Elk M1 - Best Way To Randomize Security Lighting?

[SteveInNorCal]

Using Elk M1, is there a way to make residential lights go on and off at a set schedule plus or minus some random amount of time? This makes a house look more lived in than if the lights go on and off at an exact preset time every day.
 
I want to be able to arm the Elk alarm Away and have it then control the lights (via my UPB switches and receptacles) at set times with random variations. I have the Elk / PCS PIM to interface the M1 to the power line.
 
I think there are 3 possibilities:

1. Use the Elk RP software to program the Elk lighting and live with precise set times. Why doesn't Elk support a random offset applied to a scheduled on/off time?
2. Have the Elk send a link to my PCS Timed Event Controller (TEC) moving it in and out of "suspend" mode. Does the Elk support the "Suspend" command? The TEC makes it easy to add a random amount of time to a set on/off time. I could program it with enough events and some scenes to make the house look very lived in. 
3. Add an external home automation system such as HomeSeer, Vera, Indigo, or ISY994i. Unfortunately, none of these companies support UPB any more. PCS OEM'd a box from (I think) Universal Devices but cancelled it a year or so ago. It is disappointing that the leading DIY HA solutions have all decided to abandon UPB.

Are there other approaches I haven't thought of? This must be a common requirement, but I sure haven't run across a good solution.
 
Thoughts? What do you all do?
 
Steve

 

[tmbrown97]

Since when do they not support UPB?  I know nothing new is happening in the world of UPB, but what's there today seems fine.  And though I don't use HomeSeer much (but I have HS3Pro installed) I do know it supports UPB.
 
I've never tried tackling this with the Elk - I'd bet the rules would get overwhelmed pretty quickly; but I'm sure you could use some counters and some logic to change things a bit based on sunset offset and things like that to at least create a somewhat lived-in look.   I know I'd seen in years past where people had done such.
 
Or there's the simple SA plug-in wall timer which I believe has a randomize feature - it's nothing fancy, but has this missing feature.  It's the Simply Automated Scheduler Timer.

 

[dgage]

I use CQC to randomize my RadioRa2 lights when I'm on vacation. Here is a link that talks about how people use UPB with CQC as a starting point for info.

http://www.charmedquark.com/vb_forum/showthread.php?t=11310

 

[SteveInNorCal]

Thanks, dgage. I'll look at CQC some more. 
 
W2P, it seems that only third-party plug-ins make the systems work with UPB and I haven't read great things about the third-party reliability. The sites themselves do not list UPB support.
 
BTW, I'm already using the PulseWorx Timed Event Controller (TEC) which has a pretty good list of features (at bottom). But it's a pain in the neck to have to buy, set up, and maintain multiple TECs to cover daily living, away, vacation, etc. And 20 events is pretty limiting -- my front porch light alone consumes four of the 20 (on evening, off evening, on morning, off morning). There's got to be a better way.
 
From PulseWorx:
 

• Stores up to 20 individual timed events.
• Each event can be configured to occur, daily, during the work week, on weekends, on specific days of the week or on a specific day of the year.
• Event times can be specified as absolute times or relative to sunrise or sunset times (based on your geographic location).
• A Security Mode randomly varies the event time each day within a user specified time window gives your home a lived in look.
• 10 year battery back-up
• Automatically adjusts for Daylight Saving Time and leap years.
• Multiple TEC’s can be supported in one system if more than 20 events are needed.
• Each timed event can be temporarily suspended upon receiving a specific activate UPB link.  It can then be unsuspended upon receiving the deactivate link command.  

​How do I make the Elk send an activate / deactivate command to the "Suspend" link?

 

[tmbrown97]

Hrm - Unfortunately, Elve had a great native UPB plugin... Unfortunate because it's not a viable option any longer.  Merely having Elve running with its own UPB PIM solved the problem of keeping the M1's status updated because it would see Elve's constant updates.
 
20 commands is a bit too limiting - why not move all that stuff to the Elk except the specific vacation stuff?  The Elk handles the lights on/off and adjusts for sunrise/sunset just fine. 
 
Also along those lines - anything that can control the Elk can also control the same lights that the Elk controls - so any of those vera/cqc/etc packages *should* be able to control the UPB lights either natively or through the Elk.  In my case, I actually have 3 PIM's stacked - one for the RUC, one for the Elk, and one for Elve.  This gives me a ton of flexibility.

 

[Desert_AIP]

As Work2Play said,
The Simply Automated wall timer has this feature.
You program in the actions, up to 99, and days and times you want, then turn on vacation mode which offsets a random time, different daily.
You can turn a light on only Tuesday and Wednesday, and another Friday and Monday, etc. to induce additional randomness.
 
You do have to remember to turn it on vacation mode before you leave, but it works well.
 
The Web Mountain RUC has the same features, among others, and is able to be enabled/disabled in Vacation/Home mode from a smart phone app or web interface.
 
I use these products so I don't have to waste a lot of programming lines in my controller, Omni Pro, and also introduce randomness.

 

[SteveInNorCal]

As Work2Play said,
The Simply Automated wall timer has this feature.
You program in the actions, up to 99, and days and times you want, then turn on vacation mode which offsets a random time, different daily.
You can turn a light on only Tuesday and Wednesday, and another Friday and Monday, etc. to induce additional randomness.
 
You do have to remember to turn it on vacation mode before you leave, but it works well.
 
The Web Mountain RUC has the same features, among others, and is able to be enabled/disabled in Vacation/Home mode from a smart phone app or web interface.
 
I use these products so I don't have to waste a lot of programming lines in my controller, Omni Pro, and also introduce randomness.

I like what I read about the RUC Triggers and time delays. A link activation on the UPB network can initiate a Trigger under time-delay. It seems that this can cascade events and scenes which could be quite useful. Do you use the RUC Triggers?

 

[Desert_AIP]

That behavior takes some programming burden off the controller for light only events.
Especially across rooms.

You can time delay a link after receiving a link, ton cascade events as you describe,

It will also send text messages, etc.

Also, I gave porch and driveway coach lamps on a US22-40 dual channel switch.
The Omni can send links, but can't send unit links to the individual channels, the RUC can.
So for instance, when there is an alarm I want the coach lamps to blink.
The Omni sends the Alarm (AllOn) link, the RUC sees this and sends a blink command to the A channel to blink the coach lamps.

 

[Photon]

Elk controls all our exterior lights plus lamps in rooms visible from the street. It uses the same schedule whether or not we are home. If the bad guys are casing the neighborhood, they won't be able to use our lighting pattern to determine our absence.

I'm more concerned about drapes and shades, none of which is automated. A nearby neighbor leaves all the upstairs shades closed when they are gone, so it is easy to tell they are in away mode. It would not be practical to automate the shades and blinds in this house.

 

[signal15]

Get a Vera Lite for $169 on Amazon, and use the Elk plugin and one of the vacation ghost plugins for it.

 

[Linwood]

What I did on the Elk was program three sets of lights, with three different times on, that were not multiples of each other.   Like 5, 7 and 13.  This isn't random but it means that they are not an immediately recognizable pattern.   And of course only when dark (or you could do it only when dark up to a specific time or similar).