Dim or Turn Off Switch Backlight

[jewettg]

I have current have: 2334-232; Dimmer Keypad (6-button); using Firmware revision 8.2 5020. I have two of these switches, one downstairs and one upstairs in the master bedroom. Both switches are working perfectly in their functions of controlling the appropriate Insteon FanLincs and changing appropriately in the defined scenes (ie,

Unlike the one downstairs, at night the back-lighting on the switch in the master bedroom is very bright (actually bright enough it lights up the room). The switch is powered but does not actually do any "switching" but only communicate with the Insteon Hub to toggle defined scenes. We primarily did this because we have other people who come into the house and do not know the Alexa commands to perform the tasks (ie. house cleaners). They just want to push a button to turn the light on and off.

Is there anyway in a scene or configuration (some sort of firmware backdoor) to turn off the back-lighting or dim it?

In the apps on my phone, I have found a setting for LED Brightness, and I have set that to 10%, but it does not seem to make any difference.

I have also, but without any success, played around in the scenes to turn off the back-lighting when I say "Master Light Off" to turn off all the buttons. It would be nice to figure out a scene that if the light is off, turn off the back-lighting, and if the light is on, turn-on the back-lighting. I know this sounds silly or the opposite of what you would want, ie the back-lighting should be on at night or in the dark if the light is off so you can know what button is which, but it would satisfy my wife who likes to sleep in total darkness, and this is really bugging her.

HELP?

[SeanM]

"Is there anyway in a scene or configuration (some sort of firmware backdoor) to turn off the back-lighting or dim it?"

You can adjust the back light brightness for most Insteon switches manually or through their app, just not as part of a scene. Im not sure the ISY controller can do that either.

Maybe a homemade scrip using a 2413S or 2413U, where you send the brightness commands separately, but that seems like a lot of work to me.

In the old app, if you go to: settings-> Devices-> keypad: scroll down to local properties and adjust the LED brightness

In the new app, go to devices, tap on the keypad -> tap on the setting gear wheel in the upper right hand corner: scroll down and adjust LED brightness

Manually: (Im not writing this out ) go here for instructions but they are pretty easy: https://www.insteon.com/support-know...e/tag/2334-222

[jewettg]

OK - update!

The back-light LED Brightness is set to 10% and I can see that now when a button is not activated. I wish I could turn that off. Any ideas?

I also created a scene that turns off the 4 button LED lights (that I use to control fan speed), but the "OFF" button is still lit up brightly. This is due to a toggle state of either On or Off. Can I explicitly set LED to be on or off?

[jewettg]

SeanM - I just might be desperate enough under the saying "Happy Wife, Happy Life!", $80 is worth it to me to make my wife happy and as a geek (new toy).

Can you let me know how one would use a 2413U or 2413S (yes, I looked these up: modem and USB devices) I could program the switches? I have just begun digging into this.. so links or just advice would be helpful.

My goal: If possible, turn off all back-lighting or LEDs on a switch via a command or such, hopefully something I can add to an Alexa Scene or toggle in some automated fashion.

[jewettg]

SeanM -- OK, I have downloaded the driver and it installed properly. Looking through the FAQ and quick start, it does not mention any applications or command-line tools that I would use to communicate with the 2413U or 2413S? I assume there is a manual, guide or website somewhere?

[SeanM]

Sure....you would go through the process of getting your computer to recognize the PLM, might need to update some drivers. Then it is just approach and effort.

Once you see the PLM as a device you will also need to download something like putty, or extra putty so you can send commands over the network. Some browser plugins will work as well as long as you can adjust the settings.

• You can build out a script of the Insteon commands, with timing, and run it sort of like Powershell, or VBA
• You can send a single command to a device.

References:

http://cache.insteon.com/developer/2...-062013-en.pdf - (pg.8 will show you how to send a PLM command a examples of structure/syntax)

http://madreporite.com/insteon/plm_basics.html - (Primer, and has almost all info needed for this/ tabs at the top of the page. Also goes over commands you can send to a Hub which can be done from a browser and are much easier)

https://www.smarthome.com.au/smartho...http-commands/ - (This page will create the Hub commands you can send based on the info you provide, which might be easier, and this page will also supply the check digit needed for Hub commands)

http://cache.insteon.com/pdf/INSTEON..._20070925a.pdf - (This is deprecated but might provide insight. It will show all the old commands and some might still work)

I recommend learning about the syntax you will be learning (Hub or PLM) and then try doing some simple on/off commands, maybe some simple dimming. Once you get that under you belt you can get more complicated with the groups and extended messages.

At a high level, you will end up assigning all the keypads to a single group #, then you will send the group command telling them to disable, or go to Led brightness Off., or 25%, etc..

[Justinmachany]

Now that I have the LED backlight brightness set to 10%, I am able to see the buttons even when they are not being used. I wish there was a way to silence it. Do you have any thoughts on this?