Simulate presence by randomly switching lights - any rules existing?

dirkc · December 5, 2015, 5:52am

All,

I am looking for a rule to randomly switch lights in the evenings to simulate presence.
In the timeframe between sunset and e.g. 11 pm check a random value and in case of … switch on a light for n minutes, with n between 10 to 30 minutes randomly. And repeat that again and again until 11 pm.

Any idea or rule already available ?

Thanks in advance

anordvall · December 5, 2015, 1:01pm

Hi Dirk,

This is how I do it:

items:

Group Lights_Random

rules:

var Timer tRandomLights = null

rule "Randomly turn on & off lights between 07.00-23.00 if before or after sunset and if alarm is activated"
	when
		Time cron "0 */10 7-23 * * ?"
	then
		if ((AlarmMode.state == 2) && (now.isBefore((Sunrise_Time.state as DateTimeType).calendar.timeInMillis) || now.isAfter((Sunset_Time.state as DateTimeType).calendar.timeInMillis))) {

			// Only turn a light on/off ocasionally
		 	if ((new java.util.Random).nextInt(2) == 1) { 
		 	
		 		// Create a timer with a random value
				var int randomTime = (new java.util.Random).nextInt(300)
				logInfo("org.openhab","Setting random lights timer to " + randomTime + " seconds.")
				tRandomLights = createTimer(now.plusSeconds(randomTime)) [|
					var randLightIndex = (new java.util.Random).nextInt(Lights_Random.members.size)
			 		var randLightStateCurrent = Lights_Random.members.get(randLightIndex).state
			 		var randLightStateNew = if (randLightStateCurrent == ON) OFF else ON
			 		logInfo("org.openhab","Switching light " + Lights_Random.members.get(randLightIndex).name + " from " + randLightStateCurrent + " to " + randLightStateNew)
			 		sendCommand(Lights_Random.members.get(randLightIndex), randLightStateNew)
		        ]
			}
		}
end

rule "Turn all lights off at 23.10 if alarm is activated"
	when
		Time cron "0 10 23 * * ?"
	then
		if (AlarmMode.state == 2) {
		 	logInfo("org.openhab","Turning all the random lights off.")
		 	sendCommand(Lights_Random, OFF)
		}
end

Hope it helps Let me know if you have any questions.

dirkc · December 6, 2015, 7:52am

It just works. Better then expected. Thanks very much

anordvall · December 6, 2015, 9:41pm

Glad I could help

hubertus_hettenkofe1 · December 8, 2015, 3:12pm

Hi Andreas,

may bee that your scipt work for me - too. But i get an error on “Sunrise_time”.

Thank you
Hubertus

anordvall · December 8, 2015, 3:25pm

Ah right. You need to install the Astro binding:

And these are the items needed in your items file:

DateTime Sunrise_Time   	"Sunrise [%1$tH:%1$tM]"		{astro="planet=sun, type=rise, property=end"}
DateTime Sunset_Time   		"Sunset [%1$tH:%1$tM]"		{astro="planet=sun, type=set, property=start"}

hubertus_hettenkofe1 · December 8, 2015, 5:22pm

Thanks, i had installed Astro befor - only the itmes where named : Sonnenaufgang and SonnenUntergang. So i changed the script and … it works fine. Great job!

hubertus_hettenkofe1 · December 9, 2015, 8:28am

Hi Andreas,

some off my lights are connected to dimmers. They have no ON / OFF, only “0” for OFF or 1-100 (as percent) for ON. So i modified your rule:

from:
var randLightStateCurrent = Lights_Random.members.get(randLightIndex).state
var randLightStateNew = if (randLightStateCurrent == ON) OFF else ON

to:
var randLightStateCurrent = Lights_Random.members.get(randLightIndex).state
// Dimmers “0” = OFF
if randLightStateCurrent == 0 randLightStateCurrent = OFF
// changed to !=OFF so all values from 1-100 are seen as ON
var randLightStateNew = if (randLightStateCurrent != OFF) OFF else ON

hubertus_hettenkofe1 · December 19, 2015, 4:10pm

One more question:

if the rule switch some lights on and the the sun rise up … the lights went on until sun down?

