Need a Way to Flicker a Light

[upstatemike]

Looking forward to Halloween I am thinking it would be very cool if I could cause the front porch light to "Flicker" like you see in scary movies. I think I could get this effect if I could send a series of 4 or 5 Off and On commands (series should end withan On) sent about 200mS apart. This would be a great addition to the dimming effects I already use.

 

I think the Insteon protocol is fast enough to do this because I have seen the LightShowMaster program send some very fast flashing effects.

 

This feature would also have other potential uses such as providing warning that the lights in a room are about to be turned off by a timer or to help get your attention when the doorbell rings or to warn folks that intermission is about end at your Home Theater.

 

This would not have to be an elaborate or configurable feature; just a single "flicker" command that can be called from a program. It could send a fixed series of ON/OFF commands at 200 mS intervals ending with an On. (In most applications you would want the lights to end up On. You can follow with a separate Off command in the program if needed.)

[Michel Kohanim]

Hello upstatemike,

 

The minimum delay between requests is 500 m.s. So, it would be very difficult to make it less without making the PLM shout for help.

 

Also, can't one right a program which Repeats the sequence you are describing?

 

With kind regards,

Michel

 

Looking forward to Halloween I am thinking it would be very cool if I could cause the front porch light to "Flicker" like you see in scary movies. I think I could get this effect if I could send a series of 4 or 5 Off and On commands (series should end withan On) sent about 200mS apart. This would be a great addition to the dimming effects I already use.

 

I think the Insteon protocol is fast enough to do this because I have seen the LightShowMaster program send some very fast flashing effects.

 

This feature would also have other potential uses such as providing warning that the lights in a room are about to be turned off by a timer or to help get your attention when the doorbell rings or to warn folks that intermission is about end at your Home Theater.

 

This would not have to be an elaborate or configurable feature; just a single "flicker" command that can be called from a program. It could send a fixed series of ON/OFF commands at 200 mS intervals ending with an On. (In most applications you would want the lights to end up On. You can follow with a separate Off command in the program if needed.)

[upstatemike]

I tried a program with a series of FastOFF and FastOn commands but the result was more of a slow blink. I was hoping that a dedicated command could override some of the built-in latency that makes things play nice and force a rapid-fire burst to get the flicker effect.

[Michel Kohanim]

Hello upstatemike,

 

We could do that but then we cannot guarantee the correct state. That's why we have set the delay between commands to 500 m.s. You can change this value in the shell ...

 

With kind regards,

Michel

 

I tried a program with a series of FastOFF and FastOn commands but the result was more of a slow blink. I was hoping that a dedicated command could override some of the built-in latency that makes things play nice and force a rapid-fire burst to get the flicker effect.