Match Brightness

I have two lamps, each is plugged into its own LampLinc.

I'm attempting to get them to both ramp up/down simultaneously. The match brightness action does a follow-the-leader where lamp A gets set, then lamp B mimics slightly delayed.

Is there a way to achieve this?

I have the result I want with bedroom nightstand lamps BOTH plugged into the SAME LampLinc, and the wires get hidden under the bed, but in the living room this is a no-go and need a new solution.

Use an INSTEON scene configured on your PowerLinc Modem (Interfaces menu -> INSTEON/X10 Power Line -> Manage INSTEON PowerLinc Links...). Select a blank PowerLinc group/scene. Optionally give it a name. Click the "New Link to Responder" button and select your first device. Set the brightness percentage and ramp rate, then repeat the New Link to Responder process for the other light. Click the "Sync Now" button and close the window when it's done updating the INSTEON device links. To execute that INSTEON scene form Indigo, within the action dialog, select INSTEON Actions -> Execute INSTEON Scene from the "Type" pop-up menu then select the PowerLinc scene you just created.

Nathan, that's actually one of the ways I have had it set up for a long time, if I just wanted the scene to [scene on] 0% - 60% [scene off] 60% - 0%, that works great.

What I failed to mention is lack of a dimmer control [slider] in iTouch for the pair.

If I execute the scene from a CP element, the pop-up UI only allows on/off , so I will only get 0% or 60% [not acceptable] but they ramp beautiful!

The last time I posed this question you suggested controlling lamp A and adding an AppleScript trigger to match lamp B to A.

That works, has slider control, but quite a lag. Exactly like the new match brightness action.

I just upgraded to v6, so that's why I'm revisiting this. Hoping there was some new feature that would make this work.

[jay (support)]

What you're looking for is not possible given the way the technologies that Indigo supports work.

One possible solution that I can think of (but haven't tried myself) might be to create multiple (around 10?) INSTEON scenes, each with a different brightness level. For example, scene 1 -> 10% brightness, scene 2 -> 20% brightness, scene 3 -> 30% brightness... scene 10 -> 100% brightness. Once those scenes are created you could use berkinet's Meta Device plugin to create a virtual dimmer device which would be presented in whatever control pages you have. When the brightness of that device changes, you'd use a device-change trigger to execute an embedded script which would then execute the correct INSTEON scene based on the new brightness level of the virtual dimmer. Assuming that you name the virtual dimmer "Virtual Dimmer" and each INSTEON scene/group something like "Living Room 100%", "Living Room 90%", etc, an example embedded AppleScript for this action would be something like:

Code: Select all

if brightness of device "Virtual Dimmer" > 90 then
   send insteon group instnTurnOn using name "Living Room 100%"
else if brightness of device "Virtual Dimmer" > 80 then
   send insteon group instnTurnOn using name "Living Room 90%"
else if brightness of device "Virtual Dimmer" > 70 then
   send insteon group instnTurnOn using name "Living Room 80%"
else if brightness of device "Virtual Dimmer" > 60 then
   send insteon group instnTurnOn using name "Living Room 70%"
else if brightness of device "Virtual Dimmer" > 50 then
   send insteon group instnTurnOn using name "Living Room 60%"
else if brightness of device "Virtual Dimmer" > 40 then
   send insteon group instnTurnOn using name "Living Room 50%"
else if brightness of device "Virtual Dimmer" > 30 then
   send insteon group instnTurnOn using name "Living Room 40%"
else if brightness of device "Virtual Dimmer" > 20 then
   send insteon group instnTurnOn using name "Living Room 30%"
else if brightness of device "Virtual Dimmer" > 10 then
   send insteon group instnTurnOn using name "Living Room 20%"
else if brightness of device "Virtual Dimmer" > 0 then
   send insteon group instnTurnOn using name "Living Room 10%"
else
   send insteon group instnTurnOff using name "Living Room 100%"
end if

Nathan,

Thanks for the advice. I'll put some more thought into my UI controls, but for now, at least I have an option that would seem to work.

Having an odd issue when setting up a match brightness action
for a couple garage light wall switches. Both are identical SwitchLinc relays switches
and control the same light.

When I set the trigger to fire on any change to switch 1, neither of the switches are listed
in the match brightness action device menu.

I could post a screen shot or two if needed but I have set up this type of trigger/action
before and haven't seen the issue.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Carl

It would seem the match brightness only applies to dimmer devices?
I tried some other relay type devices which also won't show in the MB device list.

Curious why the name of the Action is "Match Brightness (Light/Appliance Controls)
if it only applies to dimmable devices?

Thanks,

Carl

[jay (support)]

(Light/Appliance Controls) is the grouping that the action is in - so it's easier to find it when you edit an action. We combine light and appliance controls into a single group since the latter is a subset of the former.

I'm sorry...so the match brightness should work with relays/ appliances?

Thanks,

Carl

[jay (support)]

Um - no. Appliance (relay) devices don't have a "brightness" - they're either on or off.

OK, so maybe a match device state for non-dimming devices sometime?

Thanks,

Carl

[jay (support)]

Yep - I'm trying to decide if I want to add that as an option to the Device Group device type or create a different virtual device type, add it as a separate action, etc.

In the meantime, the script to do it is pretty simple:

Code: Select all

sourceDevice = indigo.devices[1234]  # id of the source device
if sourceDevice.onState:
    indigo.device.turnOn(5678)  # if source is on turn on destination
else:
    indigo.device.turnOff(5678)  # if source is off turn off destination

Perfect. Thanks a bunch.

Carl

Yep - I'm trying to decide if I want to add that as an option to the Device Group device type or create a different virtual device type, add it as a separate action, etc.

My vote would be to place "Match On/Off" in the same location as "Match Brightness". My workflow would have me looking in the same place for both actions.