Elk M1 lighting control

[Guy669]

Hi everybody,

I exported the lights that are programmed in my ISY994IRPRO to my ELK M1. I also manager to set up the eKeypad app with the help of users from this website and everything works perfectly. I can turn on the lights with my exciting ISY rules and from my Iphone with no issue or delays.

The issue I’m having now is with my lights rules that are programmed in my M1. When I ask the M1 to turn on lights when a certain time is encountered I notice 20 minutes delays before the rule is executed. I would like to set up a rule to turn light on when an alarm is triggered but wouldn’t want a 20 minute delay to occur. Any other rules entered in the M1 work perfectly fine except the lights command.

Anybody every encounter this issue? What should I be looking at to solve my issue?

Thank you in advance for help

:rockon:

 

[tmbrown97]

First, I'd check the time on both devices to make sure they're the same and hopefully following an NTP server. That shouldn't affect a zone-triggered light action, but still something I'd check.

Another thing I've noticed is that the Elk doesn't handle multiple lighting commands at once well. Things tend to get missed, at least with UPB.

Not long ago I created a rule that, if my daughter opens her door after bedtime, turn on the lights in her foyer and her bathroom. The bathroom light rule works most of the time, but the foyer lights generally don't, but now sometime after she's in bed, I'll walk out and find the foyer on full-bright. I know I have the dim level set too low to properly bring the LED bulbs up too - so I'm not sure where it's going wrong (and honestly haven't opened RP since making the rules to troubleshoot) but it's weirdness nevertheless. I have other places where I have several lights that are supposed to sequence (as opposed to using a scene) that don't work properly either; I've been moving them over to Elve.

Another thing that's important is the rules and using the proper order if there are any "AND" portions. For instance:

Whenever zone X becomes not secure AND it is dark out, turn on livingroom light

is much different than

Whenever it is dark out AND zone X becomes not secure, turn on livingroom light.

If you post the offending rules we can help. If you're not sure how to copy/paste rules, here's a nice tip.

 

[apostolakisl]

Work2play makes a good point about how Elk rules work. It may or may not have anything to do with your problem, as he mentioned, it would be necessary to see your actual rules.

But the thing he is referring to is "triggering". Elk rules only trigger on the first condition. Any additional conditions are only checked for true/false if the first condition happens. This is VERY different than ISY where every single item in the "if" clause can be a trigger.

Regardless, I would highly suggest abandoning Elk as your lighting controller. If you haven't already purchased the Elk module for ISY, do so. Then write all of your lighting rules in ISY. ISY with the Elk module can see the status of pretty much everything going on in Elk so you can trigger anything you want in ISY off of events happening in Elk (like a zone violation).

 

[Guy669]

Work2play makes a good point about how Elk rules work. It may or may not have anything to do with your problem, as he mentioned, it would be necessary to see your actual rules.

But the thing he is referring to is "triggering". Elk rules only trigger on the first condition. Any additional conditions are only checked for true/false if the first condition happens. This is VERY different than ISY where every single item in the "if" clause can be a trigger.

Regardless, I would highly suggest abandoning Elk as your lighting controller. If you haven't already purchased the Elk module for ISY, do so. Then write all of your lighting rules in ISY. ISY with the Elk module can see the status of pretty much everything going on in Elk so you can trigger anything you want in ISY off of events happening in Elk (like a zone violation).

How do I set rules in my ISY to reconize ELK triggers? I dont see any rules options that show me it will work if something is happening on the ELK side. I can set light rules no issue but dont see how to make it react based on ELK

 

[wuench]

You need to buy the Elk plugin for the ISY....

 

[Guy669]

Not sure if I received one when I purchased my Mi Gold. Can you show me what its looks like?

 

[BLH]

The ELK Plugin is a firmware addition to the ISY994i.
In the Help Tab. Purchase Modules. Will show all the optional firmware Plugins you can get.
I have the Weatherbug, A10/X10 and Networking Modules myself.

After you purchase one and UDI processes the purchase. The update automatically installs on your ISY994i and it reboots.

 

[apostolakisl]

It is a little on the pricey side at $99, but UD has a 30 day money back guarantee. I think you'll appreciate all the options. Aside from making your lighting control work so much better, it is a huge step up in communications. ISY email and texting options blow away Elk's native ability with the ability to include variables like zone status, temperature, and other stuff plus the fact that there is no real limit to how many different messages you can have.

 

[Guy669]

Great thanks. I will try it