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How to Use Cooper 5 Button Controllers

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    How to Use Cooper 5 Button Controllers

    I wanted to provide a brief tutorial based on my experience in getting the Cooper 5 button scene controller (RFWC5) to work.


    As a brief background, I am an inexperienced HomeSeer user and welcome any corrections, comments, or questions. I am using HSPRO v 2.3.0.129, and a Z-troller with firmware version 1.13




    There are two ways to use the 5 button scene controller:<O</O
    • Using a button as a HomeSeer trigger for an event
    • Creating a Z-wave scene and attaching it to one of the buttons
    As I have thought about this, I can not see any reason for using the buttons as a direct z-wave attachment. Since I can use the button as a HS event trigger, I can use that trigger to perform any HS action, including turning on a z-wave scene.



    The steps to get a button to trigger a HomeSeer event are:



    • Add the 5 button controller to the Z-wave network (use the All Off button on the device as the Include button – as described in the Cooper manual http://www.cooperindustries.com/content/dam/public/wiringdevices/products/documents/instruction_sheets/rfwcddsc_rev._a_.pdf
    • Import Devices into HomeSeer – Setup/Interfaces/Manage/Import Devices – This will create 6 HS devices. A device is created for the entire controller (root device), and then one device is created for EACH button
    • Set HS Associations – Click on the root device, click on Associations, select HomeSeer in the dropdown menu, then click Add. It will create an Association for Group 1 through Group 5. This association must be in place for this triggering to work.
    • Create an ON event based on turning the controller button ON:
      • Trigger using Trigger Type “Device Status Change” and Status “Changed to On”
      • Action can be any HS action(s)
    • Create an Off event based on turning the controller button Off:
      • Trigger using Trigger Type “Device Status Change” and Status “Changed to Off”
      • Action can be any HS action(s) – I just used this event to reverse the ON button press (e.g. turn off the light(s) previously turned on with the ON press), but you could use it some other way if you wanted
    • Save an empty scene for each button – This is really odd, but for some reason you will need to go to each device that represents a button, and save a blank scene to each button.
      • Click on the Device that represents Each Button
      • Click on Configure, then click on Save Scene Changes. You do not need to add any devices to the scene. If you do not perform this step, the events will execute manually or automatically in HS, BUT pressing the button on the controller will NOT trigger the event. (Thanks to Greg H at HomeSeer for this key piece of information.) It will create a new blank scene (incrementing the scene number, and reduce the available number of scenes from a total of 255) for each button.
    Ways to use the buttons (using them to trigger events):<O</O
    • Controlling individual lights – this gives you direct control over 5 separate lights in one switch plate size – those lights can be anywhere since they are not physically connected to the 5 button controller
    • Controlling multiple lights – Either execute a created z-wave scene or roll your own with multiple actions
    • Panic button – use one button to trigger the Cooper Panic Mode (or any other alarms or lights) - this duplicates the dedicated button on the Cooper Handheld and Desktop controllers
    • All On / All Off – Use one button to turn all the lights on/off – this duplicates the dedicated buttons on the Cooper Handheld and Desktop controllers
    • I am Home/ I am Away – Use one button to signal that you are home (turn on certain lights, set the thermostat, etc, Then turning that button off could turn down the thermostat, wait 5 minutes then turn off the lights, etc.
    • I am here, not there – If you had multiple 5 button controllers around the house in key areas, you could set up the top button (for instance) to turn on lighting and HVAC as appropriate to the area you are in, AND setting the lighting and HVAC in other areas to off.. You could use the off “position” to just indicate that you were leaving that area, or just let the next area “I am here” button do that for you. What I mean by that last statement is that one of the device actions can be to turn another 5 button controller button On/Off
    • Open/Close a gate or garage door – this assumes you already have a HomeSeer mechanism to perform that function.
    • Lock/Unlock a door – again assumes you already have HomeSeer controllable lock.
    • Nested button control – Use one button to turn on other buttons/events throughout the house. See note 3 below.
    Bottom Line – It is a very convenient way to add local button based control to anything you can do in HomeSeer






