Lights - Dimmers and Groups

Setup, Configuration and Use Items & Sitemaps
1

Hi,

I have 3 dimmer lights. These lights are in a Group. I display the group as the master controls (SWITCH and SLIDER). I also display the dimmer item as a switch for easy on off. I also display the individual lights dimmer item in the sitemap as a switch and a dimmer.

This works fine until I turn one of the lights off. At which point the group dimmer is now Off even though the other lights are now on.

How can I make the group report that the others are still on, or do I have this setup wrong?

Group:Dimmer       Bedroom_Light_Brightness             "Bedroom Light"                                 <light> (gBedroom)  [ "Lighting" ]
Group:Dimmer       Bedroom_Light_ColorTemp              "Bedroom Light Colour Temperature"              <light> (gBedroom)  [ "Lighting" ]
Dimmer		Bedroom_Light1_Brightness				    "Bedroom Light 1"				                <light>		(gBedroom, Bedroom_Light_Brightness)	
Dimmer 		Bedroom_Light1_ColorTemp     			    "Bedroom Light 1 Colour Temperature"	     	<light>		(gBedroom, Bedroom_Light_ColorTemp)
Dimmer		Bedroom_Light2_Brightness				    "Bedroom Light 2"				                <light>		(gBedroom, Bedroom_Light_Brightness)
Dimmer 		Bedroom_Light2_ColorTemp     			    "Bedroom Light 2 Colour Temperature"	     	<light>		(gBedroom, Bedroom_Light_ColorTemp)
Dimmer		Bedroom_Light3_Brightness				    "Bedroom Light 3"				                <light>		(gBedroom, Bedroom_Light_Brightness)
Dimmer 		Bedroom_Light3_ColorTemp     			    "Bedroom Light 3 Colour Temperature"	     	<light>		(gBedroom, Bedroom_Light_ColorTemp)

Text label="Bedroom" icon="light" {
			Switch item=Bedroom_Lamp
			Switch item=Bedroom_Light_Brightness label="Bedroom Light"
			Slider item=Bedroom_Light_Brightness label="Bedroom Light Brightness [%.1f %%]"
        	Slider item=Bedroom_Light_ColorTemp label="Bedroom Light Color Temperature [%.1f %%]"
			Text label="Individual Lights" icon="light" {
				Switch item=Bedroom_Light1_Brightness label="Bedroom Light 1"
				Slider item=Bedroom_Light1_Brightness label="Bedroom Light 1 Brightness [%.1f %%]"
        		Slider item=Bedroom_Light1_ColorTemp label="Bedroom Light 1 Color Temperature [%.1f %%]"
				Switch item=Bedroom_Light2_Brightness label="Bedroom Light 2"
				Slider item=Bedroom_Light2_Brightness label="Bedroom Light 2 Brightness [%.1f %%]"
        		Slider item=Bedroom_Light2_ColorTemp label="Bedroom Light 2 Color Temperature [%.1f %%]"
				Switch item=Bedroom_Light3_Brightness label="Bedroom Light 3"
				Slider item=Bedroom_Light3_Brightness label="Bedroom Light 3 Brightness [%.1f %%]"
        		Slider item=Bedroom_Light3_ColorTemp label="Bedroom Light 3 Color Temperature [%.1f %%]"
			}
        	Text item=Bedroom_Light_RemoteControlBatteryLevel label="Bedroom Remote Battery level [%d %%]"
		}

I’ve tried Group:Dimmer:OR(ON:OFF) but this means the slider won’t work as its either 0% or 100%

Hope this makes sense. Any suggestions?
Thanks
Chris

1 Like
2 
Group:Switch:OR(ON, OFF)    x   "x[%d ON]"
Switch                      x1  (x)
Switch                      x2  (x)
Switch                      x3  (x)

sitemap tmp label="TMP" {
	Switch item=x
	Group item=x
}

hc_152

3

Thanks Harry
So I should create an item for the switch rather than just displaying the dimmer as a switch and link those individual switches to the dimmer channel?

4

I think the main point is you need to give your Groups an aggregation function so it will show the group state as ON when any one of the lights are ON. I think the following will work:

Group:Dimmer:MAX Bedroom_Light_Brightness
1 Like
5

Thanks Rich. I’ll give that a try now.

6

Ok, That sort of works. If I turn one off the group still reports as on. However if I turn two off it then reports as off even though one is still in fact on.

7

That is very odd behavior. Since you are showing it as a switch, I guess you need a separate Switch Group like in Harry’s example.

8

I did have that when i first started but having a switch and a dimmer for the same light seemed to confuse alexa, and it would only turn it on or off never dim, just said dim wasn’t supported. Maybe I need to revert to the switch group and either just expose the dimmer to Alexa or have a play with alexa groups (not sure what they really do at the moment).

9

Since you, based on the information given this far, only use this Group to see if one or more lights is on, there is no need to take it so Alexa can control it.

I’ve no experience with Alexa so can saw what their groups do.

1 Like
10

Thanks for the tips. I’ll have a play in the morning.