Timer Cascade Driver

© 2021, Hilium Pty Ltd

Contact support@Hilium.com.au for support and for the License Key (see below).

Allows user setting and control of 16 countdown timers for periods of 1 minute to 23:59 hours:minutes +/- 30s.

It provides Timer Start and Timer Expire Events. It also contains installer and user configuration to allow a sequence of Timers to automatically start the next Timer after an installer specified inter-timer delay, or timer overlap – to create a cascade (or waterfall) of timers.

Release History

1.0 Aug 2021 Initial release of the driver

Functionality

The following functions are implemented for each of the 16 Timers:

On – to start the Timer countdown

Off – to stop the Timer

Toggle – if on then off, if off then on

Timer Set functions:

Minute Up – increases the set period by 1 minute

Minute Down – decreases the set period by 1 minute

Hour Up – increases the set period by 1 hour

Hour Down – decreases the set period by 1 hour

Save – which saves all Timer Set values (countdown set periods) to persistent memory to prevent setting loss after a processor reboot.

Cascade Control On/Off – to start/stop a sequence of defined cascading timers.

Driver Properties

License Credentials

License Key

Use ‘Trial’ for testing purposes – the driver will be fully functional for 60 minutes.

Enter a Valid License key issued by Hilium Pty Ltd for production use. Contact details above.

System Variable “License Variable” “Status” will show whether not a valid license key has been entered.

End~User~Configurable~Auto~Start

User Saveable

If True, each Timers’ Auto Cascade On/Off values (below) will be ignored at reboot. In this case, values will default to 'false', until changed via Cascade Control/Cascade On setting for each Timer. The Save Settings function stores these revised values in Persistent storage to retain these values after reboot.

Time Check, s

Sets the frequency in seconds to update the Time Remaining system variables. These variables only exist for display purposes and do not affect operation of the Timers. 10s minimum is recommended to reduce processor load. A much higher value can be used if display of Time Remaining is not required.

Timers

Timer 1 Name. A meaningful name foreach Timer, eg Sprinkler Timer.

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Timer 16 Name.

Auto Cascade 1. Enable if cascade starting of Timer 1 is required.

Auto Cascade 2. Enable if cascade starting of Timer 2 after Timer 1 ends is required.

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Auto Cascade 16. Enable if cascade starting of Timer 15 after Timer 14 ends is required.

Cascade Delay 2. The delay of 0 – 60 seconds after Timer 1 ends before Timer 2 starts. Delay of -10 to -1s caused Timer 1 to continue for the delay period after Timer 2 starts.

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Cascade Delay 16. The delay of 0 – 60 seconds after Timer 15 ends before Timer 16 starts. Delay of -10 to -1s caused Timer 15 to continue for the delay period after Timer 16 starts.

Debug Settings

Enable Trace. To log debug message.

Functions – commands available in Apex

For each Timer the commands are:

Timer Control:

Off

On

Toggle

Timer Set:

Minute Up

Minute Down

Hour Up

Hour Down

To Select a Timers, the commands are:

Select Timer:

Timer Next

Timer Previous

Timer 1

Timer 2

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Timer 16

The Timer Set commands (Minute Up etc) can be used with the Selected Timer. This allows one set of Hour Up, Hour Down, Minute Up, Minute Down buttons to set the times for all Timers. Use ‘Timer Next’ and ‘Timer Previous’ in conjunction with the System Variable ‘Selected Timer’ so the use can see which Timer is selected.

To Select Timers that will Auto Start when cascade is On:

Cascade Control/Auto Start

Timer 1

Timer 2

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Timer 16

For the Timers as a group, the commands are:

Save Settings:

Save

Cascade Control:

On/Off

System Variables – available in Apex

License Variable

Status: Either “Validated” or “Invalid – Trial Use Only”

Timer Names

For each Timer, the name set in the Properties

Timer On

For each Timer, true = running, false = stopped

Timer Set h:mm

For each Timer, the user defined countdown time period

Timer Ends h:mm

For each running Timer, the time the Timer will expire

Timer Remaining h:mm:ss

For each running Timer, the time period remaining (h:mm:ss) before the Timer expires

Selected Timer

Timer: Show the Name of the selected Timer – use with Time Set ‘Timer Next’ and ‘Timer Previous functions.

Timer 1 Selected: Is boolean. True/On indicated this is the Selected Timer.

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Timer 16 Selected: Is boolean. True/On indicated this is the Selected Timer.

Auto Timer

Timer 1 Auto Start: Is boolean. True/On indicated this Timer will auto start during a Cascade cycle when prior cascade timer end with gap or overlay as appropriate.

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Timer 16 Auto Start: Is boolean. True/On indicated this Timer will auto start during a Cascade cycle when prior cascade timer end with gap or overlay as appropriate.

Cascade

Cascade On: true = cascade is on, false = off

System Events – available in Apex

Countdown Timers

Timer 1 - Start

Timer 1 - Expire

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Timer 16 - Start

Timer 16 - Expire

Application Notes:

Timer periods can be edited at any time. Changes for a Timer do not take effect while that Timer is counting down.

To prevent a Cascade Timing user error, use the Cascade On system variable to set relevant Timers “Timer Control” On/Off button to inactive.

Last Updated 25 August 2021