"Switching" Scenes and Making a Light Flash

[Jason F]

Hello,

 

I'm new to insteon and the ISY.... trying to set up something a little different for a hotel application.

 

I have one basic switch, which controls a lightbulb.

 

I have 2 keypadlincs, which I'd like to use a couple of the small buttons to set 2 different "scenes".

 

Scene 1 - Do not disturb - Controlled by button A on the keypadlincs, turns on the lightbulb.

Scene 2 - Make up room - Controlled by button B on the keypadlincs, makes that same bulb flash.

 

I've gotten both scenes to be able to turn on the bulb, however what I need it to do, is when I turn scene 2 on, to turn scene 1 off, and vice versa.

 

Also, how would I get the light to flash as part of the scene?

 

Thanks

[oberkc]

2 hours ago, Jason F said:

I've gotten both scenes to be able to turn on the bulb, however what I need it to do, is when I turn scene 2 on, to turn scene 1 off, and vice versa.

My gut feel is to do this with a single ISY scene, including all the devices from scene 1 and scene 2.  Buttons A and B would both be controllers in the scene.  

For button A, define the appropriate

ON levels for the scene-1 devices.  For scene-2 devices (and button B), define ON levels as ZERO (off, whatever).  

For button B, define the ON levels for scene-1 devices (and button A) as zero.  Define the ON levels for scene-2 devices as you want.

2 hours ago, Jason F said:

Also, how would I get the light to flash as part of the scene?

This requires a program.  There is no scene capability that would cause a light to flash.  

How do you want to initiate the flashing?  Pressing button B?  How do you want to terminate the flashing?  Toggle button B to off?  Press button A?  

Is your keypad six- or eight-button?  Is your light bulb powered by this same keypad?

 

[Jason F]

The solution of one scene for both "modes" worked well....

 

In terms of the flashing, I'd like to initiate it whenver button B (on one of two keypads is pressed), and turn it off whenever button B is set to off, or Button A is pressed.

[oberkc]

On ‎3‎/‎16‎/‎2019 at 9:36 PM, oberkc said:

Is your keypad six- or eight-button?  Is your light bulb powered by this same keypad?

Still hoping for answers to these questions.  If it is an 8-button keypad, the load is controlled by button A.  If the keypad powers the light, then the flashing light will cause a flashing button.  Is this acceptable.  If it is a six-button, then the ON and OFF buttons will alternate when flashing.  Is this acceptable?  

[kclenden]

On 3/16/2019 at 7:16 PM, Jason F said:

I have 2 keypadlincs, which I'd like to use a couple of the small buttons to set 2 different "scenes".

 

 

 

Scene 1 - Do not disturb - Controlled by button A on the keypadlincs, turns on the lightbulb.

 

Scene 2 - Make up room - Controlled by button B on the keypadlincs, makes that same bulb flash.

 

16 minutes ago, oberkc said:

Still hoping for answers to these questions.

Given that he refers to "small buttons" and then calls them button A and button B, I'd assume it's a six button kepad with the first two small middle buttons being used.

Edit: But I do know what they say when you assume things.

Edited March 19, 2019 by kclenden

[kclenden]

Here's a program that will flash a scene every second:

MakeRoomUp - [ID 0071][Parent 0070]

If
        $sMakeRoomUp is -1
 
Then
        Repeat Every  2 seconds
           Set 'MakeRoomUp' Off
           Wait  1 second
           Set 'MakeRoomUp' On
 
Else
        Set 'MakeRoomUp' Off
 

To make it work, you'd have to create a STATE variable called "sMakeRoomUp".  You also have to create a SCENE called "MakeRoomUp" and add the B Button as a responder.  After doing that, any time the state variable sMakeRoomUp is set to -1, the B button would flash every second.  You could use the following program to set the variable:

ActivateMakeRoomUp - [ID 00AD][Parent 0070]

If
        'Keypad-Button A / Keypad-Button B' is switched On
    And 'Keypad-Button A / Keypad-Button B' is not switched Off
 
Then
        $sMakeRoomUp  = -1
 
Else
        $sMakeRoomUp  = 0

The biggest issue with this is that it takes a lot of Insteon communication to keep the button flashing.  This will not scale to a lot of different rooms if they're all on the same electrical network.

Also, I'm running the program using v5 of the firmware.  I don't remember if v4 supports the "Repeat Every x" command.

Edit: if v4 doesn't include the "Repeat Every x" command, you could use this program:

MakeRoomUp - [ID 0071][Parent 0070]

If
        $sMakeRoomUp is -1
 
Then
        Wait  1 second
        Set 'MakeRoomUp' Off
        Wait  1 second
        Set 'MakeRoomUp' On
        Run Program 'MakeRoomUp' (Then Path)
 
Else
        Set 'MakeRoomUp' Off

Edit 2:

The ActivateMakeRoomUp above works so long as you turn it OFF when the B button is illuminated.  If you try to turn it OFF when the B button is unlit, it will remain active and continue to blink.  The program below takes care of that problem:

ActivateMakeUpRoom - [ID 00AD][Parent 0070]

If
        (
             (
                  'Keypad-Button A / Keypad-Button B' is switched On
              And $sMakeUpRoom is 0
             )
          Or (
                  'Keypad-Button A / Keypad-Button B' is not switched On
              And $sMakeUpRoom is -1
             )
        )
    And 'Keypad-Button A / HW-Keypad-Button B' is not switched Off
 
Then
        $sMakeUpRoom  = -1
 
Else
        $sMakeUpRoom  = 0

 

Edited March 19, 2019 by kclenden