For garage door openers, what advantages, if any, are there to using a scene instead of a program?

 

My current setup is as follows for each of two garage doors:

 

--Ecolink Z wave tilt sensor

--IOlinc connected to "activate" button on spare battery powered remote.

 

The OEM wall-mount paddle controllers are within easy reach of my interior garage door, making keypad lincs somewhat redundant, so my primary, ISY-wise control is via Mobilinc and two small ("Then") programs on my iPhone.

 

I haven't had much to do with scenes mainly because, having transferred from a Veralite, most of my devices are Zwave. I wouldn't even have a program, but because not all IOlinc modes are accessible via direct device operation, I made a small program to ensure the relay feedback is always seen as "off" after each operation:

 

 

If
   - No Conditions
 
Then
        Set 'Relay Garage Door North' On
        Wait  1 second
        Set 'Relay Garage Door North' Off
 
Else
   - No Actions

 

 

 

Everything worked quite well. The doors opened and closed with a single press of a Mobilin icon, and the Garage Door Icons changed state as expected.

 

Until winter time, that is.

 

I discovered to my chagrin that the Ecolink tilt sensors aren't designed for sub-freezing temperatures, which pretty well rules out their functionality for a good 3 or 4 months out of the year. Note that door control was unaffected, only feedback. I should add that I went with the Ecolinks because at the time, I was steering away from Insteon after I discovered Veralite's lousy state feedback performance with Insteon.
 

My motive behind the original question is that, because I will be replacing the Ecolinks with magnetic limit switches and using the sensor inputs on the IOlincs, I'm compelled to revisit my original configuration.

 

I know most people here use scenes for their garage doors, but because I don't use keypad lincs, I couldn't find a way to work the lone IOlincs into a scene that made sense to me. Maybe that will change now that I have a more "uniform" garage door setup.

 

Suggestions?

 

 

Not sure if this feed back is worth any value but typically a scene is used for the GDO in concert with a KPL. As you're fully aware the majority use it for both status and control.

 

Since it seems you won't have this requirement then I am not sure what value there would be in using a scene? Unless you plan on linking the sensor from the I/O Linc to some other Insteon enabled device like a LED, Lamp Linc, etc.

 

I personally would not count on a software widget to alert me of a On/Off state for the largest door in my home. I would opt to have a hard linked KPL etc for that status and control.

In your situation, I see no need to use a scene.  Just add the IOLinc sensor in place of your tilt sensors.  Wire the switch so that the IOLinc sensor is On when the door is Open.

 

-Xathros

A scene will continue to function even if the ISY is not available. A program won't.

Not sure if this feed back is worth any value but typically a scene is used for the GDO in concert with a KPL. As you're fully aware the majority use it for both status and control.

 

Since it seems you won't have this requirement then I am not sure what value there would be in using a scene? Unless you plan on linking the sensor from the I/O Linc to some other Insteon enabled device like a LED, Lamp Linc, etc.

 

I personally would not count on a software widget to alert me of a On/Off state for the largest door in my home. I would opt to have a hard linked KPL etc for that status and control.

 

For my house design, (four level back split), monitorig and control of my garage doors is only a few steps away, so the KPL didn't seem very useful. I can definitely see where that wouldn't be the case for other people though.

 

As someone who has made his iphone a fifth appendage , (Curse you  Steve Jobs!)  smartphone integration seemed to make the most sense.