Program turns 1 light full, then dims same light

[PittCaleb]

New, working on my programming, thinking I am getting it and quite proud of some of the stuff I've written.

 

I have 2 programs which are frustrating me quite a bit. Both are very similar, so I will explain 1. Confident the solution will be the same for the other.

 

Master Hallway - Insteon Dimmable switch

Master Bath - Insteon Dimmable switch

 

Both switches work fine solo.

 

Creates a Scene which sets both switches to 20%

 

Wrote program:

 

If

Control 'Master Hallway' is switched Fast On

 

Then

Set Scene 'Master Hall-Bath' On

 

Else

- No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action')

 

When I press the switch, the Master Hallway light initially turns on to 100%, then it drops it to 20% at the same time as it raises the Bathroom light to 20%.

 

Have I done something wrong? I have a similar issue downstairs for a scene setting to dim lights for a movie. It first turns the lights on, then drops them.

 

Thanks in advance for the pointers to solving this issue.

 

PittCaleb

[LeeG]

A Fast On (double tap) turns the device 100% On. That is the design of the hardware. The Scene lowers the On Level when the Scene executes.

 

Do not use Fast On if going to 100% On is not acceptable.

[Xathros]

PittCaleb-

 

Because the Hallway switch is controlling the hallway load, it is going to be difficult to get secondary actions to activate scenes without affecting the hallway load at the same time.

 

If you can give me a little more detail about what you want to happen under different conditions, I may be able to offer some possible solutions. Based on this thread so far, I think you may want to consider swapping the hallway switch for a 6 or 8 button Keypadlinc Dimmer. If you want to avoid the keypad, another solution would be to use a micro dimmer module behind the Switchlinc or in the hallway fixture box and move the control of the hallway load to that. Then we can use programs to decide what the different events at the switchlinc should do.

 

-Xathros

[PittCaleb]

We have a large master bedroom suite. The master lights are one one dimmer. From the master is a 12' hallway to the bathroom. That's the hallway light I discuss. In the bathroom, the main lights are also on an insteon switch.

 

The goal is if you want to go to the bathroom without disturbing your sleeping spouse, you could turn the hallway & bathroom lights on dim to see enough to do what needs to be done and return without waking anyone unnecessarily.

 

What I was thinking was single tap on - hallway on, single tap off, hallway off; double-tap on - hallway & bathroom on 20%; double-tap off - hallway & bathroom off.

 

Yes, I could purchase a 6-button KPL. Trying to avoid having one of those literally everywhere. There is already one in the bedroom at a different location.

 

When I select the switch in program mode, aside from on/off and fast on/off, there is fade up/down and dim/bright - could I capture one of those settings - say we "hold the on button" for a half second, and our program sets both to 25%?

 

Unless you have another solution, other than grabbing the scene from a phone or an Insteon remote kept at bedside (or putting in a 6-button KPL), this idea may have run its course unfortunately.

[LeeG]

The program can test for Fade Up. The possible issue is that Fade Up/Down moves up or down at a factory set speed. A Local Ramp Rate of 4 seconds would take a very long hold on or hold off. Thus like Fast On, Fade Up moves up over a 2 or 3 second time frame. It is possible that a hold on could turn the device On more than 20%. Would not be 100% On but the load might dim slightly down to 20%.

[Xathros]

Since the hallway switch is the load control for the hallway light, anything that you do at that switch is going to affect the load, On, Fast On, Fade Up etc. To avoid that, we either have to take the load off of that switch and move it to something like a micro module or deal with this scenario programmaticly.

 

One idea may be to use adjust scene to set the local onlevel of the hallway light to 20% between certain hours. Say 2 hrs after sunset to 1/2 before sunrise (next day). This way turning on the switch during these hours will only bring the hallway light up to 20% during the rest of the day, adjust to 100% or whatever level you like for daytime hours. Then have a program watch the hallway control during those hours and respond by bringing up the bathroom lights to 20% if the hallway is turned on between the dark hours. Have another program watch the hallway switch for fast off and turn off the bathroom scene when it sees a fast off from the hallway. This is not exactly what you wanted but close and does not require any additional hardware and avoids the hallway light getting brighter than 20% during the dark hours..

 

-Xathros

[larryllix]

I have several scenes in my Gathering Room based on the SwitchLinc press style for one set of lights. These scenes control five SwitchLinc dimmers controlling seven potlights.

 

I set the basic ramp speed of each device from ISY to 4.5-8.5 seconds. My scenes using about the same or slower ramp speeds all appear to override the ramp speed set in the devices.

 

The scenes are all controlled by one wall switch When I press the button "On" I get that scene with no initial full on or flash. Pressing "On" again the scene toggles between "TV Watching" and "Reading" scenes.

 

If the switch is already On or Off and I press the toggle down and hold it for a second or longer (Dim) I set my Movie Watching scene with no initial bright cycle.

 

If I initiate "Fast On" I initiate all lights on full and of course local effects of it's own load are again not apparent to the user.

 

In short I think a solution may be to just inject a ramp delay into your devices that gets "beaten" or "taken over" by your scene levels.

 

Rereading your second post:

Turning you bathroom lights off. If your hall lights are on dim then wait 45 seconds and turn them off.

Turning your hall lights on. If not wee hours use scene with fast on that overrides basic on dim setting in device. Note: I use this method for bedroom lamps with MS in each room. During the day a Fast Off beats the ramp on time and users never see any light but the Fast Off has to be in the entrance program to beat the timing consistently.

 

If
       Control 'Evening Bedroom / Motion.Evening BR' is switched On
   And From    Sunset  - 30 minutes
       To      Sunrise + 30 minutes (next day)

Then
       Run Program 'EveBR Lamp Nightime' (If)

Else
       Set 'Evening Bedroom / EveBR Table Lamp' Fast Off

[PittCaleb]

The last 2 replies are great - I will look into them later this evening. Thanks for the suggestions.

 

You're absolutely right, I could put an in-wall module to control the lights, then run them from this switch. But then we're talking almost $100 to keep a single fixture on low at night to avoid waking someone up. Yeah, not worth it. This is why the kids bedrooms, with ceiling fans, probably will never be done - fanlink + 6-button keypad - just not worth dropping $100/room so I can stop yelling at my kids to turn the darned lights off in their rooms.

 

I like the idea of setting the local level, then on would do that, and perhaps double-on would go full power. I'll fiddle around with it later tonight and see how it works.

 

PittCaleb

[WetCoastWillie]

I have a similar situation where I use the off "status" and off "control" to turn the lights on at 20% for the bathroom at night.

 

If the light is off (status) and you turn it off (control), it then runs a program that turn on the light at 20% for 5 min then turns it off. So in the middle of the night when you have to go... just hit the off switch and the light goes on dim for 5 min then turns itself off after i'm back in bed!

 

If
       Status  'Master Bathroom / Master Bathroom Light' is Off
   And Control 'Master Bathroom / Master Bathroom Light' is switched Off

Then
       Set 'Master Bathroom / Master Bathroom Light' 25%
       Run Program 'Night timer' (Then Path)

Else
  - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action')

 

If
  - No Conditions - (To add one, press 'Schedule' or 'Condition')

Then
       Wait  5 minutes
       Set 'Master Bathroom / Master Bathroom Light' Off

Else
  - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action')