Why wasn't polling fixed along with the new "Ticker" scheduled jobs fix?

I am really wondering why over 1 year since I purchased my first ST hub polling has NEVER worked.

Now they have released the new “Ticker” scheduling to fix scheduling but polling still busted.

If a device needs to be polled what are we supposed do to make it work ?
This is a question for Smart Things. Mayby @slagle In the past I have been told by support to use pollster and then other support staff has said don’t use pollster it breaks things on the server side. I don’t want to harm the server side, it is already bad enough.

Polling is still listed as a valid Capability for a device.
http://docs.smartthings.com/en/latest/capabilities-reference.html?highlight=polling#polling

So how are we supposed to make it actually work ?

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Polling is separate from our scheduling system. It certainly needs to be improved, but you could ask this question about just about anything. Why wasn’t _________ fixed along with ______________? They’re often two separate backend components that are often worked on by two different teams.

As far as Pollster, IIRC, the issue is not with the backend but that it can cripple your local Z-Wave network due to overpolling. Certain devices, like early generation Jasco/GE devices, have a firmware bug that causes the device to lock up when overpolled. The only solution is to cut power to the device (from the breaker or air-gap).

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Thanks for replying! With respect I would argue that polling is a Server Side “Timed” event so I don’t agree that I could have asked about anything. It was directly related.

OK good to know unfortunately pollster stops working over time also. All solutions I have tried die after a few days. I have tried Pollster, Rule Machine, Altering device to schedule it’s own polling, making my own smart app to poll my specific device.

In theory I should try my device edit again because the new Ticker should be working and then the device could have a runIn call to poll. I think I will wait for reports that the new Ticker works, I have my doubts.

What is the definition or specification of “overpolled / overpolling”? i.e., is there a known safe level of poll request messages per minute? Per hour? Thanks…

They’re related in that they’re both SmartThings system components, but no, they’re not directly related in the way you’re implying. Our scheduler is pretty far reaching in the system, but polling and scheduling are not innately related.

I dug through my emails about the GE/Jasco topic and as far as I’m able to see we were never able to determine an exact threshold, but that increasing the frequency of polling would invoke this behavior in a reproducible manner.

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OK so just keep waiting then…I mean it’s only been a year or more so far. :scream:

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I don’t think you should attempt linked runIn() loops.

Use Cron, as provided with Periodic in Rule Machine. Don’t use Pollster. There’s an important difference. I’m not knocking Pollster at all, it has its uses, just not this one.

Say you have a Conditional Trigger in RM with a Periodic as the Trigger Event, set for say every 15 minutes. Then you have some conditions that are met or not met, based on the current value of some sensor. Perhaps that sensor doesn’t report reliably. Great, this asks the device for its current state, so it should work even when the device fails to report that state on its own.

If the only way to get the correct value from the sensor is by doing a refresh() or poll(), then this would take two rules (one a trigger and the other a rule), one to do the refresh() and the second, slightly later, to decide based on the value.

How would this rule update the state of the device ? Are you saying to have it call poll ?

What I have done is set two rules. The rule that works is on event temp change from device if > 80 turn on AC. The rule that doesn’t is poll device to update temp.

So all I really need is to fix the later rule. Actually I suspect my rule stopped working due to last several weeks corruption issues. Which is why I never reached out to you about it. I am sure rule manager is working.

So if I am reading your instructions correctly you suggest 1 rule
Trigger: periodic every 15min
Action: turn on AC
Conditions: temp > 80

But how will this poll the temp since it will likely not have been polled for a long period. It may be stuck above 80 or below 80 no way to tell.

Two rules:

First a trigger:

Trigger event: periodic every 15 min
Actions: poll(device), evaluate Rule2 after 1 minute delay

Rule2:

Conditions: temp > 80
Rule: temp > 80
Action for true: turn on AC
Action for false: turn off AC

That’s crude, because you’d turn it off with more sophistication than that, otherwise it might bounce.

Ron,
What kind of thermostat are you using?
Have you tested your in RM to see if Refresh() succeeds under custom commands?
Have you tried the rule we were talking about in the other thread?

My version of the Refresh() rule has been running for a couple of weeks now, without a problem, even through the backend system crashes.

I have it performing Refresh() on 9 hue bulbs, 2 GE Dimmers (no neutral), 1 GE on/off switch, and 1 Aeon Microswitch.

It’s been working great for me.

I just tested the command on my Honeywell 8320 z-wave thermostat and it succeeded. It is worth a shot.

1 rule

Trigger event - Whatever you want it to be… maybe periodic in your case
Select actions - Custom command: Refresh()

Cool (pun intended) that was what I would have done but I didn’t read it that way.

I don’t mind crude because I never turn off. The AC unit will not keep running once temp is reached since it of course has it’s own thermostat. I just have this rule so when I leave in the morning if it gets hot in the afternoon my dogs get some AC and I come home to a cool house.

ZXT-120 IR sender (used to mimic remote of AC split system which don’t have thermostat interface)

Poll works under custom commands. I guess I should have been specific. Rule Manager works fine to poll this device. However Smart Things was “dropping the ball” in the last few weeks and my rules were not running.

Honestly Pollster not working, Rule Machine not working, Device code changes not working, Custom smart app not working…All the fault of Smart Things dropping the ball.

Um, why doesn’t the AC’s own thermostat work for turning it on?

It’s a Mitsubishi split system which has a remote which turns it on/off. I can turn it on all the time, set the temp and it will be running all the time (including the fan) and just run the compressor when needed. But that wastes energy and runs the unit for no reason and we don’t like the fan running when we don’t want cooling.

So I only want to turn it on when I need to so I use this device to control it. I worked on the device code for this and have a bunch of people that use it so I know I am not alone :slight_smile:
https://www.remotec.com.hk/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/ZXT-120-User-Manual_V1.4_20130604.pdf

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Ah. Makes perfect sense!! I have owned one of those.

Good idea, to throttle it that way.

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