New Dimmer 5508D1D

Just installed a new Dimmer to replace a faulty old style. However, the client had previously had an Area Group for an "All Off" group set for all the dimmers and relays. Of course, this turns everything off when enabled.

However, the new dimmer does not have this Area equivalent, or am I missing something?

Old Dimmer Area shown

 

You are correct there is no Area address.

 

Area addresses were always discouraged because they relied on mmi messages to correct the group addresses which could take several seconds. They were effectively deprecated when scenes became widely available, so I'm not surprised they were removed from the new units.

You will need to create a scene to replace the area address.

 

Well at least you had someone reply to your question about this subject. I posted a similar question a few posts back and although almost 240 people read it, no one could offer a solution or suggestion?
Cynicism aside, depending on what else you have installed as part of the installation you might not have anywhere to store a scene or possibly even trigger it. Is this the case?

 

So basically re-program.
The area tab in our installation was used as an 'all of' command for the whole house and as such is in 20 + dimmers.

So when you say create a (singular) scene - I'm going to have to create a scene for each dimmer and then reference 20 scenes.

Basically there must be a way to have a single commend to switch off all lights ? Any ideas?

A

 

What devices do you have that can contain scenes?
You can create a single scene with all groups in it if you have a device that supports large scenes. That is how a whole house off is usually done. You can also spread the scenes around devices and give them the same trigger and action selector.

If you have only replaced a single dimmer, you can create a scene for that one and include the area address in the scene for all the others.

A hack would be to use a spare relay channel to pulse the remote off.

 

Can you explain this a bit further please?
I know how to create a scene for the group address's being used on that dimmer's channels but I dont understand how you create a scene for a dimmer itself-or have i misread something?
And how do you include the 'area" address if, as is the point of this post originally, the "area' function no longer exists on new devices?
I do like the idea of "remote off' hack. Wouldn't always possible to use because quite often there are a few things like fans that are excluded from all off scene but something to keep in your back pocket for emergency's.

 

You don't create a scene for a dimmer as a whole. You create a scene containing all the groups used in the dimmer. As I understand it, you have just installed one of the new dimmer but all the remaining ones have the area address. So in your scene you include all the group addresses in the new dimmer, plus the existing area address. So the scene will set all the channels in the new dimmer plus the area address, which will then set all the other channels. Obviously the scene will grow as you replace more dimmers, but there is really no other solution at present.

The ideal solution is to install a device like an SHAC that supports very large scenes.