Can a button be programmed to mimic a dimmer without bindings?

[akg4y]

Id like my button keypads to mimic a dimmer's control using programming in HE rather than bindings (so that I can later change the function of said button if needed without having to call a dealer), is that possible? Basically can you program a button to dim a light up/down only while the button is being held, and have it remember if the last action was to dim up or dim down and do the opposite without making a new variable for each button?

[ILoveC4]

That's going to be really tricky, if it's even possible.

I'll think through what that would look like.

[akg4y]

What about just the dimming while holding down the button thing... I can see how to get lights to ramp etc, but the dim only while holding down the button action doesnt seem possible unless there is another programming trick Im missing.

[neildilgee]

Interesting. There are many ways of getting roughly what you want but I suppose the easiest way would be to do it two different lighting scenes " up and down " and variables to stop it while its doing that. But like IloveC4 said, very tricky. I'm not at home this week but when I get home ,I will definitly experiment. Great idea. Its not always nice to go through the whole menu.

[akg4y]

I just dont understand how you can stop the dimming in progress... maybe have a numeric variable on the release of the button store the light level and then immediately set the light level to that value? Like this..

On button press

if LastLightChange is TRUE

Ramp lights up to 100% over 8 seconds.

Set LastLightChange to False

Stop

if LastLightChange is False

Ramp lights to 0% over 8 sec

Set LastLightChange to True

Stop

On button release

LastLightLevel = LIGHT_LEVEL

Set (Wetbar lights) to LIGHT_LEVEL

Stop

I think that would work for the dimming and stopping right? Now the issue would be how to also program in if the button is just tapped not held then to ramp the lights to 100% or 0% depending on either the LastLightChange value or if the lights are on.

[akg4y]

On a related note, it would be nice if Composer/ComposerHE also gave the option to ramp lights at a constant speed, ie 10% every second. That way if a light is 20% on and you want to dim it to 0% it can dim at the same rate as a light that is 100% on, ie it will take 2 seconds versus 10 seconds. The way it is currently set up both would take 10 seconds so the 20% light will only dim 2% a second whereas the 100% light would dim at 10%/second.

[ILoveC4]

I haven't tried this, so I don't know if it will work or not, but under the Device Actions for a dimmer there are commands for press top button, press bottom button, release top button, and release bottom button.

Why don't you try saying "When button 1 on xxxkeypad is pressed -> Press top button on xxxdimer", and doing the same for release?

Give that a whirl and let me know how it works. I would try, but I have a ton of programming on these keypads already and don't want to change it all this morning...sorry =)

[ILoveC4]

Here is a screencap of the dimmer selections I was discussing in case you have a hard time finding it.

[akg4y]

Hm interesting... that looks like it should work. Ill try it tonight.

[ILoveC4]

Hm interesting... that looks like it should work. Ill try it tonight.

Yeah, let me know how it works. To be honest, I hadn't noticed that before. I haven't ever looked for it though either.

[akg4y]

Tried is just now and that works like a charm, so now I need to implement a tap to 100% on, hold to dim function and then it will basically mimic the light switch. I guess Ill also need a variable to keep track of whether or not the last action was to increase or decrease the light level.

[ILoveC4]

Tried is just now and that works like a charm, so now I need to implement a tap to 100% on, hold to dim function and then it will basically mimic the light switch. I guess Ill also need a variable to keep track of whether or not the last action was to increase or decrease the light level.

Are you trying to use the same button to turn the light both up and down?

[akg4y]

Yeah, tap to toggle it, hold to dim up or down based on whether or not you dimmed up or down before... or the easier way would just be dim down if >50% and dim up if <50%.

[akg4y]

So I thought the 'push top button' and 'push bottom button' would do the trick, but they dont really... they only go to 100% on or completely off with a ramp up/down. I cant get it so that if I hold the button for 2 seconds it goes to 50% etc.