BR
Hubertus

yancym · March 4, 2016, 12:28pm

I just implemented this rule and I am getting a very lengthy error message upon execution and don’t know where to start. Do I have a JAR missing, or some binding, or ??? Here is the start of the error:

2016-03-04 06:20:00.010 [ERROR] [.o.m.r.i.engine.ExecuteRuleJob] - Error during the execution of rule Randomly turn on & off lights between 05.00-23.00 if before or after sunset and if alarm is activated java.lang.ClassCastException: Cannot cast org.openhab.core.types.UnDefType to org.openhab.core.library.types.DateTimeType at java.lang.Class.cast(Unknown Source) ~[na:1.8.0_73] at org.eclipse.xtext.xbase.interpreter.impl.XbaseInterpreter._evaluateCastedExpression(XbaseInterpreter.java:386) ~[na:na] at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method) ~[na:1.8.0_73] at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source) ~[na:1.8.0_73] at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source) ~[na:1.8.0_73] at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Unknown Source) ~[na:1.8.0_73]

[RESOLVED] - My Sunrise and Sunset times were null because they hadn’t refreshed for some reason.

Thanks for the help.

davorf · March 8, 2016, 8:41am

Hello!

Here’s the way I’ve been using OpenHAB for anti-burglar lights:

First, I have two items for the sunrise (General_Sunrise_State) and the sunset (General_Sunset_State), and two global timer variables:

var Timer GeneralAntiBurglarLightsTimer
var Timer GeneralAntiBurglarLightsOffTimer
Using two rules, I change the state of the General_Night_State:

–

rule "General - Sunrise - State"
when
   Item General_Sunrise_State changed to ON
then
   sendCommand(General_Night_State, OFF)
end

–

rule "General - Sunset - State"
when
   Item General_Sunset_State changed to ON
then
   sendCommand(General_Night_State, ON)
end

Besides that, I have alarm state item (General_Alarm_State) with 4 values:
0) Off
1. Home
2. Short-term away
3. Long-term away (used for anti-burglar lights),

and Alarm_Detection_State (value set to 1, one minute after an item General_Alarm_State received values 2 or 3)

After setting all this up, there are two rules - one for turning the lights on/off at a semi-random interval (when all the conditions are met), and one for turning a random lights timer off (at specific time of a day, with random offset)

First rule, for turning lights on/off (60% chance of turning light on, 40% chance of turning light - semi-random interval between 5 and 60 minutes):

rule "General - Night - State"
when
   Item General_Night_State received update
then
   if ((General_Night_State.state == ON) && (General_Alarm_State.state == 3) && (General_Alarm_Detection_State.state == 1)) {
   	  var Integer RandomInterval = (Math::floor((Math::random * (60 - 5) + 5).doubleValue).intValue)
   	  
   	  GeneralAntiBurglarLightsTimer = createTimer(now.plusMinutes(RandomInterval)) [|
   	     Dimmers?.members.forEach(dimmer|
   	        sendCommand(dimmer, if(Math::random > 0.6) 0 else 100))
   	        
         postUpdate(General_Night_State, ON)
      ]
   } 
   
   if ((General_Night_State.state == OFF) && (General_Alarm_State.state == 3) && (General_Alarm_Detection_State.state == 1)) {
      if(GeneralAntiBurglarLightsTimer != null) {
         GeneralAntiBurglarLightsTimer.cancel
         GeneralAntiBurglarLightsTimer = null
      }      	
      
      sendCommand(Dimmers, 0)
   }
end

You can change minimum and maximum interval values in this part of code (5 minutes minimum, 60 minutes maximum):
Math::floor((Math::random * (60 - 5) + 5).doubleValue

Percentage of on/off ratio could be changed here (> 0.6 meaning 60% chance for on, 40% chance for off):
Math::random > 0.6

