Understanding devices in Fibaro RGBW Control

[Guest]

I'm having the same issue however, it's the switch multilevel 5 that's giving me the problem.

Everything else works just fine, but any time I adjust any color (r,g,b,w) the mutlilevel switch 5 also changes. (ie SML1 and SML5 are always equal)

I tried the reset method, but that didn't help either.

Just gonna scratch my head for a bit now ...

[gearyt]

I am also a purchaser of the units. Rich has been working on a fix to the add on.. stand by...

Geary

[DNATechnologySolutions]

In my case SML3 and SML1 are always in sync.. Kind of a weird bug that I've learned to live with.

Through a fair amount of troubleshooting though and the development of a new plugin (waiting for HomeSeer to Approve) here is what I've figured out:

The following are just triggers (not actual device status)
Color Red
Color Green
Color Blue
Color White
Color Custom RGB

The following are the actual device values:
Switch Multilevel 1 (MASTER)
Switch Multilevel 2 (RED)
Switch Multilevel 3 (GREEN)
Switch Multilevel 4 (BLUE)
Switch Multilevel 5 (WHITE)

In most cases, one of the "colors" is associated as a default and seems to remain in sync with the master when it is adjusted. This does not actually reflect the color being shown, but it does mess with what shows on the faders).

Of you associate HSTouch sliders with the Multilevel devices, you effectively bypass the Color Control devices (which are kind of irrelevant). Changing any color control, (to include the Custom RGB) actually fires an internal event that adjusts an algorithm that determines the adjustments for the multilevels.

For example: Changing the Value of the custom RGB through scripts has no affect. The value pair range correlates to the decimal equivelant of 0-FFFFFF, but is not directly synced with the multilevels. When you change the color in the web interface the internal algorithm determines the HEX value of the descimal and assigns it as the devices ControlString (an internal CAPI parameter) which then fires an internal event to adjust the Multilevels.

So... in short, You can assign sliders to the color controls, but it is redundant and performs the same function as assigning sliders to the multilevels as listed above, accept that the status doesn't always correlate. When you assign the sliders in HSTouch, use a 0-100 min-max value. The Multilevels are just like any other light (0-100% bright). Make sure you include a "Master" slider which coorelates to multilevel 1. Do not enable TrackRealtime.

Expect the weird side affect that anytime you adjust the master, one of the colors will match it, even though it doesn't change the color actually showing on the LED strip.


If you are holding out for an actual colorchooser (color pallet) stay tuned. I have a plugin pending approval for a web-based color chooser that works similar to JSON commands.

[gearyt]

thanks, looking forward to the plug-in
let me know if you need testing, I am under linux with 2 devices installed

Geary

[randy]

I included my first and it works for RGBW control just fine. All parameters are at the default settings for now. It is just confusing how the devices were designed to work. Here are the devices it created



The top 4 color control channels will control each of the independent channels over a range of Off, 1-254 and On. Controlling any of those will be reflected in the ML switches as:

• Switch Multilevel 1 (MASTER) This will reflect the overall brightness level with it being set at the highest level for any of the 4 color channels. Adjusting this level will change the 4 color channels maintaining the current ratios. If green is at 10% and red is at 20%, the master will be at 20%. If you raise the master to 40% red will become 40% and green will become 20%
• Switch Multilevel 2 (RED) These will also control individual channels, but the range is the normal Off, 1-98% and On (99%). Again switch ML1 is the master and it will mirror the highest setting of any of the 4 color channels.
• Switch Multilevel 3 (GREEN) same functionally as the Red channel
• Switch Multilevel 4 (BLUE) same functionally as the Red channel
• Switch Multilevel 5 (WHITE) same functionally as the Red channel

Control of any of the multilevel devices will control the outputs, but is not reflected in the color channel devices at the top. Control of any of the color channel devices at the top will be reflected in the 5 multilevel devices.

Setting a color in the color picker with the master level 1 Off will usually set the ratios for that color, with the predominant color set at On (99%) and any other color at the ratio needed to approximate the picked color. The white channel is never used. Unfortunately it is inconsistent and unpredictable. Sometimes it will pick the correct color and return the master to On, other times it may pick a random color.

