Can a single SwitchLinc control two scenes?

[PLCGuy]

Is it possible to have a single SwitchLinc Dimmer control two scenes?

 

The reason is that I have a SwitchLinc at an entry door that I would like to use to control both exterior and interior lights when someone enters the door. There is no easy way to add another switch near the door.

 

Why not just make the indoor and outdoor scene the same scene? Because the outdoor scene has a number of seasonal and time of day fade controls that would not be appropriate for an indoor scene.

 

Now I have managed what seems to be a bit of a kludge by creating a number of programs that monitor the state of the SwitchLinc using "Control" and use that to set the indoor scene. For example:

If

Control 'Lighting Scenes / BsmtDr_Lt' is switched Fade Down

 

Then

Set Scene 'Lighting Scenes / Basement Lights' Fade Down

 

Else

- No Actions

Is there a better way? Have I missed the obvious?

[LeeG]

"Is it possible to have a single SwitchLinc Dimmer control two scenes?"

 

No. Insteon does not support any Controller node (SwitchLinc Dimmer in this case) being assigned as Controller for more than one Scene.

 

Each Responder has a link record telling it how to respond to each Controller. This is keyed to the Controller Insteon address and Scene (Group) number. There is no facility to assign multiple Scene numbers for one Controller node. A KeypadLinc has a unique Scene (Group) number for each KPL button. A SwitchLinc paddle can have only one Scene (Group) number.

 

Triggering a Program with the paddle press is the mechanism. Be careful though because it can take some time for the Scene the SwitchLinc paddle is controlling to complete all the Scene commands sent by the SwitchLinc. The majority of these commands are redundant and produce no visible effect. However, if there is a temporary glitch on the powerline it may be necessary for the SwitchLinc to retry one of those commands which makes them no longer redundant.

 

The conflict comes if the Program immediately issues a command to turn another Scene On. Insteon allows only one Scene in progress at a time. The Scene command issued by the Program will cause the SwitchLinc to terminate the Scene it is controlling. Depends on how many Responders are in the SwitchLinc controlled Scene and whether the powerline has some problems.

 

If you find the Responders controlled by the SwitchLinc Scene become unreliable when sending a Scene On from the Program, issue a Wait of 1-2 seconds in the Program before sending the Scene On.

[PLCGuy]

"If you find the Responders controlled by the SwitchLinc Scene become unreliable when sending a Scene On from the Program, issue a Wait of 1-2 seconds in the Program before sending the Scene On.

 

Thanks Lee. That last tip turned out to be critical. Without the Wait, the programatically controlled scene was very unreliable. With the Wait, the scene settled down.

 

The other thing that seemed strange is that writing the program to trigger on a Fast On or Fast Off seemed to increase the unreliability. Detecting regular On or Off commands and using those to drive the program seemed to be better in terms of reliability.

[LeeG]

Triggering with Fast On/Off should have no affect on Scene reliability. What might be happening is the double tap is generating two On sequences rather than one Fast On sequence. The speed of the double tap is critical in generating a Fast On. One way to watch this is run Tools | Diagnostics | Event Viewer in LEVEL 3. Do a double tap and see if the event trace shows a Fast On or On command.

 

This is an On command

 

Sun 02/24/2013 08:13:00 PM : [iNST-SRX ] 02 50 1D.38.00 00.00.01 CB 11 00 LTONRR (00)

 

 

This is a Fast On

 

Sun 02/24/2013 08:14:04 PM : [iNST-SRX ] 02 50 1D.38.00 19.70.06 41 12 01 LTON-F (01)