'default' under Scene: Action or Link Type: What does it mean?

[waffles]

Happy New Year!

I came across this 'default' in most of my scenes and have been trying to figure out what this means or does. I had never noticed it before. I seemed to have always 'concrete' Actions, like '100% in 2.0 seconds'....and to be honest I never paid attention to the Link Type before.

I would appreciate if anyone enlighten me. My search came up empty.

(ISY994i with v5.0.16b)

[Chris Jahn]

Here is the meaning of the various link types for responders in a scene.  If the node is not a responder in a scene (i.e. is only a controller), then all link types are the same as Ignore.

Native

type="native"

A direct link between the controller and the responder (e.g. Insteon links, Z-Wave associations, etc.). (Controller→Responder)

Command

type="cmd"

Same as Default except when the controller sends an On command the ISY sends the command specified in the link to the responder. (Controller→ISY→Responder)

Default

type="default"

Whatever command is sent by the controller is forwarded to the responder by the ISY. (Controller→ISY→Responder)

Ignore

type="ignore"

No link is made between the controller and responder.

 

[waffles]

Thanks, @Chris Jahn . I found some additional references here and here.  Unfortunately, even after reading it a several times, I have to admit, I don't really understand it.

Would it be possible to dumb it down for me, please? In particular, I would like to know if there is a preference/best practice which 'flavor' to use for Scenes controlled by ISY (e.g. through a program or 3rd party (Alexa or external control system via REST), as well as Insteon devices, e.g. keypads.

Thanks!

[lilyoyo1]

11 minutes ago, waffles said:

Thanks, @Chris Jahn . I found some additional references here and here.  Unfortunately, even after reading it a several times, I have to admit, I don't really understand it.

Would it be possible to dumb it down for me, please? In particular, I would like to know if there is a preference/best practice which 'flavor' to use for Scenes controlled by ISY (e.g. through a program or 3rd party (Alexa or external control system via REST), as well as Insteon devices, e.g. keypads.

Thanks!

There is no "best". It all depends on how you're setting your device up. 

For example, if you have 2 insteon switches and you just want them to respond how they would straight from the box with on/off commands, then native works. If you have 2 insteon switches and want one to turn the other on at 50%, then used you would use command. 

The above example apply to compatible zwave devices as well. 

[waffles]

Thanks @lilyoyo1! The choices in my drop down menu don't show 'Native', but 'Insteon' instead. I think I can live with that :-).   More importantly, how does 'Default' fit into it? I have currently most of my scenes with mix of 'Insteon' and 'Default', like shown in my initial screenshot. Most of these scenes are triggered by the ISY (via Alexa or my Crestron) and occasionally via KP. Would/Should I change them and if so to what? Also, why is there a mix of them in the first place? Again, probably pretty dumb questions, so please bear with me. Thanks!

 

[lilyoyo1]

1 minute ago, waffles said:

Thanks @lilyoyo1! The choices in my drop down menu don't show 'Native', but 'Insteon' instead. I think I can live with that :-).   More importantly, how does 'Default' fit into it? I have currently most of my scenes with mix of 'Insteon' and 'Default', like shown in my initial screenshot. Most of these scenes are triggered by the ISY (via Alexa or my Crestron) and occasionally via KP. Would/Should I change them and if so to what? Also, why is there a mix of them in the first place? Again, probably pretty dumb questions, so please bear with me. Thanks!

 

Default is what a device does by default in regards to turning on/off

for example, you have  kpl button vC  that turns on a group of lights. In the list you would see button C set to default  while you configured it as the controller. 

[waffles]

Still trying to wrap my head around it.... @lilyoyo1, I think I understand your kpl example. Coming back to my initial screenshot: all the HT-LED-xx shown there are Lamplinc devices. What is their 'default', as these are dimmers and in this case, Responders?

[lilyoyo1]

On/off when controller is turned on or off. The best way to learn is create a scene and see what reach option does

[waffles]

From the limited testing I have done thus far, it seems that newly created scenes assign 'defined' Actions, e.g. '100% in 0.1 seconds' with Link Type 'Insteon' to Responders and only Controllers get the 'default', 'default'. This makes sense to me. However, I have numerous old/existing scenes where the Responders still show 'default', 'default'. Often these devices are dimmers , like shown in my initial screenshot, and are tasked to dim to 30% w/in 4 seconds. Most of them appear to be working still fine (basically still doing what they were supposed to do, even though the 'default' would suggest otherwise.

It seems that these different 'Scene support' features were only introduced with V5, going by the title in the wiki. Since most of my scenes were created during V4, I wondering if I am seeing some migration issues here. Maybe I will need to go through each scene to make sure Responders no longer show 'default'/'default'.  Thoughts? 

[lilyoyo1]

Most likely that's from your previous setup. I'm assuming since it imported that way (the isy "rebuilds" the scene for the new structure), the isy see's that as their default settings vs a new scene which would have different information. 

If you want uniformity then it wouldn't hurt to update thisnsonit all looks the same. Otherwise I wouldn't worry about it since it works