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Lazyman
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| Posted: February 15 2006 at 21:05 | IP Logged
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I am using PowerHome with Insteon devices. I would like to have my dimmers do different things depending on the time of day. For example, when I turn on a light at 8:00 pm, I would like it to turn on full quickly. However, at 11:30 p.m, I would like it to ramp up to 25%.
Can you point me in the right direction to accomplish this. I am willing to spend the time learning to write the commands but am not sure where to start.
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TonyNo
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| Posted: February 15 2006 at 23:18 | IP Logged
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First, I would think you would use the switch to trigger a macro (or put a formula into the trigger) that checked the time an turned the dimmers on to the appropriate level. I also believe that you don't want the switch linked to the lights; if so, they would just come up to the normal On brightness.
Second, since this calls for an Insteon trigger, you can't do it until they are supported. 
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dhoward
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| Posted: February 16 2006 at 00:04 | IP Logged
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It cant be done  (at least not with SwitchLincs). This isnt because of PowerHome, it's just not capable with Insteon.
With a standard SwitchLinc, when you press the on paddle, the load will go on to whatever is the current local level. Theres no way to tell it NOT to turn on its load and instead just send a signal (presumably to PowerHome) so that a decision can be made to either go full on or 25% on and then have PowerHome control the light. You could almost work around it by having PowerHome fire a timed event at 11:30 pm where it would poke a new local level into the SwitchLincs EEPROM for a value of 25%. PowerHome CAN do this, but unfortunately the SwitchLinc only reads this EEPROM setting when it is powered on (you would have to pull the little "set" button out for a few seconds and then push it back in).
With KeypadLincs, you have a little more flexibility (not with the main top and bottom buttons...they work just like a SwitchLinc). The auxiliary buttons can be configured to just send a signal to the PLC. PowerHome could then sense this signal and fire a trigger which could among other things check the time of day and perform some desired action such as turning the KeypadLincs light on at 25%. Alas, were not quite there as the current version of PowerHome does not yet have Insteon triggers (the next beta will). You could work around this by assigning an X10 address to the switch. PowerHome does currently support X10 triggers.
An idea has just occurred. If a SwitchLinc was configured such that it's local level was "resume dim" (this is done by turning the light on and dimming all the way down to 0 and then pressing the "set" button once), you may be able to do something. What Im thinking of is that the SwitchLinc is configured for resume dim. This means that the light will turn on to whatever level it was at when it was turned off. During the day, this would typically be set to full brightness. Along comes 11:30. PowerHome fires a timed event and sends an Insteon command to the switchlinc to turn ON at 0%. From a users point of view, nothing would appear to have happened. Sometime later, someone manually switches the light on. I believe the light will turn on at 0% and will also send a signal to the PLC that the light was turned on. When PowerHome Insteon triggers are enabled, PowerHome could then turn around and send an ON command to the switchLinc so that it would turn on at 25%.
Might be something to play with,
Dave.
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TonyNo
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| Posted: February 16 2006 at 08:12 | IP Logged
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Umm, yeah. That's what I get for posting when I'm tired! 
Good thinking on the Resume Dim to 0%! Seems like it should work.
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dhoward
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| Posted: February 16 2006 at 17:16 | IP Logged
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Heh, been there, done that Tony. Your idea would work though. You'd just have the light blind you for that instant before it dimmed down  .
On looking over the post a second time, I see that I didnt address the variable ramprate issue. With a switchlinc, there is just no way to do this or work around it with a trick. The local ramprate is in the EEPROM just like the local ramprate and even though PowerHome could poke this value in, the device only reads the value on startup.
However, if the light to be controlled is a member of a multi-way circuit, you could get your desired results on all switches except the load switch. In Insteon, multi-way circuits are controlled virtually with only 1 switch actually switching the load. The other switch/es control the load switch. You could get what you want on the non-load switches by not linking them to the load switch and instead linking them to the PLC. PowerHome (when it gets Insteon triggers) could then send the proper level to the load switch. If groups were created between the load switch and the PLC, then you could even get the multiple ramprates that you desire.
Dave.
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PowerHome Messageboard : PowerHome Programming
Topic: Different commands depending on time
