Table of Contents
INSTEON Sensor Devices
Sensor devices can come in a variety of styles - but the common element to them all is that they report some data to Indigo. The most common sensor device is the Motion Sensor, though door/window sensors, leak sensors, etc., are also quite popular. Both INSTEON and Smartenit make a variety of sensor devices.
Motion Sensor by INSTEON
The INSTEON motion sensor broadcasts wireless RF commands when they detect motion. Those RF commands are received by any dual-band INSTEON device that's in range and then relayed to Indigo (via the PowerLinc interface). Indigo, upon seeing this command, will update its internal ON/OFF state for that motion sensor Device. An example of this, and details on Indigo's options for motion sensors, can be seen on the Motion Sensor Basics How-To.
The INSTEON motion sensor supports three groups sending commands:
- Group 1 - you'll receive an ON command from this group when motion is detected and an OFF command from this group when no more motion is detected (though device state change triggers are generally better)
- Group 2 - you'll receive an ON command from this group when dusk is detected and an OFF command when dawn is detected
- Group 3 - you'll receive an ON command when the battery appears to be running low
INSTEON motion sensors are battery powered, and as such go to sleep until they sense motion. To sync with Indigo, they need to be awake. To wake up a motion sensor, remove the cover over the battery compartment and press and hold the black set button until it beeps. This will wake it up for about 10 minutes to give you time to complete the sync process in Indigo.
SynchroLinc by INSTEON
The SynchroLinc is a device that monitors energy usage, and based on some thresholds that you can set will signal ON or OFF. It doesn't report actual energy usage (like the iMeter) but it does broadcast On/Off changes (the iMeter requires polling). They SynchroLinc needs to be configured with several values to work properly. Follow the user guide to set the values manually. Pro users can also use the Configure SynchroLinc menu item available in Indigo (select your version):
Technical Documentation
Water Leak Sensor by INSTEON
The INSTEON water leak sensor, added in Indigo 6, broadcasts wireless RF commands when they detect a water leak. Those RF commands are received by any dual-band INSTEON device that's in range and then relayed to Indigo (via the PowerLinc interface). Indigo, upon seeing this command, will update its internal ON/OFF state for that motion sensor Device, so using the Device State Changed trigger with On/Off State Becomes On is the best triggering approach.
The INSTEON water leak sensor supports three groups sending commands:
- Group 1 - you'll receive an ON command from this group when the sensor becomes dry (though device state change triggers are generally better, particularly since the device may send duplicate group commands)
- Group 2 - you'll receive an ON command from this group when a leak is detected (though device state change triggers are generally better, particularly since the device may send duplicate group commands)
- Group 4 - you'll receive an ON command from this group every 24 hours to let you know that it's still functioning. If a couple of heartbeats are missed (one could just be signal loss) then it is likely because the battery has run out.
There are several ways that Indigo can monitor the heartbeat. For instance, you could have a trigger fire that restarts a Timer device that has a run time for 50 hours (a bit over 2 days). Then create a trigger that fires when the timer expires that will notify you (via email, growl, or whatever) when the heartbeat has been missed.
The behavior of the leak sensor, when it detects a leak, is somewhat odd. According to Insteon, in the case of a wet event, the spec calls for multiple messages:
- 8 messages in the first 2 minutes
- then 3 messages every 20 minutes
- then the heart beat once every 24 hours