So far loving my Red Series dimmer. One thing that seems like an easy win on the firmware side would be an optional second press on the dimmer’s up paddle while on to go to max brightness (one could still hold to dim up or down as always).
Is this already supported? Or is there a way it could be (without setting an automation for every switch in the house)?
Which hub you using? I think on Hubitat you could use the button controller and configure tap 2 up to go to max brightness and just click the dimmers you want included in that. Thus one time rule for all switches.
That could work great actually… but I’m even thinking if you tap once to turn it on, come back and tap again much later… Would that still capture a “2 tap” interaction? Or perhaps it’s as simple as a condition of a “tap while on” in that rule you described (I’m pretty new to hubitat)
Exactly what I have done and it works VERY well…
I use the double tap (two successive taps) to go to full brightness. But you could also write a rule that checks if the light is On and pressing it once more (two non successive taps), would go to full brightness.
Agree with @Ma2J on the above. Just not sure if you’re on Hubitat or feature rich hub.
Obviously all have to be Red series to capture multiple taps.
The two up would have to be successive in the 700ms time period if you don’t use the rule as @Ma2J described.
I’ve done this. I want my lamp to always go to 100% when tapped. So I did two things- first was set the dimmer default level z-wave parameter to be 100%. Second, create an event in HomeSeer- when the dimmer’s up paddle is tapped once, set the dimmer to 100%.
When the light is off, tapping the paddle turns it on to 100%. HomeSeer then sends a ‘dim to 100’ command a split second later but it’s redundant.
When the light is on but dimmed, the dimmer ignores the tap, but then gets the ‘dim to 100’ command from HomeSeer.
Quick follow-up on this one: Rule Machine in Hubitat worked great, just a little bit of a heavy delay (a second or two). Would still love an option in the firmware someday, as a tap up when on really doesn’t have any other function right now.
Love the device and really considering a full replacement of all 40 of my switches and dimmers should we see Windy City come to fruition.
I think part of what you may be seeing is the slight delay so that the switch can determine what scene you’re requesting. The other part may be the ramp rate for the switch. I believe in the HE, if the “Fade” field is left blank, it will use the ramp rate of the switch. I’ve set mine to 0 and that seems to help.
Oh yeah I should have been more clear: I didn’t use the double tap approach since I removed the delay on my switch (which i believe disables scenes, since without a delay its hard to establish multi clicks).
So my rule is button press when the switch is already on. Definitely a delay though before it starts the ramp.
I second this feature request in the firmware! This is one thing I miss when I replaced my Insteon dimmer switches.
Please, please, please add this! This is the whole reason I went with Insteon when I first started automating. Later, when I switched to Control4, I figured out how to accomplish the same by changing the default level every time the light turns on, i.e. if you turn the light on and it defaults to 50%, the default is immediately changed to 100%. Control4 uses a single tap on the UP paddle to reset to the default level, so I get the behavior I want. Turning the light off resets the default level back to whatever it was before. This method has the advantage that it’s using automation on the user’s first action to change a switch setting in anticipation of a second user action. The second action is instant because it’s executed locally.
Now I’m outfitting a new house with Inovelli switches and I’m desperately trying to figure out how to replicate this behavior. As @drewcovi pointed out, single tap on the up paddle when the light is on does nothing right now, so adding a behavior there wouldn’t get in the way of anything. I’ll take the reset-to-default behavior of Control4, as that lets me build the behavior I want. But what I really want is the ramp-to-100% behavior of Insteon switches. It seems like such a no-brainer to me. I’m very surprised no other switches (that I’ve found) have this behavior.
Unless I’m misunderstanding, you can accomplish what you are describing presently.
A single tap up actually is being used or more correctly is configured to be used if you want it. It’s Button 1 on the scene controller. I have that button configured on some dimmers to turn on both the load and another device not physically wired to it. Since a tap up is the normal “turn on the light” motion, I (and probably others) wouldn’t want to lose that button, particularly since I think what you’re looking to accomplish is already available in the settings.
You can set the default level in the settings. You can set it to come on at either the previous dim level or you can pick a specific level for it to come on regardless of the level in the previous “session”. So there isn’t any reason to set it programatically with a tap since you can set it once in the settings and it will stick.
(There are actually two default level settings, one for when powered on from the local switch and one from when powered on from the hub. Those values can be the same or can be different.)
Not quite the same, honestly. Using scenes is more of a workaround. And a slow one.
