Elk Lighting Question

[iostream212]

Finished adding interior door sensors and am working on programming the Elk with time appropriate door triggered events.
In this case I have a very simple rule:
Whenever Master Bedroom Door (Zone 20) Becomes Not Secure
Then Turn On Stair Lights
Then Turn Output 200 on for 2 Minutes

Then the follow-up rule:
Whenever Output 200 State is Turned Off
Then Turn Off Stair Lights

For whatever reason this only works about 60% of the time. The controlled light is an individual light and not a scene. The virtual output is not being cross-referenced. This is so basic I don't even know where to start troubleshooting or why a simple 'turn off the light' rule doesn't have 100% reliability.

 

[WayneW]

What part doesn't work? (the on or the off part)
What is your lighting technology?

 

[iostream212]

Opps. Yeah I guess 'little' detail would help.
It's Elk and ISY with Insteon switches. Always turns on. Just issues with the off.

 

[WayneW]

That code should work reliably. I do similar concept, but with slightly different rules. These rules prevent excess traffic on the powerline.

Try this structure:
WHENEVER Master Bedroom Door (Zone 20) BECOMES NOT SECURE
THEN TURN Output 200 ON FOR 1 RESTART TIMER IF RUNNING
WHENEVER Output 200 STATE IS TURNED ON
THEN TURN Stair Lights ON
WHENEVER Output 200 STATE IS TURNED OFF
THEN TURN Stair Lights OFF

 

[iostream212]

Thanks for the power-line suggestion. I never really made rules considering it before, but makes sense. I was thinking it was an issue with the output 200 turning off. Is there a way to monitor the virtual output states or to trace a running rule so I can narrow down the issue?

 

[iostream212]

Still messing around with this... Installed the newer Elk updates for the M1 and for the XEP. For now it seems the option to turn on a light for a specific amount of time then turn off is working. This was with an individual light. I have not tried a scene.
The rule is now modified to:
WHENEVER MASTER BDRM DOOR (ZN20) BECOMES NOT SECURE
THEN TURN STAIR LIGHTS ON FOR 10 SECONDS.
And sure enough after 20 tries it has turned off each time after 10 seconds. More testing to follow. I wonder how ridiculous this repeated door opening and closing must look to someone who doesn't know what I'm doing. This could be the start of a beautiful thing.

 

[WayneW]

The rule is now modified to:
WHENEVER MASTER BDRM DOOR (ZN20) BECOMES NOT SECURE
THEN TURN STAIR LIGHTS ON FOR 10 SECONDS.

I found that code to be unreliable (sometimes). In my case the light would not always go off. Elk has fixed it in a beta candidate for the M1.