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    SceneMaster vs. Tags - Which One?

    I'm looking at controlling "groups" of WiFi LED bulbs (CPS Tuya plugin) and possibly some other HS devices besides lights. I've read the descriptions for both and I can't figure out the advantage of one over the other, besides the price difference, of course. I'm going to download both plugins and play with them but the more info I can get upfront the better it would be.

    Any guidance would be appreciated.

    Thanks,
    Ken
    "if I have seen further [than others], it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." --Sir Isaac Newton (1675)

    #2
    Ken, i am also looking at these 2, and wonder did you get a chance to test them yet? i want to get the best one for stability and future development

    Comment


      #3
      Originally posted by ocyberbum View Post
      Ken, i am also looking at these 2, and wonder did you get a chance to test them yet? i want to get the best one for stability and future development
      HI Billy,

      I did some testing on both but my testing of #Tags was limited due to the fact that there's no documentation on how to use the plugin. I figured out a few things but in the end I went with SceneMaster. From my observations, #Tags is about "grouping" devices into a tag group and then doing something to the group while SceneMaster is about defining "states" for devices in the scene and then setting those "states" by selecting a scene profile. In other words, #Tags does the same action on a number of devices while SceneMaster does unique actions for each device based on the scene profile to get the devices into the desired state. I suspect #Tags is a lot more powerful but without documentation I didn't have the time to figure it out.

      As for reliability and future development, Bill (bsobel, the developer of both) is super responsive to questions and bug reports. He's also the developer of the Tuya WiFi device plugin.

      Hope this helps,
      Ken
      "if I have seen further [than others], it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." --Sir Isaac Newton (1675)

      Comment


        #4
        I would suggest cps tags . Try to find the version 1.4 xx on the forum. The version in the hs updater is out to date.

        + tag is very convenient when you add device ..cuz it CAN* be (if you do not use #tag by notes in devices setting) an automated process.

        tags Is really more userfriendly then scenemaster. I do not think documentation is a necessity here . I found all the fonction of the plugin in almost no times.

        But for scene master it would be nice.

        Comment


          #5
          Originally posted by kenm View Post
          I'm looking at controlling "groups" of WiFi LED bulbs (CPS Tuya plugin) and possibly some other HS devices besides lights. I've read the descriptions for both and I can't figure out the advantage of one over the other, besides the price difference, of course. I'm going to download both plugins and play with them but the more info I can get upfront the better it would be.

          Any guidance would be appreciated.

          Thanks,
          Ken
          SceneMaster was originally from Mike and many users were on it but he didn't have time to carry it forward. Its really designed to setup lighting scenes, e.g. I want my living room in the early evening to have these lights on. Later in the evening I want these other lights on, and dim them all together (etc)

          Tags is very focussed on creating groups of devices. Where applicable my other plugins (Flash, Links (beta), and they latest SceneMaster are tags aware and let you select a Tag as a target device.

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by MattLau View Post
            I would suggest cps tags . Try to find the version 1.4 xx on the forum. The version in the hs updater is out to date.

            + tag is very convenient when you add device ..cuz it CAN* be (if you do not use #tag by notes in devices setting) an automated process.

            tags Is really more userfriendly then scenemaster. I do not think documentation is a necessity here . I found all the fonction of the plugin in almost no times.

            But for scene master it would be nice.
            Hi Matt,

            Can you describe how you are using tags? What kinds of devices do you have in tag groups? SceneMaster is doing what I want right now but I'm not opposed to purchasing Tags as well if it would make things easier.

            Hi Bill,

            Good to know that SceneMaster can control a tag group as a single device. I could see that as being useful.

            Thanks to both of you.
            Ken

            "if I have seen further [than others], it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." --Sir Isaac Newton (1675)

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by kenm View Post

              Hi Matt,

              Can you describe how you are using tags? What kinds of devices do you have in tag groups?
              Hi Ken, For now i am using it to control and trigger things.

              Control : To control all the device in a #tag obviously. Ex : Set all devices in a #night tag to off when I Turn on a Routine ''goodnight '' in alexa.



