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jeffw_00
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Posted: December 07 2007 at 22:51 \| IP Logged

Hi - could someone walk me through something....
I am adding my first Controlinc to my house. I want to link it as a Controller of the PLC. Then I will create triggers PH to turn things on/off based on the received button presses. I've looked through the help file but

1) I've entered the Controllinc as a device - how do I link its buttons as Controllers of the PLC?

2) What Trigger ID #s correspond to the Controlinc main buttons (1 - 5 on/off?)

3) Is it possible to use presses of ALLON, ALLOFF for additional unique triggers?

Thanks very much
/j

Edited by jeffw_00 - December 07 2007 at 22:52

jbbtex
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Posted: December 08 2007 at 09:54 \| IP Logged

1)In Insteon explorer go to the Links Tab. Select your controller in the drop-down box labeled Insteon Device ID. Drag and drop your ControLinc from the left column into the Controller (of current device). Change the Group Number field for the ControLinc to the number of the button pair you want. If you're doing all five pairs, then do this five times.

2)I trigger off of Insteon Device Chg, with a Trigger ID corresponding to the ControLinc's ID. The Trigger ID # is the number of the button pair you want to use.

3)Probably, but I've never tried.

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bhlonewolf
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Posted: December 08 2007 at 14:02 \| IP Logged

3) set up the trigger ID to 255, the group broadcast for the CL. Works great!

jeffw_00
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Posted: December 08 2007 at 17:09 \| IP Logged

Thanks jbbtex - 1 and 2 worked fine, except. you should have mentioned that i needed to SAVE at the end of step 1.
8-}

bhlonewolf - Just changing the trigger id to 255 was insufficient - and I couldn't add a "link" with id 255 - you must have done something else?

thanks
/j

bhlonewolf
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Posted: December 08 2007 at 17:55 \| IP Logged

I'm looking at it now (and double check it works) -- so here's what it looks like. It's a trigger that runs a macro:

Trigger Type: Insteon Group In
Trigger Id: (my control linc ID)
Trigger Id Number: 255
Trigger Value: Off

The trigger fires when I hit all-off on the CL. Try that, if it's not working, not sure -- check the log and see if you're seeing the comm come across...

Edited by bhlonewolf - December 08 2007 at 17:55

jeffw_00
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Posted: December 08 2007 at 18:01 \| IP Logged

sorry bh - you must have something else set up.
When i use
Trigger Type: Insteon Device Chg
Trigger Id: (my controllinc ID)
Trigger ID Number: 1
Trigger Value: On

it works fine (I have it triggering a null macro), but when I change these to your values, I get nada

thanks
/j

bhlonewolf
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Posted: December 08 2007 at 18:40 \| IP Logged

Well if it's working, don't change it :)

However, I think a value of "1" would indicate a press on the first button, whereas 255 would be a group (every device linked to each of the CL's buttons).

jeffw_00
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Posted: December 08 2007 at 18:43 \| IP Logged

no - I'm saying I can get a trigger off of button 1, but NOT off button "255". So, no, I can't reproduce what you're doing with All-on, All-off. Are you sure you don't have something set somewhere else (for example, do you have the all-on/all-off buttons linked in insteon explorer?)

thanks
/j

bhlonewolf
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Posted: December 08 2007 at 19:12 \| IP Logged

No, they're not lined in the explorer, only buttons 1-5.

The first thing I'd recommend you do: take your control linc, and with the insteon explorer window open, hit all off. Do you see the command come across the SDM log?

If not, then that's the first problem :)

jeffw_00
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Posted: December 08 2007 at 19:15 \| IP Logged

yup- that's the first problem :-}

nada in the SDM log.

regular 10 buttons come across fine, though
/j

BeachBum
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Posted: December 09 2007 at 10:09 \| IP Logged

Jeff, have you linked the Insteon or X-10 devices you wish to control to the ALL ON or ALL OFF?

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jeffw_00
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Posted: December 09 2007 at 10:32 \| IP Logged

I don't link any devices directly, everything goes through the Powerlinc and PH. I don't know how to link the all-on, all-off buttons to the Powerlinc, it doesn't like "255" as a button #.

