Pester timing is off

[Dual]

I have a pester set to run 19 times every 900 seconds, starting at 3:01 PM and covering the period from 3:16 PM to 7:46 PM which is during my electrical demand period. I ensure the HVAC system is set to off each time the pester executes the action group (in case someone forgets and turns it on at the thermostat). There is no delay on the pester. There is no delay on the action group. The time between executions of the action group is greater than 900 seconds (15 minutes). Why? Actual intervals in the following log example are about: 15:42, 15:40, 15:44, 15:44, 15:42, 15:43, 15:40, 15:46.

Code: Select all

2021-09-24 15:01:00.521 --- Action Group --- great hall thermostat mode to OFF during demand period

2021-09-24 15:16:42.929 --- Action Group --- great hall thermostat mode to OFF during demand period

2021-09-24 15:32:22.596 --- Action Group --- great hall thermostat mode to OFF during demand period

2021-09-24 15:48:06.584 --- Action Group --- great hall thermostat mode to OFF during demand period

2021-09-24 16:03:50.198 --- Action Group --- great hall thermostat mode to OFF during demand period

2021-09-24 16:19:32.193 --- Action Group --- great hall thermostat mode to OFF during demand period

2021-09-24 16:35:15.604 --- Action Group --- great hall thermostat mode to OFF during demand period

2021-09-24 16:51:05.855 --- Action Group --- great hall thermostat mode to OFF during demand period

2021-09-24 17:06:51.732 --- Action Group --- great hall thermostat mode to OFF during demand period

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[jay (support)]

Please post screenshots of how you have the pester configured and how you have any schedules/triggers/action groups configured that are part of the solution. I need to be able to recreate exactly what you have in order to try and replicate.

[Dual]

Screenshots attached.
















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[jay (support)]

Your pester definition is wrong: you have the number of seconds between each cycle set to 900 - which is 15 minutes. So it will repeat every ~15 minutes 18 times, which is what it's doing.

If you want 18 repetitions in 900 seconds, then you want to define the seconds between each cycle to be 50 (900/18).

[jay (support)]

I based the last post on your first sentence which implied you wanted the pester to run 18 times over a 900 second span. However, Matt pointed out that you might just be asking why your current implementation (every 15 minutes) isn't exactly 15 minutes. Pesters weren't designed to be exact: there could be some rounding errors when converting between the various datetime formats, processing times for timers, events, etc.

If you need exact times, I'd recommend rearchitecting your solution to use Schedules - those are much more accurate in terms of timing. Pesters are meant as an easy to implement recurring reminder capability, less concerned with exact timing.

[Dual]

Thanks Jay. Yes I was wondering why the timing was imprecise. By the time it ran 19 times at more than 15 minutes apart it was executing the final iteration after 8:00 pm (instead of finishing the last one at 7:45 pm) and ended up reversing the schedule that turned the hvac back on at 7:59 pm. I have switched it from 19 cycles to 18 cycles and it is ok now. I have contemplated using schedules however it appears I would need to create 19 different schedules for each of 3 HVAC systems. Is there a way to have a schedule repeat every 15 minutes within a certain time slot such as 3:00 pm to 7:45 pm?


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[FlyingDiver]

Is there a way to have a schedule repeat every 15 minutes within a certain time slot such as 3:00 pm to 7:45 pm?

Set the schedule to run every 15 minutes, then put the bounding times as conditions for the schedule (2nd tab).

[Dual]

Awesome suggestion. Disappointed I didn’t think of it. Thanks!


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[Dual]

Working great now. Thanks guys.


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