All loads off program

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by wensky, Jun 17, 2008.

  1. wensky

    wensky

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    Gday all

    i would like to have a single button on a 4 gang switch that would turn off all channels on my c bus network.
    i think this should be very easy to do but some how the way i have it set up dose not seem quite rite.because when i press it all loads in the house come on then turn off when i release the button .

    Any help would be much appriceated.
     
    wensky, Jun 17, 2008
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  2. wensky

    pbelectrical

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    Area Address ?

    With the minimal info you have provided it is hard to tell what is going on, but I am assuming that you are using the area address function to achieve the all off. If this is so I would check the action of the switch, it should be set up as an off button, it sounds like it is set up as a bell press and this is why it gives the initial all on.

    Regards,

    Peter.
     
    pbelectrical, Jun 17, 2008
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  3. wensky

    znelbok

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    An off command wont work on an area address.

    You need to ramp off the area. You can ramp it of over 0 seconds (instant) or over any other time frame you need.

    Mick
     
    znelbok, Jun 17, 2008
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  4. wensky

    MR shood

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    area addresses

    can someone please take the time to explain this to me?
     
    MR shood, Jun 18, 2008
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  5. wensky

    NickD Moderator

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    If you don't understand area addresses now then that's a good place to stay... we recommend using scenes if possible.

    Perhaps you can tell us what types of devices you have on your network and then we can give you some better advice.

    Nick
     
    NickD, Jun 19, 2008
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  6. wensky

    wensky

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    Ramp off

    Thanks Mick Ramp off worked a treat i tested it as instant but i now rather ramping down all dimmed loads and relayed loads following.

    The problem with all loads coming on is now gone.:) :) :) :)

    Mick thanks once again.:D
     
    wensky, Jun 19, 2008
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  7. wensky

    MR shood

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    cbus devices

    mate not sure if we should continue this topic here?
    i have a 8 way dimmer the voltage one
    2 neo 8 way switches
    and a glass scene controller
     
    MR shood, Jun 19, 2008
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  8. wensky

    znelbok

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    In the output unit configuration window (toolkit) you will find a box for the area. This is a group that resides in the lighting application.

    If you have say three dimmers for the house, two relays for the shed, then you might place the house dimmers in an area group called house and the shed relays in the shed area group.

    By ramping off the house group all output units in the house group (area) will turn off. The shed output units will stay as they are.

    To control the house group, just assign a key input to House, as you would with any group, and set it to ramp off.

    By pressing the key, all loads will ramp off over the specified time.

    You can also ramp them on as well - but I cant think of any reason why you would want all loads on at once.

    Mick
     
    znelbok, Jun 19, 2008
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  9. wensky

    znelbok

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    Glad to help

    I ramp off over 12 seconds. I have a remote on the bedside table and one of the buttons is the all off button. Get into bed and then turn the house off and I then have 12 seconds to put the remote down.

    Mick
     
    znelbok, Jun 19, 2008
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  10. wensky

    MR shood

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    a remote hey
    thats awesome
    is that a cbus remote or somethign else?
    so i coudl call my one dimmer lounge and set one of my neo buttons to all off ie lounge off and it would work.
    it seems i have too many buttons for just one dimmer haha
     
    MR shood, Jun 19, 2008
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  11. wensky

    NickD Moderator

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    Here is as good a place as any :)

    There's actually a very good post by Don here :

    http://cbusforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=879

    which explains in detail some of the pitfalls of area addressing and why we lean toward scenes.

    The reason I asked about what equipment you have is that not every C-Bus device supports scenes. In your case, Neo switches do, so you're fine :)

    Nick
     
    NickD, Jun 20, 2008
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  12. wensky

    znelbok

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    Yes, it is a C-bus remote. Neo's have IR control available by default.

    Other trainable IR remotes can learn the IR commands from the C-Bus remote as well.

    Yes, you can assign the area to the dimmer as lounge and then ramp off the lounge group and all lights on that dimmer would turn off. Although a scene would work just as well for this type of action.

    I find using the area is good for large number of groups. In my case I have 7 output units in the house, two in the shed and one in the pump shed. The 7 in the house are assigned to the house area, the two in the shed and pump shed are in the Shed area.

    This means that if I am in the house and I have left some lights on in the shed I just ramp off the shed group (from a switch inside the house) and I know every light has been turned off in the shed without disturbing the current light levels in the house and without needing to duplicate every light switch in the shed in the house (although I do have that functionality on my touchscreen running CQC).

    For what you are proposing, a scene is better suited, which the Neo's can do.

    Mick
     
    znelbok, Jun 20, 2008
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  13. wensky

    MR shood

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    so can my scene controler
    yeh i have programmed my RTI remote to do both IR and RS 232 its very nice
    cant wait to get started on it all
    i do not have many lights in my house and honestly i could probably get away with running the whole house on 2 dimmers, i have mny scene controler for the theatre room and my 2 neos, would need a couple more switches but id have the house sorted..
    you seem to have alot of gear there
    i just finnished a fitout in a nice house in lurganoit had a couple of C bus cabinets on every floor!
    smething liek 150 downlights, 2 nice big scene touch colour screens
    i think i couned 20+ units all up
    :)
    imagine programming that 1
    i do the theatre install side remote programming etc etc
     
    MR shood, Jun 20, 2008
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  14. wensky

    walkeraj

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    I have used this advice here and the area address function to achieve the all off command for the house and it is working very nicely. If I just wanted to switch all downstairs off then I would need to use a scene.

