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[soxfan1966]

Good afternoon,

I currently have an X10 security sensor that I use for a back porch light.  It works good (and much better than the outdoor motion sensors).  One issue however is that even during the day the sensor is getting triggered and while the action that happens as a result (i.e. turning on a light) is suppressed using the Advanced Smart Lights, I would still like to be able to suppress HG receiving the RF info.

With HG up and running, I can see notifications that the sensor has some activity (the notifications in the upper right hand corner).  It would ne nice to be able to suppress that during the day or even at times I want more control over it (one thing I was looking into was if it was windy outside after a certain time even at night).

Anyone have any ideas ?

[petera]

A simple logic automation along the lines

If time between sunrise and sunset and porch light is on, turn off porch light.

To be honest you'll find all the logic you need for this in the Advanced Smart Lights program. Just install the program, select the Advanced Smart Light option on your porch light widget and the program will do the rest. You could of course examine the ASL code and reuse any section you need for your own purposes. Here's a link to @bkenobi ASL program or you could download it directly from here http://old.homegenie.club:8080/www.homegenie.it/forum/indexfab0.html?topic=241.0

[soxfan1966]

I'm not trying to turn the light off (I do use Advanced Smart Lights for that).  I am trying to essentially deactivate a sensor during a period of time or when some criteria is met.

[petera]

The key here is security. The only adjustment to those sensors as you probably know is sensitivity. If you could block the RF transmission so could others. Effectively it needs to be in an always on state. Don't forget those sensors are checking in with the panel on a regular basis but you probably know that too. It's either something along the lines I suggested or revert to your standard motion sensor.

[Tuicemen]

As petera stated the key is security. These send a heartbeat  signal every so often to tell a consile they are still working these heart beats HG sees as well there is no way to stop HG from seeing these signals short of pulling the batteries from the sensor as even covering the sensor the heartbeat signal will still be sent.

[dave w]

Can't this be done with "conditionals" in HG?

[petera]

Can't this be done with "conditionals" in HG?

Of course as I suggested with the above conditions but the OP wanted to completely disable the security motion sensor between a certain time range which would cause a fault report on the security console as the sensor would be prevented from reporting its status to the security console. It is achievable if the security console is not deployed in the setup but as this option was never mentioned in the OP I didn't include it in my suggestion.

[soxfan1966]

I do not have the security module / system, so it not reporting that would not be an issue for me.

[beelocks]

How about powering the sensor with a 9v battery eliminator plugged into an X10 appliance module.
Set a schedule for active/inactive hours.

[petera]

Now that I know the motion sensor is NOT part of a security console the simplest solution is to intercept the RF signal and pass it to an intermediatary device that can determine if it should be passed to the X10 light to switch it on.

I suggest creating a virtual device or an additional switch (a middle man so to speak) and divert the RF signal to it. Once that additional device is created a simple Wizard Script can be created and it can determine if the porch light should be switched on and how long it should remain on and send the the correct RF signal to the porch light to switch on/off when a particular set of conditions are met.

Assuming the correct RF signal has been grabbed for the security motion sensor this should be the easiest solution. I see no reason why you would want to physically disable the security motion sensor to achieve this.

[Tuicemen]

Security sensors will not keep the same RF code if power is removed. When re powered it transmits a new code.

[soxfan1966]

Now that I know the motion sensor is NOT part of a security console the simplest solution is to intercept the RF signal and pass it to an intermediatary device that can determine if it should be passed to the X10 light to switch it on.

I suggest creating a virtual device or an additional switch (a middle man so to speak) and divert the RF signal to it. Once that additional device is created a simple Wizard Script can be created and it can determine if the porch light should be switched on and how long it should remain on and send the the correct RF signal to the porch light to switch on/off when a particular set of conditions are met.

Assuming the correct RF signal has been grabbed for the security motion sensor this should be the easiest solution. I see no reason why you would want to physically disable the security motion sensor to achieve this.

I do not want to physically alter the sensor at all - that would be counterproductive.   I was hoping there was a way within HG to recognize an x10 signal / trigger (RF) and then simply ignore it under certain conditions (i.e. during the day or due to some weather related abnormalities). 

If I understand what petra is suggestions (and I may not), it would be to create a virtual device in HG and using a script to "filter" out the x10 signals / triggers -either ignore them under my criteria or pass them along to control the light.

So the virtual device would replace the current Sensor module that I now have set up ?

[petera]

Now that I know the motion sensor is NOT part of a security console the simplest solution is to intercept the RF signal and pass it to an intermediatary device that can determine if it should be passed to the X10 light to switch it on.

I suggest creating a virtual device or an additional switch (a middle man so to speak) and divert the RF signal to it. Once that additional device is created a simple Wizard Script can be created and it can determine if the porch light should be switched on and how long it should remain on and send the the correct RF signal to the porch light to switch on/off when a particular set of conditions are met.

Assuming the correct RF signal has been grabbed for the security motion sensor this should be the easiest solution. I see no reason why you would want to physically disable the security motion sensor to achieve this.

I do not want to physically alter the sensor at all - that would be counterproductive.   I was hoping there was a way within HG to recognize an x10 signal / trigger (RF) and then simply ignore it under certain conditions (i.e. during the day or due to some weather related abnormalities). 

If I understand what petra is suggestions (and I may not), it would be to create a virtual device in HG and using a script to "filter" out the x10 signals / triggers -either ignore them under my criteria or pass them along to control the light.

So the virtual device would replace the current Sensor module that I now have set up ?

Exactly. The secondary device will perform the logic and depending on the conditions being met will pass the the RF signal to the porch light. A virtual device or a physical device can be defined to do this. Once the device is defined the logic can be created simply from a Wizard Script to do all this.

[soxfan1966]

OK, dumb follow up question for the day:

"How does one go about creating a virtual device in HG? "

[dave w]

I am following this thread with some interest on the X10 security sensors. Anywho, I use Homesser, not HG, but assume the process pretty identical. In HG create an Appliance Module since all you want is an OFF-ON function. Use any unused X10 HCUC in your system. Then control this virtual device with the security sensor output. Then apply your conditionals to the Appliance Modules address. Basically you are using a X10 address as a logic flag.