Sunrise/Sunset schedules WILL NOT WORK -- I have tried everything

[chas-art]

As a customer who has literally invested THOUSANDS of dollars in Insteon devices for my entire house, I am BEYOND frustrated at my inability to automate scheduling of my outside lights.

I have THREE switches for the outside lights. All are installed, working correctly, and discoverable on the network. There is no interference preventing any switch from working.

* I can trigger any switch manually by pressing the paddles.

* I have a hub, properly installed, with an Android app set up to control it.

* I can trigger any switch manually using the app.

* I can set up a scene and trigger that scene manually. But, any attempt to trigger the scene using a schedule FAILS.


I want all outside lights to come on at sunset and go off at sunrise. BUT, I also have some inside lights that should come on at sunset but go off at bedtime. To accomplish this, I created 3 scenes:

SUNSET -- commands all outside lights (total of 3) plus two inside lights to come ON at sunset.

BEDTIME -- commands 2 inside lights to go OFF at a specific time.

SUNRISE -- commands the outside lights (total of 3) to go OFF at sunrise.


Sunset came and went tonight and nothing was triggered. The same thing happened last night. I had to activate the SUNSET scene manually. The following morning after sunrise, the outside lights were still on.

I have now set up, edited, and re-set up these scenes multiple times and they simply will not work via a schedule.

And BTW, the requirement that only ONE device can be triggered at any specific time is a SERIOUS LIMITATION that *severely* hampers the usability of this entire system. I see from reading the forums that many others have pointed this out, yet nothing is being done about it.

If my scenes can't be triggered automatically, what good is the hub or the app other than for checking status and manually turning things on and off???

[RPSalty]

I too have a lot of $$ invested. You may have a conflict for the "Sunset/Sunrise" automation. In other words the action may be happening, just not to the scene you currently have "Sunset/Sunrise" assigned to. For instance, if a scene is just deleted without first removing the devices and deactivating the trigger, those devices and perhaps the trigger are still linked to the deleted scene. The Sunrise, Sunset, and Time actions can only be used in one instance. It's the same for Alexa and Hey Google.

One of the biggest lessons I have learned is the proper sequence of deleting scenes and removing devices. It's daunting to correct once the "conflict" is created. I would suggest a call to Insteon Support and have one of the very helpful Technicians log into your account. Insteon Techs will be able to guide you through properly unlinking, deleting and reconfiguring.

I should also point out, it's not always the users fault. I had a light, not linked to a scene, that would come on when I activated a scene. I knew I never linked the light to the scene because it was a brand new scene for new modules I just installed. I had to add the light to the scene, have the scene turn the light on and off, and then remove the light from the scene. Now all is well. Tech support taught me that trick.

Good luck.

[RPSalty]

[QUOTE]And BTW, the requirement that only ONE device can be triggered at any specific time is a SERIOUS LIMITATION that *severely* hampers the usability of this entire system. I see from reading the forums that many others have pointed this out, yet nothing is being done about it.[/QUOTE]

On my setup I can add multiple devices to a scene to be triggered at a specific time. The specific time can only be used once. If the specific time is used for a scene then the specific time cannot be used again for a single device. The single device should be added to the scene using the specific time. It's the same for Alexa and Hey Google.

"Specific Time" happens at an instant, and only once in a 24hour period. Only one command can be executed at a specific time.