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[bkenobi]

This is a somewhat unique question I suspect.  I have a PowerFlash module that is controlled by a motion sensor.  When we have a storm come through, the motion sensor sometimes triggers between hundreds and thousands of times in a night (depending on the length of the storm).  I already killed one PowerFlash and I assume it was because of this scenario.

I'm thinking about ways to turn off the motion sensor either manually or when motion has been sensed too many times in a period of time.  The motion sensor is 120VAC and requires a 40W light bulb to function.  Right now my solution is to remove the light bulb.  I was thinking of installing an OutletLinc in my setup to replace the standard outlet that I have the bulb plugged into but realized that it would probably not work as expected since I'd be toggling power to the module and the module defaults to off.

I could simply install a light socket with a pull chain switch, but that would require me to decide when it's too windy and manually turn things off.  This is home automation, so I figured I could automate disabling my automation module.   

Thoughts?

[Knightrider]

Put a module inline to the motion sensor. Have PCC monitor the weather to disable. 

[Tuicemen]

I've been controlling devices based on weather conditions for years.
The cheapest solution is Knightriders and point a program like PCC to a weather station closest to you.
Since only the light needs to be controlled a socket rocket may work
Many of these now have rapid fire updates these update regularly at intervals as low as every 18 seconds in weather underground.


A more expensive but also more accurate option is to get a personal weather station  which can be connected to your PC.
These write a CSV file to your PC which can be used in any program capable of reading it like PCC
Once you get into tripping things with a weather station there are a vast number of things you can control since these also monitor and report indoor conditions as well were ever the indoor console is located.
If you use X10weatherWatcher (a PCC plugin) you can control an additional 16 devices based on any condition in a CSV file

 

[Brian H]

FYI. The 2473 OutletLinc Relay module is being replaced by a 2663-222 Dual Band Outlet module. That has both outlets independently controlled but X10 support seems to be removed.

[bkenobi]

A socket rocket...duh 

I'm running HomeGenie these days.  It has multiple weather monitors already, but I like the personal weather station idea.  I never thought there was a need for them, but this is a really good idea.  I could even have the HA send me a text and/or email to warn me about heavy winds.

[dave w]

This is a somewhat unique question I suspect.  I have a PowerFlash module that is controlled by a motion sensor.  When we have a storm come through, the motion sensor sometimes triggers between hundreds and thousands of times in a night (depending on the length of the storm).  I already killed one PowerFlash and I assume it was because of this scenario.

FWIW Multiple triggers should not affect a Power Flash unless your trigger voltage is too high. Are you triggering by relay closure or voltage from the motion detector?
What about just going to a different motion detector?

[bkenobi]

i would love to use a different sensor, but I've never found anything off the shelf that would work better.  I suppose that since my HA is a raspberry pi located a few feet from the PF module, I could just transition from the PF to a GPIO pin on the pi.  I'm using a relay to open/close a dry contact, so there better not be any voltage involved.

[Tuicemen]

I'm running HomeGenie these days.  It has multiple weather monitors already, but I like the personal weather station idea.  I never thought there was a need for them, but this is a really good idea.  I could even have the HA send me a text and/or email to warn me about heavy winds.

I have multiple weather notifications emailed/texted to me, high wind, and sever winter weather to name a couple.
A personal weather station supplies more accurate info for your location.
If you feed your info to the web like to WeatherUnderground you can access the info from anywhere and get detailed info if you get an alert.

[bkenobi]

I haven't looked into weather stations in a long time.  Any recommendations?  I know that some of them have wireless modules that an arduino or raspberry pi can receive with the right radio.  I think that sounds pretty attractive since I'd rather use the raspi for controlling upload of data to weather underground etc.

[Tuicemen]

Most stations use a wireless signal to a console. If you wish to bypass the console with raspi I'd suggest ask someone that has done that to see what they use. I believe I've seen ones from Davis instruments used this way but don't recall the model
You might even find the station with out the console on ebay

I have used Oregon Scientific and currently use a Acurite 5 in 1 with a PC
I have used some cheaper units that don't connect to the PC but were wireless. 
One currently in use at my off grid place I believe is a La Crosse and has been in use for two years on the same batteries.

[bkenobi]

I think the easiest thing to do that would be the most beneficial would be to move the wiring from the PF over to the Raspberry Pi GPIO and add a script to watch for too many triggers in a set time.  That won't be needed to protect anything, but I want the ability to disable my lights and chime from the motion sensor to avoid driving either my wife or me crazy.  I looked at weather stations at Costco yesterday and the one that had a wind gauge was enormous.  I'll keep looking for something more compact and has been tested and known to work on Linux.

[bkenobi]

So I'm going to wire the motion sensor to both the PF and the GPIO for testing and when I have things right, I'll remove the PF.  What I need to do is figure out a way to count ON commands or ON/OFF cycles and when I see more than a set number in a period of time, I disable the sensor from causing anything to happen.  I'm ok with the second part, but not the counting.

My quick and dirty approach would work, but I hate doing it this way.  Set up an array of x length.  When a command comes in, put the time of the command in array location 1 and move everything down.  When a command comes in, check to see if the time between command 1 and command n is less than a specified interval and, if so, turn off whatever code is using the motion sensor results.

I'm sure this would work, but I'm not sure if it's the best/cleanest approach.  Maybe I'm over complicating it.  The issue I have really is having to store potentially a large set of commands.  I guess if I just decide that 10 commands in a minute is excessive, I'd only need to store 10 times, so maybe it's not too bad.