h_sqd Posted May 29, 2014 Share Posted May 29, 2014 I am trying to clean up some loose ends on my own system design with the blessing of my local dealer, who lets me access his dealer portal so I can keep things updated and tweaked as needed. Given that the project has evolved from about 1.7 up to 2.5.3, I'm pretty happy with the limited number of things that I couldn't work out, particularly with the help I get from lurking on this site. So here is what I'm stuck on at the moment. Old style 6 button keypad (KPZ-681 driver) linked to two old style switches (LSZ-101 driver) and four Advanced Lighting Scenes (successfully converted from standard). In connections, I've linked the switches/scenes to the respective buttons using the Toggle Button function. (Note: all these functions work fine on the iPhone buttons.) At this point, nothing happens with just this done when pushing the buttons on the 6-button keypad. Next, I go to the Programming page and have tried a variety of different coding scenarios with no particular success -- given my newbie status. This was initially done several system revisions ago, so things are now a bit different in what is available to change to. I've reached the point where I can get the desired action by highlighting the top action and hitting the execute button in Pro. However, if I go over and push the comparable button on the 6-button switch, some action will take place, but nothing like the command coming through the Pro page. (I've done refreshes, etc.) So with all that preamble, I'm curious about what I'm missing. For one thing, the samples in the latest 2.5.3 manual do not reflect what the Pro programming page offers. Secondly, why should any programming be needed, unless I want some led color change, or possibly to invoke a delay? On a more rhetorical point, why aren't there several sample programs for such basic stuff as toggling a lighting scene? The few offered before got close, but don't reflect the current coding choices available (as far as I can tell). There seemed to be no particularly consistent rules wrt using delays, stops, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILoveC4 Posted May 29, 2014 Share Posted May 29, 2014 Post screenshots please. I've had Control4 since the 1.2 days (2006) and I can tell you the way it's setup/programmed hasn't changed hardly at all in Composer. Sent from my Droid MAXX via Tapatalk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
h_sqd Posted May 29, 2014 Author Share Posted May 29, 2014 DanH, I've mucked around a bit, but here are a couple of examples, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brucecampbell Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 You have code under your button 1 press that will trigger another press of button 1.I'm not sure exactly how C4 handles this, but it would basically create an infinite loop resulting in a stack error. removing the first line of code will go a long way to helping your cause. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
h_sqd Posted June 11, 2014 Author Share Posted June 11, 2014 Thanks, Bruce. That was quite helpful. I've now made it through to the point that the six button functions are nominally working correctly. However, the next step (which I notice happens on the iPhone app, too) is getting the status condition of the button LEDs to reflect the current status of the lighting scene they would have controlled, if pushed directly. In other words, there seems to be a need for an almost complete shadow control system that does nothing but keep the status of things consistent with what other control points have invoked. Thinking back on some of the 'random' changes I made to finally get things to behave as intended, I realize that it it still seems a bit confusing that the 'connections' invoked for, say, a light switch to a lighting scene appear redundant to what the 'programming' mode can establish. Some of the 'bad' behavior may in fact be that redundant control. If so, why have both? Is there a rule of thumb to do everything possible in connections and only invoke programming for higher level activities? (I'm ignoring the obvious things like 'lights on at sunset, etc.') Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cdepaola Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 Ok, some questions to make sure we understand what you have and what your trying to do... You have a scene connected to a button on your 6-button keypad?Your scene has a toggle scene? If you haven't set-up a toggle scene then it won't, well toggle...Are the buttons with a scene connected to them set-up to "Follow Bound Load"? If the answers to the above are yes then you don't need any programming to activate your scenes or change LED's, thats all handled with your connection. If all you need to do is control the scene the connection is the easiest, however if you have more advanced functionality that your trying to accomplish then programming may be the best bet. More options equal greater flexibility and potential. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
