Using ControlLinc & RemoteLinc Buttons as Triggers

[jeff-lines]

I'm new having gotten my ISY99i IR Pro and finally my new PLC. I've spent last two days moving everything over to ISY and it's been fun. So far I've configured 2 ControlLincs, 12 KeypadLincs, 13 SwitchLincs, 3 LampLincs, and 2 ApplianceLincs and have 22 Scenes and 10 programs working the way I want. This thing is fantastic and it's allowed me to easily do something that I simply could not do previously, but I'll post that in programs area. I've still got to set up RemoteLinc, EZRain, and I have an EZIO2X4 that is on it's way to monitor and control my garage doors.

 

Anyway, is there a way to set up a condition in a program to use the ControlLinc or RemoteLinc Bright/Dim or All On/Off buttons as triggers. For example, I would like to change the meaning of the ControlLinc All On in the Master Bed room so that it turns on a "Heard a Noise" scene and the All Off to off everything in another "Bed Time" scene that has everything that is supposed to be off when I go to bed. I've been all over the board and haven't seen this question so hope I'm not being redundant.

 

This seems to be a great group. Probably due to the excitement about this great product. I know it's got me excited about this stuff again. Next will be to delve into the IR control.

[MikeB]

Jeff -

 

Unfortunately, I don't believe there's a way to use the RemoteLinc All On/All Off buttons for anything else (I don't own a ControlLinc). That's one of my biggest gripes with the RemoteLinc - I have no use for those buttons at all, and wish they would be user-definable.

 

You'll love the IR integration, works extremely well for me.

 

Also, if you haven't noticed, you joined in on the cusp of a new firmware release (beta) - get ready for even more features!

[jeff-lines]

Looked at 2.7 post and there are some interesting things. Look forward to it. Might end up that that with mobile device support and IR capabilities I can just get rid of ControlLinc and RemoteLinc. Doesn't make sense why all the buttons wouldn't be accessible to be used as triggers. Oh well.

[Michel Kohanim]

jeff-lines,

 

Thanks for the feedback!

 

The main problem is that the All on/off buttons on CL/RL impact any device which was previously linked to any other of their buttons. Therefore, even if you have a program, the All on/off will still turn all the previously linked devices on/off and thus might cause infinite loop.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

 

Looked at 2.7 post and there are some interesting things. Look forward to it. Might end up that that with mobile device support and IR capabilities I can just get rid of ControlLinc and RemoteLinc. Doesn't make sense why all the buttons wouldn't be accessible to be used as triggers. Oh well.

[jeff-lines]

That's a good point and I thought about that and can see where that would be a problem if you were going to make use of the hardware as designed. What I had in mind though was clearing all links from the RL and using it as strictly a trigger device. I'm probably at the point where I'm dangerous with the little knowledge I have but here is my thought.

 

One of the things I've done pre-ISY is linked RL to EZRain to allow maintenance of sprinkler system like replace a sprinkler head and test it. It was lots of work to do manual links and only controlled 6 zones. In addition, RL sits useless for most of the time. What I was thinking is I could set up folder with programs to handle each RL button press. That gives me 12 buttons to deal with and if I consider Fast On and Fast Off, that's 24 possibillities. Since there are no links, the other 4 buttons at the bottom could be programmed to also do whatever I want. If I had another use for the RL, I could set up an alternate configuration in another folder and use a condition like maybe the variables when they are available to control what RL configuration is being used.

 

I did notice in another post that using triggers were frowned upon. Do you know why considering the capabilities of the ISY?

[Michel Kohanim]

jeff-lines,

 

I now fully understand what you have in mind! Programs are not frowned upon. The only statement is:

If you wish to do something that INSTEON can do for you natively, then use INSTEON the most example of which is creating scenes: you can use programs to do what INSTEON scenes do but it's just a waste of resources.

 

For what you have in mind, and since this is a one to one relationship, you can use programs as you have outlined.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

 

That's a good point and I thought about that and can see where that would be a problem if you were going to make use of the hardware as designed. What I had in mind though was clearing all links from the RL and using it as strictly a trigger device. I'm probably at the point where I'm dangerous with the little knowledge I have but here is my thought.

 

One of the things I've done pre-ISY is linked RL to EZRain to allow maintenance of sprinkler system like replace a sprinkler head and test it. It was lots of work to do manual links and only controlled 6 zones. In addition, RL sits useless for most of the time. What I was thinking is I could set up folder with programs to handle each RL button press. That gives me 12 buttons to deal with and if I consider Fast On and Fast Off, that's 24 possibillities. Since there are no links, the other 4 buttons at the bottom could be programmed to also do whatever I want. If I had another use for the RL, I could set up an alternate configuration in another folder and use a condition like maybe the variables when they are available to control what RL configuration is being used.

 

I did notice in another post that using triggers were frowned upon. Do you know why considering the capabilities of the ISY?