There is no way to use the color picker in an event. There are dozens of "Custom Color" choices in the drop list, but they are not tied to any colors nor do they have any effect.

Power reports, but watts do not. Watts will report by setting a polling interval, but none of the devices can be polled from the Device Manager. None of the four input devices are created. Here is the node information:



It looks like parameter 14 needs to be changed to 34952 to get the inputs active. Unfortunately that parameter cannot be set in HomeSeer. I don't need the inputs, I just want to understand how it works. As configured with parameter 14 at 4639, grounding input 1 toggles red between on and off, input 2 does the same for green, input 3 for blue and input 4 for white.

The manual is here recommended settings documents are here.

A plug-in might be nice, but understanding how to get the device configured and included differently would be nice as well. I've gotten it to work as is, but there could be some improvement in the devices support in HomeSeer.

This will be a useful device, but it seems that it is not fully implemented in the Z-Wave plug-in.

[Moskus]

I am also a purchaser of the units. Rich has been working on a fix to the add on.. stand by...

Geary

Wow... I'm sure I added this to Bugzilla at least two years ago, but rather "late" than "never".

[DNATechnologySolutions]

Rprade

there is no way to use the color picker in an event. 
There are dozens of "Custom Color" choices in the drop list, 
but they are not tied to any colors nor do they have any effect.

I alluded to this a bit already:

For example: Changing the Value of the custom RGB through scripts has no affect. 
The value pair range correlates to the decimal equivelant of 0-FFFFFF, but is not directly synced with the multilevels. 
When you change the color in the web interface the internal algorithm determines the HEX value of the decimal 
and assigns it as the devices ControlString (an internal CAPI parameter) which then fires an internal event to adjust the Multilevels

The colorchoosers are all associated to decimal values. There are not "dozens" to be specific the color chooser can have 16777215 possible values. That is the numeric decimal for #FFFFF

Specifically it is:

(RED*65536) + (GREEN*256) + BLUE

Setting this value does not work in a script either.
Programmatically, you have to set the CAPI control string.

Dim CAPI As HomeSeerAPI.CAPI.CAPIControl
                        CAPI = hs.CAPIGetSingleControl(HSRef, True, "Custom Color(value)", False, False)
                        CAPI.ControlString = "#FFFFFF" 'Set to whatever color you want
                        hs.CAPIControlHandler(CAPI)

[randy]

Rprade

...
The colorchoosers are all associated to decimal values. There are not "dozens" to be specific the color chooser can have 16777215 possible values. That is the numeric decimal for #FFFFF

...

I am aware of how many combinations there can be with 3 colors with 8 bit resolution. I probably wasn't clear - the drop down for the custom color device in an event has dozens of identical choices that have no correlation to anything.



The control type is supposed to be "Color Picker" which works fine in Device Manager, but not in events. HS should pop-up a color picker widget in an event and let you store the value, but that does not work. I'm guessing it is a bug.

[Moskus]

I'm guessing it is a bug.

I'd call it a missing feature, but I agree: We want that!

It's not really a bug, the software does exactly what it is told to do...

[DNATechnologySolutions]

Moskus is correct, and I guess that was what I was trying to point to.

The "logic" of ALL things Homeseer is key value pairs. The actual "status" of any device is housed as an integer with an associated status string. The Events page is only tied into to those values.

Even when you build your own plugin (believe me, I've tried) when it comes to the events page, you can only use the key/values.

The "color chooser" you are referring to is a utility available on the device page. This is used to programattically set the key/value for you. The end result is the same. The same rule applies if you build your own custom plugin with an advanced control page for the device, when it comes to the events it will only ever work with the end state.

In the case of the RGB controller, the end state of the color-chooser is actually irrelevant. The color chooser programmatically sets the value which programmatically sets the values of the actual color hue controls.

As Moskus indicated, it's a limitation with the HS3 web interface. You could make a feature request, but I wouldn't hold out for it. It would require a complete re-visitation of the framework the events were built on.

If you want a more immediate fix, I would encourage using a script.