Within the Advanced options for Sensor triggers there are four fields that one can use to add additional functionality to the existing Sensor Trigger. They are as follows:
Minimum Sensor Time: The Minimum Sensor time determines how long a reading must be at the trigger point for the rule before activating the designated output. For example, a sensor trigger that is setup to turn on an output if the Room’s temperature rises above 90°F with minimum sensor time of 2 minutes specified in the advanced options will turn on the output once the room’s temperature is above 90°F for 2 minutes.
Minimum Run Time: The Minimum Run time determines the minimum amount of time that a device will be active once the criteria to turn on the output has been reached. Similar to the example above, if one has a sensor trigger that is setup to turn on an output if the Room’s temperature rises above 90°F and has a minimum runtime of 2 minutes, the output will be turned on for at least 2 minutes, even if the reset threshold for the rule is reached before 2 minutes elapses. This setting is helpful when controlling devices such as Dehumidifiers or HVAC cooling stages that need to be active for at least a certain window of time to prevent short-cycling of their compressors.
Maximum Run Time: The Maximum Run time determines the maximum amount of time that a device will be allowed to activate once the criteria to turn on the output has been reached. Once the Maximum Run time has been reached, the device will be placed in Auto-Off and will not be able to be activated from any rule into one of the following 3 conditions are met:
1) The Reset Threshold of the rule has been reached
2) A config update has been pushed to the controller
3) The controller has been reset.
Force Device Off when max runtime is reached: The ‘Force Device Off when Max Runtime is Reached’ is an additional flag that one can activate when one specifies a maximum runtime for a rule. This flag follows all of the conditions that a Maximum Run Time has, but additionally sets the device to the state of Manual-Off when the max runtime is reached, which requires the user to set the device state back to Auto in order for the device to activate via rules again.