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    Too many fingers in the "Control" Pie

    I write this post today understanding that there are many ways to accomplish the same goal when utilizing HS3. I write this post in this forum as it directly affects lighting/Jowihue. I would like to get advice as to how others do this so I can develop a control plan for my situation.

    As I said above this involves lighting. I have a combination of GE/Jasco, Homeseer WD-100, and Phillips Hue bulbs with a Phillips Bridge. I have 5 Amazon Dot/Echos around the house and we like to control lighting primarily via voice command.

    I have HS3 standard running version .435. I have the Homeseer "SmartHome" V3 api running. I have the Jowihue plugin version 2.0.2.2 running. On my phone I have a Phillips Hue app and the Alexa app along with a custom HStouch control screen for individual lights (buttons that toggle power and sliders for brightness). I have not connected the Phillips Hue skill to Alexa.

    I say "Too many fingers in the Control Pie" from this standpoint. So I can control all the Hue bulbs from the Phillips Hue app on my phone, I can control all the lights (Phillips and Non-Phillips) from HS via the devices created when including the Z-Wave switches and the Hue bulbs via Jowihue and I can control the lights via the Alexa App on my phone or via voice command (we prefer voice command)

    When starting out with the Phillips app it created groups such as "Bedroom", Living Room, and All Lights. These groups had the appropriate Phillips Hue bulbs included. When I installed JowiHue these groups became devices in HS3. When discovering in Alexa these Groups were imported into Alexa as smart home devices. And now with the improved V3 API of the SmartHome skill you can use any devices discovered to create groups in the Alexa app.

    Additionally in HS3, devices can now be designated as "Voice Command" devices and you can customize the voice command. You can also customize the voice command in the Alexa app. Also you can designate Events in HS3 to be voice command (I haven't tried this yet so don't know what it looks like in the Alexa app, but you can also create "routines" in the Alexa app.

    I have two bedside table lamps equipped with Phillips Hue bulbs. One called "Chris Bed Lamp" (my wife's side of the bed) and "Chuck Bed Lamp" (my side of the bed). Those names are consistent in all apps, Phillips Hue, Jowihue/HS3, and Alexa. However in the Phillips Hue app and HS3/Jowihue they are included in the group "Bedroom" but, in the Alexa app I put them in a group named "Bed Lamps" and created a group named "Bedroom" that includes both of those plus the WD-100 controlled ceiling light.

    When I tell Alexa to "Set Bed Lamps (a group) to 50%" she does it. But then if I tell her to "Set Chuck Bed Lamp (an individual lamp) to 100%" she responds "ok" but the light never gets brighter. I have to go to manual control in any of the apps and adjust a slider to make it brighter or dimmer. I cannot say "On" or push an "On" control button and get 100%. I get whatever dim level it was set at.

    I think I want to simplify the control down to one main app being HS3/Jowihue, but I have the following questions or would like others recommendations in regards to those questions or overall "best practice" to integrate Zwave and Phillips Hue lighting controls with HS3/Jowihue/HStouch/Alexa.
    1. Never use the Phillips Hue app. Can I delete this from my phone?
    2. Delete the group devices that were created by the Phillips App from HS3. Can I do this?
    3. Will the "Scenes/Groups" function of Jowihue create groups that would include both Phillips and Non-Phillips lighting controls?
    4. If I can't do the groups in Jowihue should I then utilize the Group function of the Alexa App or create "Voice Events" in HS3 to accomplish the same thing.
    5. How can I make each individual Phillips light be superior to its "Group" when controlling dimming functions? Basically when I say "On" i want 100% brightness, when I say "Off" I want 0% brightness, and when I want something in between I will say "Set to XX percent". Same with buttons and sliders. If I have on/off buttons and a slider I want the same behaviour. If I am at some level of brightness and I say "On" or push an "On" button I want 100% brightness (the inverse of when I say "Off" or push an "Off button" and it turns off).


    This same "Issue" could also include a Logitech Harmony Hub and the Harmony App and a Harmony Plugin (3 available for HS3) and the integration with Alexa of the Harmony Skill.

    My personal opinion is beginning to be formed around one overriding control point.

    "One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them,
    One ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them"
    (JRR Tolkein Lord of the Rings)
    And that needs to be HS3.

    Would greatly appreciate answers/opinions!

    Chuck

    Current Date/Time: 4/29/2018 5:53:41 AM
    HomeSeer Version: HS3 Standard Edition 3.0.0.435
    Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium - Work Station
    System Uptime: 7 Days 18 Hours 5 Minutes 41 Seconds
    IP Address: 192.168.0.5
    Number of Devices: 208
    Number of Events: 55
    Available Threads: 400
    HSTouch Enabled: True
    Event Threads: 0
    Event Trigger Eval Queue: 0
    Event Trigger Priority Eval Queue: 0
    Device Exec Queue: 0
    HSTouch Event Queue: 0
    Email Send Queue: 0
    Anti Virus Installed: Microsoft Security Essentials