h_sqd Posted June 11, 2014 Author Share Posted June 11, 2014 fire/medic, 1. re: standalone (advanced) lighting scenes. When converted to an advanced scene, Pro created a toggle version, too. To avoid any confusion (ha!), when I turn the scene off in the button programming, I 'deactivated' the scene, as opposed to 'activate' the toggle version. I assume these are essentially equivalent. This seems to work fine when pushing the buttons in the 6-B switch. 2. 'Follow bound load' was a bit confusing, but I have the four scenes which are not linked in the 'connections' tab directly to the switch checked for 'bound'. As said above, they respond correctly when directly pushed at the button, but get 'lost' when changed remotely via iPhone, etc. I've also noticed that when changing some of the programming and doing a refresh of the system, it sometimes takes 2-3 load cycles before things start behaving as expected. It also will often work perfectly with the 'execute' button in Pro, but may or may not work at the actual button push. Past experience has shown that these quirks never happen to regular users. Ha! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cdepaola Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 So the issue is when using MyHome? Do you have a custom button programmed or are you using the Scene tab under lights? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
h_sqd Posted June 11, 2014 Author Share Posted June 11, 2014 Actually, I don't use MyHome. I'm using the C4 iPhone app and it recognizes all the scenes, etc. quite well. The only issue with it is, again, forgetting the current status of a scene and having the 'on' glow in the screen button being out of sync with the actual status. If I go into the settings on the iPhone app, I can re-sync and everything is back as intended. (Obviously that is not useful in a day to day situation.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cdepaola Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 The C4 ios app is MyHome... Anyway the question still exists are you activating scenes from the app via the Scene Tab or via a custom button? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
h_sqd Posted June 11, 2014 Author Share Posted June 11, 2014 Sorry, I always thought MyHome was yet some other thing I had to sign up for. My iPhone apps are legacy from several years ago when they were discrete licenses bought from the dealer. (Haven't bothered to see if that is essentially the same thing, or if I have to buy something twice.) I've done nothing directly with the app, except to sync it in the controller settings page. The app loads my rooms and any discrete lights or scenes in each room with nothing done by me, except to sort the buttons in Pro in the order I want them to display. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SMHarman Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 You are thinking of 4Sight which gives remote MyHome access. Check the name of the app on your I/Android. Sent from my LT26i using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
h_sqd Posted June 11, 2014 Author Share Posted June 11, 2014 Duh! Sorry. I'm inherently immune to marketing flummery, especially when a company keeps changing what they call stuff over time. Whenever the app would get lost and not find the controller, it would always start steering me to some external sign up that was probably the 4Sight remote stuff. So back to the base issue at the moment, the attached screen shot shows how I currently have one of the scenes tied to a 6-way button. This is one where there is no connection invoked back on the connection page. Are the delay/stop steps appropriate? Is there a way here to have the function seek a new status without being triggered by another push of the button? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 the delays aren't doing anything where they are. What is your intention? Sent from my XT1060 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cdepaola Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 Can I ask why not just have this scene connected to the button? Going to be far easier and nothing your doing here is special? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
h_sqd Posted June 12, 2014 Author Share Posted June 12, 2014 msg, I had seen that in some examples where the delay kept things from firing too fast and beating a status change. Again, it was a monkey see, monkey do for me. I tried various other combinations and would often get a flicker or other indication of a relay race behavior. So the intention was to get the action to just do as intended -- nothing more. f/m, had the 'connections' only tied back to the switch originally and it never did anything as expected. As always, I could have had something wrong, but I've done quite a few other things like A/V switching that work well. I think what is unique here is that the 6-button switch has no on/off states itself, just the pushing or releasing of each button. Somehow having each button reflect the state of the function it controls seemed to not be intuitively obvious. I do have that happening now, correctly, except for the remotely caused state change reflecting the LED color back at the switch. At least I'm getting closer to something that works OK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cdepaola Posted June 12, 2014 Share Posted June 12, 2014 Connections to scenes work flawlessly including state changes, just saying. The delay really isn't doing anything within this programming. You mention using a legacy version of Ios MyHome. Are you using the most up to date version or an older version? If it's not an updated version at least equal to your version of director that very well could be the issue. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
h_sqd Posted June 12, 2014 Author Share Posted June 12, 2014 f/m, I always load the latest ios app. What I was referring to was the original method of getting a license for external (non C4) devices. IIRC they were coupons in a dealers book and were not cheap: something like $300 ea. My impression was that those would be scrap, if I went for whatever the current scheme is. I'll go back and try a fresh connections hookup, but I'm not encouraged by what I saw before. Thanks for all the suggestions, everyone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.