Groups not working properly even after definition of grp and members

Setup, Configuration and Use Items & Sitemaps
1

I installed openHab for the first time earlier this week, and I have a LOT in place, but I think I have hit an issue - I am running mostly Insteon devices, and my hub died two weeks ago - I am hoping that I can replace the functionality - and then some - with OpenHab.

I have just about everything working that I need - plm bindings are there, I am using HabPanel, so the interface is easy to manage, but I am trying to avoid having to mess with Insteon scenes, so I am looking to manage the OH part of the scene with groups (the devices will be linked to each other and to the PLM, but I don’t want to have to send out native Insteon group messages, a simple grroup will work for my purposes).

So, I have followed the info here: http://docs.openhab.org/configuration/items.html#groups
and created the following groups:

Group:Switch:OR(ON,OFF)  grpAllLights           "All Lights - State"
Group:Switch:OR(ON,OFF)  grpAllOutsideLights    "All Outside Lights- State"
Group:Switch:OR(ON,OFF)  grpLaundryRoomLights   "Laundry Room Lights - State"
Group:Switch:OR(ON,OFF)  grpBasementLights      "All Basement Lights - State"

In doing so, the plan was to set a group state button that would toggle all the participants, and reflect the state of the participants as well (if one turns on, the group state turns on as well).

However, it is not working properly. I added the following item:

// Office overhead lights
Switch  officeLight     "Office Light"  (grpBasementLights, grpAllLights)       {insteonplm="1b.8e.5b:F00.00.02#switch"}

and it is not responding to group state changes. I can toggle the device individually, and the light goes on and off, and I can toggle the group and see its state change in response to the button, but the group and the switch are not interacting.

For the life of me, I cannot figure out why the two are not connecting. I have created both of the above in an insteon,items file (loads fine).

Any help would be appreciated, as this is a deal breaker if I can’t get it working.

Thanks!

Bob

2

You’ll want to send a Command to the group, not a state change. Buttons etc. on the UI do normally send commands.

3

I added a button that sends the command “on”, and see this in the log:

2017-07-10 08:53:13.026 [ItemCommandEvent ] - Item 'grpBasementLights' received command ON

but no corresponding entry that shows the StateChangeEvent…

When I turn a member on, I see this entry in the log,

2017-07-10 08:57:22.072 [ItemCommandEvent          ] - Item 'officeLight' received command OFF
2017-07-10 08:57:22.131 [ItemStateChangedEvent     ] - officeLight changed from ON to OFF

but no corresponding message showing the group getting a command ON.

Any suggestions?

4

Found the cause - this was caused by the 2.0 -> 2.1 upgrade. I was able to resolve it thanks to this post: Many issues with v2.1

5

Its not supposed to wqrk like that. Sending a command to a group will attempt to send that command to the groups member Items. It will not change the state of the group (though of course subsequent member Item changes might)

Sending a command to a member Item will never send the command to any groups that it is a member of. If and when the Item changes state, that could result in group(s) state being updated.

It is important in OpenHAB to distinguish commands from state updates, they are not the same at all.

6

Perhaps I did not phrase it correctly.

Based on the info I found, a switch command to a group should toggle all members of the group, and when a single participant of the group turns on, then the state of the group should also go to On (again depending on the configuration). Prior to flushing the cache, it would not - everything was stand alone and no states/commands were passed. After flushing the cache, it worked as it should.

Thanks!

Bob