gregkinney Posted November 27, 2019 Posted November 27, 2019 Every year, I repurpose about 10 lamplincs and use them for Christmas tree and garland lights. I will create scenes and programs that differ from the scenes and programs that are used the other 11 months out of the year. It becomes a nightmare trying to remove, and then recreate these scenes and programs. Are there any options for an easier way? It's like I need a "Christmas Configuration" for my ISY and then a "Main Configuration".
lilyoyo1 Posted November 27, 2019 Posted November 27, 2019 If it's about scheduling, I'd create a Christmas folder with them in it to keep them organized. You can then enable/disable at your convience. You could re-create your scenes with the devices all as responders and simply let isy programming control those particular scenes. That way, they don't impact the other scenes they are part of. Me personally, I'd simply get devices specifically for what I need (which is what I did) which is why all of my outlets are smart outlets.
gregkinney Posted November 27, 2019 Author Posted November 27, 2019 @lilyoyo1 thanks for the reply. I just saw that smarthome.com is having their black friday sale and everything is about 50% off, so I think I'll go ahead and do what you did and buy an extra set of devices for the Christmas lights. Follow-up question: if I do buy an extra set of devices, while my devices are unplugged that aren't being used for the Christmas season, can I just "disable" them in the ISY admin?
simplextech Posted November 27, 2019 Posted November 27, 2019 19 minutes ago, lilyoyo1 said: which is why all of my outlets are smart outlets. I planned ahead for this circumstance as well. All of the outlets I use for any holiday lighting are smart outlets and I have the outdoor plugins for outside. Still contemplating replacing the rest of my outlets with OutLetLincs... figure why not right?
lilyoyo1 Posted November 27, 2019 Posted November 27, 2019 17 minutes ago, gregkinney said: @lilyoyo1 thanks for the reply. I just saw that smarthome.com is having their black friday sale and everything is about 50% off, so I think I'll go ahead and do what you did and buy an extra set of devices for the Christmas lights. Follow-up question: if I do buy an extra set of devices, while my devices are unplugged that aren't being used for the Christmas season, can I just "disable" them in the ISY admin? Yes, you can disable them. At least you can if you're running 5.0.16. I don't use plug in devices so I don't have to disable mine. I just disable the programs
gregkinney Posted November 27, 2019 Author Posted November 27, 2019 Ok great. Smarthome order has been placed and I went with the outlets. Excited for the upgrade. Thanks!
lilyoyo1 Posted November 27, 2019 Posted November 27, 2019 19 minutes ago, simplextech said: I planned ahead for this circumstance as well. All of the outlets I use for any holiday lighting are smart outlets and I have the outdoor plugins for outside. Still contemplating replacing the rest of my outlets with OutLetLincs... figure why not right? I definitely would. I don't have all of them added to the Isy. I add as I need them. No point in using unnecessary links if they aren't active I use the outletlincs outside instead of the plugins.
lilyoyo1 Posted November 27, 2019 Posted November 27, 2019 2 minutes ago, gregkinney said: Ok great. Smarthome order has been placed and I went with the outlets. Excited for the upgrade. Thanks! You're welcome. There's a holiday nodeserver available. I haven't used it yet but I plan on checking it out. If it works the way I hope you won't have to disable/enable things
palayman Posted November 27, 2019 Posted November 27, 2019 26 minutes ago, simplextech said: figure why not right? I thought the same thing and installed several of the outlets for the same reason. Trouble is that several of the LED string my wife bought don't seem to turn off properly and flash on and off instead. Ended up plugging some old mechanical timers into the unswitched side of receptacle..
lilyoyo1 Posted November 27, 2019 Posted November 27, 2019 3 minutes ago, palayman said: I thought the same thing and installed several of the outlets for the same reason. Trouble is that several of the LED string my wife bought don't seem to turn off properly and flash on and off instead. Ended up plugging some old mechanical timers into the unswitched side of receptacle.. Mine prefers stuff to be on the system so mechanical timers working work. While we've been lucky so far, prior to spending allot on stuff, she but 1 to test first. Even then she knows test before decision
palayman Posted November 27, 2019 Posted November 27, 2019 2 minutes ago, lilyoyo1 said: Mine prefers stuff to be on the system so mechanical timers working work. While we've been lucky so far, prior to spending allot on stuff, she but 1 to test first. Even then she knows test before decision I wish somewhere there was a list of bulbs etc that work and/or don't work with insteon dimmers/swtiches.
simplextech Posted November 27, 2019 Posted November 27, 2019 15 minutes ago, palayman said: I thought the same thing and installed several of the outlets for the same reason. Trouble is that several of the LED string my wife bought don't seem to turn off properly and flash on and off instead. Ended up plugging some old mechanical timers into the unswitched side of receptacle.. You must have the "dimmer" outlet model? I don't use those. I only use the dual outlet on/off as I don't want to deal with these types of issues from an outlet.
lilyoyo1 Posted November 27, 2019 Posted November 27, 2019 It would be nice. The problem is 1 change that amfg. makes to"improve"their bulb can change things. It doesn't even have to be a major change. For example, I used to use feit bulbs for my flood lights. Same bulb, same test switches now flicker around 75%. Yet everything about the packaging is the same. The same with cree. They work better now with insteon than the previous generation. I used to hear slight bugging but the last few I've tested none at all
lilyoyo1 Posted November 27, 2019 Posted November 27, 2019 1 minute ago, simplextech said: You must have the "dimmer" outlet model? I don't use those. I only use the dual outlet on/off as I don't want to deal with these types of issues from an outlet. I use the dinner for the tree and for lights in the family room. We use specific stuff on those. Everything else is standard relays
palayman Posted November 27, 2019 Posted November 27, 2019 2 minutes ago, simplextech said: You must have the "dimmer" outlet model? I don't use those. I only use the dual outlet on/off as I don't want to deal with these types of issues from an outlet. 2473 outletlinc non-dimming
palayman Posted November 27, 2019 Posted November 27, 2019 (edited) 2 minutes ago, palayman said: 2473 outletlinc non-dimming Old thread about the same issue with this device: Edited November 27, 2019 by palayman
gregkinney Posted November 27, 2019 Author Posted November 27, 2019 @palayman if you look up the phrase "christmas led" in the forum, others have had similar problems and reported being able to get the lights to turn off by plugging in another device that draws a small amount of power, like a cell phone charger.
palayman Posted November 27, 2019 Posted November 27, 2019 5 minutes ago, lilyoyo1 said: It would be nice. The problem is 1 change that amfg. makes to"improve"their bulb can change things. It doesn't even have to be a major change. For example, I used to use feit bulbs for my flood lights. Same bulb, same test switches now flicker around 75%. Yet everything about the packaging is the same. The same with cree. They work better now with insteon than the previous generation. I used to hear slight bugging but the last few I've tested none at all Do they have the same FCCID or part number on the bulb? I have some really old CREE bulbs that work well down to 1% with no noise.
simplextech Posted November 27, 2019 Posted November 27, 2019 Interesting. I'll find out soon enough if I run into this issue or not.
lilyoyo1 Posted November 27, 2019 Posted November 27, 2019 9 minutes ago, palayman said: Do they have the same FCCID or part number on the bulb? I have some really old CREE bulbs that work well down to 1% with no noise. I only use part numbers and yes generally they are the same as it makes ordering easier. I still test however just to avoid issues
lilyoyo1 Posted November 27, 2019 Posted November 27, 2019 21 minutes ago, palayman said: Old thread about the same issue with this device: I can see that having problems though I never had any when I used them. It's an older design whose technology and components predate LED bulbs. The 2663 works exceptionally well
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