Second rule uses cron expressions as trigger for turning anti-burglar lights off (with 5-30 minutes random offset):

rule "General - Anti-burglar - Disarm"
when
   Time cron "0 0 1 ? * MON-FRI *" or
   Time cron "0 0 3 ? * SAT *" or
   Time cron "0 30 0 ? * SUN *"
then
   if ((General_Alarm_State == 3) && (General_Alarm_Detection_State == 1)) {
   	  if (GeneralAntiBurglarLightsTimer != null) {
         GeneralAntiBurglarLightsTimer.cancel
         GeneralAntiBurglarLightsTimer = null
   	  }
   	  
   	  var Integer RandomInterval = (Math::floor((Math::random * (30 - 5) + 5).doubleValue).intValue)
   	  
   	  GeneralAntiBurglarLightsOffTimer = createTimer(now.plusMinutes(RandomInterval)) [|
   	     sendCommand(Dimmers, 0)
   	  ]
   }
end

You can change offset (set randomly between 5 and 30 minutes) here:
Math::floor((Math::random * (30 - 5) + 5).doubleValue

This is just my way of dealing with this, but maybe someone will find it useful.

Best regards,
Davor

jtmoderate876 · March 21, 2016, 12:45am

Thank what seems like a great concept but…
My lights (mostly dimmers) are still not working.
Perhaps they can’t be turned ON/OFF but instead need 0 or 100?

I don’t get errrors in logger but all dimmers that are logged, such as:
UpdstairsHall got command ON
never turn on.

davorf · March 25, 2016, 2:16pm

Hello!

Were you using @anordvall or my example? If you were using mine, you could split your lights into two groups (Switches and Dimmers), and then adapt the part of the code that sends a command to use ON/OFF for switches and 0/100 for dimmers.

     Dimmers?.members.forEach(dimmer|
        sendCommand(dimmer, if(Math::random > 0.6) 0 else 100))

At this part of the code, you could just add:

     Switches?.members.forEach(switch|
        sendCommand(switch, if(Math::random > 0.6) OFF else ON))

This implies you have 2 groups named Switches and Dimmers, and you’ve assigned a switch and a dimmer items to those groups respectively.

Best regards,
Davor

Mark1 · April 26, 2016, 3:16am

@davorf

Could you explain you determine your “short term away” and your “long term away” items? I really like that feature and would love to implement it.

Thanks.

davorf · April 26, 2016, 7:19am

Hello!

Not sure if this is the thing you’ve asked about, but this is what each alarm mode does:

Off - pretty self-explanatory
Home - After switching it on, it’s active instantaneously; It reacts only on door/window sensors, ignores motion sensors, and sounds an alarm instantaneously if door/window sensor changes from CLOSE to OPEN
Away (Short-term) - After switching it on, it activates one minute after changing General_Alarm_State item (so you have time to leave home without activating alarm); It reacts on both, door/window sensors and motion sensors; After activating, it turns all the lights off; If door/window or motion sensors are activated and it’s past sunset, it turns some lights on; If door/window or motion sensors are activated it waits for a minute (so you have time to deactivate it), and then sounds an alarm
Away (Long-term) - Behaves the same as Short-term, but it activates presence simulator (turning lights on/off at semi-random interval) after sunset, and deactivates presence simulator at dedicated time (semi-random time between 0:30 and 3:00, depending on the day of the week and a random additional time - 5 to 30 minutes)

All 3 modes (except off) check if the doors/windows are open in the moment of the activation (home mode instantaneously, other two after they get activated - one minute after turning it on), and send a notification if something is open after activating, so you don’t leave your doors/windows open.

I hope this explanation helps you implementing it.

Best regards,
Davor

Mark1 · April 26, 2016, 12:33pm

That does answer some questions, but I do have one still remaining.

Are your short-term and long-term alarm states activated by different codes/switches? Or do you designate a long-term by the time elapsed since you set the alarm?

