OmniProII Advanced Automation Questions

Jrock

Member
I have had my OmniProII for a while now and have done UPB automation based on motion and or time of day, etc. I was wondering what my more advanced programing options were. I have some ideas of things I would like to do but I am not sure if they are even possible.

1. I have HAI 600w dimmer switches throughout the house. On most switches one tap turns on the light to full brightness and two turns it on to a preset level. Is it possible to reverse operation based on time of day or a security mode or user button?

2. Is it possible to control the LED lighting on a HAI 6 button scene switch based on circumstances similar to above or possibly the LEDs are off until motion is detected in the room?

3. Can I power on/off TVs/Monitors based on an event? I know this is possible with the HAI Home Theater Extender but I don't need all the functionality of that. I guess some monitors I can get away with just using a UPB appliance module.

Thanks,
-Jeff
 
I'm by no means an expert here, but:

1) if you use UPstart to set the switches in question to transmit a specific UPB Link for each of the actions (single-tap, double-tap), you should be able to create rules within the OPII that trigger based upon the Link and your conditions, and take the appropriate action. I'm not sure what the latency would be like, but there may be a lag between the switch event and the Link transmission, its reception by the OPII, the execution of the logic within the OPII that's keyed off that Link, the execution of the UPB commands by the OPII, and the reception of these commands by the relevant UPB devices.

2) I don't think so, I think these can only be set via UPstart configuration

3) I don't think the UPB appliance module by itself is sufficient, at least judging by my TVs and Monitors. I see the following issues:
- my TVs and monitors don't retain on/off state across power losses. i.e. if my TV is on, and I unplug it, when I plug it back it, the TV is in the off state. to power it on, i would need to send an IR signal or hit the power switch.
- even if the above is not an issue w/ your devices, you should also consider load and make sure the UPB appliance module can supply enough power.
 
1)
You can't transmit more than one link for the same switch.
So the Top rocker can only transmit one link and the bottom rocker can only transmit one.
You can program the switch so a single tap turns on the local load and a double tap transmits a link, but you can't make a single tap transmit link A and a double transmit link B.
You can't make the switch do anything based on time.
The operations of the switch are programmed into the firmware, you'd have to reprogram the switch to swap the behaviors.

With the Omni you could do time based programming.
Essentially the lightswitch would transmit a link that was just a message to the Omni, the Omni would see it, compare it to a time and then transmit out the appropriate link based on time.

You may be able to reprogram "scenes" on the fly, but that would take some detailed planning.

This would be some pretty involved programming, OK for just a few switches but it would get cumbersome fast.

2)
PCAccess lets you porgram behaviors of the LEDs.

3)
Turning the power on and off (unplugging and replugging the cord) of most modern TVs will not turn the TV On and OFF,.js19707
is correct. You really need IR for that.
 
Thank you for your replies...

So option 1 doesn't seem to be worth it.

Desert_AIP: Do you know where in PC Access the LED options are? I looked but was unable to find them.

The most important monitor I wanted to automate is a 22" Acer computer monitor. I use it in my office to view my security cameras but I always forget to turn it off. IR is not an option, but luckily it did return to its powered on state after unplugging it. So an appliance should work in this scenario.
 
For the LEDs.

In the list of Actions

Under Control/Unit section
Select the switch name
in the "Select Unit Command" pulldown
There are options for LED # ON and OFF


Make sure the monitor doesn't exceed the max power rating for the appliance module.
 
Make sure the monitor doesn't exceed the max power rating for the appliance module.
If you have a monitor that consumes 12Amps (the low side for appliance modules), I'd be seriously concerned.

I use Belkin Conserve power strips with the remotes for my computers - leave the tower on, but turn off monitors, audio, and anything else I don't absolutely need... it works fine for PC's.
 
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