Maybe I'll ask over on the insteon forum....
/j

BeachBum
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Posted: December 09 2007 at 10:43 \| IP Logged

My understanding is that any devices physically linked to an ON/OFF pair will respond to the ALL ON/OFF whether it be Insteon or X-10. I see this when I use my ALL OFF. I not sure if this is true if PH does the linking.

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bhlonewolf
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Posted: December 09 2007 at 11:12 \| IP Logged

jeffw_00 wrote:

I think that may be the problem. If a device doesn't have any links, it won't broadcast a group command. Not sure why buttons 1-5 are working, though. You might want to try linking a few of the buttons and see if that helps.

dhoward
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Posted: December 09 2007 at 11:49 \| IP Logged

The problem is most likely a misunderstanding of Insteons "All On" / "All Off" functionality. I'll try to explain it the best I can...

Insteons All on / All Off is through group 255. Group 255 doesnt really exist as an actual group number (you shouldnt try to create links using group 255) and is instead the global group number. With the ControLinc, you create links to other devices using groups 1 thru 5 to correpsond to the ControLincs buttons 1 thru 5. These devices will then have a responder link in them for the ControLinc for groups 1 thru 5. Once these links exist, if you press the ControLincs All On or All Off button, the ControLinc will send an On or Off command to group 255. This command is broadcast on the Insteon network so all devices can hear. What will happen is that any Insteon device that hears the group 255 broadcast will check it's internal link database to see if it has *any* links from that device. If it does, then it will turn itself full on. It doesnt matter if the link is to group 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5. Since it has at least 1 link to that device, it will respond to the group 255 command. The important thing to note is that in order for a device to respond to the the All On or All Off, it *must* be linked as one of the other groups.

This is the way the Insteon handles All On / All Off functionality. You never really create links to group 255 and you cant tap add devices to the All buttons. All Insteon devices are pre-programmed to respond in this manner. What this also means is that the PLC has All On / All Off functionality as well. Just send a command using group 255 and every device that is linked as a responder to the PLC will take action.

HTH,

Dave.

jeffw_00
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Posted: December 09 2007 at 11:51 \| IP Logged

ok - no way to use them as dedicated buttons, thanks!

bhlonewolf
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Posted: December 09 2007 at 12:14 \| IP Logged

That makes sense. By the way, Jeff, just to clarify: in my setup, I *do* use All-off on the ControLinc to turn everything off, but in doing so, I also run a macro to do some other things.

What I'm still puzzled about is why you're not seeing the broadcast in the SDM log.

jeffw_00
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Posted: December 09 2007 at 12:46 \| IP Logged

Dave - could I ask you to go a bit further? In the case where I have all 5 controllinc buttons linked to the Powerlinc in PH, what would you expect to happen in PH when the ALL-on/off is pressed on that controllinc? Does it surprise you that I don't see anything in the SDM log?

thanks
/j

Edited by jeffw_00 - December 09 2007 at 12:46

cmhardwick
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Posted: December 09 2007 at 18:45 \| IP Logged

Dave,

I thought (maybe wrong hehehe) that on the controllinc, the all-on/all-off wasn't the group 255 all-on/all-off but ONLY for the devices linked to the controllinc on buttons 1 - 5.

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bhlonewolf
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Posted: December 09 2007 at 19:15 \| IP Logged

Just hit all-off on my controlLinc and this is what I get:

PLC:eventraw=02
PLC:receiveinsteonraw=02 09 4C A2 00 00 FF CF 13 00

If I interpret that correctly, it's:

02 = message
09 4C A2 = My Control Linc ID
00 00 = unused
FF = All Group (or 255, hence the trigger ...)
CF = Broadcast Message
13 = Off (11 is on)
00 = unused/extended data

Jeff, just for fun try linking multiple devices to a couple different control linc buttons. Then hit all off, and see if you can see the command come across the SDM log. It could be that no group broadcast is even sent.

I've tried this above with multiple CL's, with the same result. The first thing, though, is to see the communication -- so be sure to watch the SDM log.

EDIT: Cicero, you're right-- only devices linked in buttons 1-5 should respond. I think the problem here is that only one device (the PLC) is linked to the buttons.

Edited by bhlonewolf - December 09 2007 at 19:18

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