    My question is that the NEO scenes only allow for storage of 10 settings but I have more than 10 channels downstairs. What is the solution?

    I suppose I could split the house into two area addresses then use scenes in each NEO to control these, is this the answer?

    But how do I control more than 10 outputs with a NEO and a scene?
     
    walkeraj, Jul 24, 2008
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  15. wensky

    znelbok

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    use scene triggers and a new that handles 40 groups (latter version firmware).

    or

    add a pac.

    The simple way is to either replace the neo if there is only one that you need more than 10 groups or add a newer neo to the system and remotely trigger the scenes from it.

    Mick
     
    znelbok, Jul 25, 2008
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  16. wensky

    walkeraj

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    Sorry guys, still a little confused with this.

    I have also read the 'scene and trigger' tutorial.

    (1) If I set a Neo scene to set 8 lights to off, then when the scene is active (all lights off) the indicator on that button is lit. I suppose this is because the scene condition is true but is kind of opposite to what I actually want, is there a workaround?

    (2) I have the same scene to turn off lights in two different Neos. If I break the scene by switching a light on then the scene button indicator only goes out on 1 of the Neos. Is this down to the firmware version, one is 1.4 and the other 1.8? Why the difference in LED bahavior? On this Neo I have also noticed a delay in LED changes from the other Neo, maybe a few seconds, I did read something about the reason for this but can't find it now.

    (3) I have had a play with having the scene on only 1 neo and using triggering to activate it from another Neo with a blank scene. On both Neos I still have the Application set to lighting so I can use the global switch all off feature but this seems to go against remote scene triggering instructions where it needs to be set as Trigger Control. Is this correct?
     
    walkeraj, Aug 13, 2008
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  17. wensky

    NickD Moderator

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    Sounds like you're pretty much on top of scene triggering.. just a few subtleties to sort out...

    You're spot on about the indicator staying on while the scene is unbroken. You say this is opposite to what you actually want - can you explain in more detail what is is that you are trying to achieve?

    Again - you're spot on.. the scene indicator kill function was only introduced after firmware v1.4. Your 1.8 unit would issue the indicator kill command if it's the one with the scene stored in it, however the 1.4 unit would not understand it :( Not sure about the "delay in LED changes".. can you elaborate on that? What you are doing, what you are seeing, what you are expecting?

    You've done it right - the instructions you refer to may be related to triggering scenes on older (2000 series units), where they don't natively support scene triggering, and only have one application. Neos support the scene triggering application on individual keys without changing the unit's application.

    Nick
     
    NickD, Aug 14, 2008
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  18. wensky

    walkeraj

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    Thanks for that Nick.

    Yeah, "opposite to what I actually want", sorry not opposite exactly.

    I wanted a button on a Neo to turn all lights off, which it does nicely but then I have a button LED lit on each NEO in the bedroom all night long. Is the fix for this to set the on and off colour for this button to be OFF for all cases. Is this the right method to use?

    What would be ideal is if the button was only lit for the duration of the ramp off, so it gives you a nice feeling it is doing something as I cant see the lights downlstairs go off, can I get this?

    The issue with the delay is, Neo LHS of bed FW ver 1.4, Neo RHS of bed FW ver 1.8. If I set a light off using the LHS Neo the button LED goes off immediately but the RHS Neo button LED goes off after about 5 seconds.

    Ahhhh.... I suppose this the 1.4 Neo lacking the indicator kill feature, and the error checking kicks in after about 5 seconds, but you called it a 'scene indicator kill function' or is it a 'indicator kill function' in general?

    Can I look up anywhere what the different FV versions do as I have a complete mix of firmwares on all input / output units?

    If I go back to scene triggering with these Neos and swap where the scene is held to the 1.8 will that solve the indicator kill problem, i.e. will the 1.4 FW accept an incomming kill command, it just wont give one out, or will it not do both?
     
    walkeraj, Aug 14, 2008
    #18
  19. wensky

    NickD Moderator

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    You could have it always off. Alternatively, if you have less than 8 keys on your Neo, you can use one of the spare blocks to control a group which is linked to the indicator (but not a real light). Include this group in the scene as if it were a light, then this indicator will be on while the light is on, and go out when it's ramped to zero.


    Not sure why this is the case.. if they are both linked to the same group they should both go out at the same time. Does it work the same both ways? ie is there always a delay on the "other" switch?

    It's only related to scene indicators. it certainly sounds like it's the regular status update that's turning out the indicator, but it shouldn't have to be relying on this.. there must be something else going on.

    No, as I mentioned before.. the 1.4 unit doesn't know about the indicator kill command because it wasn't invented when it was released :) It will just ignore it.

    Nick
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Aug 15, 2008
    NickD, Aug 15, 2008
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  20. wensky

    mobsta

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    I have a 6 button saturn in an Ensuite. I want the 6th button to turn off all loads in the ensuite (light, 2 heat, fan and mirror light). So I believe i need to set up a remote trigger for this.

    In toolkit I have set up a trigger group call Ensuite OFF, action selector Ensuite OFF level 00.

    In the B&W MKII Scence manager I have created a scene called Ensuite OFF, application is trigger control, trigger group is Ensuite OFF, actin selector Ensuite OFF.

    But it will not work. Am i going about this the correct way? I have more scenes like this i need to set up so i need help to work out what i am doing wrong. Cheers:confused:
     
    mobsta, Mar 28, 2014
    #20
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