Lighting Plans?

[jr219]

Hello,

I'd like to hear from some other members as to how they setup their kitchen lighting scenes using keypads. I'd like to automate the lighting in the kitchen/breakfast nook/family room and garage foyer. Trying to decide where to put switches, where to put keypads and the functions they will perform. The kitchen will also have a touchpad.

I'm thinking 6 button touchpad in each entry pathway to the kitchen, and a 3 button keypad by the garage door for (hello/goodbye/foyer light).. Not sure about the functions for the 6 button. I'd love to hear what scenes others do in their kitchen/Family Room, etc.

Thanks!

-jr

[Letran]

All OFF is Fairly common

I have a SECURE scene that lights up all doorways in the house. It gives me light to go around and check them at night.

Performance on and off that turns off all lights and leaves a dimmed light in the piano hall

Dining Scene for formal dinners

When watching a movie with the lights turned off pressing PAUSE will dim lights and turn kitchen lights on to pick popcorn. Pressing PLAY ramp them off slowly

All of my switches are also timed to turn itself off after a certain time depending on the room. Double tap doubles the time or have a longer time period. Triple tap turns them on indefinitely but the LED lights up red to warn that the light will not turn itself off. Bottom triple tap turns off all lights and or room also.

I've programmed too many over time can't think of them all. Think pathways, stairs lighting. ease of use etc. Good luck and have fun

[jr219]

All OFF is Fairly common

I have a SECURE scene that lights up all doorways in the house. It gives me light to go around and check them at night.

Performance on and off that turns off all lights and leaves a dimmed light in the piano hall

Dining Scene for formal dinners

When watching a movie with the lights turned off pressing PAUSE will dim lights and turn kitchen lights on to pick popcorn. Pressing PLAY ramp them off slowly

All of my switches are also timed to turn itself off after a certain time depending on the room. Double tap doubles the time or have a longer time period. Triple tap turns them on indefinitely but the LED lights up red to warn that the light will not turn itself off. Bottom triple tap turns off all lights and or room also.

I've programmed too many over time can't think of them all. Think pathways, stairs lighting. ease of use etc. Good luck and have fun

Thanks. So you think having a 6 button in each switch-bank while entering a room is likely a good idea?

If it wasn't retro, I'd likely keep things clean by hiding the switches and putting a single keypad or two in the switch bank locations to get rid of most of the clutter.

A single button could cycle through a number of scenes, right? and then have an all off button at the bottom? How many different click signatures can be detected on each button? (i.e.: single, double triple). Also, does the tapping of upper and lower of a switch *always* control the load or can the load be controlled independently of the actual buttons?

thanks!

-jr

Thanks!

-jr

[Letran]

Thanks. So you think having a 6 button in each switch-bank while entering a room is likely a good idea?

6-button gives u options and for the price difference its a no brainer BUT having a little button to push on the RUN or frequently turn on and off could be a bother sometime. I've got about 20x6 buttons given the choice i'd switch a couple of them to a 3-button. 6-button gives u a lot of flexibility.

I have a 6-button on each room but I use them for music control (vol-up, down etc) the switches double and triple taps on are ussually enough for light scenes.

If it wasn't retro, I'd likely keep things clean by hiding the switches and putting a single keypad or two in the switch bank locations to get rid of most of the clutter.

I'm not a big fan of panelized lighting. I like my switches nearby. Less complicated for visitors and works during system down time

A single button could cycle through a number of scenes, right? and then have an all off button at the bottom? How many different click signatures can be detected on each button? (i.e.: single, double triple). Also, does the tapping of upper and lower of a switch *always* control the load or can the load be controlled independently of the actual buttons?

the top and button tapping will always control the load. Each end will have 3 independent programmable taps. (you can also do 4 or 5 but that gets complicated)

Top - single tap press or release, Double tap press or release, triple tap press or release.

Bottom - single tap press or release, Double tap press or release, triple tap press or release.

there are also options in between, but we'll keep things simple for now

[ILoveC4]

Don't go above triple tap, and even then use them sparingly.

My wife is really cool, smart and understanding, but she is not interested in anything more then the occasional double tap, or occasional press and hold.

