Newbie: Question about macro's and timers

[marvin51796]

Hi all
I hope i put this in the right place, sorry if i didnt, I am new to X10 world but love it already, I am trying to setup a motion sensor to bright lights in a room when someone walks into it, and then dim back out after 5 minutes of no motion, could someone please point me in the right direction on how to set this up,
thanks for any help at all.

[Puck]

Welcome to the forum & X10 marvin51796.

I am trying to setup a motion sensor to bright lights in a room when someone walks into it, and then dim back out after 5 minutes of no motion,...

When you say brighten & dim, do you mean on & off or actually changing brightness? This will make a difference in what you need to do. Also, what is the module (part number) of the light switch/module you are controlling?

If you just want to turn on & off after 5 minutes of no motion, you don't necessarily need a macro... the motion sensor itself can do this directly through CM15A transceiver.

Tell us exactly what you want to do and we can help you.   

[marvin51796]

the switches that I am using are WS467 X10 Wall Switch, I am wanting the lights to be off, when we walk into the room have the lights brighten up to about 20%, wait about 10-15 minutes and then turn back off.
hope this helps..

[Puck]

marvin51796: There are a few ways to do what you want.

As you probably know, the WS467 cannot softstart... that is, it cannot go from off and brighten to 20%, it can only turn on full brightness then dim down to the 20%.

If the initial full on then down to 20% is OK, then make the following macro:

macro1: Trigger = MSxxA ON, Condition = Flag x is Cleared
- Set Flag x
- Turn ON light ABSOLUTE 20%
- Delay (10-15) minutes
- Turn OFF light
- Clear Flag x


The Flag condition is required to prevent the macro from repeating as you move around the room. If it did repeat, your light would continuously brighten and dim.

To prevent the light from turning off after the 10-15 minutes while someone is still moving around in the room, you can separate the Light OFF section of the macro and have it triggered by the MSxxA's OFF signal (which you can set for x number of minutes after no motion is detected).

You can have the WS467 pseudo-softstart by presetting it's brightness level to 1% (instead of OFF), and do a RELATIVE 20% brightness when you enter the room & a RELATIVE 20% dim after you leave.