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Easiest way to control multiple switches from one switch
Posted: Monday 23 November 2020 18:09
by Domoberry
Hi Forum,
Typical use case this season: got a few smart plugs controlling some xmas lights and I want the timer in a one of the switches to control them all.
What is the most simple and/or practical way to achieve this?
Initially, I assumed 'slave/sub devices' would be the way to go, but as the Wiki already suggests ("one of the most difficult chapters"

) I cannot get my head around it for this purpose.
A Dzvents script triggered by a switch and sync the others accordingly seems straightforward.
Or, using a series of json commands with 'on action' / 'off action' to propagate from one switch to the other
or?
probably quite simple...
Re: Easiest way to control multiple switches from one switch
Posted: Monday 23 November 2020 18:57
by imautohuttraeger
Make a scene, include all the devices you want to control and set the timer(s). That's all. Can be done in a few minutes. I do this with roller shutters and you can do it with smart plugs as well.
So this is not a sync of a "leading" smart plug. But you can interpret this scene as the (virtual) master plug

Re: Easiest way to control multiple switches from one switch
Posted: Monday 23 November 2020 19:29
by Domoberry
Hi Imautohuttraeger,
Thanks for the tip, just what I need and simple!!

- Capture.JPG (16.45 KiB) Viewed 2745 times
My first group...
I did however opt for 'Group' rather than 'Scene' as a Group more closely resembles what I was looking for.
Re: Easiest way to control multiple switches from one switch
Posted: Monday 23 November 2020 22:09
by imautohuttraeger
Re: Easiest way to control multiple switches from one switch
Posted: Wednesday 25 November 2020 7:11
by Patricen
Did you succeed?
I'm trying to set-up a scene for Melcloud (Mitsubishi air conditioner) that is controlled with a set of switches (mode level switch for off/warm/cold/vent..., temp that is also a level switch, one level for each temperature and many other switches).
I just would like to make a scene or group that sets mode to warm and temperature to 20° but it does not look reliable, although manipulating the individual switches works correctly.
Finally I would like to setup a timer for this scene/group.
I'm using stable version 2020.2 and finally wondering about the fact there might be a bug, but it looks surprising to me.
Re: Easiest way to control multiple switches from one switch
Posted: Wednesday 25 November 2020 13:10
by imautohuttraeger
Seems as if your switches are not simple on/off switches. I guess if you want to control selector switches you need to make a script (under menu point "Events") that can handle different states of a particular switch.
Re: Easiest way to control multiple switches from one switch
Posted: Wednesday 25 November 2020 14:09
by Patricen
Indeed, it looks like!
Weirdly the level is nevertheless implemented in the group définition.
I tried making a simple blocky logical control in place of the group but this idies not works better.
There might be an issue on the python plugin...
Re: Easiest way to control multiple switches from one switch
Posted: Wednesday 25 November 2020 16:48
by waaren
imautohuttraeger wrote: Wednesday 25 November 2020 13:10
Seems as if your switches are not simple on/off switches. I guess if you want to control selector switches you need to make a script.
Scenes and Groups are perfectly capable of setting a selector switches or dimmer switches to any available level. No need to script fot that purpose.
Re: Easiest way to control multiple switches from one switch
Posted: Wednesday 25 November 2020 17:30
by Patricen
@Waaren, on multilevel grouped switches, there are fields for both on/off and level. Do you have more piece of information regarding this?
To my opinion, level 0% means off but what does on means?
Best,
Patrice
Re: Easiest way to control multiple switches from one switch
Posted: Wednesday 25 November 2020 18:02
by waaren
Patricen wrote: Wednesday 25 November 2020 17:30
@Waaren, on multilevel grouped switches, there are fields for both on/off and level. Do you have more piece of information regarding this?
Scene on
When configured as On + level > 0 -->> switches to the set level (is implicit On).
When configured as Off + any level -->> switches to level 0 and Off
When configured as On + level 0 -->> switches to level 0 and Off
Group On
When configured as level > 0 -->> switches to the set level (is implicit On).
When configured as level 0 --->> switches to level 0 (is implicit Off)
Group Off
When configured as level > 0 -->> switches to level 0 (is implicit Off).
When configured as level 0 --->> switches to level 0 (is implicit Off) // Yes no change but can trigger a subsequent event.
Re: Easiest way to control multiple switches from one switch
Posted: Wednesday 25 November 2020 18:43
by jefft
How about using the first switch as the activation device in a scene with the others?
Re: Easiest way to control multiple switches from one switch
Posted: Wednesday 25 November 2020 19:28
by jeroenkl
only missing the option to change the scene/group icons
Re: Easiest way to control multiple switches from one switch
Posted: Wednesday 25 November 2020 20:00
by imautohuttraeger
waaren wrote: Wednesday 25 November 2020 16:48
imautohuttraeger wrote: Wednesday 25 November 2020 13:10
Seems as if your switches are not simple on/off switches. I guess if you want to control selector switches you need to make a script.
Scenes and Groups are perfectly capable of setting a selector switches or dimmer switches to any available level. No need to script fot that purpose.
Oh - I haven't known this, thanks. Seems to be quite interesting - I will busy myself with it now.