We ALWAYS use doubletaps to turn everything BEHIND you off. So as you're in the entry way to the master suite, a double press on OFF will turn everything the master suite off. At the bottom of the stairs, a double tap OFF turns everything upstairs off. I could go on and on.

Also....6 buttons confuse people. ESPECIALLY if you have multi-taps on each button. I have bunch of six button keypads, and they confuse people even with labels. It is funny really. People just don't expect it. In our kitchen we have the dimmer for the cans also control the switch for the under cabinet lights. So for example if the kitchen can lights are off, and you press the button of the dimmer for the kitchen can lights, it turns the under cabinet lights on. And vice verse. If the lights are on and you press the top button (which would turn them on) it toggles the under cabinet lights.

Little things like that keep it from being TOO confusing.

We have a lot of company over to our house, and even people that come 2-3 times per year still struggle with multi-taps.

Remember that anything you are going to need the wife/kids/guests to do needs to be kept simple.

[JP Rizal]

Also....6 buttons confuse people. ESPECIALLY if you have multi-taps on each button. I have bunch of six button keypads, and they confuse people even with labels. It is funny really. People just don't expect it. In our kitchen we have the dimmer for the cans also control the switch for the under cabinet lights. So for example if the kitchen can lights are off, and you press the button of the dimmer for the kitchen can lights, it turns the under cabinet lights on. And vice verse. If the lights are on and you press the top button (which would turn them on) it toggles the under cabinet lights.

.

Funny I feel the other way around. Having 3 extra buttons (as oppose to 3 button keypad) allows you to separate programming therefore avoiding multi-taps all together.

I would argue that the way YOU will program the 6-buttons will determine if it is confusing or not on any keypad. I regret that I do not have enough 6-buttons. Most of the rooms I have to cram the programming to the top and bottom taps. The rooms that I have 6-buttons they are clearly label and I could have each button do a single tap and the led also tells me if the status has changed.

just my .02 cents

[ILoveC4]

Also....6 buttons confuse people. ESPECIALLY if you have multi-taps on each button. I have bunch of six button keypads' date=' and they confuse people even with labels. It is funny really. People just don't expect it. In our kitchen we have the dimmer for the cans also control the switch for the under cabinet lights. So for example if the kitchen can lights are off, and you press the button of the dimmer for the kitchen can lights, it turns the under cabinet lights on. And vice verse. If the lights are on and you press the top button (which would turn them on) it toggles the under cabinet lights.

.[/quote']

Funny I feel the other way around. Having 3 extra buttons (as oppose to 3 button keypad) allows you to separate programming therefore avoiding multi-taps all together.

I would argue that the way YOU will program the 6-buttons will determine if it is confusing or not on any keypad. I regret that I do not have enough 6-buttons. Most of the rooms I have to cram the programming to the top and bottom taps. The rooms that I have 6-buttons they are clearly label and I could have each button do a single tap and the led also tells me if the status has changed.

just my .02 cents

I like 6 buttons. I have a six button in ALMOST every room in my house. That said, guests almost always look at them with a confused look.

I always use the bottom two for volume control, the top two for lights, and the middle two vary a little bit from room to room.

I have never owned a 3-button keypad. It's either two button or six button for me.

[CFUG]

I just installed a handful of 3BT units. These unloaded the music portion of all my 6BT KPs. Source toggle, three-stage VOL and OFF in that order. People are warming-up to them as opposed to the 6BT which never got handled by anyone other than myself.

[brucecampbell]

I use a 6 button and 3 button ganged together in multiple locations.

each of the 6 button is simply bound to a dimmer, enabling direct control of the individual light circuit.

the top 2 on the 3 button are scenes while the bottom is all off.

I often want to control on/off on a single circuit so this works well.

I also use the 'movie' scene and pause/off ramps up a few lights while play restores back to the movie scene - excellent for toilet/snack breaks.

I don't label any of my buttons, so my guests just have to hit buttons until they get what they want.

however having one button turn a light on/off seems to make sense to any users pretty quickly. It's also pretty handy that a button hold also dims up/down without any programming required.

One hint on the 'all off' routine - program an override/lock. Kids playing with the keypads in the middle of parties can be a real pain in the a..