Light Sensor Erratic Responses

[Podro]

Hi,

I have various responses attached to a LSM which turn outside lights on, and it is also referenced as an IF statement when triggering internal lights via PIR sensors in walkways.

Over the past couple weeks the responses attached to the LSM (the outside lights and the internal sensors) have been behaving very erratically.  Basically, sometimes they work, sometimes they don\'t.

I have re-set the system, re-loaded the comfigurator file, but still see the same problems.

Other responses work fine so I know the system is working, but specific failures have been:

- The outside lights fail to turn off at midnight from the scheduled response.  This is not attached to the LSM as a conditional response.

- The sensors on walkways do not work on a night, but do work in the morning when I wake up (when it is still dark).  This is sometimes reversed, i.e. they work at night, but not in a morning???

- Even stranger, this morning the walkway lights would not turn on automatically, but when I left the house and triggered my exit response to open the garage and turn on the garage lights (not conditional on the LSM) the last walkway sensor suddenly started to respond to movement when 5 minutes earlier it didn\'t?!

I am using a Comfort Ultra system and it has been installed for about 3 years.  Over that time I have had various issues with LSM responses, but most have suddenly cured themselves either after a day or a few days then the system works as normal.  This time things are more erratic than normal and they have been like this for about a week now.

Any ideas?  Do I have a faulty LSM?

Thanks,
Paul.

[slychiu]

- The outside lights fail to turn off at midnight from the scheduled response. This is not attached to the LSM as a conditional response.

I dont understand what you mean by this \"Not attached to LDSM as conditional Response\"
You mean you have a time program which turns off lights at midnight which has nothing to do with the LSM? How does the LSM operate in this?

We need to understand how your walkway lights relate to the LSM

Do you mean that the LSM is not giving the correct output ie on or off when you expect it to be light or dark?


You can test the state of the LSM at the Comfort Input using Security check F3,2 which announces all active inputs. Hear if the LSM zone is ON or OFF and whether it cotrresponds to light or dark. There is an adjustment for threshold which may beed to be tuneed

Also the LSM sensor may be faulty or dirty causing it to lose sensitivity or otherwise not work. Often the light sensor is not supplied by Cytech. In fact we have stopped selling the LSM for several years since the Sunrise/sunset responses
Perhaps you can use Sunrise and sunset responses to replace the LSM as well

[Podro]

Thanks for the prompt response.

In response to the first question, yes, there is a scheduled response at midnight to turn off all outside lights.  This does not check the status of the LSM so I don\'t understand why it would not work and has become tempremental at the same time?

The walkway lights are triggered by the sensor in that zone becoming active, but it checks the LSM before turning the lights on.  So if it is dark they should come on, if it is light they won\'t.

I will check the status of the LSM tonight to see whether it is giving an accurate reading.

I was more concerned by the impact on other response such as the schedules and why they were behaving erratically.

I definitely need to consider moving to the sunris/sunset, but will have to upgrade my firmware first and remove the reliance on the LSM completely.

Thanks,
Paul.

[slychiu]

Time Programs work very consistently
Check the response in case there are other conditions. The Time Program must be enabled in order for it to work. There is an Enabled checkbox for each Time program
Do they not work at all, or did they work and have now stopped, or do they sometimes work?
If you need more help, send the cclx file to support@cytech.biz

[Podro]

Thanks again, will have a thorough review of the CCL file and the state of the LSM tonight and report back.

Paul.

[Podro]

Hi,

There is no issue with the code on the timed reponse as everything used to work perfectly and hasn\'t been changed.  I believe it originates with the LSM as the reponse may be turning the lights off, but the LSM may be turning them back on again in the night which is why the walkway lights sometimes work in the morning.  This would explain things a little.

From the check of the LSM tonight it is not responding in the Security Check menu so clearly not working as it should.

What do you suggest?  Shall I bother to replace the light sensitive resistor (given that it is a Farnell part number and I work for Farnell ) or shall I just bin the LSM altogether and upgrade the firmware and start using the sunrise and sunset settings?

Thanks!

[slychiu]

I would suggest upgrading the firmware and using the Sunrise and sunset responses. The new firmware also automatically changes Comfort time for daylight saving which would be very useful