Lights on dim after hours. Program question

[bretta]

I can't seem to work out how to do what I want here.

I would like a light to come on slowly, and only to about 50% brightness, between certain hours.    Rest of the time, come on full bright and fast.

Basically trying to save this old man's eyes in the middle of the night.

The light is controlled by an Insteon dimmer switch.   I'm running an ISY 994i/Z

Anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks

[larryllix]

This is dependant where you want the change to take place. Insteon SwitchLincs have local control presets, program controls and 2-300 scene presets.

This one control the local switch tap response.

 

 

[zerop]

17 hours ago, bretta said:

I can't seem to work out how to do what I want here.

I would like a light to come on slowly, and only to about 50% brightness, between certain hours.    Rest of the time, come on full bright and fast.

Basically trying to save this old man's eyes in the middle of the night.

The light is controlled by an Insteon dimmer switch.   I'm running an ISY 994i/Z

Anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks

See this tread.

 

 

[oberkc]

First, this may be different syntax depending on whether you are on software v4.x or v5.x.  Second, this is from memory and I think from v4 software.  In general, to change the local on level for a switch, you use the scene action that goes something like:

in scene (name of switch) set (name of same switch) level to xx%

I think the approach is similar in v5 software but the wording is a bit more intuituve.

[bretta]

Thanks for the tips.   I am running 4.7.3, so can't seem to do it purely through programming.

I have set up a scene for 50% and 5 second ramp rate and a program to run that scene overnight.    I'll report back on how it works.

 

[larryllix]

10 minutes ago, bretta said:

Thanks for the tips.   I am running 4.7.3, so can't seem to do it purely through programming.

I have set up a scene for 50% and 5 second ramp rate and a program to run that scene overnight.    I'll report back on how it works.

 

Did you want to change the response from the SwitchLinc on the wall, or for program usage,  leaving the lights on all night by using a scene?
Test by changing your time trigger to 2 minutes from now and then change it back once satisfied.

[oberkc]

My understanding from your original post was that you desired to change the response of the light when you manually activate the switch (local response).  I am not sure that this would be done by creating a scene.  In version 4 of the software, however, programmatically changing the local response rates of a device was done via an action to a scene.  

IIRC (I am no longer running v4 software so this is all from memory), if you were to create an program to run at a certain hour, choose an "action>>>adjust scene".  In the first scene box, choose your specific device (not an actual scene, but the individual device).  In the second scene box, choose the same device.  In the action, choose the on-level (or ramp rate or whatever) that you want to be in effect at that certain time.  If you want to change both ramp rates and on-levels, you would create two actions.

 

[bretta]

Thanks to zerop who privately sent me some screen shots of how he did it.   The hangup was trying to adjust a component with a scene, instead of the component by itself.

[zerop]

In the interest of helping out anyone else in the future here's the message I sent.

 

You have to create the scene for it to work but it isn't used in the program.  All you do is put that one device/light into a scene all by itself as a controller.  You use the "adjust scene" in the program but you don't actually adjust the scene you "adjust" the device in the scene.

This is the scene

 

This is the correct programming.

 

This is the WRONG programming.

[oberkc]

1 minute ago, zerop said:

You have to create the scene for it to work but it isn't used in the program. 

I did not even recall having to create the scene.  I thought you could create such an action for any individual device, whether in a scene or not.  I guess I remembered incorrectly.

[larryllix]

2 hours ago, oberkc said:

I did not even recall having to create the scene.  I thought you could create such an action for any individual device, whether in a scene or not.  I guess I remembered incorrectly.

Not in V5 for sure. Possibly in v4, the old firmware.

[bretta]

2 hours ago, larryllix said:

Not in V5 for sure. Possibly in v4, the old firmware.

And how does one get V5?  I searched the forum and found a beta V5.15 or something, but it said 5.09 was required to upgrade.   Found nothing about getting 5.09....

 

[dbuss]

5 minutes ago, bretta said:

And how does one get V5?  I searched the forum and found a beta V5.15 or something, but it said 5.09 was required to upgrade.   Found nothing about getting 5.09....

 

Here you go:

 

[oberkc]

The only place I know to get the various versions is to go to the “current releases, betas, and bug reports” topic.  Scroll back far enough and you will find the announcements for the various versions.  
 

i doubt that it is required to get 5.09 as an intermediate step to the latest version.  Instead, you can expect a bit of work in making the transition from 4.x to 5.x.  Hopefully, others can correct me if I am mistaken.

