Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Update switch with link status

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Update switch with link status

    Hello,

    Here is the issue I am having:

    I have a device on an appliance module. It is controlled from either a keypad wall switch controller via link, or sometimes from homeseer directly via timed or RF triggered events.

    If I turn on or off the device via homeseer, the switch does not seem to "know" the new status, so I have to press the button on the switch twice to get the device to react. I even tried putting an event into homeseer that updates the link status when the actual device changes, but that doesn't seem to help.

    Is there a way to tell the switch itself that the device attached to the link has changed, and that it should update its status accordingly?

    #2
    Are you using a switch or a push-button controller? If it's a push-button controller, which one (manufacturer and model)?

    Comment


      #3
      Johnboy,

      An easy fix for this problem is to not used the toggle mode. Toggle works best when only one button controls something. When a device is controlled by multiple buttons or control points, it is easer if each button does only one thing. You get what you expect everytime.

      If you only want 1 button on a controller try the 1 tap on/ 2 taps off under the custom tab

      Dave
      Last edited by ; July 24, 2008, 06:55 AM.

      Comment


        #4
        I am having the problem with the SA US-240 pushbtutton controller. I also just got a PCS 8-Button controller for use in anotehr situation and that works great, - when I add two events to sync the link with the device status the LED and switch tracks the device correctly and the button only needs to be pressed once in any situation.

        Event5 - I am using all buttons of the controller so separate on/off is not possible. The single/double tap is an option and I can go that route if I have to but it would be far preferable just to be able to hit the button once if I could. If the link does not work i would even consider forgoing the link altogether and setting up the button to trigger the device strictly with events. I would prefer losing the PC-independence of the link to having to press the button multiple times.

        Comment


          #5
          Originally posted by JohnBoy70_99 View Post
          I am having the problem with the SA US-240 pushbtutton controller. I also just got a PCS 8-Button controller for use in anotehr situation and that works great, - when I add two events to sync the link with the device status the LED and switch tracks the device correctly and the button only needs to be pressed once in any situation.

          Event5 - I am using all buttons of the controller so separate on/off is not possible. The single/double tap is an option and I can go that route if I have to but it would be far preferable just to be able to hit the button once if I could. If the link does not work i would even consider forgoing the link altogether and setting up the button to trigger the device strictly with events. I would prefer losing the PC-independence of the link to having to press the button multiple times.
          I have 2 us-240s with pushbuttons, one on each side of a jack-and-jill bathroom. The buttons are toggles, and are always out of sync with each other (the same light is controlled by buttons on each switch) as well as commands sent by HS. If you do not mind PC/HS dependency, then you can easily have the pushbuttons fire an event that toggles the light:

          tenholde

          Comment


            #6
            Thanks Tenholde - thats a great script. It makes it very easy to clone it and apply it to new devices.

            I can live with the PC dependency, I like the fact that I know that one button hit is going to toggle the device, and the response time is still pretty decent given that it is a UPB device on both the sending and receiving end.

            Comment


              #7
              You are welcome.

              I tried to build events/scripts that would allow the buttons to operate the light via the link (w/o HS), but also fire an event that would check if the link was sent to turn OFF the device that was already OFF, in which case I would turn it ON. If ON was sent and the light was already ON, then I would turn it OFF.

              That way, the buttons would work if HS was not available, but if HS was running, it would assist in eliminating the need to push the button twice when it was out of sync.

              Great idea, but I have not been able to get it to work, as when my event fires, the light may or may not have already been changed by the button press!

              I'm still thinking about it!

              tenholde
              tenholde

              Comment


                #8
                Maybe I am misunderstanding, but the initial problem seemed to have to do with link sync. It is a known issue when you have a toggle controller in any system (like Insteon or UPB). Essentially the toggle controller needs to be in the same state as the toggled device. I make sure this happens using a startup script in HomeSeer. It sends link commands out to set the initial state and seems to do the trick, although if I restart HomeSeer the lights change. Luckily my production HomeSeer box only needs to be restarted every few months (Windows updates and such)

                Jon


                Originally posted by tenholde View Post
                You are welcome.

