Trying to create reliable motion activation for simple lighting without turning off while still in motion zone

motion
#1

1) Give a description of the problem
Lights seem to always shut off while still working in the motion area. Wife is getting aggravated when left in the dark and demands removal of sensors. Marital strife ensues

2) What is the expected behavior?
Engage lighting by motion with different intensities for different times of day while staying on for duration of activity in the given area.

3) What is happening/not happening?
Lights seem to engage but often disengage while people are still active in the space. Motion then seems to enter timeout period and will not re-trigger lights.

**4) Post a Green Snapshot of the piston!

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#2

I am new to webcore and am learning as I go. This is one of my problem areas. I have been lurking and trying different avenues based on what I have been reading. I guess my first question is this layout causing too much jumping around and not allowing the workflow to progress correctly? I would attach the logs but I have just changed the piston to what I think would work and dont have any new logs.
This is using Zigbee bulbs, SmartThings motion sensors and Hub, but is also tied to Google home, Action Tiles, and IFTTT. Should I remove all access to these devices for everything except ST hub?

#3

No need to remove the other integrations.

three suggestions for you…

  1. right now you have one IF Block using the else IFs. Create 4 separate IF Blocks for each item
  2. in the first two you are using “is active” change those to “changes to active”
  3. in the last two, move the two “stays inactive” trigger lines above the time which is not a trigger

and listen to anything @Pantheon writes

#4

Welcome to webcore!
There are users all over this forum that can/will offer assistance. There are MANY ways to do what you are wanting. I will make a few general suggestions here and let you do the coding.

  1. Pull all of your IF statements out by themselves. IF-THEN-ELSE can get complicated and may be difficult to debug when learning webcore.

  2. I usually want my trigger to be the first command, followed by as many conditions as I want. You can read about Conditions and Triggers.
    So…
    image
    See the orange lightning bolt in the left margin. That is your trigger. Generally, users here like to have the trigger first so

     IF
 Motion Sensor 2's motion stays inactive for 1 minute     <-Trigger
 and
 Time is NOT between 5:45am and 9:00 pm    (use the NOT option when spanning midnight)

Make subtle changes to your piston and give us an update and we can work from there.

#5

Gentlemen,
I have made the suggested adjustments and set it into motion. It seems pretty basic now and much easier to follow along as a newb. (just as you said :smirk:) As this shows functional, I can add to and complicate it as I learn and then tweak to fine tune. I will let it run to see how it works and change some of my others to mimic and play with them as well.
Thank you for taking the time with a beginner. I very much appreciate your input.

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#7

@jeepfreq, looks good!

Just a tip : Remember that your piston will run TOP to BOTTOM EACH time a trigger changes, in either direction. That means that when the motion sensor changes to active, that is a trigger, and the piston will run from top to bottom. AND, when the motion sensor changes back to inactive, that is a trigger also, and the piston will run top to bottom again. Each time a trigger changes state, the piston will run top to bottom. Let us know how it’s working.