For example:

Set X = 1200 (minutes)
Alarm.sendcommand(“Arm”)
Start alarm_timer

when alarm_timer <= X
then alarm_type = 'short-term’
else alarm_type = ‘long-term’

davorf · April 26, 2016, 12:37pm

Hello!

No, it’s just the name of the alarm mode. I choose the type of the alarm with Selection widget (although there are some other ways to set it too - NFC for short-term away alarm and turning all alarms off, Night mode for Home alarm etc). But I start the long-term away alarm by explicitly choosing it from the selection widget.

Best regards,
Davor

dhog12 · November 16, 2016, 11:48pm

Perhaps I’m trying to make this harder then it should be but I’d like to do something slightly different which I’m having trouble working out. I’d like to have a variable that is assigned a random time each morning at 12:05am such that the random time is between the astro binding of civilDusk and 11pm. Then I’d like to assign that variable to a text item so I can display it in the sitemap so I can check each day the random time. Then I’d like to rules file to run a rule each day that the current time matches the random time which then turns on lights. Your code helps me think through how I might do that and the alarmmode idea is a good one I didn’t think of so I can turn this function on and off with the app.

However, I’m having trouble working through the first 2 steps of this:

create a random time - the util.random shows up several times in your code so I’m not sure what I should be using to just create a random time I can use to compare to [now] (see below)
set up the rule to fire when now = my random time, would it be:
when
Time now = myrandomtimevariable

Anquietas86 · May 29, 2017, 8:46am

Hi Everyone,

I’m trying to use a modified version of the rule in openhab2, but I’m not having much luck.
Only thing I see in the log is "Configuration model ‘randomlights.rules’ is either empty or cannot be parsed correctly!"
Can anyone see a problem with this?

var Timer tRandomLights = null

rule "Randomly turn on & off lights between 16.00-23.00 if after sunset and nobody is home"
	when
		Time cron "0 0/5 16-23 * * ?"
	then
		if ((Presence.state == OFF) && (now.isBefore((LocalSun_Rise.state as DateTimeType).calendar.timeInMillis) || now.isAfter((LocalSun_Set.state as DateTimeType).calendar.timeInMillis))) {

			// Only turn a light on/off ocasionally
		 	if ((new java.util.Random).nextInt(2) == 1) { 
		 	
		 		// Create a timer with a random value
				var int randomTime = (new java.util.Random).nextInt(300)
				logInfo("org.openhab","Setting random lights timer to " + randomTime + " seconds.")
				tRandomLights = createTimer(now.plusSeconds(randomTime), [|
					var randLightIndex = (new java.util.Random).nextInt(RandomLights.members.size)
			 		var randLightStateCurrent = RandomLights.members.get(randLightIndex).state
			 		var randLightStateNew = if (randLightStateCurrent == ON) OFF else ON
			 		logInfo("org.openhab","Switching light " + RandomLights.members.get(randLightIndex).name + " from " + randLightStateCurrent + " to " + randLightStateNew)
			 		sendCommand(RandomLights.members.get(randLightIndex), randLightStateNew)
		        ])
			}
		}
end

rule "Turn all random lights off at 23.10 if nobody is home"
	when
		Time cron "0 10 23 * * ?"
	then
		if (Presence.state == OFF) {
		 	logInfo("org.openhab","Turning all the random lights off.")
		 	sendCommand(RandomLights, OFF)
		}
end

Regards,
Josh

sihui · May 29, 2017, 9:18am

Does there not follow a Loading model 'xyz.rules'?

2017-05-28 17:15:05.313 [INFO ] [el.core.internal.ModelRepositoryImpl] - Refreshing model 'xyz.rules'
2017-05-28 17:15:05.336 [WARN ] [el.core.internal.ModelRepositoryImpl] - Configuration model 'xyz.rules' is either empty or cannot be parsed correctly!
2017-05-28 17:15:38.795 [INFO ] [el.core.internal.ModelRepositoryImpl] - Loading model 'xyz.rules'

I’m seeing this very often and all the rules are loading without any problems after that WARN message.