    Enabled Plug-Ins
    2.0.54.0: BLBackup
    3.0.14.0: BLLock
    1.0.3.0: BLShutdown
    2.0.22.0: BLUPS
    3.0.0.46: EasyTrigger
    2.0.2.2: JowiHue
    3.0.3.9: MeiHarmonyHub
    3.0.1.109: PHLocation
    3.0.6.2: SDJ-Health
    3.0.6554.33094: UltraMon3
    3.0.1.210: Z-Wave

    #2
    Originally posted by cfrudolphy View Post
    1. Never use the Phillips Hue app. Can I delete this from my phone?
    2. Delete the group devices that were created by the Phillips App from HS3. Can I do this?
    3. Will the "Scenes/Groups" function of Jowihue create groups that would include both Phillips and Non-Phillips lighting controls?
    4. If I can't do the groups in Jowihue should I then utilize the Group function of the Alexa App or create "Voice Events" in HS3 to accomplish the same thing.
    5. How can I make each individual Phillips light be superior to its "Group" when controlling dimming functions? Basically when I say "On" i want 100% brightness, when I say "Off" I want 0% brightness, and when I want something in between I will say "Set to XX percent". Same with buttons and sliders. If I have on/off buttons and a slider I want the same behaviour. If I am at some level of brightness and I say "On" or push an "On" button I want 100% brightness (the inverse of when I say "Off" or push an "Off button" and it turns off).
    Chuck,

    Few answers to your question:

    You can use the plugin without the Hue app. The only drawback might be that Philips has changed the update process for lights and bridge. So far it is a bit hit and miss for the plugin to update the firmware. I am sure this will be solved somewhere in the near future. The issue is that once updated, yu cannot test the process again.

    You can create and delete groups through the JowiHue plugin by going to the page Bridge maintenance. Het you can open the arrow with groups and edit name, delet groups, change contents in the group etc.

    I do not know what you mean with non-Philips lighting controls. If you want to group zwave and zigbee lights, then no, that is not possible. If you mean other brands of zigbee lights, which also can be connected to the Philips bridge, like IKEA, GE, or OSRAM zigbee lights, then yes you can group them.
    If you are using multiple bridges (like a Philips bridge and a deCONZ gateway) you can group lights residing on the same gateway.
    With Scenes you can combine lights and groups from multiple gateways in one scene without issues.

    As for the alexa question I cannot answer you as Alexa is not available in Holland still, so I hope someone with experiences with Alexa can chime in. But I think you should name lights and groups with the same name. By using the lights name you should control only one ligt and not the group I suppose?

    Wim
    -- Wim

    Plugins: JowiHue, RFXCOM, Sonos4, Jon00's Perfmon and Network monitor, EasyTrigger, Pushover 3P, rnbWeather, BLBackup, AK SmartDevice, Pushover, PHLocation, Zwave, GCalseer, SDJ-Health, Device History, BLGData

    1210 devices/features ---- 392 events ----- 40 scripts

    Comment


      #3
      Originally posted by w.vuyk View Post
      Chuck,

      Few answers to your question:

      You can use the plugin without the Hue app. The only drawback might be that Philips has changed the update process for lights and bridge. So far it is a bit hit and miss for the plugin to update the firmware. I am sure this will be solved somewhere in the near future. The issue is that once updated, yu cannot test the process again.

      You can create and delete groups through the JowiHue plugin by going to the page Bridge maintenance. Het you can open the arrow with groups and edit name, delet groups, change contents in the group etc.

      I do not know what you mean with non-Philips lighting controls. If you want to group zwave and zigbee lights, then no, that is not possible. If you mean other brands of zigbee lights, which also can be connected to the Philips bridge, like IKEA, GE, or OSRAM zigbee lights, then yes you can group them.
      If you are using multiple bridges (like a Philips bridge and a deCONZ gateway) you can group lights residing on the same gateway.
      With Scenes you can combine lights and groups from multiple gateways in one scene without issues.

      As for the alexa question I cannot answer you as Alexa is not available in Holland still, so I hope someone with experiences with Alexa can chime in. But I think you should name lights and groups with the same name. By using the lights name you should control only one ligt and not the group I suppose?

      Wim
      Thanks Wim for your reply and explanation. I think it is time for some experimentation and tinkering on my part.

      I do have a question though. Is there a hierarchy in control between groups of lights and the lights that make up that group? I have one Phillips bridge and for right now all bulbs are Phillips bulbs (also note that none of the Phillips bulbs are connected to a zwave dimmer switch). Let's say I set a group to a particular dim level of 50%, then turn that group off. If I then "Turn on" an individual light from that group I expect to get 100% but I only get 50%. I have to go to the slider and adjust it to 100%. Sometimes this doesn't "stick" and reverts back to 50%. This has occurred both with device control in the device control page of the HS3 website and with HSTouch controls.

      What I want is if I press a control button labeled "on" to get 100% brightness. If I press a control button labeled "off" to get 0% brightness (note "Off" always gives me 0%). If I adjust a slider I will get brightness somewhere in between 0% and 100%. This control should be regardless of any previous brightness settings and should work in this manner regardless of whether I am controlling a group of lights or an individual light.

      I hope my explanation makes sense.

      Sent from my KFFOWI using Tapatalk

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        #4
        I suppose you could use an event like below for each light. It adds more events but gives control over each individual light. Maybe someone else can combine the lights together to do the same.
        Attached Files

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