Dimmer and MQTT: No percent state

Setup, Configuration and Use Beginners
1

Hello,

I am brandnew to OH. With my first solution, I want to control an MQTT actor based on ESP8266. Switches and input work well, but the dimmer not jet. With it the LED15 should be dimmed in 5% increase/decrease. But with the choosen setup, I only got ON/OFF and INCREASE/DECREASE states (and no MQTT messages).
My actor.items:

// Gruppen
Group gAct1 // Gruppe Actor 1
Group gAct2 // Gruppe Actor 2

/MQTT/
Switch LED11 “LED11” (gAct1) { mqtt=">[mosquitto:actor1/ch0:command:ON:ch0_255],>[mosquitto:actor1/ch0:command:OFF:ch0_0]" }
Switch LED12 “LED12” (gAct1) { mqtt=">[mosquitto:actor1/ch1:command:ON:ch1_255],>[mosquitto:actor1/ch1:command:OFF:ch1_0]" }
Switch LED13 “LED13” (gAct1) { mqtt=">[mosquitto:actor1/ch2:command:ON:ch2_255],>[mosquitto:actor1/ch2:command:OFF:ch2_0]" }
Switch LED14 “LED14” (gAct1) { mqtt=">[mosquitto:actor1/ch3:command:ON:ch3_255],>[mosquitto:actor1/ch3:command:OFF:ch3_0]" }

Dimmer LED15 “LED15 [%d %%]” (gAct1) { mqtt=">[mosquitto:actor1/ch3:state:*:default]" }

Switch LED21 “LED11” (gAct2) { mqtt=">[mosquitto:test:command:ON:211],>[mosquitto:test:command:OFF:210]" }
Switch LED22 “LED22” (gAct2) { mqtt=">[mosquitto:test:command:ON:221],>[mosquitto:test:command:OFF:220]" }
Switch LED23 “LED23” (gAct2) { mqtt=">[mosquitto:test:command:ON:231],>[mosquitto:test:command:OFF:230]" }
Switch LED24 “LED24” (gAct2) { mqtt=">[mosquitto:test:command:ON:241],>[mosquitto:test:command:OFF:240]" }

/MQTT input/
Number Temperatur “Temperatur [%d Grad C]” (gAct1) { mqtt="<[mosquitto:test:state:default]" }

My actor.sitemap:

sitemap actor label=“Hauptmenue”
{
Frame {
Group item=gAct1 label=“Actor 1” icon="Actor 1"
Group item=gAct2 label=“Actor 2” icon=“Actor 2”
}
Frame {
Slider item=LED15
}
}

My actor.rules:

import org.openhab.core.library.types.*
import org.openhab.core.persistence.*
import org.openhab.model.script.actions.*

/**

  • This is a demo rule which simulates a real dimmer by reacting to increase/decrease commands

  • and posting an updated state on the bus
    */
    rule "Dimmed"
    when
    Item LED15 received command
    then
    var Number percent = 0
    if(LED15.state instanceof DecimalType) percent = LED15.state as DecimalType

     if(receivedCommand==INCREASE) percent = percent + 5
 if(receivedCommand==DECREASE) percent = percent - 5

 if(percent<0)   percent = 0
 if(percent>100) percent = 100
 
 postUpdate(LED15, percent);

end

I run Openhab1 (1.8.3) on a Windows 7 PC browsing with Chrome.
Any hint is very welcome!

Best regards
Walter

2

I don’t think you need the rule in this case. When you adjust the slider I think it sets the dimmer to the appropriate number value which gets sent over MQTT. The rule appears to be interacting with this behaviour.

3

Hello Rich,

Many thanks for your quick reaction. I have removed the rule, but no change.
Attached is the output from the OH console:

OH1.PNG1107×605 9.47 KB

I still get ON/OFF after short click, INCREASE/DECREASE after long click, bat no percentage and MQTT.

Best regards
Walter

4

I admit that I have zero practical experience with Dimmers and Sliders.

Without out knowing the “proper” way, I would probably use a Proxy Item.

Create an Item that is not bound to anything (i.e. has no { } clause). Put this Item on your sitemap.

Add back in your Rule only this time when the Proxy Item receives INCREASE, sendCommand the number to LED15.

I wrote up a short tutorial on Proxy Items here:

5

Hello Rich,

Many thanks for this hint. I will give it a try and let you know the results.

Best regards
Walter