Scheduled ramp rates and on levels

[delston]

I've found and followed this post exactly but it hasn't solved my issue:

 

http://forum.universal-devices.com/viewtopic.php?p=10667#10667

 

I'm an ISY99i noobie and experimenting with my programming abilities. I'm attempting to do EXACTLY what the link says, adjust the ramp rates and on levels of a set of lights depending on the time of day. What I've got so far is this:

 

If

From 11:00:00PM

To 6:30:00AM (next day)

 

Then

In Scene '2F Hallway, Crosslink' Set '2F Hallway, 1-2 Stair, Master' 50% (On Level)

In Scene '2F Hallway, Crosslink' Set '2F Hallway, 1-2 Stair, Master' 4.5 Sec (Ramp Rate)

 

Else

In Scene '2F Hallway, Crosslink' Set '2F Hallway, 1-2 Stair, Master' 100% (On Level)

In Scene '2F Hallway, Crosslink' Set '2F Hallway, 1-2 Stair, Master' 0.5 Sec (Ramp Rate)

 

I find that the scheduling is working, i.e. the system recognizes the time of day and chooses "Then" or "Else", however it never actually CHANGES the ramp rate or the on level. When I go hit the relevant switch, it still is operates at its default on level and ramp rate. Am I missing something? Do I need to "compile" the program somehow to let the ISY know to start using the program? I am under the impression that all I need to do is click "Save Changes" and it's ready to go...

 

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

[oberkc]

I am simply making a guess here, but there are different ramp rates, depending on whether you speak of local control of a given device, versus control of a scene from one of the scene controllers. Are you trying to control a scene or a local device? Is the switch you control set up as a scene controller?

 

I like your ideas, and it has inspired me to try something like this myself.

[delston]

@ oberkc

 

That's where I must be confused. I have tried it many different ways to no avail.

 

I have a single set of lights, controlled by two SwitchLinc dimmers, hence 'master' and 'slave'. I have them in a scene called '2F Hallway, Crosslink' (perhaps there's a better way). Both switches are controllers in the scene so they act as a 3-way circuit.

 

When I run my program controlling this scene (see previous post) I click back to the 'Main' tab of the Administrative Console to watch the SCENE's sliders get rearranged, which they do. However when I go touch either the master or slave switch itself, they still act on their local settings. I click on the two components of the scene and their settings have not changed.

 

I was under the impression that I could change the scene and the switches would behave as such...but they continue to use their local settings.

 

Any tips? Should I be controlling the local settings of the two switches independently instead of controlling them through a scene?

[Quixote]

I could be wrong, but I think that I read somewhere here that you need to reset the switches in order for them to adopt the new ramp rates. You can try it out, or we can wait for confirmation..,

[oberkc]

Being interested in trying something like this myself, I started playing around with the "adjust scene" action. In the "in scene" field, I notice that one can choose scenes, or devices. In your case, I wonder what would happen if you change your then (and similarly for the else) construct to look something like:

 

Then

In Scene 'master' Set 'Master' 50% (On Level)

In Scene 'master' Set 'Master' 4.5 Sec (Ramp Rate)

In Scene 'slave' Set 'slave' 50% (On Level)

In Scene 'slave' Set 'slave' 4,5 Sec (Ramp Rate)

 

It sounds like you have tried a lot of different options already, perhaps including this one. I look forward to hearing from the experts on this.

 

I am going to try some things myself and will let you know if I can make this work.

[oberkc]

I have experimented around on my setup. I have several scenes similar to yours in that there exists two controllers with one of the controllers powering the fixture and the other a slave. I added a test program to adjust on values and ramp rates.

 

As an experiment, I manually ran the "then" path and confirmed scene porperties changed as expected, then manually ran the "else" path and confirmed expected changes. According to the ISY display, all worked as I expected.

 

Then, I went to see if the new ramp rates and on levels were active in the switches themselves. THEY WERE NOT. Despite the ISY showing both scene and local on levels being 100%, they continued to turn on only to the original on level of 40%. OK, I thought, maybe I am missing something.

 

Rather than relying on a program, I attempted to manually adjust the on rates from the admin panel of the ISY. Same results. I could not get the switch to go to full brightness.

 

Out of stubborness, I tried this on another scene with two controllers, one primary and one slave. I found success here. I cannot explain why this worked once and not in both cases.

 

I recall a lot of discussion about how different versions of insteon devices have different capability. Older devices may not support certain feature, but I don't remember the details. According to my admin panel, the version of the switch that I cannot program from the ISY is v.27. It is a relatively old switch. The switch I COULD get to work is v.35.

