ELK too slow to respond to PIR trigger

[George M]

I have an ELK M1 system set up. I am using it to control zwave lights via the Leviton controller. I will be using a lot of wired PIR units to trigger lights in many locations. So far I have a couple set up and the response time from trigger to lights coming on is too slow to be usefull. My current home uses that same setup through a different automation controller, and the trigger is almost instant.

Is there a different way to wire or use the PIRs to control the lighting other than haveing them set up as zones? Would a different addon module work better? Looking for ideas. I do want to keep the control of the lights with ELK, even though I also have CQC installed, because of the ELK panel being bulletproof and not dependent on a computer.

Thanks
George

 

[opie]

What kind of delay are you seeing?

I do this in a couple of locations (ELK --> Insteon) and the reaction is less than 1 second from the time I see the PIR detect motion.

 

[brotsten]

How many pulses do you have the PIR's set to trigger on? If your not using them for alarming you could set them to 1 if they are at 2 or 3.

You could also set them for a fast loop response in the M1, that would shorten the delay.

I believe both of those setting are to reduce false triggers.

Brian

 

[Spanky]

The loop response time of the input zone is programmable from 20ms to 2.55 seconds. It is defaulted to 400 ms from the time the zone input violates until the control fires the Rule.

Probably the delay is in the Zwave interface. If the lights are being repeated or having to go through a repeater there will be some delay. Normally less that two seconds. If you have longer times, there is some other problem. If you are trying to turn on multiple lights that are not in a group, there will be some delay between each light turn on. Group the lights for faster turn on.

 

[znelbok]

I too have seen similar issues with the M1 and C-bus.

I believe the PIR's are still set at three pulses, so that it contributing to the delay.

Its a difficult one because some of the PIR's are doing double duty, security when armed and occupancy sensing when disarmed.

Mick

 

[RobWalker]

You could also set them for a fast loop response in the M1, that would shorten the delay.

Thanks for the hint ... I had a door sensor (hardwired) turning on a light (EDT iLine system) that had a noticeable delay -- long enough to open the door and think about whether it was going to work before the light flipped on. Checing the 'fast loop response' box made it practically instantaneous, much better

 

[George M]

I have the zones set for fast responce. Also the PIRs are set for fast response. I do not see where I can set the number of pulses. I am using the Bravo 300 PIR's

I do have multiple lights being turned on - usually two. I do not mind the delay between the two lights, but rather the >1 sec for the first light to come on - sometimes about 3 sec.

As opie exeriences, I expected the delay to be <1 sec.

Spanky, I believe I have the loop time set at 100mx. I will try to lower it to the lower limit and see if that helps. Hopefully there will be an updated driver for the zwave interface to help out also. I am new to zwave - how do I tell if the lights are going through a repeater. Currently I have 42 nodes with no groups defined.

What about using an input board and not use the PIR for security - they are not intended for that purpose anyway?

Thanks
George

 

[rfdesq]

I do not see where I can set the number of pulses.

That is usually controlled by a jumper or switch on the circuit board of the PIR.

 

[Spanky]

The response time on violating a M1 input module is the loop response time (defaulted at 400 ms) plus about 50 ms for the data bus to send the zone data to the M1.

The light output timing is about 2 seconds for each light (X10 timing) unless the "OPT" checkbox under Lighting setup is checked, which speeds up the lighting outputs.

With Zwave, there could be retries to get through or the signal could be repeated through another Zwave device which can slow down the signal. I suggest setting a scene or group of lights up as a Zwave Group command. Then they will all be changed at once when the Group command is issued.