                I tried to build events/scripts that would allow the buttons to operate the light via the link (w/o HS), but also fire an event that would check if the link was sent to turn OFF the device that was already OFF, in which case I would turn it ON. If ON was sent and the light was already ON, then I would turn it OFF.

                That way, the buttons would work if HS was not available, but if HS was running, it would assist in eliminating the need to push the button twice when it was out of sync.

                Great idea, but I have not been able to get it to work, as when my event fires, the light may or may not have already been changed by the button press!

                I'm still thinking about it!

                tenholde
                Jon Ort
                JonOrt@The--Orts.com
                (Remove the dashes in the address, spam is getting out of hand)

                Comment


                  #9
                  Here's my observation of how this works:

                  I have a push button installed in the center console of my couch. I assinged one of the buttons to a link which controls the light in the room, which is also controlled by a wall switch. so if i want to turn the light on from the couch push button i usually have to push it twice. so I push it twice, it turns the light on. then i turn the light off with the wall switch. then if i want to turn it on with the couch button, guess what, have to push it twice. this tells me that the light swich isn't updating the link status. It does update HS, though, so i know the switch is xmitting it's state.
                  Plugins:
                  BLLogMonitor, BLGarbage, BLBackup, BLOutGoingCalls, BLUps, BLRfid, JvEss, DooMotion, Applied Digital Ocelot, AC RF Processor, UltraMon, PJC AVR 430, UPB, Rain8net, DSC Panel, JRiver Media center, Windows Media Player, SageMediaCenter, SnevlCID, MCSTemperature.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Different mfgrs. implement it slightly differently, but the key is usually to transmit common links at all times. So long as every action caused the link to be transmitted then all the controllers should also have changed state if they are set to toggle.

                    The problem gets more complex when a single device is controlled by multiple links.

                    I have gotten into the habit of using a single-press for on and a double-press (or press-and-hold) for off in those cases.

                    Jon


                    Originally posted by completelyhis View Post
                    Here's my observation of how this works:

                    I have a push button installed in the center console of my couch. I assinged one of the buttons to a link which controls the light in the room, which is also controlled by a wall switch. so if i want to turn the light on from the couch push button i usually have to push it twice. so I push it twice, it turns the light on. then i turn the light off with the wall switch. then if i want to turn it on with the couch button, guess what, have to push it twice. this tells me that the light swich isn't updating the link status. It does update HS, though, so i know the switch is xmitting it's state.
                    Jon Ort
                    JonOrt@The--Orts.com
                    (Remove the dashes in the address, spam is getting out of hand)

                    Comment


                      #11
                      o, so i bet i didn't set the wall switch to xmit to the link, just to report it's status. I bet that would fix it. I'll try it out and let you know.

                      thanks,

                      Ian
                      Plugins:
                      BLLogMonitor, BLGarbage, BLBackup, BLOutGoingCalls, BLUps, BLRfid, JvEss, DooMotion, Applied Digital Ocelot, AC RF Processor, UltraMon, PJC AVR 430, UPB, Rain8net, DSC Panel, JRiver Media center, Windows Media Player, SageMediaCenter, SnevlCID, MCSTemperature.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Originally posted by Oman View Post
                        Different mfgrs. implement it slightly differently, but the key is usually to transmit common links at all times. So long as every action caused the link to be transmitted then all the controllers should also have changed state if they are set to toggle.

                        The problem gets more complex when a single device is controlled by multiple links.

                        I have gotten into the habit of using a single-press for on and a double-press (or press-and-hold) for off in those cases.

                        Jon
                        How about in the case of SA US-240 switches with pushbuttons? I have two such switches that have a push button set to toggle using LinkA. I have a light that responds to LinkA only. (these pushbuttons are on opposite ends of a jack and jill bathroom). If you push button X and it turns off the light, the next time you push button X it will turn on the light, even if you have already turned on the light from button Y. Hence, to now turn off the light from button X, you have to press it twice. I don't thin UPB plugin can adjust for this.

                        However, here is what I am thinking now. Keep the links as stated above. Have HS fire an event whenever LinkA is fired. In this event, create a second delayed event (very short delay) that checks the light's device time. If it is more than 1 minute, toggle the light. What do you think?

                        tenholde
                        tenholde

                        Comment

                        Working...
                        X