Need help with multi-light dimming that works no matter current state

#1

I have two rooms that have can lights in each. Each room’s can lights are controlled by a smart dimmer.

I’d like to create a piston that dims each of these rooms together regardless of the switch state for each room. In other words, I’d like the dimming to occur whether the lights are on or off when I trigger the piston.

I’d like to control this piston using a virtual switch that I can command Alexa to turn on or off. On would dim the rooms together, off would return the rooms to 100%

I’m struggling with how to do this. Any help would be appreciated!

#2

download
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#3

Thanks @qoheleth! Will this work regardless of whether or not either device is on or off?

#4

Each brand might react differently but dimmers I use have a SET LEVEL command. Wheter they are ON or OFF set level to 50 will turn them ON and make it 50 OR if they are ON will dim lights down to 50.

Test this out. It it’s a yes your piston will be very easy and simple.

#5

After testing. If the lights in either room are off, they do not turn on when I execute this piston.

#6

Okay, I think it’s working now. I had to use “Set Level” for each DO statement. Now to complicate things, can I use a different dim percent for Room 1? For example, 25% in Room 1, 10% in Room 2?

#7

Yes you can…
Just take a look at @qoheleth piston, You can add new WITH/DO blocks for other rooms and different dim levels…

BUT

I would keep each room’s piston seperately.
It may be NOT an issue now but if you go deeper into the whole smart home world, you will get confused about what’s controlling what.
I have over 100 pistons and 300 devices, imagine if a light starts acting weird and not knowing how many pistons have hands on that light.
I do have pistons that control several rooms simultaniously BUT only through variables. Not directly devices. All i do is to change a variable. But maybe that’s your next step.

#8

Thanks @ike2018… how do I share my piston so you can see it?

#9

You will see green camera button on top of your piston. Click on that. Save it as a picture and upload it here.

#10

Thanks, this seems to work.

piston
piston.png1178×714 72.7 KB

#11

Looks good:)

#12

Thanks for the help! I’ll test it with different scenarios that include either room being on or off before I execute the piston. What I had previously worked, but the lights in each room needed to be on first.

#13

After testing different scenarios, the only thing that trips this up is if my virtual switch is on and the dimmed lights are on. If someone turns off one of the rooms lights accidentally, the lights for that room have to be turned back on. It would be nice if I could just execute the virtual switch again and force it to turn the lights back on if they’re off. Thanks

#14

1 - So my understanding from your last post is, if dimmer is turned OFF manually, setting LEVEL in the piston won’t turn the lights ON… is that correct?
IF SO,

a) You can add TURN ON command to your piston before level settings. And activate the dimmer first.
b) You can use magnetic caps on the dimmers.
My house is full of these because of accidental turn OFF situations.
You can easily lift it and turn it ON/OFF but no accidentals,

#15

Great info, thanks for taking time to reply!