Right now, in the drop down of actions available in Simple Lighting, I would love to be able to JUST set level, not having to both turn lights on and set level. Screen shot below.
Is this possible?
THanks!
No. When you send a setLevel command to a device that is off, it turns it on. If it's already on, it simply changes to the new level.
But that brings up the question of why you would want to change the level without turning it on. You must have something in mind. Share that, and perhaps there is a way to get what you want a different way.
Excellent question and thanks for it! I have been trying for a great while to figure out how to set default dimmer levels for each mode I have setup. Day, Evening and Sleep specifically. I have levels I want setup depending on the mode. So basically, if a light is on at 6pm when evening mode kicks it, the dimmers should drop to 50% and any new light that comes on should do the same. At 6am when we are up and getting ready for our day, (Day Mode) the lights that are currently on should be at 100% and any new light that comes on should default to 100%. Hope that is descriptive enough. Side note: I have all GE Switches/Dimmers through the hold house. Side Side Note: This was a single line rule back when I was using all Insteon devices and my ISY-994y controller.
You should look at Motion Lighting and Mode Lighting. Also, Rule Machine has dimmer-level-per-mode functionality. The crux issue is how you activate the lights. The easiest to get to work the way you're describing is motion activated lighting, with level-per-mode functionality. I use this extensively in my home and it works well.
Another way is to use the Mode Lighting app, useful for situations where a smart light switch or dimmer is used to turn on the lights. It too uses level-per-mode logic. I have rooms where this is done, where one switch of several is the master, and when turned on all of the lights in that room are turned on to the correct level depending on mode.
Both Motion Lighting and Mode Lighting allow for the creation of a virtual master dimmer that can be used with Alexa (or Google Home) -- called an "Alexa Dimmer". When you tell Alexa to turn on the lights, that dimmer communicates with the app to perform the level-per-mode logic. This also works with Alexa where one can just say, "Alexa, set Living Room to 30", ignoring the mode but just picking a suitable level. We use this in our Living Room, and my wife is thoroughly familiar with what level she wants for what effect.
With Rule Machine, your options expand with respect to how you activate the lights to just about anything you want.
The real feature request here is to be able to control the lights with the switch, but have them act appropriately. Motion/Voice activated is fun and helpful, but the switch should still work too. Otherwise when the motion sensor battery dies your automation is worthless and the smart home isn’t really smart enough to be useful.
Unfortunately the only manufacturer that I’ve seen have the ability to set the dimmer state without turning on the bulb is Insteon.
Does hubitat have the ability to set these parameters with a linked Insteon hub? (Does hubitat even bridge with an Insteon?)
No.
This is a limitation of the devices, not of Hubitat. When you issue an on command to the GE Dimmer, it returns to it's last level it was set to. If you set the level of the device, it also turns on. (The one exception to this is the GE Motion DImmer.) There is no way for Hubitat to work around this. It's just the way that the devices work.
The alternative to doing what you are asking is to use button controllers instead of smart dimmers/switches. Then you can have the button press do whatever function you want. However, that means that you lose local control of the device so if your hub is down, there is no backup for control of the device. You only get one or the other, unless you mount a button controller next to the smart dimmer, which is a bit over-kill.
Both Motion Lighting and Mode Lighting allow for switch activation of the lights, and when activated by a selected switch, the lights will come on at the appropriate level for the given mode. With respect to the activating switch, the light it controls will first come on to its previous level (happening at the hardware level of the dimmer), and then quickly adjust to proper level (from the software of the app). As @Ryan780 says, another way to do this that does not entail that effect is to use a button device to activate the lights. Any means of activation other than the switch itself will avoid this effect.
Yep, that’s what I figured. For some things that effect — on full and then dim to the configured level — is acceptable and for others it isn’t. Walking into the bathroom at 2am and getting blasted for just a moment is almost worse than just letting the lights be.
I know it’s a limitation of the devices rather than the hub, I just find it to be a glaring oversight in the design — be that at the protocol level or at the device level. This was the second thing I wanted to do with a smart switch, only after programming it for a vacation mode. Though, perhaps it’s protected by a patent.
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This is why I use motion activated lights in all of our bathrooms. We don't use light switches anymore, except for bathroom fans. With anything other than the switch activating the light, you don't have this problem.
Motion Lighting, plus modes, plus a motion sensor, plus smart dimmer ==> bathroom goodness at all hours.
Very much agree!! There's a reason my bathroom was the very first room I automated way, WAY back when.
It's also important to use devices that don't start their "ramping" at the last level their were set to. Take, for example, our old friends the Cree bulbs. They begin their "ramping" at the last level the bulb was set to. So, if you have the light on at 100% and turn it off, then issue a level set for 10%, the bulb first comes on to 100% and then dims to 10%. So, you get this bright flash before the bulb gets to its correct level. The Sengleds (and almost every other light I have found) do not do this. They always being ramping from 0 so you only get the correct brightness displayed. But, something everyone should be aware of when evaluating devices.
