Z-Wave Scene Configuration Check Box

[david.delano]

I'm back to working with Scenes again, and have a question I can't find the answer to. On the Z-Wave Scene Configuration page, there is a check box that is labelled "Include Homeseer" for the scene. What does this check box do??? I don't see any real difference between having it checked or not. I'm not using a stand-alone scene controller for what I'm doing, but running/triggering the scenes from events (which I now have working!).

David

[mikedr]

My understanding is that in general, you always want to include HomeSeer. The reason is so that HS knows what's going on -- by including HS, HS gets informed when you trigger a scene.

[david.delano]

Thinking a bit more, that makes sense, since the command is really being issued from the Z-Net, not HS3. However, it doesn't seem to help much. You'd think the device status could then be up-to-date, but it isn't. I have a scan initiated from the event, as HS3 isn't getting the status from the device changes, which you would think would happen as a result of including Homeseer in the scene change.

David

[mikedr]

Thinking a bit more, that makes sense, since the command is really being issued from the Z-Net, not HS3. However, it doesn't seem to help much. You'd think the device status could then be up-to-date, but it isn't. I have a scan initiated from the event, as HS3 isn't getting the status from the device changes, which you would think would happen as a result of including Homeseer in the scene change.

David

To be honest with you, my feeling about scenes is that they're a vestige of Z-Wave "version 1," and don't seem to be emphasized as much these days. I find support among devices for scenes to be uneven, as one example.

My preference (and recommendation) is to use events. Trigger off something that HS3 can see, and don't worry at all about scenes.

[david.delano]

I agree.....EXCEPT......I've found scenes can do one thing that events don't seem to be able to do. With a scene you can specify the RATE at which something happens. E.g., I can say dim to level 50 over 10 seconds. I have never figured out how to do that with an event without flickering. I can set the light itself to have a dim rate, but can't change it on the fly. Why do I need this?? I have set up a ZEE/Z-Net to run the lighting at church. If I could pre-define about 10 scenes, then use events to trigger them, things would be a LOT simpler than the events that I have set up (and am not happy with).

That said.....I tried what I got working at home, where I now use HS3 on a PC with a Z-Net, at church, and I can't do the same thing. I was hoping that it was the Z-Net that got this working for me, but it must be HS3 on a PC or the combination that gave me the added functionality. From the ZEE at church, I still can't run a scene from an event. The Z-Wave event functions from the ZEE are limited. I don't seem to be able to update the Z-Wave plugin, which might help, and there isn't a new version of the ZEE version of HS3 available. It appears it's time to consider a PC based option for HS3 at church (I made that decision for home a couple of months ago when I ran into limitations on the ZEE - wanted to run more plugins that the Zee couldn't support).

David

[mikedr]

The Zee2 allows a limited number of plug-ins, and of course the SEL boxes allow all the Linux-compatible plugins.

We have two SELs, and I'm very satisfied with them.

[david.delano]

I think this is just the Z-Wave plugin functionality, though......

[david.delano]

I tested the PC version of HS3 at church, and I get the same issue as on the Zee, so I don't think the Zee is at fault.

I think that you won't have a scene control action for an event if you don't have a valid scene. When I create the scene, I get a warning that the scene contains non-scene capable devices, and when I check the log, the scene information is not sent to the device. The scene control screen tells me everything tested/deployed okay, but it didn't really, and I think that HS3 or the Z-Net knows it's not really completed.

Now, at home, where I got it to work, I was originally getting the same warning, but somewhere along the way, the warning went away and I can see a deployment message in the log. I even added a device this evening, got the same warning, but the scene still works - both devices were controlled.

Somehow I have to get around this warning and get the state of the scene set to be valid. Then I think I can set up the events to control the scenes.

Anyone use scenes that can help me out??

David

[mikedr]

It may be worthwhile to create a new post for this question. I will say this, though -- I read every post on the message board, and have done so for the last year or so, and I can't say that it appears many people use scenes. I'm not sure why -- if it's not well supported in HS3, or ?

