"Scenes" Logic? (or lack thereof?)

[JimSpy]

I was a longtime user of HS2, and have returned after several years to HS3. One thing that I find confusing is the listing of "scenes" as being "on" or "off". I don't recall this being a "thing" in HS2, but maybe I'm wrong.

I think the source of my confusion is that I have never attempted to turn a scene "off." I don't even know what happens when you do that - does it reverse the state of all the devices? For example, if a scene turns on two lamps and turns another off, does turning off the scene shut off the two and turn the third on again? That seems impractical, especially for my purposes. Instead, my scenes simply follow other scenes with new instructions. And therefore, it is rather confusing for me to look at the main page and see that both "Sunset" and "Sunrise" are active.

Now, I'm sure this can be alleviated with some scripting, but, is there no other way? How do you all handle this?

[waynehead99]

It depends on the type of controller you are using. I have two, one being the envision 7 button type (cheap 40 dollar controller), and a leviton 4 button.

Both send the scene on command when looking at the logs and change the control accordingly (Lights up the on button), but the leviton is the only one that will send an off command if the same button is pressed again. The cheap 7 button sends another on command, can never turn it off.

I then just use these triggers to control events... easiest way to deal with it. You do have to associate each button with a scene in HS, but I set them to a dummy scene and don't add any devices. You have to do this to get the on and off event in the logs.

If your controller does send on and off... then figure each button can control 2 events (so my 4 button can do 8 events), and you can plan your events accordingly.

My understanding is the Cooper controller is the only one that works with HS to control the light status on the controller itself too. I haven't found a way to do that with the others I have.

[JimSpy]

It depends on the type of controller you are using. I have two, one being the envision 7 button type (cheap 40 dollar controller), and a leviton 4 button.

Both send the scene on command when looking at the logs and change the control accordingly (Lights up the on button), but the leviton is the only one that will send an off command if the same button is pressed again. The cheap 7 button sends another on command, can never turn it off.

I then just use these triggers to control events... easiest way to deal with it. You do have to associate each button with a scene in HS, but I set them to a dummy scene and don't add any devices. You have to do this to get the on and off event in the logs.

If your controller does send on and off... then figure each button can control 2 events (so my 4 button can do 8 events), and you can plan your events accordingly.

My understanding is the Cooper controller is the only one that works with HS to control the light status on the controller itself too. I haven't found a way to do that with the others I have.

Sounds more complicated than I would like. Wouldn't it be easier to have each event turn off the previous event? I think I will try that. Thanks!

[JimSpy]

Let me clarify a bit what I'm looking for. You seem to be talking about the light status on a wall switch (like my KeypadLinc), and that's an issue, too, but for another thread. I'm talking about in the web interface Device Utility page. I put together a "group" in my Insteon Groups page, and it creates a "device" on my main HS "Device Utility" page. In there, I call them "Scenes" (because that's what I'm used to from HS2). And so it will show "Scene Sunrise" as being "ON" during the day, but when Sunset comes, it still shows "Sunrise" as "ON", which doesn't make sense. I can go through and set each scene's status to "OFF" (or even null!) if I want, but that's a bit inelegant.

Perhaps the answer is to hide the "Scene" devices altogether, and just assume that the events that control them have fired.

Don't know why this wasn't an issue in HS2, that I can recall.

[JimSpy]

Chirp Chirp

I'd like to revitalize this thread, if possible.

Can anyone give me an idea of what happens when you "turn off" a scene? How do you use this functionality in your implementation?

Any input appreciated.