[bretta]

4 minutes ago, dbuss said:

Here you go:

 

Thanks.   Downloading now.  Wish me luck, lol

[dbuss]

24 minutes ago, bretta said:

Thanks.   Downloading now.  Wish me luck, lol

Just make sure you have a good backup in case for some reason you need to go back to your old firmware version.

[zerop]

  On 10/19/2019 at 11:08 AM, oberkc said:

I did not even recall having to create the scene.  I thought you could create such an action for any individual device, whether in a scene or not.  I guess I remembered incorrectly.

  23 hours ago, larryllix said:

Not in V5 for sure. Possibly in v4, the old firmware. 

 

Yes, you have to create the scene in v4.

[larryllix]

9 minutes ago, zerop said:

  On 10/19/2019 at 11:08 AM, oberkc said:

I did not even recall having to create the scene.  I thought you could create such an action for any individual device, whether in a scene or not.  I guess I remembered incorrectly.

  23 hours ago, larryllix said:

Not in V5 for sure. Possibly in v4, the old firmware. 

 

Yes, you have to create the scene in v4.

Either we need a comparison chart for the two versions or V4 needs to be outlawed and stop all this confusion.  

[lilyoyo1]

1 hour ago, larryllix said:

Either we need a comparison chart for the two versions or V4 needs to be outlawed and stop all this confusion.  

I prefer this route. It needs to disappear like V3 did. All forums for it locked and hidden. If someone needs help tell them to upgrade first. Lol

[bretta]

Heh.  Of course I'm lost again.

Got this working perfectly in V4 then upgraded to V5 and lost it all.

For the life of me, I can't work it out in V5.  

Who's turn is it to come to my rescue? 

[oberkc]

I could be wrong (did not test it out), but this looks pretty straight-forward compared to the v4 approach.

Create a program action, your devices, set [device in question] , on level > xx%.  Doing so creates an action that looks like:

Set 'device' on level xx%

[apostolakisl]

@bretta

I'm not sure what exactly your use is.  But in my home, I have switches set up as "night lights".  This is all controlled by programs and allows one to push the off paddle when the light is already off to turn the light on very dim.  I set it to only work at night, but that is optional.

Lauren bath nt lt - [ID 0070][Parent 0075]

If
        'Lauren Bedroom / Lauren Bath-Mirror L' Status is Off
    And 'Lauren Bedroom / Lauren Bath-Mirror L' is switched Off
    And Program 'Dark Outside' is True
 
Then
        Set 'Lauren Bedroom / Lauren Bath-Mirror L' On 25%
 
Else
   - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action')
 

 

[bretta]

10 hours ago, oberkc said:

I could be wrong (did not test it out), but this looks pretty straight-forward compared to the v4 approach.

Create a program action, your devices, set [device in question] , on level > xx%.  Doing so creates an action that looks like:

Set 'device' on level xx%

This won't work.  It turns on the light as soon as you enter the time period specified, instead of adjusting the settings when the ligtht is turned on..  Plus, with V5, they eliminated the ability to adjust ramp rate.   The only place I can find ramp rate is under "adjust scene" and there is no combination of settings within that, that I can get to work.

[bretta]

9 hours ago, apostolakisl said:

@bretta

I'm not sure what exactly your use is.  But in my home, I have switches set up as "night lights".  This is all controlled by programs and allows one to push the off paddle when the light is already off to turn the light on very dim.  I set it to only work at night, but that is optional.

Lauren bath nt lt - [ID 0070][Parent 0075]

If
        'Lauren Bedroom / Lauren Bath-Mirror L' Status is Off
    And 'Lauren Bedroom / Lauren Bath-Mirror L' is switched Off
    And Program 'Dark Outside' is True
 
Then
        Set 'Lauren Bedroom / Lauren Bath-Mirror L' On 25%
 
Else
   - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action')
 

 

I had not thought of using the off paddle to trigger a program, I've been trying to use the on paddle.   I'll give it a shot tonight.   Thanks

[oberkc]

2 hours ago, bretta said:

This won't work.  It turns on the light as soon as you enter the time period specified, instead of adjusting the settings when the ligtht is turned on..  Plus, with V5, they eliminated the ability to adjust ramp rate.   The only place I can find ramp rate is under "adjust scene" and there is no combination of settings within that, that I can get to work.

That is disappointing. I have been contemplating doing a similar thing at my house and assumed I would use a program such as you have tried. Perhaps I will give a shot and try to figure it out.  Certainly, a programmatic approach should work as well. The problem with a programmatic approach in combination with an existing scene is that the light will first respond at the scene level then ramp down to the lower program level. That might be unacceptable to some.