Considering we have parameters to set the delay to zero (and turn the light on instantly) it wouldn’t be unprecedented to provide configuration options that disable other features (can’t detect a double press with zero press delay)
This would simply be a parameter one could opt into that would disable some scene functionality potentially. So I’m not sure how it would impact the default user.
Yep, that would work. The rub would be how much room is left, if any, for another parameter, or if there is a parameter that can be removed to make room for the new one.
Interesting that your scenes are slow to engage. I’m on the 700ms default and on SmartThings, and my scene activations are pretty much instantaneous.
@Bry I think you’re misunderstanding the request a little. (Or maybe I’m misunderstanding your reply?) I don’t want to lose “press up to turn on”. And indeed, I still want the ability to make “ON” mean a scene, not just the load on the switch. What I want to change is “press up when light is already on”. If the light is off, it should come on at the specified level (or last level, depending on your settings). If the light is already on and at less than 100% brightness, tapping up should raise it to 100%.
Also, I don’t think I fully described why I was doing the trick with the default levels and changing the behavior on tap. I have my lights change their default levels all day (and night) long. I’m already using the two default level settings of the Inovelli switches to make it so turning the light on in the morning comes on brightly; turning it in the middle of the night comes on dimly (and several levels in between). Since the “default level” is itself variable, if you want more light, it’s nice to have a quick way to get there. The lights won’t blind you when you turn them on in the middle of the night, but if you need more light, you can just tap again to get it.
I’ve used double-tap as a work around for now, but that’s not really a great long-term solution because it requires teaching every family member or visitor how to use them. A second tap is discoverable. If the light isn’t as bright as you want, people are inclined to tap again to make it brighter. And when that works, hey everyone gets what they want.
We’re getting there, lol. I understand the first request. Right now you can do that with a scene and a double-tap. Since you use the single tap to turn the light on, you can’t use the button single tap to set it to 100% as well, hence the double-tap.
But I understand you want alternate functionality for a subsequent single tap. Since I’m guessing some users would want to keep the existing single-tap, that “subsequent single tap” for 100% would have to be an option. But I get it.
I get it but no real easy way here presently except to use a scene, as you noted. I’ve got a couple dimmers that that set a series of lights to three different levels based on double, triple or quad tap. You are correct that you’ll remember the sequences but family members won’t (or refuse to, lol). Definitely a down-side.
I understand that your posts are wish list items. Just trying to throw out some alternatives for the interim.
I agree that a single up press should go to max brightness when already dimmed. Having to double press isn’t intuitive and requires either labeling every switch and/or training people to use it. I have used scenes in OpenHAB to detect “scene 1” and send a “100% brightness” command. But I have 20 switches and require 20 rules; plus the delay time for this to happen.
It should be not too complex in the code to let the 700 ms timer expire and just ramp to full brightness. I know how the switches work and still find myself fighting this.
I tend to already use 2xtap Up/Down to activate all the lights in a given room (all on / all off) so can’t use that for this function.
I too vote for something like 1 pushed going to a brightness level - I wouldn’t make it 100% but whatever we set for it’s Default Value. In my case that is “99” (as based on 0-99 scale), but that is just me. I think using the Default Value would make the most people the happiest. The reason I am voting for this is because myself and family found that after our eyes adjust using the dimmed value of 7 pushed (the config/“favorite” little side button) we get to a point that we do want it at 100% but don’t want to turn the light off and then back on.
BTW, here is one tip that might help the others posting here make for happier families: Instead of making a double tap push go to 100% you can do the same thing but with a button 1 push (i.e. just turning it on as you normally would). No more having to ask family to remeber/do a double tap to get that to happen.
Sharing my own experience on balancing the multi-tap and “end user” experience…
it does make sense but in my case double tap was the right thing to do for one reason: I can consistently apply it to upper and lower paddle.
The “night light” effect is nothing but the light dimmed down to a minimum level which have different applications depending on the room and moment it is being used. In the hallways for example the lights stay on the whole night as “night lights”.
I’m all about user experience and a good user experience involves consistence.
I’m not that crazy about multi tapping (lots of times) and specially having multi-tapping meaning different things on different switches. Also I’m not a big fan of using the configuration button for the reasons you described so I keep it simple.
Yes, there are no labels but a consistent double tap through the whole house is something that you tell people once and you are done - even guests.
I was planning on doing this, glad to know someone already did and that it works the way I expect it would.