Interesting behaviour of 2477D 3-way

[ronter_1491]

I have six outdoor lights that are each controlled by an individual Insteon 2477D dimmer. I'm using a 2314S PLM ( Dual Mode RF/PL ). I can send commands through the 2314S and control the lights. A great feature of the Insteon, over the X10 that I replaced, is that when the 2477D is operated manually, it notifies the 2314S. With this feature, I can keep the lighting 'database' synchronized with the actual lights even when manually changed.

But...

I added a 3-way switch setup in the garage. I linked each of the two 2477Ds individually to the 2314S, then cross-linked them to each other. My wiring is a bit non-standard in that I connected the red wire of each of the 2477Ds to different light bulbs ( it was easier this way ). Turning either 2477D on/off manually will cause the other to follow - exactly as expected. However, if I send a command through the 2314S, it will only affect the single dimmer addressed. This is no big deal because I can always just send a command to both if I want both lights.

My problem is that whenever I operate either 2477D manually, no message is sent to the 2314S. Is this how it should operate, or is there some magic in the sequence in which they were linked.

i.e. If I had first cross-linked the two dimmers to make the 3-way, and then linked one of them to the 2314S would that have made a difference?

[SeanM]

When you create a link between two Insteon devices a group # is assigned to that scene. Sending the group number in lieu if the individual device ID's will cause the scene to turn on/off.

Here is a link to the developers guide. This should fill in the missing pieces.

http://cache.insteon.com/developer/2...-062013-en.pdf

[ronter_1491]

Thanks for the info & the link. I used the manual buttons to create the links, so it appears that the 2314 assigned everything to group 1. I'll have to write some more software to create groups by serial commands or maybe directly edit the ALDB in the 2314.

In any case, this would likely allow me to control both lights with a single group command, but I'm still not sure that it will make the manual operation of the ON/OFF switch be reported by the 2314.

[lilyoyo1]

Thanks for the info & the link. I used the manual buttons to create the links, so it appears that the 2314 assigned everything to group 1. I'll have to write some more software to create groups by serial commands or maybe directly edit the ALDB in the 2314.

In any case, this would likely allow me to control both lights with a single group command, but I'm still not sure that it will make the manual operation of the ON/OFF switch be reported by the 2314.

3rd party software generally (all that I've seen)requires you to link your devices through them in order to track devices statuses. If you design your software in this way, turning on 1 switch will show what the other switch is doing. Manually linking devices however will not show what happens as no report is sent to the plm since it's not part of the created "scene"

Since you're writing your own code, how your device states are read/statused would be determined by your work. It is possible to accomplish what you are trying to do however .

[ttantalo]

Insteon needs people like you lilyoyo1 to challenge them.

[ronter_1491]

I had pretty much come to the conclusion that my DIY solution fell short of what was commercially available, so I did a little more probing. ......

I noticed that one of the records in the 2314S ALDB said that it was both a controller and a responder to one of the 2477D dimmers. This is the dimmer that I discovered would send reports to the 2314S when operated manually. Somehow, when I had all the dimmers and 2314S temporarily hooked-up on a workbench, I managed to unintentionally cross link these two devices.

Now, this time, I purposely cross-linked the 2314S with one of the 3-way connected 2477D dimmers, and bingo - it sends messages to the 2314S when I operate it manually.

So it seems that this setup can work as I want with linking by manual ( push button ) method.

[lilyoyo1]

I had pretty much come to the conclusion that my DIY solution fell short of what was commercially available, so I did a little more probing. ......

I noticed that one of the records in the 2314S ALDB said that it was both a controller and a responder to one of the 2477D dimmers. This is the dimmer that I discovered would send reports to the 2314S when operated manually. Somehow, when I had all the dimmers and 2314S temporarily hooked-up on a workbench, I managed to unintentionally cross link these two devices.

Now, this time, I purposely cross-linked the 2314S with one of the 3-way connected 2477D dimmers, and bingo - it sends messages to the 2314S when I operate it manually.

So it seems that this setup can work as I want with linking by manual ( push button ) method.

I thought you wanted the status of the other device to automatically update whenever you controlled the other device as part of your 3way? Anything that is linked to your plm will show status when manually controlled but not when controlled by another device

[ronter_1491]

I thought you wanted the status of the other device to automatically update whenever you controlled the other device as part of your 3way? Anything that is linked to your plm will show status when manually controlled but not when controlled by another device

Yes, that's right. Now that I understand that, as you said, "no report is sent to the plm since it's not part of the created scene", I will manually create the links as both a controller and responder for every dimmer to the PLM. I'll do this for both of the dimmers on the 3-way circuit; then I'll just have to add a few lines to a Linux shell script to associate both dimmers with the same lighting circuit.

Hopefully, I won't find any undesireable side-effects from setting up the system this way. I'll just be glad if I don't have to do any major programming - just run around the house and press buttons..