              Trigger ( in this case it is a condition) ex : See picture

              The event will chek the conditions every 3 minutes:

              -if a device in the kitchen is in range of 0-100 for AT LEAST 5 minutes
              -If all the devices in the tags ( 3 motions sensors ) has a value of 0 ( no motion) for AT LEAST 5 minutes


              then turn off kitchen lights








              Attached Files

              Comment


                #8
                IF the time is 11;59 pm.

                And IF at least 1 devices ( windows sensors) are set to a value of 100 ( open)

                Then send a pushover message ( I Will modify this action to send me a message with the value of each windows sensor, to know which one is open )

                note: I could just create 4 events ( i have 4 windows), but i prefer to be able to create all this logic with one .
                Attached Files

                Comment


                  #9
                  you can set pure triggers too, instead of condition... But i didn't set any yet

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Originally posted by MattLau View Post

                    Hi Ken, For now i am using it to control and trigger things.

                    Control : To control all the device in a #tag obviously. Ex : Set all devices in a #night tag to off when I Turn on a Routine ''goodnight '' in alexa.



                    Trigger ( in this case it is a condition) ex : See picture

                    The event will chek the conditions every 3 minutes:

                    -if a device in the kitchen is in range of 0-100 for AT LEAST 5 minutes
                    -If all the devices in the tags ( 3 motions sensors ) has a value of 0 ( no motion) for AT LEAST 5 minutes


                    then turn off kitchen lights







                    Thanks Matt. I did not even know you could trigger off of a tag. That would be useful for sure. Again, my primary use is for controlling WiFi bulbs in a coordinated fashion. How do you define the controls that can be used on a tag. For example, what if I wanted to tag 3x LED WiFi bulbs and then have an On/Off, Work_Mode, and Color Selector for the tag?

                    Thanks again,
                    Ken
                    "if I have seen further [than others], it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." --Sir Isaac Newton (1675)

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Thanks Matt for the examples .. it will help me figure out what i can possibly use tags for on my new setup

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Originally posted by kenm View Post

                        Thanks Matt. I did not even know you could trigger off of a tag. That would be useful for sure. Again, my primary use is for controlling WiFi bulbs in a coordinated fashion. How do you define the controls that can be used on a tag. For example, what if I wanted to tag 3x LED WiFi bulbs and then have an On/Off, Work_Mode, and Color Selector for the tag?

                        Thanks again,
                        Ken
                        If i understand correctly , you want to include 3x led wifi bulbs in a unique tag, And want 3 mode out of this?

                        In this case, i would create 3 hs3 events with the 3 different control option ( in contrast to profiles in scenemaster)

                        -1 or 2 event for on/off

                        -1 for work mode

                        -1 for color of your choice.

                        the control option in #tag is doing the same thing to all devices..






                        Comment


                          #13
                          Originally posted by MattLau View Post

                          If i understand correctly , you want to include 3x led wifi bulbs in a unique tag, And want 3 mode out of this?

                          In this case, i would create 3 hs3 events with the 3 different control option ( in contrast to profiles in scenemaster)

                          -1 or 2 event for on/off

                          -1 for work mode

                          -1 for color of your choice.

                          the control option in #tag is doing the same thing to all devices..





                          Hi Matt,

                          I think I'm going to stick with SceneMaster for now. I can see a lot of possibilities with Tags but I'm really just looking for setting room modes at this point. I'll revisit Tags again when I have a little more time to work with it.

                          Thanks again,
                          Ken

                          "if I have seen further [than others], it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." --Sir Isaac Newton (1675)

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Kenm, I noticed you are using LED bulbs that are RGB?, and I wanted to ask what has worked best for you doing this, Tags/Scene Master... I am currently setting up AEOTEC RGB led lights around my house and I want to find the best or easiest way to assign colors and events to each that will also work with Alexa, I was hoping to find away to avoid setting every color RGB for every event, Any info or screen shots of something like this would be appreciated,

                            Comment


                              #15
                              I did purchase scene master a while ago, but was not using it.

                              I have to say that I really like the device state cache feature. i am now using it in two events.

                              would it be possible to add scenes without creating any new devices ( so would need to create specifics actions for this in events)? Or is this a too big major change to the plugin structure ( i don't know if the scene info are stored in the devices....and i am not a programmer lol)?

                              Comment

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