KeyPadLinc Button Help

[Rawson819]

I have an 8-button KeypadLinc in the mud room that was acting goofy (buttons and ceiling light connected to it were intermittently flashing), so I replaced it after all attempts to troubleshoot the issue failed.  All is working well with the new device except for one small issue I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction on. 

I have button B in a scene with the garage lights' Switchlinc - it is my desire to control these lights via the KPL button and have it reflect the lights' status.  I'm seeing inconsistent behavior with it and wondering if I set it up correctly.  Typically a press of the button turns on the lights and illuminates the KPL button; however, a second press only extinguishes the KPL button and NOT the garage lights.....additional button presses eventually will turn off the lights.  I have the KPL button and the Switchlinc in a scene together and have the button as a controller and responder to that scene.  

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated and I'm happy to provide additional details if needed.

Thanks,

Joe

              

 

[paulbates]

Hey Joe,
It sounds like communication problems, potentially even the load controlled by the garage switchlinc is creating noise.. and after its turned on the noise from the load makes it difficult for the switchlinc to "hear" the off command. Since its intermittent, i think that may be it. I would try the following:

1. What type of load is the garage lights? (LED, Florescent, ect)

   • Remove the load if you can and retry the test. If it works consistently without the load, it is load noise... replace the lights or filter

2. You might be able to get around it this way: Right-Click on the keypad in the Main device tree. (It doesn't matter which of the keys you pick). Pick Advanced from the pop-up menu and PLM communications. Assuming its a newer keypad, you'll see something like what's in the picture. For the key in question, change the value to 3 retries. This may provide some relief but its kind of the "Hulk, Smash!" solution. There will likely be a delay between pressing the key and the lights. If this works, you'll still want to try and solve the signal problem.
   (Even though it says PLM communications, I've gotten this to work on noisy lights as well when I didn't have another choice)

         
 

Paul

[Rawson819]

Thanks for your reply Paul.

For no particular reason, I have one incandescent and one compact fluorescent in the garage.  I removed both of those and tested multiple times with (unfortunately) same exact results.  Without fail the Switchlinc responded appropriately to the ON signal, it's the off that is the problem.....which is bizarre.  

[paulbates]

The only other thing I can think of, other than than the other suggestion above, is to right click on the keypad in main and pick restore device. When that completes, repeat those steps with the garage switchlinc, and test again. Kind of a long shot, but easy enough to try

Paul

[kclenden]

Joe,

It might be helpful if you use the Event Viewer, set at Level 3, in the Admin Console to watch what happens when you press the keypad button.  That will allow you to observe the communication between devices.  I have a very similar setup to you (Keypad Button B controls Garage Light) but have two Switchlincs in the garage that control one light.  Here is the Event Viewer output from pressing the keypad button to turn the light on, then waiting about 15 seconds and pressing the keypad button to turn off the light.

All the entries from 06:50:46 PM are the result of pressing the keypad button to turn on the garage light.  22.8D.EB is the address of my keypad and the following 2 means second button.  22.AA.32 and 22.A6.F4 are the Switchlincs in the garage.  The entries from 06:50:59 PM are the second press of the keypad button to turn off the garage light.

What do you see in the Event Viewer when you try this?  When you press the button a second time, do you see the initial communication from the keypad?  If so, is there any response from the switch in the garage?  Do the "Max Hops" and "Hops Left" equal each other? 

Edit: I'm on v5 of the ISY firmware.  If you're on v4 the output in the Event Viewer might not read exactly the same, but should still represent the same set of communication events.