Scenes

[matapan]

I've been using an ISY for several years now. I have questions about some features with ISY and Insteon - the primary one being the purpose of scenes.

 

The Admin Console allows one to create a scene for a group of switches/devices. Activate the scene, and the responders in the scene should respond. I get that.

 

What I don't understand is what you do with the individual devices defined in the scene. For example, you can theoretically set a different ramp rate and on level for individual Switchlinc dimmers in a scene. What does that actually mean? If I toggle a paddle in a 3 or 4 way switch circuit, the lights turn on using the ramp rate and on level defined in the scene. This is true regardless of the switch in the scene this was done from. So far, I haven't figured out what the individual device settings are supposed to be used for.

 

Anyone care to comment?

[oberkc]

For example, you can theoretically set a different ramp rate and on level for individual Switchlinc dimmers in a scene. What does that actually mean?

 

For each controller in a scene (including the PLM/ISY), you can set different levels and ramp rates. This means that the response to pressing controller A can be set different than the response when pressing controller B. For example one Keypad button or switch can turn all the scene's lights to 100%. Another switch can turn them to 50%.

 

If I toggle a paddle in a 3 or 4 way switch circuit, the lights turn on using the ramp rate and on level defined in the scene.

 

Not necessarily true, if you you set the scene levels and ramp rates for the paddle different than that for the scene, itself.

 

Once a scene is created, one can see the devices in the scene by expanding the scene icon. Controllers and responders are identified by color (red and blue). If you select the scene, you will see the on levels and ramp rates for the parent scene. These represent the levels each device will attain when activiate through the ISY (admin panel or via program). If you highlight a controller device within the scene, you see a set of on levels and ramp rates defined for when the scene is activated by that device. These may be the same as the parent scene, or may be different. Your choice.

[apostolakisl]

Everything he said plus a few concepts.

 

In a 3 or 4 way circuit you only have one load, so you would make the ramp rate and on level the same for all devices. This isn't actually necessary, but if you like your little led's to all move together then you would do that. The paddles that aren't actually connected to the load could have any on level and any ramp rate, the light would still turn on according to the ramp rate and on level defined in the scene for the switch that is connected to the load.

 

But, you could just as easily have those 3 or 4 switches each with their own load (ie 4 different lights in a scene). In this case you may want each device to have its own unique ramp rate and on level. Any device that is a controller for that scene will turn all the devices on and it will do so according to the ramp rate and on level as defined for each device in that scene. All the devices could be controllers of that scene or even none of them. Only devices that are controllers will cause the other devices in the scene to turn on, so, if a device is only a responder in a scene, if you walked up to that paddle and turned it on, it would only turn itself on, not the other devices.

 

Also, a switch that is in a scene will always behave according to its own (non-scene) ramp rate and on-level when you actually push it. So if 4 switches are in a scene and you turn the scene on from a program, all of the switches will ramp rate/on-level per the scene definitions. If instead you pushed one paddle that is a controller of that scene, that switch will turn on according to its own non-scene ramp rate/on level (which most people would set the same as for the scene), but all the others would ramp/on according to the scene definitions.