    Other Notes/Comments
    • All Off button (the 6<SUP>th</SUP> button on the right hand side of the 5 button controller) – This is equivalent to setting every button on that 5 button controller OFF - which then runs the events you have associated with the Changed to Off button press.
    • I did finally think of a reason someone might want to use direct scene assignment rather than the event trigger mechanism I described above – If HomeSeer is NOT running, the direct Z-wave scene assignment would still allow the scenes to operate. I just don’t consider that a very important attribute for me, and I suspect for most others here.
    • Since you can perform any HS action based on the button trigger, keep in mind that this includes setting another buttons On/Off (which will then trigger the associated event actions for that button. The benefit of this approach vs. just running the event directly as an added action is that you would then be able to turn off that button to trigger the Off event. An example of how you might use this is:
    • You have a button on an entry controller turn on a Living room controller button, a kitchen button, and a home theater button. This would then turn on each of those buttons AND execute the events associated with those buttons. Then you can turn off the buttons/events in each individual area as desired OR turn them all off with the original entry button.
    • I have not experimented with using multiple button presses of the same button (or pressing two or more buttons at the same time) as triggers, but if that is possible, that might be a good mechanism for triggering alarms, or other lesser used events.
    • Remember – these 5 button controllers do not physically control power to any devices. They need power to run (i.e. not battery operated), then all they do is send Z-wave signals to HomeSeer (in the usage/configuration described here.
    • Creating a Z-wave scene and attaching it to one of the buttons – works as described in the manual. I tested it early on because I was not even sure they were working! I did not describe that process here because it is fairly straightforward and not nearly as useful (to HomeSeer users) in my opinion.
    I hope this helps others. I am embarrassed to admit how many hours I struggled with these devices. But now that I understand how they can be used, I am really happy with the possibilities.
    Last edited by Vector; June 15, 2012, 02:49 PM.

    #2
    Excellent write-up. I bought one of these controllers specifically to replace some X10 KeyPadLincs. I returned it without ever even taking it out of the box because I was getting confusing info here on the board about wheather it was even possible. Like you, I couldn't see having Homeseer and still wanting one of these to directly turn on Z-Wave lights. However, stuff I saw from Rich and Rick (I think) seemed to say there wasn't anyway to just trigger HS events with one of these, so I gave up and stuck with the KeyPadLincs. Now I need to reconsider!

    Steve

    Comment


      #3
      Great writeup - Thanks!

      I am trying to achieve the exact behavior you describe here, but I chose the Vizia VRCZ4-MR controller instead of the Cooper. I seem to be dead in the water at the very start though. When I add the VRCZ4-MR controller to the HS devices, I only get 1 ON/OFF root device (containing 4 groups). I do not also get the 4 additional ON/OFF devices. Since the 4 actual switches do not show up as HS devices, they are not available in the trigger combo box for triggering my HS events.

      I chose the VRCZ4 (zone controller) instead of the VRCS4 (scene controller) because each of the 4 buttons on the VRCZ4 is a paddle (left side = ON, right side = OFF) and I thought these would be easier to deal with in HS. The VRCS4 instead has 4 buttons that are simply toggle.

      According to the VRCZ4 manual, the unit can be configured as a Scene controller instead of a Zone controller, but this configuration option is not showing up HS device configuration options.

      Comment


        #4
        thank for write up....we need more &quot;helps&quot; like this.

        Will setting it up like this allow for Dim? I am switching to Z-Wave from X10. I am finding that modules work nice and easy to access through HS Touch. But replacing the Controllers seems to be complicated. I want a desktop controller to turn off/on/dim room lights like from a bedside (like the X10 controllers). I also got a RFWC5 and a VRCZ4. Hope your write up helps and someone give more info on VRCZ4.

        Thank you all, great community.

        Comment


          #5
          JD,
          Sorry I did not see your post earlier.

          Yes the buttons can dim any device (it can perorm any action that Homeseer can perform). BUT it does not have a dim/bright button like the X-10 desktop controllers. So when the button is pressed, it will perform the specified action(s) of the associated event.

          I agree with you about the desktop controller. I have both the Cooper Handheld and Tabletop Controller, and they will allow you to do this, but you have to find the correct device and then use the dim/bright button. What I would like is a controller that devices can be assigned to buttons, and then the Dim/Bright buttons work after that assigned button is pressed.

          Regards,
          Vector

          Comment


            #6
            Could someone with sufficient privileges please add a link to this post from the 'how to's' forum?

            Comment


              #7
              Vrcs4

              Anyone can confirm if this method works with the VRCS4 controllers ?

              I really miss my insteon triggers using keypadlincs, Z-wave has a major functionnality flaw on the flexibility factor.

              I'll keep using my 2 expensive paper weights in the meantime

              Comment


                #8
                Zwave controller help

                Anyone experiencing the same thing or similar ?

                Comment


                  #9
                  Good Writeup by Vector.

                  I have a bunch of these. I use them primarily as remote light switch controllers. For example, in my hallway, from one scene controller, I can control the kitchen hall lights, the office hall lights, the kitchen lights, the office lights, and I have saved the 5th switch for the all lights on/off in the house (So if you press and hold the side (off) button until all the blue lights flash, all the lights in the house will go off. This is really useful in the scene controllers by doors :-) )

                  I do have issues with my homeseer computer staying alive so I do the association in each button for the light it controls. Thus if the homeseer computer is down for some reason the the lights in the house still work...

