Single Device in 2 locations.... how best to handle?

Hi, I am moving from OH2 to OH3 and embracing the UI Semantic model. I have a fairly large KNX installation and I am wrestling with the best way to add KNX things that are serving multiple locations.

As an example, I have a 6 way lighting dimmer which is physically located in a cabinet (CP1) but 3 of the outputs serve the Living Room and the remaining 3 serve the Hallway. I also have some analogue modules which again are located in a central cabinet (CP5) but the input channels serve multiple rooms.

I can’t add the dimmer thing to more than 1 location and I didn’t want to create a thing for each group of channels as I have enough things already :smile: I have created a KNX thing for every KNX Actuator as opposed to a single thing with multiple channels for the entire project.

Any advice appreciated!

Mark

ps - OH3 is a real joy to use.

Personally, I use the location of the actual light source instead of the location of the wall switches. From a user’s perspective, they don’t really care where the switch is located or how many there are, they want the light to turn on in the living room.

Remember, the model is mainly used to drive the automatically generate Overview tabs. In other words, the user interface. From that perspective, your central cabinet and the stuff in that cabinet may not even need to be a part of the model. Only you the administrator really care about that sort of thing. So I would make an Equipment to represent the living room lights and put the Dimmer Item in that Equipment. The fact that the actual dimmer is in a cabinet somewhere is irrelevant. It’s the light your users care about.

That’s what I was planning but I have a dimmer controlling more than one room eg my “thing” is this:

Physical Dimmer located in Cabinet 1
Channel A - Controls Light 1 in Living Room
Channel B - Controls Light 2 in Living Room
Channel C - Controls Light 3 in Living Room
Channel D - Controls Light 1 in Hallway
Channel E - Controls Light 2 in Hallway
Channel F - Controls Light 3 in Hallway

If I add the dimmer thing in Living Room it includes the hallway lights.

First thing is the Thing(s) are irrelevant. The Things are the connection between OH and the device. It’s the Items that matter. It’s Items that are made members of an Equipment. It’s Items that represent the device.

There is no rule that says all the Channels for a Thing have to be included in the same Equipment, or any Equipment at all. There is also no rule that says all the members of an Equipment must be linked to the same Thing.

So create an Equipment for Living Room lights. Put the three Items that are linked to Channels A, B and C into that Equipment. Create an Equipment for Hallway lights. Put the three Items that are linked to Channels D-F into that Equipment.

1 Like

That seems to work. I think I was looking for the lazy option of just creating the equipment from the thing :slight_smile: Placing the actuator in the central/cabinet location and then making the channel item a member of the end location (e,g. living room) also kind of works but they appear under properties.

I prefer your approach, thank you.