Lighting Dimmer Control

[VeRAH]

Hi all, I’m relatively new to the world of Vera and Z-Wave and was plugging away with very limited success until I gave Reactor a go. Ironically I had initially avoided it wanting to progress first from the basic, and now I realise its the key to elegant simplicity.

I’m wondering whether anyone has used Reactor to set lighting dimming levels across their house based on time (and/or zone lux levels once I’d mastered basic schedule based dimming).

I had always anticipated achieving a lower energy usage by, for example, having lights set to 50% in the evening and 15% in the midnight hours.

The problem I have encountered is that using SetLoadLevelTarget I don’t seem to be able to set dimming levels on a schedule for my various dimmers (GOAP/Qubino, Aeotec Nano) without the lights coming on. I’ve searched high and low for a solution and tried SetOnEffectLevel (also in combination with SetOnEffect) as well as a few other things.

(I think I get 400 errors on the above with the dimmers I have.)

Surely this is possible, particularly with Reactor? Or is the required functionality device dependent and I’m stuck dimming lights after they turn on, etc?

[VeraEdger]

I use this also, in the evening, I use the activity to set the dimming level directly to 15%.
So when you turn on the lights after 1900 for the first time, they turn on at the last dimming level and then are dimming down to 15%.

This is done with Fibaro dimmer “Set dimming level”. Just tried SetLoadLevelTarget and that does the same.

[VeRAH]

Thanks for the quick reply.

I think I had also read somewhere in my travels that Fibaro dimmers seemed to work as expected. I can’t believe the dimmers I have don’t seem to!

[phillid2]

I use a combination of room light sensors, motion sensors, and House Modes. For instance, if the ambient light level gets high enough, Vera turns off that room’s lights. If there is no motion, turn off the lights. At 6 pm, if the TV is on, the living room lights go to 25%. In night mode, any light tripped by motion is set to 25%, and my wife’s night stand is turned off (mine stays on so I can continue reading). At midnight, my exterior lights are dimmed to 25%, and at 6 am, restored to 100%.

Many, many possibilities.

[VeRAH]

Sounds great and the sort of thing I’m aspiring to. Couple of questions:

1. What devices are you using for dimming and what is the command they respond to in order to set a dimming level without actually coming on, such that they come on to that level immediately when later switched on by some event?

2. How do you monitor your TV on/off? Is that via power level of a smart switch or directly from the TV somehow?

[phillid2]

1. I use Reactor and use the SetLoadLevelTarget as mentioned above.
2. Harmony plug-in.

[VeRAH]

Ok thanks. Must be physical dimming devices that support SetLevelLoadTarget which my Aeotec and Qubino devices do not seem to do without actually turning the lights on at the same time. Would be really interested to know what those device(s) are for you and that the lights don’t come on when you set the target level.

[phillid2]

I have 2 Go Control z-wave bulbs, and 4 Hue bulbs. I can use the SetLevelLoadTarget to set the dimming to 25%, or 0% to turn off, or 100% if full brightness.

The 4 dimmer controls are GE/Jasco and they work the same - 0% to turn off, 100% (or 50% depending on the room) to turn on, and 25% when dimming.

[jrweiland]

Discussing a similar situation over here, seems like we’re all working on similar projects right now!

Automation puzzle - Keep light level above a certain level

Looking for ideas on how to keep the lighting level “dynamilcaly” over a certain threshold. I have a Aeotec sensor with light level sensing I have a fibaro dimmer I want the light to be dimmed slowly up as the sun/daylight disappears, but not higher than a certain level. Mabye a reactor sensor can monitur the lux value, but can it “add 10%” in some clever way in a loop until the lux level is above minimum? It would bees to be some delay in the system too because of the refresh of the sensor… …

@VeRAH

Would be really interested to know what those device(s) are for you and that the lights don’t come on when you set the target level.

For me, I use an Expression Variable to store the dim value. I have Actions that change the {DimLevel} Expression Variable, based on the time of day, etc.

Then in Conditions, you can say "IF Kitchen Light is turned on, THEN set dim level to {DimLevel} expression variable.
And also "IF Kitchen Light is on AND {DimLevel} expression variable changes, THEN set dim level to {DimLevel}.

This way, changing the dim level doesn’t automatically push out to your lights and turn them on unnecessarily, as you mentioned. It only gets pushed when you turn the lights on (or if dim level changes) … if that makes sense.

I’m sure there are different/better ways to tackle it, but that’s what I’ve been using with success

[VeRAH]

Perfect. Thanks heaps - haven’t got around to trying just yet but makes absolute sense it’ll do the trick.