This Piston Should work - Right?

#1

1) Give a description of the problem
Can you determine if this piston should work?

2) What is the expected behaviour?
Turn off 3 switches (Deck Lights, Side Door Light, Front Light) at 12:30 am daily. Set the level of Kitchen Under Cabinet Lights to 11 Percent

3) What is happening/not happening?
The piston does not seem to work reliably. Is there a way to streamline this? Have I included extraneous data/ settings?

**4) Post a Green Snapshot of the piston![image|45x37]

image
image.png1178Ă—575 27.6 KB

5) Attach logs after turning logging level to Full
I have not logged it yet as I just modified it to perhaps solve the issue with it not firing properly.

#2

I’m a little confused. Are you able to set the level of your Switch 1?

#3

Where you have the set level command after the turn off command will simply turn the lights on again.

#4

If it’s going to happen every day, why add ONLY every day…

#5

@jkp nailed it… (Set level to X will turn on the light)

If you move the “Turn off” command down one line below the “Set level” line, it should work reliably.
(since the piston runs top to bottom)

#6

I think the set level was my issue.
Im going to modify the Piston to remove the set level as it should be turning the lights off and not setting the level and turning them on again.
Its weird that the devices are listed as Switch 1 and White Bulb 1 and White Bulb 2. The devices are actually named Deck Lights, Side Door Light, and Front Light, but I think that when one takes a GREEN Snapshot it anonomyzes the devices.

I will report back to see if this modification solves it. Thanks to all that replied!

#7

The only time I “Set level” before a “Turn off” command is when I want the next “Turn on” to come on at a low level. For example, my goodnight piston turns certain bulbs to 5% level, and then off. This way, when I go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, I am not blinded by a bright light.

Yes, you are right.
This is for your safety, since some people call devices based on family member names.

#8

Thats a nice trick to set the level low so that the next time the light comes on its not super bright and blinding at night.

Thanks! With this community support there is just so many things made possible to automate with WebCore!

#9

I agree with you!

There’s some of the nicest people on the planet visiting this forum daily.

Honestly, I have never seen a more mature forum in all the internet.

#10

I don’t mean to go off topic but seriously this forum (And i also like Action Tiles forum) is really beyond the regular internet forums.
I had a single post in Smart Things forum and I got some help but also some nasty attacks… and left the forum the same day…

#11

That’s why I was confused…I was wondering how does one actually adjust the level of a switch as your code suggested.

#12

I am sorry. It has been a long day.

Can you re-word the question please?

#13

Sorry, not a question. When I initially saw in his GREEN code that he was adjusting the LEVEL of Switch 1, I thought the Set level to 12% (for a SWITCH) may be a potential source for his problem. Please disregard my confusion… :slight_smile:

#14

Oh right… Good catch!

Switches can only be boolean (on or off), while bulbs or dimmers have the ability to change levels.

Often, if a device receives a command it does not understand, nothing will happen, but I try to only group similar devices (that use the same Device Handler) to guarantee that.

#15

Yeah its the fact that taking a Green Snapshot and posting does not convey the exact device type. Its obfuscated (< Love that Word ) on purpose.

I will know in 30 minutes if the reworked code works to shut off the Deck Lights, Side Door Light, and Front Light.

Right now ive got to attend to uploading the video of a trespasser that my video surveillance camera’s just caught.

#16

To be honest, from a coding perspective, the green snapshot:
Switch 1 and White Bulb 1 and White Bulb 2
tells us more about the type than seeing:
Deck Lights, Side Door Light, and Front Light

I say this because with the green snapshot, I can tell that you are using two different Device handlers. (meaning different code is processing)

IE: If I only saw the name of the devices, I’d never realize that “Deck Lights” cannot dim.

#17

So true. The deck lights are actually rope lights hidden up and in a railing that rings the deck. So one cannot see the lights from the front or the rear they just project downwards. Since they are rope lights which have no dimming abilities there was no need for a switch that could dim them. Just a standard on / off outlet is all that is needed.