Fanlinc – KPL keypad – Mobinc Pro

[BobMic]

After reading many posts on keeping status in sync on this setup and having mixed results for a very long time, I have created a step by step of my best results.  I welcome all comments and corrections.  I am by no means an expert but have tried to explain why I have done things the way I did and what the outstanding issues are.  To put all of that in a format that I hope anyone can understand and learn the Intricacies of Mobilinc - KPL LEDs and scenes, ended up quite long.  I'm sure the experts will be bored to death but I expect some will get what they need.  I also hope the experts will improve on the things that I still struggle with.

 

Fanlinc – KPL keypad – Mobilinc Pro

 

Link Fanlinc controller and Keypad.  Check box “remove existing links” box.

Create separate folders for the devices and the scenes.  Name them to whatever makes sense to you.

Move Fanlinc and the five keypad devices into the devices folder.

Rename Keypad buttons and Fanlinc devices.  – note order in Mobilinc is alpha/numeric so put 1,2,3&4 ahead of 1-High, 2-Med, 3-Low & 4-Off. If you don’t do this the order will be High, Low, Med & Off, alphabetically in Mobilinc.  This is the only way I have found to order things in Mobilinc Pro.

Set button toggle mode to "all non-toggle on" then set light button to toggle.

Create a scene for each button, Light, 1-High, 2-Med, 3-Low & 4-Off.  Again, to keep the order correct in Mobilinc, put 1,2,3,4 in front of the scene names.

Move the scenes into the scenes folder and build the scenes with the devices and the buttons as follows.

Add the Light device to the Light scene and the Fan device to each of the fan scenes as responders.

Add the Light button to the Light scene as a controller.

Add the Fan 1-High button to the 1-High scene as a controller, add the 2-Med, 3-Low & 4-Off buttons as responders.

Add the Fan 2-Med button to the 2-Med scene as a controller, add the 1-High, 3-Low & 4-Off buttons as responders.

Add the Fan 3-Low button to the 3-Low scene as a controller, add the 1-High, 2-Med, & 4-Off buttons as responders.

Add the Fan 4-Off button to the 4-Off scene as a controller, add the 1-High, 2-Med & 3-Low buttons as responders.

The next steps set up the “scenes” items to the desired states when selected in Mobilinc.

Click on the 1-High scene, select 2-Med at the top of the page, change it to “off” and click the “update” button on the bottom of the page.  Set 3-Low & 4-Off to off the same way.  Leave the Fan controller set to high and the 1-High (controller button) set to “default”.  The on and off state of the buttons reflects the LED state when the “Scene” is selected in Mobilinc Pro.  It does not set the status if the scene is selected with the KPL, we will do that later.

Click on the 2-Med scene, select the Fan controller, set to med and click the “update” button at the bottom.  Click on the 1-High, 3-Low and 4-Off, switch each to off and update, again leave the controller button set to default.  Do the same for the 3-Low and 4-Off scenes respectively.

The next steps set up the “scenes” items to the desired states when selected with the buttons on the KPL directly.  The settings will be the same as for the scenes settings in the last group but instead of selecting the scene, click on the controller button in each scene and set the states.

Click on the 1-High button (the controller) in the scene tree, select 2-Med at the top of the page, change it to “off” and click the “update” button on the bottom of the page.  Set 3-Low & 4-Off to off the same way.  Leave the Fan controller set to high and the 1-High (controller button) set to “default”.

Click on the 2-Med controller button in the scene, select the Fan controller, set to med and click the “update” button at the bottom.  Click on the 1-High, 3-Low and 4-Off, switch each to off and update,  again leave the controller button set to default.  Do the same for the 3-Low and 4-Off scenes respectively.

Test buttons on the KPL while watching the fan controller, if they don’t stay in sync check the scene settings for each controller button in each scene.  The controller button settings control the scene for button presses.  The scene settings only affect the scene triggered by Mobilinc Pro.  This took a while to sink in for me so I have repeated it and if it doesn't make sense read it again.  This is very important to understand  troubleshoots the LEDs when they are not staying in sync.

This concludes the set up in the ISY.

 

 

Mobilinc Pro Setup

 

Make sure “Show Hidden Items” check box is not checked in Mobilinc Configuration.

Hide all entries in the “My Devices” folder created above to prevent changes from being made to the fan/light controller or the KPL buttons directly which will get things out of sync with the KPL LEDs.

Go into the “My Scenes” and the scene folder made above and select one of the fan button scenes.  Choose “Advanced Options” at the bottom.

At the top under “Custom Command Names” select and delete the text for each “BRIGHTEN, OFF, DIM, FAST ON and FAST OFF”.  This will hide those buttons.  Change the text for “ON” to “Select”.  This select button is the only control you need to activate the scene.  Using any of the other buttons just adds complications and there is no benefit.

Change the icon to the fan icon.

