OK, but this is about interface, not how My Modes work,
Here I can agree that Vera could do better, for example giving ability to enable/disable the whole section. It similar for “My shortcuts” where you have shortcuts for lights and locks. I don’t remember maybe I once used a shortcut from there. At the same time I would like to put some other shortcuts (for scenes) there and I can’t.
Still, in my opinion, most part of @Eco’s problem is because he uses Modes in a wrong way, probably trying to set them as shortcuts for specific actions. But this is poor workaround as for example you can’t trigger such “actions” again if certain mode is already set. So for example if you defined that a light is turned on when you enter a certain mode, then if you afterwards turn this light off manually, turning it on again using a “Mode-shortcut” needs you to switch your current mode to another and then back.
As I said, in my opinion you have to be really desperate to use Modes in a such way.
I agree with most of the posters that the My Modes feature is not ideally suited to many setups, and should be able to be customized by the user. For me, Home, Away, Night, and Vacation are not how I think, automation-wise. I work out of my home, so there really aren’t a lot of ‘here’ and ‘away’ scenarios. Instead, I have scenes that work at different times of the year, and I use:
Home = November through April (heating programs, longer lighting cycles)
Away = June through October (A/C, shorter lighting cycles)
Night = holiday lighting (somewhat complex, and my original reason for moving to Z-Wave)
Vacation = Vacation ;D
Even these four settings aren’t ideal: I would prefer to have more categories for added granularity. Yes, I know that I can use LUUP to create conditions, but I prefer a simple, straightforward UI without background programming. Does anyone know of a good alternative UI that runs on BOTH Android and Windows? A phone-only setup isn’t for me, because I prefer to use bigger screens and a physical keyboard.
I’ve recently partially adopted the way mentioned by @RichardTSchaefer, using a multiswitch.
For me the problem was to differentiate between states when I have guests staying overnight or not, as I need to turn on additional heating, separate boiler for hot water etc. if they stay.
I created virtual switch named “guests at home” and added two lines of code to scenes handling equipment in guest house, which checks the state of the switch and then allow or prevent scene to run.
I’ve marked the switch as favourite, so it stays on the Dashboard, under the “My shortcuts” section. I wouldn’t say it is convenient solution, still better than manually managing scenes.
[quote=“kwieto, post:21, topic:197716”]OK, but this is about interface, not how My Modes work,
Here I can agree that Vera could do better, for example giving ability to enable/disable the whole section. It similar for “My shortcuts” where you have shortcuts for lights and locks. I don’t remember maybe I once used a shortcut from there. At the same time I would like to put some other shortcuts (for scenes) there and I can’t.
Still, in my opinion, most part of @Eco’s problem is because he uses Modes in a wrong way, probably trying to set them as shortcuts for specific actions. But this is poor workaround as for example you can’t trigger such “actions” again if certain mode is already set. So for example if you defined that a light is turned on when you enter a certain mode, then if you afterwards turn this light off manually, turning it on again using a “Mode-shortcut” needs you to switch your current mode to another and then back.
As I said, in my opinion you have to be really desperate to use Modes in a such way.[/quote]
it’s true what you say and I thank you for making me clear, but we must admit that MyModes is a misleading term, especially for those who start with a project and only see 4 conditions that do not fit or are not enough.
I hope VERA does something