Task Setup Question

[ericvic]

This should be an easy one but I can't seem to get it to work correctly. I'm trying to make the fan on my furnace run 15 minutes every 3 hours. Currently I have two tasks, 1 to turn the fan on every 3 hours with a bunch of OR statements and one to turn it off 15 minutes later.

I am trying to make a more streamlined task so I created a Device to hold some properties HVACLastStopTime and LastFanStartTime then I created a new task with the following:

Code: Select all

If('System Time.Time Without Seconds' is Equal '%%Task Variables.HVACLastStopTime%% + Hours=03, Minutes=00') Then
   Change 'Thermostat.Fan' to 'On'
   Change 'Task Variables.LastFanStartTime' to '5:09 pm' <-- This is one problem
   Change 'Taks Variables.HVACLastStopTime' to '4:44 pm' <-- Another problem
Else If 'System Time.Time Without Seconds' is Equal '%%Task Variables.LastFanStartTime%% + Days=0, Hours=00, Minutes=15, Seconds=00') Then
   Change 'Thermostat.Fan' to 'Auto'

This task never seems to execute (I do have it set to execute when conditions are met). Also on the two lines marked above, what should be happening is they should be set to the 'Current Time(no seconds)' System Stock Value. But everytime I set it to that it replaces it with the current time but never updates it.

I'm sure I'm doing someting stupid and not seeing it. I have been using HouseBot for a few years now but I'm just now getting back around to getting my (new to me) house automated and trying to get deeper into HouseBot.

Thanks,
Eric

[markd]

So I went at this type of problem from a completely different angle. . . I update traffic every fifteen minutes.

I made a timer that runs for 15 minutes.
I made a 2nd task the watches the timer. When it expires, it goes and get the traffic, then restarts the timer.

So to do your task, I would-

1) make a 3 hour timer
2) In a 2nd task, watch the timer. When it expires,
a) restart the timer
b) turn on the fan
c) delay 15 minutes
d) turn off the fan

Simple. It will have a tendency to drift a little, but if that isn't an issue for you, it is an easy way to do it.

On another note, I tried to use that stock time thing and had the same issue- I was trying to log when a task was called and got the same behaviour, so I'll be watching this thread.

Markd

[ericvic]

Mark,

I didn't think of doing it that way. I will give that a try but I am still interested in why the Stock Values doesn't seem to work.

Eric