Another Toolkit suggestion

Is it possible and feasible to have the program flash the indicator lights on a specific switch? I recently had a situation where the location of particular switches was not known. This would aid in identifying each switch as well.

 

Hi Nigel,

We do plan to add this feature.

 

Great minds think alike?

 

Must do

 

While not exactly what you had in mind, I have implemented something here which MAY help you. Since we're not grid-connected, we have a large inverter (10KVA), PV cells and a generator. The generator is used when we have large loads, and when the batteries are low, but we can't hear it from inside (we're underground). I wanted some discrete yet clearly visible way to know if the generator was running. What I did was send a signal to C-BUS whenever the generator runs, as an "enable" to a schedule in a c-touch. That schedule runs a 5 second on, 5 second off timer which sets a special group "LEDS" to either 10%/50% or 50%/100% (dependig on time of day, if it's after "sunrise" it uses the bright range, if it's after sunset, the dim range).

Selected NEO switches have their indicators set to follow this group, resulting in a subtle yet clearly recognisable flash while the generator is running. All other switches follow a different group which simply turns from bright to dim at sunrise/sunset.

Probably more work than is really necessary for your application, but if you set up a "flashing" group, you could fairly easily set the desired switch indicators onto it for identification purposes.

 

Nigel, I face your exact same problem all the time, because I have inhered a large number of Cbus installations from a ex-employee who didn't DOCUMENT his projects properly. For example, our showroom has about 60 Neo switches over two floors, none were identifiable.

I do it completely in reverse to what you are proposing, and it's HEAPS easier...

Mark up a floor plan with all the switches, and nominally label them with a code (I use KP01, KP02 etc). You have to do this anyway, for documenting the project.

Put Toolkit into Application Logging mode, clear the log.

Walk around and press ONE key on each switch, using a logical route (eg: KP1, then KP02 etc)

Go back to Toolkit and look at the log - write down the Addresses that have been discovered for each switch.

************

The problem with doing it the way you propose (flashing a switch) is that you would have to set one switch to flash, then walk around the WHOLE SITE to find it... then go back and start the second one flashing and walk the WHOLE SITE AGAIN... etc etc

That's far too much physical effort for me, I'd rather just walk around the whole site once !

Ability to flash a switch might be "nice to have" but in my opinion there's heaps of other things that would be better for the software guys to fix first

Cheers, John