Groups and Scenes

@mike.maxwell @bravenel

I am seeing this error in the log when trying to activate a scene. I have slowly been removing devices thinking I had a problem child. If I set these same lights to color and capture a scene it works properly.

These are hue bulbs, connected through hue bridge and official hubitat integration.

This bug was previously reported. A fix will be in the next release.

Weird thing:

I've got a ST Plugin Outlet (zigbee) that doesn't respond to automations while in a group. It will function fine manually and when used on its own in an automation. But not in a group. It's the only device out of ~30 in my "All Lights" group that doesn't work.

Would you please open a tab with Logs, and try it. See if there is an error being thrown.

Is there a way to access scenes from other apps? What I'm thinking is something like having a 4BRL (colloquially "5 button," 4 with center button) Pico remote where I can train someone in the house to press the center button to activate a scene or hold the button to "capture" the scene. Obviously I'd need a specialized app that can handle this, but this is just one of a few uses I can think of (the other being a custom app I have where my lights get dimmed before turning off after motion stops, and being able to capture the state of all existing lights to a "scene," even an unnamed one without a UI internal to this app only, sounds a lot easier than what I'm doing now with iterating through each device and capturing some attributes I find relevant).

I no longer have my scenes installed (did not like the "off" functionality for my use case) but if I remember correctly, it created 2 virtual devices. One to activate the scene and another to capture the scene. You can use a Button Controller app to activate either virtual device and accomplish what you need.

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As @stephack says, each Scene has two child devices. Each of these has both a switch and a button. One is for Activate, and one is for Capture. So these can be included in any other apps to make a Scene do its thing.

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Could you explain? The "off" functionality is optional. What "off" functionality are you looking for?

When I turn on a scene is ...well...sets the scene. When I turn it off I would want everything to revert to what it was before turning the scene on. Instead it turns everything off. I realize this makes sense for some scenarios just not for me.

When you say optional, are you saying that if I keep turning the scene on it will activate even if it's already on? I assumed I would have to turn it off before turning it on again. If that's not the case, scenes may actually work for me.

A Scene creates an Activate device that has both a switch and a button. Every time you hit that button, or turn on the switch, it activates the scene. If you turn the switch off, it turns every device in the scene off.

Generally, some scenes are activate only -- all they do is set lights to some predetermined settings. The button and on side of the switch do that. The other type of scene is a toggle scene, where you can turn it on and back off. The switch being turned on and off does that. So both types of scenes are supported.

There is no mechanism in Scene to revert to a previous state, per se. However, one could have two scenes, and switch between them. Both would be the activate-only type scene. This is why there is a Clone Scene option in Groups and Scenes. You could set up your first scene, then clone it, and capture the second scene with the same devices. The next release will include a feature for manually adjusting the settings of scene in addition to capturing it.

Having said all of that, using RM one could do the following: in the true part of a rule, Capture the settings of everything that are devices of a Scene, and then Activate that scene by pushing the activate button in those same actions. In the false part of the rule, Restore those settings that were captured in the true part. That's another way to use a Scene, and have it do what you describe: when you turn it "off", revert the devices to where they were previously.

Edited to add: A variation on that theme: Create two scenes, the one you want and a reversion scene. In RM, true part of rule, push the Capture button of the reversion scene, and then the Activate button of the scene you want. Then in the false part (or some other activation method), press the Activate button of the reversion scene.

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BTW, that Activator switch that is created, you don't have to turn it off in order to activate the scene repeatedly. Every time you hit "on", even if the switch is already on, will activate the scene. As I described above, hitting "off" does turn everything off, but you don't have to alternate between one and the other for it to work.

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Thanks for clarifying. I'll reinstall and give it a go.

Someone suggested that I add switch per mode to Motion Lighting, where you could turn on a different switch for each mode. That's a very cool idea because one could use Motion Lighting to activate a Scene per mode. Right now Motion Lighting and Groups are both sort of limited in that only one level for a bunch of lights is possible. But with switch per mode and Scenes, you could have truly versatile custom lighting.

@aaron, you might find this an interesting idea also -- it would get you that customizable delay for turning motion off, plus the variety of settings you showed in your rule.

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@bravenel - I had 2 switches that didn't respond in my "all lights" group. There were no errors in the log - they just didn't turn off. Removing them from the group and saving, then re-adding and saving fixed it.

I'm starting to explore ways to integrate scenes, and I've already simplified or removed a few rules as a result.

Any plans to integrate a fade option for dimmers in a scene?

By "fade" do you mean transition time? We have looked at doing this.

Would this include dimming by a percentage between two times. So if I setup a dimmer and said between 12pm-10pm and a range of 100-10% that depending on the time when the light comes on the dim level changes throughout the day. So at night it automatically turns on at a lower level based on the percentage which is averaged between the two times. This would be instead of manually setting a percentage based on mode, there would be more of a gradual transition.

Also anyone know if there is a way to have lights turn on at different dims levels depending on mode but only when the dimmer is physically pressed. Currently I do this with motion events, but some lights I either do not have motion triggers for or its not necessary.

Yup, that's it!

This is what Mode Lighting does (under Motion Lighting Apps).

That's not what was being referenced, no.

Next release will have it. Bear in mind that not all devices support it.

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Does this not turn the light on during these modes? I do not want the light to automatically turn on, just that when I hit the physical wall switch that when the light goes on the dim level is already set depending on the current mode.