Changing light brightness on operating mode

[Chris Pitman]

Trying to do this 

Master bed have two sets of spots and two bed side lights, controlled by one lighting controller how can I have two dim levels for the bed side lamps, At the moment they are at 55% which is fine in the evening but would be nice during night mode if they were say 30%.

I have something similar in bathroom and kitchen but its done with the motion sensors how to adapt to touch switches

[Simon Still]

Can you show a bit of config?  I've not used operating mode other than at home/away/on holiday but the idea of different lighting at different times has always seemed desirable.  

How have you set up the other rooms? 

[Rob_in]

This is possibleb only for automatic moods AFAIK. We have ensuite and WC lighting turn on dimly when night mode is active and brighter at other times. 

If you don't want to use actual motion sensors in that room guess you can just connect a pushbutton input to fake a motion event? I have used that too and it's not so bad.

You could also put an analogue limiter on the light controller output and select it's limit level by mode, but that's a pretty nasty bodge IMHO.

Robin

[Clegger]

I've done this in a few rooms where I want different light levels depending on whether it's day or night.

On my Variables page, I used an inverter ('NOT') block to generate a Night value based on the Daylight input from the Time Functions list, and set memory flags for Daylight and Night. These are used as inputs to AND blocks in the rooms where I want this behaviour. 

Here's a simple example for the study, which only has downlights. The AND blocks take Daylight or Night as an input. Both AND blocks also take the room switch as an input. Depending on whether it's day or night, a different scene is triggered. 

It isn't pretty or compact, but it works fine. It's easy to cut and paste the relevant blocks across pages so doesn't take much time to implement in different rooms.

If you prefer different times, you could use the O output of a Schedule block (and its inverse via the NOT function) instead of Daylight/Not Daylight values.

[Simon Still]

That's neat actually, although it only lets you have a single 'mood'.  I guess if you want more than one the analogue limiter approach would still work. I don't think modifying either inputs or outputs is a kludge - both are valid solutions.  

However, it's something that's changed in the V2 lighting block.  The S inputs aren't there any more and while it still supports v1 blocks if you've got them in use I don't think the config lets you add new ones any longer.  (would need to find an old config and cut and paste...) 

[Rob_in]

I did experiment with making switches do different things based on variables like this. While it does work, it's not very intuitive and I just didn't like pressing a button and not knowing exactly what it would do - when you are close to the cusp of the day/night transition for example.

I programmed all our lights with two buttons: 1 button turns light on and repeated presses toggles dim/bright (it's just connected to the light controller M+ input and cycles dim/bright with the OFF mood skipped) and that other button always turns off. This way, if you walk into a room and want dim you just press the button twice. We don't have multi-click enabled so can press it very fast. I find this with muscle memory works really well for always getting exactly what you want. Sometimes, even at night, you still want the room lit brightly for example.

On a side note for your config: you don't need the NOT block - just use the same variable on both ANDs and click the input (just inside the block) to negate it (little black dot appears on hover and the input marker toggles red on click).

HTH,

Robin

[Jeff]

Thanks Robin.

I've been caught out in the past by accidentally hitting the input-invert option and having to trouble-shoot the result, so I avoid using it. 

In fact, a couple of years ago when I moved all variables to a separate 'variables' page, I used the opportuniy to get rid of the couple of input inverts I'd been using (e.g., I had one for summer and not-summer months, to change how external blinds operated in a couple of rooms). For the sake of a few additional simple blocks, I find this approach clearer to follow than using input-invert, especially when I'm coming back to a page I might not have looked at for several years.

> I just didn't like pressing a button and not knowing exactly what it would do - when you are close to the cusp of the day/night transition for example.

I generally don't have any issues with transition periods. The only exception is my study, where if I start work earlier than usual in mid-winter, the lights will come on a little dimmer than would be ideal. It happens so rarely that it isn't currently worth the hassle to fix it.

>I did experiment with making switches do different things based on variables like this. While it does work, it's not very intuitive

Your idea of "intuitive" obviously differs from mine! I really don't want to explain to house guests that they need to repeatedly press buttons to turn room lights on to the right setting for the time of day/night, then press a different button to turn them off. Presumably they also need to be told which button is on and which is off? I suspect that setup would frustrate me. 

Still, vive la difference and all that. 

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