Program vs. scene

[raymondh]

I'm looking for a push in the right direction on when to use a scene and when to use a program. As an example, I have a program called "Party" that sets about 15 lights to various dim levels. Is this something that is better done in a scene? Would a scene cut down on the communication traffic somehow? What would the advantages be using a scene vs. a program?

 

Thanks!

[jwddsinc]

Typically you use them both in conjunction with one another. The program has conditions that will execute your scene. If you just want to use it as an on off switch then a scene is fine. A program is used when you want to automate calling the scene under certain conditions. For example if you had a party every friday night then you could use a program that would set that condition for you every friday night at a certain time. Also if you have to coordinate scenes programs are useful for that too.

[LeeG]

A Scene is the best choice. All the Responders react at once and with a single Insteon command. A Program can issue the Scene On/Off but best to have a Controller initiate the Scene directly. A Program can issue 15 Direct commands but that is very slow in comparison.

 

The only down side is there is no automatic retry when using a Scene. The Insteon network has to be in good working order. The Insteon network should be in good working order whether a Scene is used or not.

[apostolakisl]

As others have said plus a few more comments.

 

Scenes are built-in to the Insteon devices themselves. ISY is a great tool to program the scene into the devices, but once programmed into the devices, the scene will function even without ISY present. ISY is by default a member of every scene (actually the PLM), but it need not be present for the scene to work.

 

Scenes are activated by a single Insteon command. So it is much less traffic than a program which sends out as many Insteon commands as you have listed in your program.

 

And as mentioned, scenes are much faster than programs which have to pause a bit between each Insteon command.

 

Generally speaking, I never have a program activate more than one device/scene. Whatever I want, I create a scene. Then, I might use a program to turn that scene on or off as needed based on conditions that I set in the program. A classic example being your night time scene which activates based on sun position/time of day. All the lights that I want to turn on at night in that fashion are a member of one scene.

[raymondh]

Ahhh, thank you all for helping me understand this! It sounds like I would be better off setting a bunch of my programs up as scenes.

 

In addition to the party scene, I have some like a goodnight program that pauses then sends individual off commands to everything except the outside lights. I also have a program that turns all the ceiling fans on or off depending on variables. These sound like they would be better off as scenes.

 

The party program had to have delays programmed between on/off commands because every once in a while, a light wouldn't get set properly because of there being so many commands being sent (I think that was the problem anyway).

 

I also have a vacation program that turns various lights on and off for random periods of time to make the house looked like someone is home. That seems like a program is still best for that situation. Right?

[apostolakisl]

Yes, it sounds like you have it.

 

You can also have multiple scenes with the same members in it but set to different levels. Or multiple scenes where they are almost the same but contain a few extra items. Like I have one scene that I use to turn all the evening lights on, then the lights get turned off in 2 stages where some of the get turned off in the first stage (which I created a scene for) and then the rest in a second stage (which I actually use the original scene to turn off).

[strahan001]

I recently had a battle with my PLM, and had to call support, during this process my ISY was updated to 4.2.2. It seems that since this upgrade was done, my programs are not working the way they used to. I have dug and dug and read all the various posts and am struggling to figure out what is going on.

 

I have created a scene called bed time, I then created a program that if a keypad button is on it would then kick in the scene bed time and dim it to the off position.

 

I have found that there is no "status" for the button anymore in the program.. I tried a "not off" logic to kick it in. No go. Can you assist me in getting this resolved? I am at my wits end here and am throwing in the towel.

 

Thank you

[oberkc]

I am a little fuzzy as to what you are trying to achieve. Are you trying to create a program that watches for when the button is manually turned on? Then when turned on, it activates a scene and turns off the button?

 

First thing I would check is that the ISY status is accurately showing the button status.

[strahan001]

I spent several more hours on it last night and finally stumbled upon that I needed to recreate every scene and every program and at that point things started to work again..

 

What I am trying to do is do a program that says "if this button is a status of on" then do this. There is no status of on anymore to select in the drop downs? It is simply off or some % of being on and a status of responding. Is there a reason why the on status is no longer an option?

[oberkc]

Is there a reason why the on status is no longer an option?

 

If I understand correctly, I believe the status ON and OFF are limited to relay devices and percentages are for dimmer devices. "ON" would equate to 100%..."Not OFF" would equate to anything over zero....etc. It is important to pay strict attention to the way percentages work versus ON and OFF.

[apostolakisl]

That seems to be new. I am almost 100% sure that it used to be that dimmers had the option of "on" and "100%" in programs, though they were treated identically. It makes sense to not have both 100% and on since they are identical, so if indeed "on" was removed, it makes perfect sense.

[oberkc]

That seems to be new. I am almost 100% sure that it used to be that dimmers had the option of "on" and "100%" in programs, though they were treated identically. It makes sense to not have both 100% and on since they are identical, so if indeed "on" was removed, it makes perfect sense.

 

That sounds right, to me also. Things have changed, it seems. The big point is to understand what ON means in programs, versus NOT OFF, OFF versus NOT ON, etc.... Is 50%/10%/90% on or off? Things like that.