[david.delano]

Yes, I thought about that, since the topic has diverged a bit.

What I'm finding is that not all devices are of the scene controller class. Thus scenes are not as useful if those are the devices you have. However, in that case HS3 does the scene controlling for you. But, in that case, the ramping setting is not followed as there is no way to tell the device to ramp (which is the very issue I'm trying to resolve).

I did a little more reading tonight, of the help info for the Z-Wave plugin. I didn't find the resolution, but learned some more on what the settings do.

I suspect that at one point I set the ramping to device default and that allowed the non-scene device to work. Then, everything else worked after that, though I have not actually tried ramping a non-scene device.....hold on....well, inconclusive - this is a scene capable device.

My apparent non-scene capable devices are GE/Jasco switches that I used because they didn't need the common wire. I have switches that don't have it (old wiring). At some point, I'll probably replace these, but not now.

Now I need to try some more experimenting on the controller at church.....

[Guest]

and I can't say that it appears many people use scenes. I'm not sure why -- if it's not well supported in HS3, or ?

Scenes work GREAT using my Cooper Scenes, BUT I don't use them because HomeSeer and HS3Touch DON'T know devices are on when controlled by scenes. I'm sure HomeSeer is well aware of their zwave issues here and given their partnership so to speak with Cooper, one would think their products would better integrate. Ie, Scenes showing devices on, scene buttons syncing, accessory switch syncing. I'm not sure why it is so difficult for HomeSeer to incorporate these devices and others into their software!

[david.delano]

From what I HAVE working......in the events from HS3 that I use to run the scene I'm testing, I also have a wait, then poll the device. This seems to keep things in sync.

I can see that control from an external device might be a problem, but that, too, is puzzling, because it shouldn't be any different than if you turned the device off/on manually.

[Extreme-Z]

It may be worthwhile to create a new post for this question. I will say this, though -- I read every post on the message board, and have done so for the last year or so, and I can't say that it appears many people use scenes. I'm not sure why -- if it's not well supported in HS3, or ?

I have many 4 button scene controllers located near existing light switches in my home and with HS3, I can use these scene controllers basically as simple switches that control lights that are NOT on the nearby switch. Also, back when house wiring was $400+ per 1000 foot roll, I did not wire switches in my 6+ car garage I built and instead installed home automation outlets in the attic and plugged in about 20 of the 4' 4 bulb flourescent fixtures directly into 6 different outlets. Scene controllers would then allow me to control all these lights without having to do expensive runs of wire (actually saved money when I first did it using X10 switches). Basically, just a bunch of remote switches.

So, I'm not really using scenes in the above examples for their intended purpose but just saying I do plan on them being useful (don't have it all setup just yet but most hardware in place LOL).

[david.delano]

I'm not really using this setup for conventional scenes either. And, I plan to trigger the scenes, if I can get them working, from HS3 (actually, from PowerPoint using JSON). I DO have a controller, but it isn't really a scene controller. It installs as a device with 4 buttons and HS3 knows the status of the buttons. HS3 can then have events that detect the button changes......which could then activate scenes if I can get them working (always good to have a backup plan).

[mikedr]

I have many 4 button scene controllers located near existing light switches in my home and with HS3, I can use these scene controllers basically as simple switches that control lights that are NOT on the nearby switch. Also, back when house wiring was $400+ per 1000 foot roll, I did not wire switches in my 6+ car garage I built and instead installed home automation outlets in the attic and plugged in about 20 of the 4' 4 bulb flourescent fixtures directly into 6 different outlets. Scene controllers would then allow me to control all these lights without having to do expensive runs of wire (actually saved money when I first did it using X10 switches). Basically, just a bunch of remote switches.

So, I'm not really using scenes in the above examples for their intended purpose but just saying I do plan on them being useful (don't have it all setup just yet but most hardware in place LOL).

This is how I use "scene controllers," but you're not really using them as scenes, but just as switches. Which is how I use them. The difference is whether you're triggering an event, or constructing a Z-Wave scene (which is a particular "thing").