I don’t doubt that it’s been that way, I’m just saying that, today at least, it isn’t 
I’ll be. Well thank you for bringing this up. It looks like it is indeed “Or” logic.
Not sure how I feel about it, (I’ll commonly arm Away at night to arm motion detectors, so it limits use of that variable) but I believe you are correct. I’ve requested the official function/documentation be made visible on the user website when setting the rule.
Yeah I guess it all depends on how you look at “away.” For me, with two big dogs wandering about, away really means “ain’t nobody home” lol. In your instance though, the geofence based changes would suffice I’m guessing.
I’ve requested the official function/documentation be made visible on the user website when setting the rule.
This is the takeaway I think. It would be much easier if these things were made clear in the first place.
Perhaps a check based on wifi connection and SSID?
Pardon me for jumping in on this conversation. Could you explain how the above might work? My geo-fencing doesn’t work as my cell phone connection at the house is very poor. I can hit one tower most of the time, but definitely not several towers. Is wifi/SSID a true workaround for this?
Thank you,
Russ
SSID is your home router service set identifier connection that you setup…aka the name created and assigned to your configured home WLAN connection. You setup the GEO device for WLAN (home) connectivity triggers.
Indeed. But how does this interface with my system?
Indeed. But how does this interface with my system?
interface for system is via ADC.
if you have a home router with WLAN then you configure your device for preferred and automatic when in range connection to the internet via the SSID and applicable network security key (of which you have setup and configured) for ADC server connection when you are in range (home) to trigger location based empower rules.
There is currently no means to setup GEO location rules based upon WLAN connectivity checks as far as I am aware.
No, this is not an option currently. Just spitballing possible workarounds for the issue at the core of the thread.
Thanks for the replay Jason. I suspected as much. No big deal, just a minor inconvenience.
Thank you,
Russ
As a new ADC user, after struggling with the SMART AWAY GEOFENCE feature for a month now, I am convinced that it is basically useless in its current implementation because it does not account for people having visitors staying at their home.
If people leave their house, they are going to ARM AWAY their alarm, which should override the thermostat schedule, it should have NOTHING to do with GEOFENCING. Who leaves their house WITHOUT ARMING AWAY and still wants the thermostat schedule to override? If I get in my car and leave my house with it disarmed or ARMED STAY then it is because someone is home and I do not want it to override the schedule. If I have forgotten to arm the system, then I am notified when I travel outside the geofence and I can arm it then if I know that no one is home and the thermostat schedule will be overridden. If I have visitors from out of town staying there, I do not want to have to go through the hassle to get them added as a user at ADC and set up their phones with the ADC app and geofencing. Perhaps my visiting 80 year old parents do not have smartphones.
So then I have to turn off the geofencing function in the SMART AWAY ADC web settings, but leave the SYSTEM IS ARMED AWAY box checked. Then the system will only override when the system is ARM AWAY. This is good, but now when it is ARM AWAY, I cannot use the benefit of the smart away geofence feature to remove the schedule override when I re-enter the area, I have to manually change the temp setpoint, or disarm the alarm either on my smartphone or wait until I get home. What they need is the GEOFENCE feature to ONLY work on CROSSING INTO the home geofence when the system is ARM AWAY, then have it remove the schedule override. Currently it is not possible to only have the geofence part of the feature operational on returning into the geofence.
In the current ADC implementation of SMART AWAY, with the SMART AWAY ADC web settings turned on, when I leave the house in my car to go to work and cross the geofence, and I have the alarm disarmed or ARM STAY, the schedule is overridden while my visitors are still in the house. It seems that ADC should have fully thought this feature out before implementing it. And it does not help that there are no detailed instructions or help info at ADC on how exactly this feature works. Even the dealer’s tech support in this forum appear to be confused on the exact operational logic of this feature.
Here is the actual text from the ADC smart away dialog box. I have added my comments to improve feature understanding in CAPITALS:
Automatically save energy when you’re away from home. This option will set your thermostat to your Away temperature (pausing your regular schedule) whenever the system detects there’s no one home IN OTHER WORDS WHEN ALL PHONES (1 AND 2 AND 3 AND ETC.) HAVE LEFT THE GEOFENCE “OR” YOU HAVE ARMED IT IN AWAY MODE. Your thermostat schedule will resume as soon as the system is disarmed or any one of your mobile devices enters the geo-fence. (Make sure you: (1) Turn Schedules “On” using the website’s thermostat card or the mobile app and (2) Enable Geo-Services on each mobile device and set your preferences on the Geo-Services page.)