                  One thing which was not mentioned is the ability to separately control the indicator in each button. In an event, you add a Zwave action to turn on a device's indicators and then specify the device and the indicator number. In the example above I actually have several scene controllers with some buttons corresponding to the same light switch. When I get an event of a button being pressed, the event turns on / off the indicator on the associated buttons on other scene controllers. Thus anytime the hall lights are on, the blue lights are lit on all the scene controllers which have a hall light button.

                  There can be an issue when you are having the scene controller button indicators reflect the status of dimmers. My dimmers sometimes do not get set to 100% (because someone may have touched the dim control on the dimmer) so a dimmer "on" event is not triggered if someone turns on the light from the dimmer switch directly. To work around this I suggest using the dimmer switch event trigger as value greater than 0 to turn indicators on, and value equal 0 to turn them off.

                  I think it is relatively easy to add an association to turn on or off an indicator as part of any zwave switch action and have asked Rick to add this functionality in a future release. That way everything would still work perfectly if my homeseer computer was out to lunch for some reason....

                  Comment


                    #10
                    This is a great writeup!

                    One question though. I'm looking at using several of these controllers in a retrofit situation. In addition to replacing the electrical box for the switches where I'm installing these, do I also need to run a dedicated electrical circuit to power this switch, or can I power it in parallel with some of the switches already installed?

                    Thanks!

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Originally posted by Crashless View Post
                      This is a great writeup!

                      One question though. I'm looking at using several of these controllers in a retrofit situation. In addition to replacing the electrical box for the switches where I'm installing these, do I also need to run a dedicated electrical circuit to power this switch, or can I power it in parallel with some of the switches already installed?

                      Thanks!
                      Yes you can power with the same input non-switched power that you are using for other switches in the same box.

                      Also you can do the following trick: in a 3/4 way system you can replace accessory switches with controller. You can use top button for light control (using direct association) and you get 4 buttons for other stuff. This requires no drilling/cutting to extent existing boxes.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Originally posted by Person View Post
                        Yes you can power with the same input non-switched power that you are using for other switches in the same box.

                        Also you can do the following trick: in a 3/4 way system you can replace accessory switches with controller. You can use top button for light control (using direct association) and you get 4 buttons for other stuff. This requires no drilling/cutting to extent existing boxes.
                        That IS a neat trick! So, which leads would I use from an existing 3-way circuit? The white and black, then cap the red, right? That's WAY easier, since nearly every one of the places I'm adding one of these has a 3-way circuit. (Which as an aside, is insane. Several circuits have 3-ways within arm's reach of each other.)

                        Also, can I relocate the master switch? Several circuits are low-voltage and have existing dimmers that I'm replacing. Can I move the master switch to the other location in the 3-way to make room for a 5-button controller in the more convenient location?

                        Finally, does the associated 3-way circuit HAVE to be the top button, or is that simply my choice when programming?

                        Anyways, THANK YOU!

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Originally posted by Crashless View Post
                          That IS a neat trick! So, which leads would I use from an existing 3-way circuit? The white and black, then cap the red, right? That's WAY easier, since nearly every one of the places I'm adding one of these has a 3-way circuit. (Which as an aside, is insane. Several circuits have 3-ways within arm's reach of each other.)
                          If you have power -> 3-way -> main switch -> light then you use black/white from power to "power" controller. You take 2 traveler wires (black & red) and connect them to black power inside 3-way box to bring un-switched power to main switch. You use either black or red as hot for main switch.


                          Also, can I relocate the master switch? Several circuits are low-voltage and have existing dimmers that I'm replacing. Can I move the master switch to the other location in the 3-way to make room for a 5-button controller in the more convenient location?
                          Yes you can but it is more tricky. You need to take one of the traveler wires to bring un-switched power to accessory to power it up (e.g. black which goes to black of the accessory). You use other traveler wire (e.g. red) to carry switched power coming out of master switch. You tie that one directly to the load/lamp black wire in the accessory side. In all cases you always short all white wires in a box and connect white from the switch/accessory to it.

                          If you draw it out on a paper it will make sense :-)

                          Finally, does the associated 3-way circuit HAVE to be the top button, or is that simply my choice when programming?
                          You can use any button - they are all the same. I prefer top one as that is commonly used one and easy to hit without much thinking, even for guests.

                          I am glad you found this trick very useful - I was very glad to discover this myself and had to only extend one wall box to add controller - that is because I had to split single fan/light switch into 2 since z-wave doesn't have combo and wanted to add controller.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            The only disadvantage of using one of the buttons for an auxiliary switch is it only supports on/off - not dimming.

                            Regards,
                            Vector

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Originally posted by Vector View Post
                              The only disadvantage of using one of the buttons for an auxiliary switch is it only supports on/off - not dimming.

                              Regards,
                              Vector
                              Yep that is one. Second one is that it doesn't support timeout mode like "normal" Cooper switches.

                              Comment

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