Controlling RGB strip lighting...best options?

[sorka]

1 hour ago, markv58 said:

There is no ramp rate with the fibaro either. Led lights generally don't ramp from 0%, they require a certain voltage to start up. The best led lamps I have are the Lifx brand, those do have a ramp rate setting. Lifx has something called Z Led strip, haven't tried it and won't because a ramp rate isn't worth the cost.

 

 

Good info there. Question, can I set the the RGBW levels of a led strip in a program? For instance, I can set an insteon device to the value of a variable and I could simulate a very slow ramp down but running a program from 100% down to 0% if I had to.

If I wanted the RGWB strip to slowly dim over the course of 5 minutes, would I be able to use an Insteon program looping to decrement each channel a little every 5 seconds?

[markv58]

40 minutes ago, sorka said:

Good info there. Question, can I set the the RGBW levels of a led strip in a program? For instance, I can set an insteon device to the value of a variable and I could simulate a very slow ramp down but running a program from 100% down to 0% if I had to.

If I wanted the RGWB strip to slowly dim over the course of 5 minutes, would I be able to use an Insteon program looping to decrement each channel a little every 5 seconds?

Yes. In a program you have a Change RGB or Change RGBW option that gives you access to all values. I don't see why you couldn't ramp using variables in a program. I almost never see my lighting change, it sets when I come home or leave and after I'm asleep.

 

[larryllix]

51 minutes ago, sorka said:

Good info there. Question, can I set the the RGBW levels of a led strip in a program? For instance, I can set an insteon device to the value of a variable and I could simulate a very slow ramp down but running a program from 100% down to 0% if I had to.

If I wanted the RGWB strip to slowly dim over the course of 5 minutes, would I be able to use an Insteon program looping to decrement each channel a little every 5 seconds?

With V5.x, all linear devices can take a variable value to set their levels AFAIK. I have built some 2-3 hour ramps using that technique. (sunset simulation)  I also "borrow" some RGBW bulbs for flashing red when garage doors are open, and at midnight as a bedtime warning, and then replace their previously saved  values from variables.

ISY only uses percentages so the resolution is 1%, while most devices I have programmed take 0-255 (8 bit) values. The driver has to convert. Not much of a change in perception until you get down to the low percentages. Then 2% down to 1% halves the light output.

 

[sorka]

Fired up the Fibraro unit last night, paired with the ISY and started playing. The z-wave range is not very good. It had to be within 15 feet or so of the ISY to not constantly lose the link. Perhaps that's because I don't have other z-wave devices to form a mesh. So minus one for the z-wave solution so far.

First thing I did was side by side comparison of the minimum light level. I set both MH and z-wave to 1% for WW. The z-wave at 1% actually looks like 1%. I needed to go to about 7% to get it to be as bright as the MH controller at 1%. So the PWM mapping curve of percent to actual output is far better on the z-wave controller. No comparison. Now perhaps 1% on the Magic Home app isn't really 1%? Is there tcp binary NR command that would set WW to 1% from the ISY on the MH that I could quickly test out? If new for sure that I couldn't get the strips dimmer on the MH controller, than there's no reason to mess with getting polyglot up and running as that takes the wifi mh controller out of the running.

 

Other z-wave plus - It seems like I can get a z-wave touch panel remote which my wife would actually use. She won't use an app and that appears to be the only way to use the MH controller if you want to just set a color by eye. 

 

One the downside, it seems there's no app or z-wave to wifi gateway that would allow me to pick colors on my phone. I prefer the app. My wife prefers the physical touch pad remote.

Scenes are someone messed up and there's only one aspect scenes that actually work at all. I can add RGBW channels to a scene and say call it purple and set the on percent for blue and red and off for green and white. If I select the "On" button in the scene, all channels go to their specified presets. That works. All the other buttons (fast on, fast off, brighten dim fade up/down, etc all ignore the presets and just turn on or up or off all channels together. It's totally busted.

 

If I add a switchlinc dimmer to the scene as a controller. It sort of kinda of works but not really. I press and hold to dim up, the strip brightens and then dims and then brightens multiple times as the switchlinc heads up to 1%. I also can't set the on level (tap up once) on the switchlinc in the scene. I of course undertand why. This is not a level that is actually stored in the switch but in the responders in that scene. This is why you can have multiple controllers with different on levels in the same scene where the responders respond to each of the controllers to their initial tap up once on values. It has nothing to do with the ISY. The ISY is just programming the many to many mapping links in the insteon devices so all the scene stuff would still work even if you unplugged the ISY. BUT, there's no reason the ISY can't simulate all of this in a mixed z-wave/insteon scene. It would just require the ISY be up and running.

 

If I set the scene to x% in a program, it just turns all channels on 100%. Totally broken.

 

What I was able to do was create a program that sets whatever RGBW channels I want to follow the status % of the switchlinc, so in that way, I was able to link a switchlinc to control the RGBW strip and have it follow precisely the on level of the switchlinc, but it delays until you stop pressing the switchlinc at which point it then sets the strip to the value of the switchlinc. No continuous following(can he mh via polyglot do that).

 

The biggest thing the z-wave controller has over the MH right now is that it can start at very low brightness and I can create a very gradual dim up or dim that has no sudden on or off at the bottom.  Are there any other MH compatible controllers that might use a different mapping? is it possible there's a command in the protocol that would allow modifying the on % to PWM output level that I could send with an NR?