Just to clarify:
Current parameters:
- Arm Away
- Geofence
These currently use “Or” logic. So when either occurs, independent of the other, the override kicks in.
You want instead:
- Arm Away
- Geofence only if Arm Away. (crossing into/out of is irrelevant in this scenario because Arm Away guarantees override already)
?
I think a natural progression of the features would be to incorporate options regarding the “and/or” logic of the parameters. I’ve discussed it with ADC in the past and can bring it up as a suggestion again.
AND logic would work, but that is not optimal. After arming away, the schedule would not override until all geo devices are outside the fence, and if the system missed one of the fence crossings (which I have seen happen already more than once in both directions), no override would occur and my heat/ac would run all day, not good.
Proper implementation of this feature should not depend on geo fencing upon arming away and it should always override the schedule. Who will ever arm away and not want the schedule to override? And who will ever want the schedule to override if their system is not armed away? Seems like a no-brainer that geofencing should not be part of this equation when arming away.
The system should remove the schedule override when ANY geo device enters the fence OR the system is disarmed. It currently does this, the issue is with the arming away and geo device exiting of the fence, not the disarming and entering the fence.
As a work around to this problem, when I have visitors, I am turning off the geofence feature. When it is just me and my wife by ourselves I will turn it back on, and carefully monitor by the phone app that the overrides are occurring when we leave home. We will see how it goes.
ADC is not all it is hyped up to be I guess. I researched for weeks before pulling the trigger on an ADC system, there is not much detailed info available, so I figured I would have to dive in to find out. I don’t like the lack of flexibility of many aspects of this system, and will probably seek an alternate zwave automation controller and make my IQ panel the secondary once someone else gets it working.
ADC could go a long way forward if they would publish a detailed user manual and maintain a list of what devices are supported on what panels. For example, Linear zwave garage door control is supported on 2Gig but not IQ, and it takes an hour or two of google searching to find that out. But I guess their market strategy is they want you, the dealer to do all that.
After further thought, my solution to stop geofencing when armed away from triggering the schedule override would present a problem if I passed into and back out of the fence area enroute to some other destination besides home. This would remove the override when I enter the fence but not put it back on when I exited it.
Me not understanding your original suggestion to geofence only if Armed Away, I now think that could work.
For example, Linear zwave garage door control is supported on 2Gig but not IQ, and it takes an hour or two of google searching to find that out. But I guess their market strategy is they want you, the dealer to do all that.
The market can appear fractured, certainly.
Zwave, on its face, is a universal protocol. However, UI must be implemented for the various command classes and as new devices are brought to the market, the panels must catch up to add compatibility.
Alarm panels will not be able to utilize all Z-wave command classes. Z-wave only recently received UL certification for security purposes. Perhaps in the future sensor type z-wave devices may be used with panels, but the equipment and compatibility takes time to implement.
Of all services, Alarm.com makes great effort to continually add services and features, and most of these are simply bundled into their service offerings and are able to be included at no additional cost.
For reference, when I began working with Alarm.com systems, a majority of the current capabilities were absent and they were leading the market then.
If you find the system is missing a feature you believe would be useful, we encourage you to post and let us know. The majority of added features on Alarm.com and compatibility added to Alarm panels is driven by requests from dealers and users.
AND logic would work, but that is not optimal. After arming away, the schedule would not override until all geo devices are outside the fence, and if the system missed one of the fence crossings (which I have seen happen already more than once in both directions), no override would occur and my heat/ac would run all day, not good.
Not “and” logic. Better to describe it as one parameter with an if/then addition.
Arm away = Override control.
If Arm Away, Geofence = Override control.
The options on Alarm.com are augmented and adjusted, with new capabilities made available when ready.
I firmly believe a user manual would be insufficient, as over time, it would need to be updated very quickly and often, and incorrect or incomplete versions would be prevalent. I’ve discussed with ADC more detailed operational descriptions of rules within the pages where they are relevant, so that documentation is available while you are performing the action.