Rooms: Difference between Units for lighting?

[pgray007]

I've started adding a few HLC switches, and am confused on the relationship between "Rooms" in extended setup, and "Rooms" in the unit settings. The only real nuance I've seen is that the Rooms (from extended setup) show up in Haiku so I've paid some more attention to them. I recall reading that the first "slot" in a room in unit setup is reserved for a room controller, but I'm still unsure if there's something I'm missing.
 
Also, any "best practices" on configuring rooms? I'm trying to decide between logical groupings (i.e. entryway lights which might include 4 disparately located lights, versus separate rooms for "Front Door", "Mudroom", "Back Door", etc., each with only one light).
 
Thanks for any guidance!

 

[Desert_AIP]

Search for HLC, there's been several good threads on the subject.

Rooms in the extended setup are just a place to arrange items that are used often together.
The extended rooms do not affect assigning units, zones or anything else.
Those items must be setup in their respective areas.
Once set up, you can go to the extended section and put together a room.

For instance a master bedroom may have a couple of HLC lights, a thermostat, a few buttons you use often, etc.
Placing all of those in the extended room you will then be able to call them all up,at once on a touch pad of other interface.

In HLC the UPB units and links are divided into rooms.
Actions with units in that room can affect the other units.
For instance you turn on a unit or send a room link and the Omni will update the status for all units in the room automatically.

The first unit in an HLC room is reserved for a room controller.
But it is also the room identity.
That Unit MUST be named in PC Access, even if there is no room controller actually installed.
Naming the room tells the Omni the room exists, then you can add the units to the room and control them via the room links.

The other threads go into very good detail regarding the HLC assignment of units and links.
There is also a very good primer

Here's a good start.

http://kb.homeauto.com/default.asp?id=637

http://cocoontech.com/forums/topic/17396-hlc-for-non-hai-upb-lights/

 

[rshostak]

Hi, Desert_AIP -
 
Was wondering if you ever received an answer to your last two questions in the thread:,
 
http://cocoontech.com/forums/topic/17396-hlc-for-non-hai-upb-lights/
 
 Also, have you since gained other insights regarding how Omni updates status lights when there are cross-room links or the configuration deviates in other ways from the rather rigid HLC model?  
 
Thanks! 

 

[Desert_AIP]

Since then I have played with it quite a bit.
 
The HAI does pretty well tracking the HLC units.
 
It sends status updates to EVERY unit in a room whenever ANY of the 6 room links are transmitted.
And you can tailor the behavior of all 6 links.
I maintain the ON and OFF links as on and off to preserve the capability for ALL ON and OFF status tracking, but in some rooms the "ON" link does not mean "100%", and the HAI will reflect the correct level.
 
When the Room ON command is sent, the HAI initially reflects all units as ON at 100% and updates the status in the controller immediately to that (because that is the expected levels).
But it sends out status requests to all units in the room after the UPB delay epriod and then updates the status in the controller to the true state.
You can see this occur grahpically and dynamically in something like Haiku where the entire room of units is displayed simultaneously.
 
When a unit command is transmitted the HAI takes that as the status.
So if a UPB command Unit 5 ON (or level) the HAI uses that.
 
 
Also, the HLC basic convention is all Links are transmitted in "Activate" mode.  That is why there are separate ON and OFF links.
But, the HAI also sends the status requests to the room units if the link is transmitted with the "Deactivate" instruction. 
When you transmit a Link as Deactivate, any units associated with that link turn off, regardless of what level they are at when on.
This allows you to use the ON link in both modes and keep the status updated.  This frees up the OFF link for other uses if desired.
 
 
The only time it has trouble is when a link affects units across several rooms.
For instance I have Dusk, Late Night and Dawn links that affect outdoor and indoor lights in three rooms (a total of four HLC Rooms).
The HAI only updates the status of the "Mother Room" the link is associated with.
 
You have to manually update the status of the other rooms in the HAI.
If you are affecting a lot of units in those rooms, this can be tedious.
 
To get around it I reserve the "D" link of each room as a "Status Update" link.
None of the units in the room respond to the "D" link, so no action is appearing to take place.
But when the HAI sees the D Link it in turn requests the status of all units in the room.
It does this automatically when it sees that link.
This saves a LOT of programming.
 
Using the first 4 HLC Rooms as an example.
(Remember Room 1 status is automatically updated when Link 3 is transmitted)
 
So rather than this:
 
WHEN UPB Link 3 ON
  Then Unit 10 Status Request  (Room 2)
  Then Unit 11 Status Request
  Then Unit 12 Status Request
  Then Unit 18 Status Request  (Room 3)
  Then Unit 19 Status Request
  Then Unit 26 Status Request  (Room 4)
  Then Unit 27 Status Request
  Then Unit 28 Status Request
 
I use this:
 
WHEN UPB Link 3 ON
  Then Link 12 ON
  Then Link 18 ON
  Then Link 24 ON
 
The HAI will automatically send out the status requests for all 4 rooms, even if i sees its own UPB links on the line.
 
Also, using this approach, if I change the behavior of the link, add or remove units or add additional UPB units to the rooms, I don't have to remember to change the programming.