Trigger based on current ambient temperature?

Posted on
Thu Jul 11, 2019 1:56 pm
mikejandreau offline
Posts: 78
Joined: Jul 07, 2016

Trigger based on current ambient temperature?

I'm looking to pair my Nest with a window unit and smart plug.

Attached is my simple trigger, but it doesn't seem to work. Is "Zone 1 Temperature" not "the temperature in the room right now"? If not, what should I be using in its place, to get the Trigger to work successfully when the ambient temperature reaches a certain temperature?
Attachments
tnu5y.png
tnu5y.png (119.18 KiB) Viewed 3854 times

Posted on
Thu Jul 11, 2019 2:25 pm
Dual offline
Posts: 255
Joined: Feb 05, 2019

Re: Trigger based on current ambient temperature?

One problem I see is that if the temp goes for example from 78 to 79 the air will turn on and stay on until hell freezes over


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Posted on
Thu Jul 11, 2019 2:49 pm
jay (support) offline
Site Admin
User avatar
Posts: 18200
Joined: Mar 19, 2008
Location: Austin, Texas

Re: Trigger based on current ambient temperature?

The becomes not equal to definition will only fire when the temp is exactly 80 then changes to something else. Not sure that's what you're looking for. You never actually describe the scenario fully, so it's kinda hard to understand what you want to happen. A more clearly defined scenario will help us guide you to the right solution.

Jay (Indigo Support)
Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

Posted on
Thu Jul 11, 2019 2:58 pm
Dual offline
Posts: 255
Joined: Feb 05, 2019

Re: Trigger based on current ambient temperature?

Thanks Jay. I was mistaken. Hell won’t freeze over. Unless the temperature goes from 80 to 79 LOL.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Posted on
Thu Jul 11, 2019 3:04 pm
mikejandreau offline
Posts: 78
Joined: Jul 07, 2016

Re: Trigger based on current ambient temperature?

I think I grabbed the wrong screenshot.

I have “becomes equal to” in my Trigger. That should Trigger when the temperature hits that point, right?

I’ll then have another trigger to turn it off when the temperature hits 74.

Am I correct that “Zone 1 Temperature” is what I think it is? Also, this is all not worth it because Google is shutting down the Nest APIs soon and the plugin will stop working anyway, right?

Posted on
Thu Jul 11, 2019 3:29 pm
jay (support) offline
Site Admin
User avatar
Posts: 18200
Joined: Mar 19, 2008
Location: Austin, Texas

Re: Trigger based on current ambient temperature?

mikejandreau wrote:
I have “becomes equal to” in my Trigger. That should Trigger when the temperature hits that point, right?


Not necessarily. You still haven't described the scenario, but I think I can guess: If the temp goes above 79 (greater than 79, so in whole numbers 80 or more) you want the other thing to turn on, and when it becomes less than 75, you want the other thing to go off, right?

If this is correct, then you need to define the triggering events like this:

  • Office Thermostat, Temperature Zone 1, Becomes Greater than 79 (basically 80 or above, though if the Nest reports in fractional degrees it'll kick on a little sooner)
  • Office Thermostat, Temperature Zone 1, Becomes less than 75 (anytime it crosses the 75 threshold)

You don't want to use equal to as it could be possible to skip a temp ( 79 to 81 for instance). While that's not likely, the above will always fire when those thresholds are crossed, so it's a safer implementation.

I can't answer your other question since I don't have a Nest and don't know how it's implemented.

Jay (Indigo Support)
Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

Posted on
Thu Jul 11, 2019 6:21 pm
mikejandreau offline
Posts: 78
Joined: Jul 07, 2016

Re: Trigger based on current ambient temperature?

This is what I’ve got now, but wasn’t working today.

I think the issue is that Indigo isn’t polling the “State” frequently enough from the Office Thermostat, so it can jump from 77 to 79 in one refresh and that doesn’t trigger the Trigger.

I’ll keep an eye on it tomorrow when I’m in my office all day.

Posted on
Fri Jul 12, 2019 12:07 am
howartp offline
Posts: 4559
Joined: Jan 09, 2014
Location: West Yorkshire, UK

Re: Trigger based on current ambient temperature?

If you have “becomes greater than” and “becomes less than” like Jay says, then it doesn’t matter that the value jumps from 77 to 79 in one refresh - that’s exactly why you shouldn’t use “becomes equal to”.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Posted on
Fri Jul 12, 2019 7:37 am
mikejandreau offline
Posts: 78
Joined: Jul 07, 2016

Re: Trigger based on current ambient temperature?

Doesn't look like this is working, unfortunately.

You can see in the top of my screenshot that my Office Thermostat is 79F now and my Trigger is "Becomes Greater than 78" but my trigger didn't trigger.
Attachments
4qs07.png
4qs07.png (150.49 KiB) Viewed 3709 times

Posted on
Fri Jul 12, 2019 7:45 am
autolog offline
Posts: 3988
Joined: Sep 10, 2013
Location: West Sussex, UK [GMT aka UTC]

Re: Trigger based on current ambient temperature?

Chipping in :D

I suspect that might be because the state you are comparing against is a text string of '79 F' and therefore not numeric?
Is there a numeric only custom state that you can compare against?

Posted on
Fri Jul 12, 2019 7:46 am
mikejandreau offline
Posts: 78
Joined: Jul 07, 2016

Re: Trigger based on current ambient temperature?

I don't think so. But I'll try changing my trigger to "78 F" and see if that does anything.

Posted on
Fri Jul 12, 2019 8:02 am
autolog offline
Posts: 3988
Joined: Sep 10, 2013
Location: West Sussex, UK [GMT aka UTC]

Re: Trigger based on current ambient temperature?

Is it a Nest Thermostat Module device, if not what type of device?

Can you do a screen capture of your custom states?

Posted on
Fri Jul 12, 2019 8:11 am
mikejandreau offline
Posts: 78
Joined: Jul 07, 2016

Re: Trigger based on current ambient temperature?

It's a Nest E thermostat.

To my knowledge, I don't have any custom states for it. The "state" on the device in Indigo is right from the device through the Nest plugin.

Posted on
Fri Jul 12, 2019 8:24 am
autolog offline
Posts: 3988
Joined: Sep 10, 2013
Location: West Sussex, UK [GMT aka UTC]

Re: Trigger based on current ambient temperature?

Have you scrolled the window beneath the Thermostat Controls to double check?

Posted on
Fri Jul 12, 2019 8:26 am
mikejandreau offline
Posts: 78
Joined: Jul 07, 2016

Re: Trigger based on current ambient temperature?

Not sure what you mean by "window beneath the Thermostat Controls".

Can you elaborate on what window I should be looking in here?

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests