Dimmer Extender - Brightness at a Different Rate Each Time

When I run the first example, it seems like it just sets the brightness to 20%, but not the default level. Am I on the right track?

Hi. You're correct. Dimmer Extender only sets the current brightness, not the default brightness. Setting default brightness is much more involved because the procedure and commands vary from firmware version and INSTEON engine version to version.

I've had an issue that once I use the Dimmer Extender on one of my devices, Indigo control over those devices ONLY dim at a ramp rate. For example, I created an action group to ramp my kitchen Island lights over 60 seconds. Now when I send a 100 instant on command to them, they ramp over 60 seconds anyway.

Have you seen these anywhere? I don't want to disable this plugin but it appears to be the only way to get command back to normal

Hi ryanbuckner.

Sending an "instant" on or off should always be instant and have no ramp rate at all. I've never seen an INSTEON module respond to an instant on or off with anything other than an instant condition, even with a very long default ramp rate.

Having said that though, I HAVE seen a number of INSTEON modules turn on or off (with a standard ON/OFF message) at the last used dimming rate given to it by the Dimmer Extender plugin. For example, with some of my newer modules, if I use Dimmer Extender to turn on a light to 100% at a rate of 6.5 seconds, it turns on in 6.5 seconds, even though the default ramp rate is 0.5 seconds. That's what's supposed to happen. However, if I turn the light off and then send a standard ON command, the light turns on in 6.5 seconds, even though it's supposed to come on in 0.5. Even tapping the top portion of the paddle on the dimmer when the light is off causes the light to come on at 6.5 seconds. This is not expected behavior. Unfortunately, it's not something that can be fixed in the Dimmer Extender plugin as it uses all the correct published commands from SmartLabs. The problem is that some newer SwitchLinc and other dimmers from SmartLabs seem to keep the last used dimming rate as the default rate rather than using the saved default rate. This, I'm sure, is one of the reasons Jay and Matt have not added per-command ramp rates to Indigo yet. Inconsistent behavior between modules and firmware versions.

The best workaround I've found is to always use Dimmer Extender to turn lights on and off. So in your situation, instead of sending a standard 100% ON message to the kitchen island lights, use Dimmer Extender to send a 100% on at 0.1 seconds (essentially identical to instant on).

Having issues to get this work.

The only command that works is increment by one.

If I try the set brightness to 90 by rate 6.5 nothing happens.
I have tried this on serveral lights from old to the latest.

Any ideas?

Thanks Randy

Hi Randy.

Thanks for the report. I couldn't say for sure why it's not working. Note that Dimmer Extender only works with SmartLabs INSTEON dimmers. It definitely will not work on X10 or any other protocol dimmers and may not work on non-SmartLabs INSTEON dimmers. Also, the extent of my testing was limited to the dimmers I have in my house which include mostly i2 and some i2CS version engines in firmware. The i1 engine devices will most likely not work with Dimmer Extender. If your devices are all SmartLabs INSTEON dimmers with i2 or i2CS firmware versions, enable debugging in the Dimmer Extender configuration, use Dimmer Extender to set a few dimmers to 90% brightness at 6.5 seconds and paste the debugging log into your reply. That should help me determine the problem.

Regards,
Nathan

Here are my results, no action by the lights.

Office Firmware 44 i2CS
Brightness value 90 Ramp Rate 6.5

Action Group Office dim
Dimmer Extender Debug setBrightness called.
Dimmer Extender Debug Device: Office (ID 1843110629)
Dimmer Extender Debug Brightness (source: custom): 90, class: <type 'int'>
Dimmer Extender Debug Rate: 6.5
Dimmer Extender Debug Delay: 0
Dimmer Extender Debug Selecting closest brightness percentage.
Dimmer Extender Debug Selecting closest ramp rate time.
Dimmer Extender Debug Ramp rate to display (logRate): 6.5, ramp rate in binary (binaryRate): 0b1100
Dimmer Extender Debug Combining binary brightness (binaryBrightness 0b1101) and binary rate (binaryRate 1100): 11011100. Resulting hex commands: (1) 0x2e, (2) 0xdc
Dimmer Extender Debug Adding standard INSTEON command 46 220 (integer format) to the command queue for device "Office".
Dimmer Extender Debug setBrightness call complete.
Dimmer Extender Debug runConcurrentThread: Detected 1 INSTEON commands waiting to be sent.
Dimmer Extender Debug runConcurrentThread: Processing command for "Office". Removing command from queue.
Dimmer Extender Debug runConcurrentThread: Sending command to "Office". Waiting for acknowledgement.
Dimmer Extender Debug reply: ackValue : 220
address : 31.69.93
cmdBytes : [46, 220]
cmdFunc : raw insteon command
cmdScene : None
cmdSuccess : True
cmdValue : None
replyBytes : []
Sent INSTEON "Office" on to 87 at ramp rate 6.5 sec.
Example INSTEON/X10 Listener Debug insteonCommandSent:
ackValue : 220
address : 31.69.93
cmdBytes : [46, 220]
cmdFunc : raw insteon command
cmdScene : None
cmdSuccess : True
cmdValue : None
replyBytes : []


FRWalkway Firmware 29 i1

Dimmer Extender Debug setBrightness called.
Dimmer Extender Debug Device: FRWalkway (ID 851589126)
Dimmer Extender Debug Brightness (source: custom): 90, class: <type 'int'>
Dimmer Extender Debug Rate: 6.5
Dimmer Extender Debug Delay: 0
Dimmer Extender Debug Selecting closest brightness percentage.
Dimmer Extender Debug Selecting closest ramp rate time.
Dimmer Extender Debug Ramp rate to display (logRate): 6.5, ramp rate in binary (binaryRate): 0b1100
Dimmer Extender Debug Combining binary brightness (binaryBrightness 0b1101) and binary rate (binaryRate 1100): 11011100. Resulting hex commands: (1) 0x2e, (2) 0xdc
Dimmer Extender Debug Adding standard INSTEON command 46 220 (integer format) to the command queue for device "FRWalkway".
Dimmer Extender Debug setBrightness call complete.
Dimmer Extender Debug runConcurrentThread: Detected 1 INSTEON commands waiting to be sent.
Dimmer Extender Debug runConcurrentThread: Processing command for "FRWalkway". Removing command from queue.
Dimmer Extender Debug runConcurrentThread: Sending command to "FRWalkway". Waiting for acknowledgement.
Example INSTEON/X10 Listener Debug insteonCommandSent:
ackValue : 220
address : 05.7D.2A
cmdBytes : [46, 220]
cmdFunc : raw insteon command
cmdScene : None
cmdSuccess : True
cmdValue : None
replyBytes : []
Dimmer Extender Debug reply: ackValue : 220
address : 05.7D.2A
cmdBytes : [46, 220]
cmdFunc : raw insteon command
cmdScene : None
cmdSuccess : True
cmdValue : None
replyBytes : []
Sent INSTEON "FRWalkway" on to 87 at ramp rate 6.5 sec.

Hi. Thanks for the debug logs.

That's odd indeed, especially for the Office light which should be working. I'm not surprised that the FRWalkway light isn't working as it's an i1 engine device which likely doesn't support the extended on/off commands. In both cases, though, the devices both acknowledge receipt of the command and confirm the sent value. So those devices don't appear to support the combined on/off+rate commands.

What brand and model of devices are they?

Do they both respond to standard ON and OFF commands?

Are you able to set default ramp rates on both of them in the Indigo device window?

indigo/insteon allows one to create a group and then send on/off commands to that group (but not dim).

i realize the dimmer extender works by sending "direct" commands to indigo devices, but i'm curious if there might be any way to extend the dimmer extender so that the start/stop brighten/dim and the dim/bright by 1 step commands could be sent to a group (aka "scene", aka a PowerLink link).

failing that, might it be possible to extend the dimmer extender so that it could operate on Device Group objects (that's the indigo built-in object for grouping devices)?

Thanks for the suggestion.

It's been a long time since I've looked at the Insteon specs I used to program Dimmer Extender. I don't remember seeing any Insteon method of seeing a dim/brighten by 1 to an Insteon group. As far as I can remember. If such a group command does exist in the published Insteon spec, it's conceivable that Dimmer Extender could provide that functionality.

Operating on an Indigo device group might actually be harder as the Dimmer Extender commands are very Insteon specific whereas Indigo device groups can include non-Insteon devices. Determining which device group members were Insteon and which weren't would be tedious, and if only some were, the plugin would only work on the Insteon members and none of the others (which would kind of defeat the purpose I'd think).

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll keep them in mind for future updates.

[jay (support)]

Here's another idea to add to the plugin: viewtopic.php?p=123061#p123061

Here's another idea to add to the plugin: viewtopic.php?p=123061#p123061

Feels good logging a wish list item doesn't it?

Hey Jay. Thanks for sharing.

As I don't have any Z-wave devices that support the dim start/stop and brighten start/stop functions, and likely won't get any soon, adding Z-wave device support along side the existing INSTEON Dimmer Extender support probably won't happen. At least not in time to help the original topic poster. It's good to know what features people are looking for, though, for possible future development projects.

[matt (support)]

As it turns out there are discrete start/stop dimming (and brightening) Z-Wave commands, so the logic needed to implement the new actions is simple. Thus we'll probably just add it to the core Z-Wave plugin...

[jay (support)]

I was more thinking of the threaded "send repeated brighten/dim commands" part of Matt's suggestion.

Hey guys. Thanks for the feedback. IMO, the Z-wave brighten/dim start/stop commands will be more intuitive to access for people if implemented as part of the Indigo package rather than a 3rd party plugin.

As for the repeated brighten/dim commands, my main concern would be network traffic (Z-wave or INSTEON). In any case, it's something I'll keep in mind.