Field and Name label conventions used by long-time HS users

[Guest]

I was wondering what some of you with a large number of devices and years of experience use for the HS fields Location 1, Location 2 and Name.

Have you renamed 'Location 1' and 'Location 2?'

What conventions do you usually use for Location 1, Location 2 and Name?

I've been using the following examples but having just added some motion sensors. Thinking ahead, I'm not sure if this is going to be the best approach a year from now. I'd like to hear what others have found works best so I won't be renaming 200 device entries later.

Location 1 = Location
Outdoor
Basement
1st Floor
2nd Floor
Holiday Lights

Location 2 = Description
Fence
Family Room
Living Room
Hallway
[System]

Name
Bookcase Lamp
Motion Sensor
Temperature Sensor
Battery Level
Light Level

[mahatma73]

Hi
i am using Location2 as a floor
so it is 1st floor
2dn floor

[mnsandler]

i use

location1 for the room designation except in a fews cases i used 'basement' to cover several rooms. i do not use it as a 'floor' designation, too broad for my needs.

location2 as circuit such as ACRF, insteon, x10, 1-wire, etc. this helps me sort my devices by technology. in some cases i have the specific electrical circuit number designated instead of "x10" which helped debug x10 noise issues.

name as the device name such as Lights, Lamps, Thermostat, Temperature. Several of my device names are two or three words as well such Bathroom Fan.

[Bestgear]

...my vote goes for using them for floor and room....

David

[Uncle Michael]

I have many devices that do not fit well into geographical categories. I've been experimenting with functional groupings, but haven't found a scheme I like very well yet. For those who use floor and room, what do you do with virtual devices, for example?

[nightwalker]

I never used the 2nd location, I just didn't find a need for it but I like the idea of using it for the circuit, that would make it handy. Mind if I borrow that?

i use

location1 for the room designation except in a fews cases i used 'basement' to cover several rooms. i do not use it as a 'floor' designation, too broad for my needs.

location2 as circuit such as ACRF, insteon, x10, 1-wire, etc. this helps me sort my devices by technology. in some cases i have the specific electrical circuit number designated instead of "x10" which helped debug x10 noise issues.

name as the device name such as Lights, Lamps, Thermostat, Temperature. Several of my device names are two or three words as well such Bathroom Fan.

[nightwalker]

For me virtuals are all in the same grouping. It's one of those that doesn't really fit the room, floor thing but for the most part i keep them all together just so i can find them.

[Bestgear]

Hi

For virtual devices, I just use SERVICE, and land them all in there...

David

[kenm]

I don't use location2 and location1 can either be a room, floor, or other designation depending on how global I want the group to be. I just call location1 "Location".


Family Room
TV Room
Computer Room
Living Room
Kitchen
Dining Room
Master Bedroom
Master Bath
Office
Upstairs
Downstairs
Backyard
Front yard
Outside
Inside
Front Porch
Denon AVR
Intercom
Garage
Katies Room
Alexs Room
Attic
Workshop
Temp05
ACRF Plug-In

[Ultrajones]

My location_1 is named "Location". I use it to describe where the device is physically located. As an example:

Bedroom [Master]
Bedroom [Spare]
Basement [Utility]
Basement [Tools]
Garage [Entrance]
Outdoor [Side Yard]
Outdoor [Back Yard]

My location_2 is named "Grouping". I use "Grouping" to display the devices the belong to a group. As an example:

Lighting
Environmental
Security
Water
Network
Thermostat
Plug-ins

For my devices, I provide a descriptive name, then optionally provide a further description within brackets. I also try to avoid duplicating the device location within the device name. As an example:

MediaCenter1
MediaCenter2
Zone 001 [Door]
Zone 002 [Window]

Regards,
Ultrajones

[Guest]

Sounds like we could benefit from another field; maybe two?

[LeoS]

Excuse my gravedigging activity... any thoughts on 3rd level of location?
Is this doable via a plugin or something else now?

I'm currently also using Loc1:Floor and Loc2:Rooms format. I have Loc1:System where I make 'special' rooms for system housekeeping devices (inactive and test devices, zwave/rfxcom/vista control devices, etc)... but I still feel I would benefit from having a 3rd location where I can specifiy device groupings by its function (Sensors, Doors, Light switches, etc) to consolidate them across the different brand\standards that I use.

I feel that this is HomeSeer's strength (multi-standard) that also becomes a double edged sword.. where it becomes slow and unwieldy when you get too much devices in your system and when you use different standards.

I've also thought of flattening the two Location groups into one (ie: rather than Loc_1: 2nd Floor Loc_2: Master Bedroom, make it Loc_1: 2-Master Bedroom) and use Loc_2 for device function grouping...