 

I am starting to wonder if the ability to program the switches is limited to certain versions of the switch. Which versions are yours?

[oberkc]

OK, I think I have mine working. Once I have identified devices (v.35) and scenes that respond to local changes from the ISY, I was able to establish a program that does what I think we are both trying to do. That is, to write a program to establish different on levels when run. I wanted the on levels to be the same, regardless of which of the two switches were used to initiate the scene.

 

As a little background, I have a scene much like yours with one light and two switches. One switch controls the load, the other is the slave, as you call it. The scene is called "Kitchen overhead", the two switches are "SW KTC Overhead Main" and "KTC Overhead Slave". The then action is:

 

 

Then

In Scene 'SW KTC Overhead Main' Set 'SW KTC Overhead Slave' 40% (On Level)

In Scene 'SW KTC Overhead Slave' Set 'SW KTC Overhead Main' 40% (On Level)

In Scene 'SW KTC Overhead Main' Set 'SW KTC Overhead Main' 40% (On Level)

In Scene 'SW KTC Overhead Slave' Set 'SW KTC Overhead Slave' 40% (On Level)

 

I made no attempt to adjust ramp rates, but that would be a simple variation of this theme.

 

Assuming that you have devices that respond properly, and assuming you are trying to reach the same goals, your program should look like:

 

In Scene 'master' Set 'Master' 50% (On Level)

In Scene 'master' Set 'Master' 4.5 Sec (Ramp Rate)

In Scene 'master' Set 'slave' 50% (On Level)

In Scene 'master' Set 'slave' 4,5 Sec (Ramp Rate)

In Scene 'slave' Set 'Master' 50% (On Level)

In Scene 'slave' Set 'Master' 4.5 Sec (Ramp Rate)

In Scene 'slave' Set 'slave' 50% (On Level)

In Scene 'slave' Set 'slave' 4,5 Sec (Ramp Rate)

 

This is, obviously, a lot more complicated that in your referenced thread. The differences are that they had only one controller, and they attempted to change only one attribute (brightness level).

 

In your original program, you chose the master scene, rather than the individual controllers in the scene field. This is where I think you diverged from your quoted example.

 

I could be wrong, but I think that I read somewhere here that you need to reset the switches in order for them to adopt the new ramp rates. You can try it out, or we can wait for confirmation..,

 

I am not sure what you mean by "reset" the switch. Do you mean restore? I would not expect this. My perception is that any adjustment one makes to the scene attributes is instantaly transmitted to the insteon device without requiring a restore. In fact, I tried a restore on my troubled devices and this failed to change any switch response.

[Quixote]

No, I meant physically pulling the reset tab on the device. I think that's only for ramp rates though. I may be confused, but I have a strong feeling that I read that either here or on another forum relating to Insteon devices.

 

I hope I'm wrong because changing ramp rates on-the-fly would be awesome.

[oberkc]

No, I meant physically pulling the reset tab on the device. I think that's only for ramp rates though. I may be confused, but I have a strong feeling that I read that either here or on another forum relating to Insteon devices.

 

I hope I'm wrong because changing ramp rates on-the-fly would be awesome.

 

I believe that is incorrect. I am able to change ramp rates without pulling the tab. That is part of typical setup I thought....link devices to ISY....add to scenes....change scene properties, including ramp rates. All this is done without pulling the tab in my experience.

 

In my experimental program, I was able to change on levels without pulling the tab. I admit, though I did not try to adjust ramp rates. I will try and report back.

[delston]

My dimmers show up as v.37. I was thinking that updating my ISY firmware version might help, current is v2.7.0. I've been trying to understand how to do that. The "instructions" threads never really explain HOW to upgrade, they just discuss the bugs and fixes.

 

Sorry side subject. Still tinkering here...

[oberkc]

Consider it confirmed. I am able to manually adjust ramp rates without pulling the tab, and can do so in a program.

[oberkc]

was thinking that updating my ISY firmware version might help

 

I do not expect this to help. Capability to adjust on levels and ramp rates came in 2.6.7

 

Regardless, I have never had trouble updating. I recall it simply a matter of going to the posted link and saving the zip file at some location that you can remember. Once done, go to the admin console, under the help tab, choose "manually upgrade my lighting". After the appropriate response to the prompts, locate the zip file and the ISY will take care of the rest.

[Quixote]

Consider it confirmed. I am able to manually adjust ramp rates without pulling the tab, and can do so in a program.

 

Good to know. Glad you solved your problem and sorry for the erroneous advice.

