .................................
    ericr90 said:
    ..................something you can do with a timer.
    U just answered ur own Eric!
  • keverjeroenkeverjeroen Member
    Rocodamelshe said:
    keverjeroen said:
    I have it like this:

    1. IF motion - THEN turn on light + start timer 300 sec.
    2. IF timer is empty - THEN turn loght off.

    IF there is motion and the motion lasts more then 300 sec (like the wife is cooking and keeps moving in tha kitchen) ur lights WILL go off when using f.e. a fibaro motion sensor. That's because it will only send an off command after a specific amount of time. Now u can tell me that's a wyrd case but i can tell u: It happens!
    There is only 1 good option for this and that is @caseda 's option.

    ericr90 said:
    Instead of using a timer .................................
    ericr90 said:
    ..................something you can do with a timer.
    U just answered ur own Eric!
    This does work for me, using a neo sensor. But I don't use the off-command, I use the on-command. And that command is send every time there is movement and the blind-time (3 seconds on my senor) isn't active.. 
  • RocodamelsheRocodamelshe Member
    3 seconds eat more battery but is plausible. Now go into the kitchen and keep moving for 5 minutes like the wife does. The lights will go off aye?
  • steinissteinis Member
    Do You have an example when you also have a variable for status da(morning, night etc)? 
  • RocodamelsheRocodamelshe Member
    Well, with the time card in the AND colom u can choose between day and night. When u wanna use variables for morning/afternoon/evening/night u can always make variables with the Better Logic app and then use that cards in the AND colom.
  • steinissteinis Member
    Ok. But if the AND column isn’t true wouldn’t the flow just go to the ELSE column? 
  • RocodamelsheRocodamelshe Member
    Correct!
  • MarcelklimMarcelklim Member
    Wellicht kunnen jullie mij helpen. Ik wil de countdown timer gebruiken als volgt. Mijn lampen moet aan gaan om het moment dat de zon sensor minder dan 50 lux is. De lampen moeten uitgaan om 1 uur in de nacht. Indien de bewegingssensor constateert dat er een uur geen beweging is moeten de lampen uitgaan en indien de bewegingssensor constateert dat er 48 uur lang geen beweging is geconstateerd moeten de lampen uit blijven. Iemand een idee hoe dit in de regelen. heb meerdere bewegingssensors, hue lampen, somfy io zonne-sensor, hue bewegingsensor
  • bvdbosbvdbos Member
    in English?
  • keverjeroenkeverjeroen Member
    Rocodamelshe said:
    3 seconds eat more battery but is plausible. Now go into the kitchen and keep moving for 5 minutes like the wife does. The lights will go off aye?
    Nope.. the lights stay on when we are dancing in the kitchen. This is because te timer is reset everytime there is movement. So every 3 seconds the timer is reset and starts over.
  • MarcelklimMarcelklim Member
    Sorry, I will try yo translate.

    I hope you guys can help me I want to use the countdown timer. This is what is has to do. Lights in my garden have to turn on when my light sensor goes lower as 50 lux. Lights have to turn off at 1 a.m. When the motion sensor detects no motion for one hour, lights have to turn off( probably i am at sleep). When the motion sensor detects no motion during 1 day the lights in the garden have to stay off.(probably i am on a vacation) Is this possible? I use several motion sensors, light sensors. 
  • RocodamelsheRocodamelshe Member
    Well, u have to make some timers.
    WHEN motion stops——THEN start timers.
    WHEN timer 1 ( 1 hour) is empty THEN kill lights. 
    WHEN timer 2 (24hour) is empty ——THEN kill the flow which turn ur lights on.
    Thats the one u use with something like:
    WHEN motion—— THEN stop timers And put on the lights. 
  • MarcelklimMarcelklim Member
    Thx i will try this
  • PovlovPovlov Member
    Well, u have to make some timers.
    WHEN motion stops——THEN start timers.
    WHEN timer 1 ( 1 hour) is empty THEN kill lights. 
    WHEN timer 2 (24hour) is empty ——THEN kill the flow which turn ur lights on.
    Thats the one u use with something like:
    WHEN motion—— THEN stop timers And put on the lights. 
    WHEN timer 2 (24hour) is empty ——THEN kill the flow which turn ur lights on.
    Nice!
    I see some good use for this. Tx. Often I think around something obvious like flow "uitschakelen". A very nice feature it is!


  • malysanuymalysanuy Member
    Hello!
    caseda said:
    It is easier to switch it around.

    1. If motion is detected, turn on light and Stop the timer.

    2. If motion stops, start the timer

    3. If timer is zero then turn off lights
    Sorry for the late reply. I've just got the time to set up and try those flows again.
    It is working perfectly well. Thank you very much for your support :) 
  • larsmachielslarsmachiels Member
    My wife is very lazy and sometimes stops moving completely. It happened several times that the lights turned off while she was in the kitchen. Please help.
  • RocodamelsheRocodamelshe Member
    If she stops moving for like 3 minutes, just standing still in the kitchen, call 911/112!!
    Can u show us ur flows in a screenshot so we can look at it?
  • baboonenbaboonen Member
    I would like to use the countdown timer for my bathroom. Currently I use the following 2 flows:
    1. Hue light has been turned on (with a switch) / and it's at night / then stop timer, set brightness to 70 and turn timer to 1200 sec.
    2. If timer is empty / and it's at night / then set brightness to 1%
    Apparently the timer doesn't restart and I don't know why. When using the test button the flow works and the timer restarts. But when I manually switch off the light with the light switch and then switch it on the timer doesn't restart.

    Please advise! :)
  • RocodamelsheRocodamelshe Member
    Maybe u can add a delay of 1 second for the turn timer card?
  • glijieglijie Member
    delete the "stop timer" only use" turn timer"
  • baboonenbaboonen Member
    At first I only used turn timer. But this didn't work. Then I added stop timer. Will check if a delay will work. Thanks
  • baboonenbaboonen Member
    A delay doesn't work either. The trigger doesn't work with this one. That is strange because I use an other flow for switching a light (without countdown) and that works fine. So it seems that the countdown timer doesn't recognise the switching on of a hue light.

    Please advise. Are there alternatives?
  • RocodamelsheRocodamelshe Member
    Maybe u can post some screenies?
    1 for the flow that works and 1 for the flow that doesn't work?
  • glijieglijie Member
    no problem here with
    WHEN hue lamp turns on AND.... THEN Turn Counter to1200 AND set brightness to 70


    hue.jpg 45.1K
  • RocodamelsheRocodamelshe Member
    Are u also killing the power of the light Glije?
    Looks like Baboonen is killing the power with a switch
  • glijieglijie Member
    edited November 2017
    it works but then you  have at the end of the timer not to set the lights to 1 % brightness but to OFF.

    IF the switch is killed then in homey the HUE lights stays at on.(Maybe a BUG?)

    So:

    IF timer is empty THEN put all the HUE lights (the ones wich are turned on because of the switch) OFF.

    Then it workes :-)

    Or at the end , some flow has to turn the Hue lights to OFF.

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