Select the Light button and advanced, change the icon to the chandelier icon. (my preference, you can use whatever you like)

Don’t use the sliders in the Light scene or it will get out of sync.  All the buttons will work correctly.

Unfortunately, in the Android version of Mobilinc Pro the button icons don’t show the correct status and tapping on the icon does not work correctly.  I believe this is caused by how Mobilinc presents a percentage based on all devices in the scene rather than the status of the controller in the scene.  The correct status is displayed when you go into a button scene to select it.  The icon tap seems to be an on/off toggle.  Both the display and icon tap seems to work correctly in the iOS version.

I hope this helps someone understand the interaction of these devices.  Writing it up has made it very clear to me and I'm now in sync!

 

Bob

Edited September 6, 2020 by BobMic
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[lilyoyo1]

Nice write up. I do mine differently in that I leave my buttons in toggle mode and do not use a separate off button for the fans since turning the button (speed used) off will achieve the same thing. Opens up an extra button for something else. I also have an all off button which will turn off anything that's on in the room so it's redundant. 

I also don't make my devices controllers in the scenes itself. Everything is configured as responders. I use programs to trigger the fan speeds based off the button presses. This allows me to have a single press trigger the fan and a double press to trigger the fan and lights at the same time. 

The scenes themselves are still configured the same otherwise which allows app or voice control to sync and operate properly

Edited September 6, 2020 by lilyoyo1

[BobMic]

Thanks, it took quite a while but now I have a standard procedure.  Buttons worked fine but I have never been satisfied with the way Mobilinc was controlling it.  That's why I decided to push every button and check/uncheck every box to find the closest path to my Mobilinc goal.

That's a great addition to my bag of tricks, thanks!  I have never tried toggling a fan speed on and off so didn't realize the off is redundant.  I like the idea that the fan and light can be controlled by the four buttons and the local up/down dimmer can be used for something else.  Another option is an eight button KPL controlling two fan/light systems.  Now you need to spend half a day sorting out how to write that up so anyone can understand...?

[TrojanHorse]

Does this get around the problem where a “Fast On” of the OFF scene will turn the fan on at full speed? What happens when you send a “Fast On” from the admin console and also when you double tap your off button on the keypad?


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[BobMic]

Not sure because I don't use the admin console to control them.  Most of my problems were related to Mobilinc Pro and that was my motivation to do the testing and write up.  I'll test the double tap and report back.  Notice I removed all buttons in Mobilinc except for the "on" button which I renamed to "select" because I was getting unreliable results with other buttons so my "select" gave the same results every time.

[TrojanHorse]

Not sure because I don't use the admin console to control them.  Most of my problems were related to Mobilinc Pro and that was my motivation to do the testing and write up.  I'll test the double tap and report back.  Notice I removed all buttons in Mobilinc except for the "on" button which I renamed to "select" because I was getting unreliable results with other buttons so my "select" gave the same results every time.

I did notice that smart selection in MobiLinc.

I had the problem I described and now use programs to get around it. But perhaps new Fanlincs don’t suffer this problem?

If you have the same problem don’t fret. Your explanation is still helpful and it’s not much work to use programs.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[BobMic]

I just tested my config and double tap of any button does put the fan controller in high and the buttons are out of sync.  I think you are right in that the only way to get around that is to use a program that sets the fan and LEDs status for an "on" or "fast-on" to the same appropriate level.  That may be what led me to hide all but the "on" button in Mobilinc.  Thanks for pointing that out!

[lilyoyo1]

On 9/6/2020 at 1:26 PM, BobMic said:

Thanks, it took quite a while but now I have a standard procedure.  Buttons worked fine but I have never been satisfied with the way Mobilinc was controlling it.  That's why I decided to push every button and check/uncheck every box to find the closest path to my Mobilinc goal.

That's a great addition to my bag of tricks, thanks!  I have never tried toggling a fan speed on and off so didn't realize the off is redundant.  I like the idea that the fan and light can be controlled by the four buttons and the local up/down dimmer can be used for something else.  Another option is an eight button KPL controlling two fan/light systems.  Now you need to spend half a day sorting out how to write that up so anyone can understand...?

The double tap is built into the protocol so that will happen regardless. With it needing to be purposeful, I wouldn't worry about it as much. The pro is the system will work without the isy should something happen. You also don't have to worry about slow downs should the isy be processing other events at that moment. I'd operate mine that way if it weren't for me being able to use the double tap feature to turn on the light and fan together with it

[BobMic]

Update on this.

I was again fighting the status of the button LED's not matching what the management console was showing when the scenes were triggered in Mobilinc.  It turns out that the older 2486 KPL's don't work correctly.  When I select a fan speed in Mobilinc all four button LED's light.  The correct speed is set and the management console shows the correct LED lit and the other three off but that is not the case on the KPL, all four are lit.  It works perfectly on the 2334 KPL's.