Is it possible to set a SwitchLinc (Dimmer or Relay) LED brightness using Indigo similar to how one can set the LED backlight brightness of KeypadLincs? I know it's possible to manually set the LED brightness from the SwitchLinc directly (by holding SET for 3 seconds, 3 times then holding the UP or DOWN paddle to get the desired LED brightness, then press SET to confirm). I'm thinking that if it's possible to set the SwitchLinc LED brightness manually, it might be a pokeable or INSTEON raw accessible setting within Indigo. Any suggestions?

We'll look into it.

support wrote:We'll look into it.

Cool. Thanks Matt.

i'd like to speak up for the value of being able to configure these kinds of things from indigo. makes having a lot of devices in the house much more manageable.

in addition, if brightness can be changed by a direct command and that is supported as an indigo action control light/appliance "verb" (like the new beep command) then this could become a cool way to provide feedback, a confirmation, or a warning to the user.

So far, I've struck out on this one. I'm not seeing any LED brightness command for the SwitchLinc documented, and I just tried the command we use for the KeypadLincs and it did not work.

That said, if anyone has seen other software that can remotely control the brightness of the SwitchLinc LEDs (not KeypadLincs -- we do that already), then let me know and I'll dig into it a bit more.

Hey, thanks for checking on this Matt! I might try googling around and seeing if HouseLinc, or some other software does this for comparison.

support wrote:... if anyone has seen other software that can remotely control the brightness of the SwitchLinc LEDs (not KeypadLincs -- we do that already), then let me know and I'll dig into it a bit more.

there is a claim in the smarthome forums that the ISY controller can set the LED brightness for switchlincs with firmware v.38, but not with earlier versions.

Hmmm... I wonder if the command stopped working in the latest i2CS firmware with the SwitchLincs. That is what I tried with no success.

support wrote: ... if anyone has seen other software that can remotely control the brightness of the SwitchLinc LEDs (not KeypadLincs -- we do that already), then let me know and I'll dig into it a bit more.

It looks as though HouseLinc 2 can set LED brightness as a triggered action (Event) according to page 13 of their published manual here. Of course, it doesn't specify which devices are supported, but I suspect most are, as that feature is specifically listed on the Smarthome product page as an often-requested feature that was implemented in the latest version.

I've just gotta say, Matt... you and Jay should be commended for the quality of your product. Many of the features Smarthome lists as new to their latest version of HouseLinc 2 have been available in Indigo for years. Indigo really is a competitive home automation product, on any platform.

I should point out that the neither the manual page nor the product page you reference above don't say what modules - only a generic "Set LED Brightness", which most likely means for KPLs (which we know how to do). It doesn't appear from any of the API docs that it works for SwitchLincs regardless of what those other forums say - though the API docs are often incomplete.

Thanks - we've spent considerable time making our INSTEON support as fully-featured as possible. Sometimes to the detriment of other features...

jay wrote:I should point out that the neither the manual page nor the product page you reference above don't say what modules - only a generic "Set LED Brightness"...

I know. (As I'd already conceded in my last post).

jay wrote:... though the API docs are often incomplete.

Not surprising. I also wouldn't be surprised if SmartLabs included the ability to set SwitchLinc LED brightness in HouseLinc using (publicly) unpublished commands. It wouldn't be the first time a hardware designer kept a few things "close to the vest" to give themselves a bit of a competitive sales advantage.

I managed to find a SwitchLinc in my house with firmware version 38 - and the KPL command to set the LED brightness worked. Interestingly, I have a SwitchLinc Relay with firmware 3A (which is greater than 38) and it doesn't work on that one.

I've sent an email to Smarthome asking for a definitive list of keypadlinc and switchlinc (both relay and dimmer) firmware versions that support the LED brightness setting. We can of course just send the command to any device and hope it works but that doesn't feel particularly user-friendly. At the very least at least we can publish the list for people to easily figure out if there device supports it or not.

jay (support) wrote:I managed to find a SwitchLinc in my house with firmware version 38 - and the KPL command to set the LED brightness worked. Interestingly, I have a SwitchLinc Relay with firmware 3A (which is greater than 38) and it doesn't work on that one.

Very interesting indeed! (And good to know the command is consistent, at least with that firmware, ha).

At the very least at least we can publish the list for people to easily figure out if there device supports it or not.

I like that idea. I appreciate all the effort you and Matt have put into looking into this option for us.

Jay as I understand from Steve at insteon, on the PC it is possible to trigger the LEDs to actually turn off and on via a schedule or trigger. I think he was referencing ISY. Not sure what firmware version though. Stated that he has them programmed to go off at 10pm and turn back on the next day. Pretty cool if Indigo could dos this!

Also a quick thanks to the original author of this thread as I did not know the procedure to set the brightness from the switch. Appreciate the knowledge.

Unless it's using a completely undocumented feature, there is no way to turn LEDs off completely. The command you send to set the global LED brightness is documented to accept values from 17-127. I tested and found you can actually send 0-127. However, sending 0 doesn't turn the LED off completely - it's still on but pretty dim. Of course, there's no positive value lower than 0 which leads me to believe that the global LED brightness command won't turn the LED off completely and there are no other documented LED brightness commands.