[delston]

Okay, I've gotten the scene fixed after leaving it alone for a few hours. I tried your method and tested it and it worked. This is what I came up with:

 

If

From 11:00:00PM

To 6:30:00AM (next day)

 

Then

In Scene '2F Hallway, 1-2 Stair, Master' Set '2F Hallway, 1-2 Stair, Master' 35% (On Level)

In Scene '2F Hallway, 1-2 Stair, Master' Set '2F Hallway, 2-3 Stair, Slave' 35% (On Level)

In Scene '2F Hallway, 2-3 Stair, Slave' Set '2F Hallway, 1-2 Stair, Master' 35% (On Level)

In Scene '2F Hallway, 2-3 Stair, Slave' Set '2F Hallway, 2-3 Stair, Slave' 35% (On Level)

In Scene '2F Hallway, 1-2 Stair, Master' Set '2F Hallway, 1-2 Stair, Master' 6.5 Sec (Ramp Rate)

In Scene '2F Hallway, 1-2 Stair, Master' Set '2F Hallway, 2-3 Stair, Slave' 6.5 Sec (Ramp Rate)

In Scene '2F Hallway, 2-3 Stair, Slave' Set '2F Hallway, 1-2 Stair, Master' 6.5 Sec (Ramp Rate)

In Scene '2F Hallway, 2-3 Stair, Slave' Set '2F Hallway, 2-3 Stair, Slave' 6.5 Sec (Ramp Rate)

 

Else

In Scene '2F Hallway, 1-2 Stair, Master' Set '2F Hallway, 1-2 Stair, Master' 100% (On Level)

In Scene '2F Hallway, 1-2 Stair, Master' Set '2F Hallway, 2-3 Stair, Slave' 100% (On Level)

In Scene '2F Hallway, 2-3 Stair, Slave' Set '2F Hallway, 1-2 Stair, Master' 100% (On Level)

In Scene '2F Hallway, 2-3 Stair, Slave' Set '2F Hallway, 2-3 Stair, Slave' 100% (On Level)

In Scene '2F Hallway, 1-2 Stair, Master' Set '2F Hallway, 1-2 Stair, Master' 0.1 Sec (Ramp Rate)

In Scene '2F Hallway, 1-2 Stair, Master' Set '2F Hallway, 2-3 Stair, Slave' 0.1 Sec (Ramp Rate)

In Scene '2F Hallway, 2-3 Stair, Slave' Set '2F Hallway, 1-2 Stair, Master' 0.1 Sec (Ramp Rate)

In Scene '2F Hallway, 2-3 Stair, Slave' Set '2F Hallway, 2-3 Stair, Slave' 0.1 Sec (Ramp Rate)

 

It works fine, and I suppose that's all that matters, but I still have questions. What confuses me is if I have to setup this sort of excessive and repetitive conditional statements for a scene with only two switches...what happens if I want to do this in a much more complex scene? Or more importantly, what is the point in being able to adjust these settings within the scenes I put together such as my '2F Hallway, Crosslink' scene as mentioned earlier in this post.

 

Thanks for your help, and if anyone has some answers I'm ready to be educated!

[Sub-Routine]

The good news is that after you have programmed the ISY you won't have to think about it again.

 

Older SwitchLincs (<3.5?) do need to be reset via power cycle to change local levels and rates. Scenes have never been affected. So if the switch has no load (an n-way) levels and rates called by it can be changed no matter what version switch has the load.

 

But the switch with the load can only be affected through programming on newer switch hardware versions. Older SwitchLincs do need to be power cycled before local levels/rates take affect.

I hope that isn't totally confusing.

 

Rand

[oberkc]

Or more importantly, what is the point in being able to adjust these settings within the scenes I put together such as my '2F Hallway, Crosslink' scene as mentioned earlier in this post.

 

The ability to set these parameters differently for the primary scene versus the individual controllers allows flexibility to have different responses depending on which controller is pressed. The primary scene parameters is, I guess, the parameter executed when controlled by the ISY itself.

 

I have found a bit of a learning curve in programming the ISY, but once you get used to the idea of cut-and-paste, updates versus adds, the actual creation of these type of repetitive-lined programs can be done pretty efficiently.

 

Older SwitchLincs (<3.5?) do need to be reset via power cycle to change local levels and rates. Scenes have never been affected. So if the switch has no load (an n-way) levels and rates called by it can be changed no matter what version switch has the load.

 

But the switch with the load can only be affected through programming on newer switch hardware versions. Older SwitchLincs do need to be power cycled before local levels/rates take affect.

I hope that isn't totally confusing.

 

I guess that would explain my issues with older devices and confirm the recollections of Quixote. Thanks.