[NEW APP] Room Lighting

I'll look into that. You're right that turning it off should cancel the activation transition.

Fix will be in the next release.

3 Likes

I'm using CoCoHue, and in my Room Lighting app, all my Hue lights are shown as Type: null and don't give me any Activation Settings (so I can control the brightness, etc.). What am I doing wrong?
-Hank

1 Like

Click the null what happens?

1 Like

Show the Current States from one of these lights device page.

omg, i'm a dummy, sorry. i thought i had tried that but i think i had only clicked on the device itself. i see now that you can set the activation type from there.
-hank

1 Like

There is still something quite funky about this. It shouldn't have been null. Please show the Current States from the device page for one of the lights.

1 Like

I have a feeling the answer is going to be "Use Rule Machine for that" but figured I'd ask anyway. I have my kids room setup in RL with a motion sensor so when they are playing in their room, the light and the fan come on. I want to limit the fan to not come on when the temperature is below a certain point, like maybe 72. However, the limit activation options seem to apply to the whole room.

Is there a way to do what I want in RL? If not, I'll just make a rule to run when the RL instance is triggered. On that note... how do you do that? I know that scenes used to be a trigger (I have a goodnight scene that turns off all the lights and a rule that triggers when it activates that does a few things like close the garage door that can't be done in the scene) but I don't see that as an option anymore in trigger events. So how can I make a rule that triggers when a RL instance becomes active?

Every RL instance has (or can have, if you elect to create it within the RL setup) an "Activator", which looks and functions a lot like a traditional switch. One of its features is to show "On" when the "scene" (we're moving away from calling them that...) is activated.

Thus an RM rule or other automation could easily trigger off of the RL Activator turning "on" or "off." Does that help?

BTW, I agree with your assessment that it's wise to break the Fan-related portion of this automation into its own RM rule, replete with "Required Conditions" you mentioned.

1 Like

I was going to just do exactly this but then couldn't figure out how to make it trigger, so I figured I'd go ahead and ask if it could be done in RL while I was at it.

Does that help?

It does... but I don't want to create a bunch of devices. I'm wanting to do similar things for other rooms. I don't see why that is needed when in the logs I can clearly see an event for the activation. Why can't that event be a trigger?

I hear you loud and clear; "excess" Devices, Rules and Hub Variables do make for a cluttered working environment, but they can also greatly simplify the design and troubleshooting of your automations. Your future self will thank you when it comes time to review the Fan Rule in RM, and sees a straightforward 'RL Kids Room Lights Activator':On trigger instead of a work-around (see below for one such 'trick').

Believe me, I felt the same way you do (about having to create more devices) and a year ago would routinely try building things (like dashboard tiles) using only hub variables, instead of Variable Connectors (devices) the way I was supposed to. Got me into lots of trouble, in every possible way. Lost a lot of Forum cred in the process...

...so, if your inclinations derive from "how we did it on my old hub", I offer this advice in the spirit of adapating to "how things are done here in Hubitat." :slight_smile:

1 Like

However, there is a sneaky way to get closer to your desired goal while keeping the UI as minimal as possible...

  1. Create a single Virtual Button device – let's call it "RL Events" – with as many buttons as needed (start with one button per RL – you can always add more);
  2. In each RL instance, include the VB; in the grid's far right column, declare which numbered button on "RL Events" should be addressed at "On" or "Off";
  3. Use those button Events as Triggers in RM.

That should get you well on your way. For "virtual" connections like this, I like to sprinkle a generous number of "Comment" actions into my RM rules, so that my future self knows what the heck is going on. :wink:

PRO TIP: I like to add a final Action in RM to "Push" "Button 0" of the VB, which visually "resets" it between events. Judgment call on whether this is necessary, but since it was sometimes mandatory on my old controller, I still follow this practice.

1 Like

I've never used another hub. Been using Hubitat since sometime in 2020 I think. I'm somewhere in-between a power user and a set it and forget it type of user.

My problem with creating more devices is what to name them so that in a year from now when I see this list of devices, I know what is actually what.

I already have a hard time naming the RL instances and rules so what when I look in the logs I know if the log entry belongs to the device, an associated rule, or some other app. I suppose I could create a device called "Joel's room fan but not really a fan just a device to let me know something else triggered." I'm being facetious on purpose but I hope I get my point across.

I really really dislike the approach of "just create a virtual switch device to represent on and off". How about you just let me check if something is on or off? Like, why do I need a virtual device to turn on so that I can create a rule that when the virtual device turns on, turn on a real device? When you say it like that, doesn't that just sound silly? Just turn on the real device.

EDIT: Or.... add a section to RL under "Means to Turn Off Lights" that says "Rules to run when activated" and another section that says "Rules to run when turned off". I feel like there should be ways to do this without creating devices that don't actually do anything.

EDIT2: Or give each RL instance an invisible virtual switch. Just like how each RM instance has a private boolean.

1 Like

"Use RM for that" is one possibility. Another way to look at it is that you have two distinct sets of devices which happen to have very similar triggers. You could use two RL instances, both triggered by the same thing (motion) but one with a restriction and one without.

3 Likes

Circling back to this part. I've set up some test RL instances, and it looks like a functional way to spell this is:

  • Individual scenes: Indicator for Scene Set
  • Parent scene: Indicator for Group Any On

The main drawback seems to be that the indicator gets set 4-5 seconds after the trigger happens, which means 8-10 seconds later for the parent. So any attempt to toggle the parent off within 10 seconds after turning a scene on will fail, either by activating a different scene or by "doing nothing" (activating the scene that's already on). That's consistent with @bravenel's comments above that the Indicator logic is overly heavy and to only use it if required.

I've concluded that the better way to approach this may be by using the Button Controller as a parent -- IF any scene activator is on THEN turn all off; ELSE Choose switches per mode END-IF. If the Button Controller acts on the Activator device rather than Rule Machine listening to button presses, the Activator reflects the new state immediately rather than 5 seconds later. The main thing that doesn't get me is transitions on mode changes, but that could be accomplished with a RM rule, probably. (On mode changes, if any on, same Choose switches per mode as above.)

1 Like

It also appears that if a light is being turned off by setting a RL Scene, but it's currently on, it doesn't get included in transitions. The light remains on at the current brightness while the transition happens, then gets turned off at the end. If the light supports dimming, I would have expected a fade to off over the course of the transition.

Setting it to be on with level 0 does appear to achieve the desired effect, but I suspect that would cause RL to consider it not set per mode when it reports off.

Edit: By the same token, transitions to off don't actually fade any of the devices if their target state is off.

1 Like

Hello Everyone

I recently switched from Smartthings and trying to automate my lights in the laundry room, What I want to happen is if my motion sensor or basement washroom switch goes on, lights turn on. Currently, all the lights go on when motion goes off but will not if the switch goes on. The switch only turns on the lights that are associated with the switch. Lights will not turn off at the switch but will turn off after ten minutes of motion. I've tried reading around to figure this out but I'm stuck.

1 Like

Under Activation Options, select the option for "activate even if partially active"

I have made the change and no change. The switch only controls the switch while motion will run everything correctly.

1 Like

Alright, can you post the logs from attempting to turn them on with the switch? Assuming you still have logging enabled.

1 Like

I might have to reset the switch. I've tried a few times and stopped showing in the log. Here is something before I started to delete my post.
part3
room