i quote from another topic as that one was very old…
The problem with the Zensys scene is that it works only for lights, because a scene takes nothing more than a level value for a node (0-100). So, we our docs describe: method #1 where Vera programs your scene controller using the officially sanctioned method.
So it is easy no ? the Ge remote should be programmed by default to send the button number that was pressed and 0% or 100% ( off and on ) and that is the way Sigma and Zensys intended it.
Now, The Vera needs to detect : scene x activated with 0% → excetue script 1
scene x activated with 100% → execute script 2.
simple no :? and then averything will work correctly.
in other words we need to be able to specify on the scenes on vera a check for 0% and 100% and give two pathways.
and there would be no fussing with repeated adding and all that muck. When the 46501 is added the first time you rea the signature , if 45601 detected : preprogram all 36 scenes. ( 18 with 0% and 18 with 100% )
Then automatically create 36 events that are associated and name them GExON1 … GExON18 GExOFF1 … GExOFF2
x represents the number of the remote.
now the user only has to fill in the blanks , either by checking all the stuff that needs to happen or by writing the lua code.
I believe the thing is that Z-Wave does not intend for controllers to talk to other controllers like that, or essentially reducing the controller to a ‘dummy’ push-button device. So the whole point is that in standard Z-Wave there is nothing that says ‘button X was pushed’. That’s the issue Vera has to work around as best as possible, when attempting to use the controllers as such.
Additionally, vendors have their own implementation of ‘scenes’ and the On/Off behavior associated with that.
So, for the 45601, Vera can only tell, indirectly (i.e. controller Y wants me to dim to level X), that the On side of a button was pushed. Not the Off side. Limited by the implementation of the device, and wanting to accomplish something that isn’t standard to begin with.
For some controllers there is a (possibly proprietary) way of telling whether On or Off was pressed and Vera does provide the two pathways you mention (‘a scene is activated’, ‘a scene is de-activated’) in that case.
Also, AFAIK, she does create the ‘default scenes’ in controllers, like you propose, when you first include them. So the event can be detected without re-including. However, re-including is necessary if you want the controller to control the devices directly (where possible). Which also allows the controller to do its Off stuff.
As i understand it the normal behavior for the GE remote is to send Scene X 100% (on button) or Scene X 0% (off button). So all vera has to do is to look at the power level to figure out if it was on or off.
There is another post on the 45601 that explains this method. However, MCV uses a different method where they program different percentage levels. It’s all very confusing.
We really need official how-to’s with step by step explanations. I am growing tired of having to spend hours reading the forum and trying to puzzle this thing out .
All i want is a box that talks to my lights. If i press a button on the remote it should turn off all the lights apart from the one in the TV room. that one should be set to 20%.
I come from a homeseer system. I gave up on that because it simply is too time consuming to configure. The setup was easy , but then comes the problem of having to build this whole GUI so it can run from a tablet or an iphone. I simply don’t have time to do that.
I need something that works out of the box. I have spent thousands of dollars and nothing works right. This is really frustrating.
The GE ‘scenes’ allow you to, say, set light #1 to 50% and #2 to 65%. So it sends a “go to 50%” to #1 and “go to 65%” to #2. When you hit off, it tells #1 and #2 to go off. That’s all it does. No button info, the lights don’t care.
Method #1: just use Vera as a programmer for the remote: you could define the scene in Vera; Vera programs it into the remote, just as if you had done the same manually. Works; but things other than lights/switches (i.e. whatever the GE can control) cannot be part of the scene, as the GE can’t control them.
Method #2: Vera programs the GE to set Vera to dim level X for button 1, dim level Y for button 2, and so forth. Vera now knows what button you pressed and she controls the devices in the scene. Problem: Off buttons don’t work, as there is no way to distinguish which Off button was pressed.
Current implementation, method #1.5: a hybrid of the two. Those devices that the GE can control, are controlled by the GE, so the Off functionality works. Vera runs the rest.
hmm. you really think that this is the way it works ?
I would have assumed that ‘Scene ON’ ( press the on button for a scene ) would fire the events associated with that scene and their settings (light 1 65% , light 2 50%). The Scene Off command would reset all devices in the scene to 0%.
After all that is how light buttons work. You send the ‘ON’ command to light 1 , or you send the light off command.
Now, here is another thought. Is there a possibility to read the actual transmitted Z-Wave command using a lua script ? It may be possible to have a single script trap whatever comes from the GE remote , decode the Z-Wave information and figure out what was sent. Then the Lua script could fire off scenes that are stored on the Vera box …
I don’t necessarily need the scenes stored in the remote. I need to be able to ‘activate’ them from the remote. It’s fine if it is actually Vera sending all the Z-Wave commands.
I don;t really need real scenes. Just single device on and off or dim. So to me it is extremely complicated and time consuming having to go through the creation of all these scenes just to control some simple devices. I mean, come on, this is something that even an X10 system could do 30 years ago…
The Ge remote can also do it by itself. So why can it not coexist with another controller.
It’s kind of stupid having a super-duper home automation system and still having to get up off the couch to turn off the light because the remote doesn’t wanna play…
At one point, Vera supported two methods of managing scenes. They have now unified them into a single method.
In method 1, Vera programmed the controller to manage the dimmers directly bypassing vera. This worked for scene capable dimmers.
In method 2, Vera programmed the controller to send something like “dim vera to 10%” for button #1, “dim vera to 11%” for button #2, etc. The problem is that the controller would always send “dim vera to 0%” for any button off.
The unified method (a.k.a method 1.5) uses method 1 for stuff that’s scene capable and method 2 for the rest.
Note: At the time, the zensys firmware did not support vera looking like multiple “dimmers” so that it could use stuff like button #1 means “dim device vera.A to 10%”, button #2 means “dim device vera.B to 10%”, etc.
Understood. But you also want your Off buttons to work. That is a feature of the remote. So the remote needs to know what devices to turn off. For that it needs to be programmed with the scene. For it to be programmed with the scenes, you need to re-include the remote after defining the scenes.
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