Button possibilities

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1

Hi!
Still pretty new here and thinking about how to use habitat before buying too much hardware..

So I need some input on how to program more complex button behaviors. Maybe you can point me to proper resources where this is explained a bit or post some screenshots?!

1: is there a possibility to have a button work as a shift button?
Example B1 switches light1, B2 switches light2.. when B3 is held, and B1 is pushed, it activates light3.

2: is there a sequence functionality? For example for going through different light scenes. Or execute a command after x button presses.

Maybe there's apps for that?
Or is this sth I have to program myself by rules?
Some hints would be nice on how to accomplish these things in rules..
I'm not a programmer;)

Thanks in advance!

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Most buttons aren't going to send another event while they're "waiting" on the first one to be completed, e.g., another button "pushed" while you're waiting on some other "held" button to get a "released," so you'll have a hard time with that. I have seen some people do something similar, but I assume with just a tap/push of one button and modifying the behavior of some other button if it was recent enough (mostly on the Inovelli forums with the config button on their Red and Blue series dimmers and switches). I don't know what they were doing to get that result, but a variable or similar approach that gets set however you want and is used as a conditional in your other actions might be a way.

For the second thing, that is pretty much why I wrote this app: [RELEASE] Dimmer Button Controller (configure Pico to emulate Hue Dimmer or any button device to easily control lights). This was to emulate the behavior of Hue Dimmers at the time. (Since then, their defaults and devices have become a bit weirder, but it's still the same general idea of cycling between scenes.) You again could do something similar with a rule, one that tracks how many times a button has been pushed (or whatever event you care about) with a variable and perhaps resets that counter after a specific time and again uses this variable as conditions in your actions, and you might have to if you want something that isn't geared towards lighting like my app. But there's definitely a reason I did that instead of a rule. :slight_smile:

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3

This is pretty much what you are limited to, natively. Using existing capabilities, the most that you get is 2 presses to send an event, when the device exposes "doupletapped" capabilities that can be used in a driver. So, many in-wall switches and dimmers let you doubletap and then get an event. Switches already use "pushed", and dimmers already use "held" as well, so you can't use those if the device is using them.

For devices like a Zigbee multi-button scene switch, you can get all three from each button; pushed, held, and doubletapped, and they are all unique events to use in automations.

Like @bertabcd1234 said, for the other things you mentioned, you need a custom approach with RM or custom apps like the one posted there.

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4

Check out ZEN34. You get:

Top/up paddle (button) : push,held,released,double tap(2x),3x,4x,5x

Same for bottom .

14 possibilities for one “switch/remote”

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5

Zooz in wall switches can be programmed similarly.

6

I don't think these are related to the actual question (the Inovelli devices I mentioned can do this, too -- just isn't what people were doing :grinning:). But they are certainly a possible alternative, depending on what the goal is!

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7

How about this dimmer/scene controller:

image
image682×982 82.6 KB

Or this battery powered scene controller:

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image740×982 59.2 KB

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8

If one of your use-cases reads like "I want a specific sequence of different buttons to execute a particular task" then there's a way to get that done in Rule Machine. Not sure why you'd want that, but it's conceivable.

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9

wow thats a lot to start:)
thanks!
i want to thank this community as a whole, since it confirms i made the right decision to choose the hubitat environment!

i love to get back into tinkering, soldering and so on. my only automation background i have is from native instruments machine and traktor programming (which gave me the idea of the shift button). already integrated hue app with scenes and new motion aware zone, tap dial, innr plugs, LG TV (took like 10mins!), and it all works just beautifully (in one way or another) which is very astounding and satisfying.

so...
@bertabcd1234
1: it seems a shift capability is not easy to achieve..
as im just starting out i will see if i find some way to do it.. will look into the inovelli stuff.. in general i want to stay away from 3rd party software to integrate into hubitat, but as i understand many apps give me possibilities i wouldnt have by connecting direct to hubitat?! i understand i can integrate some of them if theres a proper driver/app, as with the hue bridge i integrated.

2: i already used your dimmer button controller bert!
i just tried to make use of the tap dial wheel as a dimmer ( in another post), so i didnt see the multiple button press options..will look into it! seems what i need! i want to use this to replace the hue scene selector functionality (in hue app i can "scroll" through may scenes by pressing repeatedly; it resets after 3secs.

So the only reason i need to configure the tap dial in the hue app is the wheel dimming functionality, which i cant get to work inside hubitat natively. as i wrote in another post i saw events telling me how far i turned the wheel, and for how many clicks, but there no driver that seems to read out that information yet. i really like the button and want to have it as a standard in my appt, maybe add some big 2way switches in future if they prove to be to small haptically (is that an english word?:)).

@chris i already made that observation with push, doubletap.. this seems to be basic functionality which is enough for general use. if they have more capabilities, this seems to depend on their 3rd party app (as with the tap dial wheel). until there are hubitat apps that can read those new functionalities properly and emulate the app i guess?!

the above seems to be true for the devices @TArman, @velvetfoot mention?! cant i now build my own scene controller with @bertabcd1234 ´s software, by using just a simple button that only needs to be able to send pushed commends?
what is the adantage in using the "dimmer/scene" switches? arent those also just a dumb button to begin with? or does their software give me exclusive capabilities?

@xavib57905 i also suspect that, but am not far enough to think about that:) maybe if someone does sth similar they could post screenshots of their rule configs.

will install new lightrails and spots in all my 5 appt rooms until xmas so im planning a lot.
thats why im really interested in the capabilities of using just 2 buttons and a rotary knob..
i think i can get the buttons to do everything i want now, except the shift functionality.

the knob seems to be a bit more complex, since i can only use the tap dials wheel properly when connected / configured through the hue app..
are there any other knobs to dim lights / control volume? i saw the sonos knob thread-its still seems not easily achievable?! do all these wheels/rot knobs only send pushed and held signals, like the tap dial?
the tap dial i think its one of its kind and working for me, so no reasing to change the running system, but i wonder that after some years there is no similar alternative.

do you have any suggestions for lights? as i want to use the hue app for my lights, i cant just use any zigbee led, but need hue certified ones, right? i was going to buy all bulbs and strips from innr, which i read good things about and are hue cert´d.

Good Sunday y´all!

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10

so i got my first batch of tuya buttons and need some help..

i have a 4way and 6 way button switch here..both have a greyed out icon in the device list..
when going to the device settings, i can see all 6 buttons have functionality..
when i try to set them up in the dimmer button controller, only button 1 shows up to configure.. contrary to the tap dial, which shows me all 6 buttons..
do i need a special driver for these?

also in the settings page, i can set a mode for the button..dimmer or scene...what does that do exactly?

and last: i cant get the dimmer functionality to work...
if i program a button to dim down, it only dims down when releasing the button..
what i imagine:
push the button--> toggle the light
hold the button-> dim down until released
how can i accomplish that?

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@bkinmuc Tuya buttons are not good for working as dimmers ... They work fine when used with a Tuya hub and Tuya bulbs using Zigbee Groups broadcasts, but not in Hubitat. These Tuys switches are too slow to send a 'button released' Zigbee message - need more than 3 seconds.. If you still want to experiment, check [this post] ([RELEASE] Tuya Scene Switch TS004F driver (w/ healthStatus) - #3 by kkossev) , also this one.

Instead of Tuya, I can highly recommend using IKEA dimmers :

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