I'm looking at this Fibaro controller as the ultimate solution for my kitchen cabinet and workspace lighting. Any word on whether this might be supported by InControl? Before I drop a couple hundred on everything I'd like to make sure! I don't even need the color changing aspects of it, just the white. Color would be a somewhat interesting bonus, though I doubt I'd use it.
Just to summarize, this nifty controller is capable of so much. You can either connect a single multicolor LED light strip to it, or you can connect up to FOUR white LED light strips (or some halogen bulbs, I believe). It also takes inputs from up to four sensors! Very cool.
Because I don't plan on needing color, and because I might want to install several runs, I plan on using multiple white LED strips run in parallel for better brightness. I just need to figure out if this thing works with InControl first!
Fibaro RGBW controller
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- Last Post 02 March 2017
And naturally, I come across an answer. I just noticed one of the Amazon reviewers said they associated the device with their InControl system. Not much more info on compatibility, but if that person is on these forums I'd love to hear from them!
I actually used these personally - they work well with InControl. I didn't have to do anything special (that I recall) to get it working.
Excellent! How does it appear in InControl? If I have 4 separate strips installed, will they show up as four devices?
Do you plan to use one device to run 4 different white strips?
I do, and everything I'm seeing seems to support its ability to do just that.
I just re-read and it appears you want to use one to control 4 lights. The device will show up as a single device in InControl with access to the 4 color channels (RGB and White). In theory, you can set full RGB and W colors to turn them on, but I'm not sure how much "fine" control you'd have over them as I never tried that setup.
When I purchased mine, I saw people ask about running more than X lights in a series and they said you'd run into power problems. Did you find a way to get around that?
I don't have one yet, so you'll have more knowledge of the device than I do. From what I've been able to gather, running the strips in parallel will help with power issues.
As for controlling multiple light strips, here's how I understood it. You connect the 12V line to the line on the transformer, and the other to the R, G, B, or W port on the controller. The LED strips can then be controlled independently. I just didn't know how that was reflected in the software, but it sounds like it doesn't quite work how I'd like it to, where four devices would show up. Would I be able to create a device out of each color value? That would at least make it effectively the same as four devices...
Also, what LED strips are you using, Ryan?
So I finally got one of these Fibaro RGBW units. I was shocked at how small it is!
Anyway, I've run into a problem with it while trying to set it up. I had no trouble wiring it to my transformer, powering it up, adding it to the network, and running an auto configure. It went from a standard dimmer switch to having all those different things in the right-hand area (what's the term for those different items on the right? They're not parameters, are they? I'll call them "values" in this post.
So, I ended up with a confusing set of values. There's one for "Level," five for "End Point" (numbered 1 through 5 in its name), one for "Electric," and six for "LevelChanged" (not numbered).
Quickly, I should mention how I'm wired. I'd said in an earlier post that I wanted to use the RGBW to control multiple white LED strips instead of one RGB strip. This is apparently a completely acceptable setup according to Fibaro. It's easy to wire, too. The positive wire from the transformer goes into the 12v connector on the Fibaro and the positive lead on each strip. The negative lead on the transformer goes into the Fibaro. The negative lead from each strip then goes into the R, G, B, or W terminal on the Fibaro.
I was able to figure out the following: If I created a new device for each of the "End Point X" values, then make it a dimmer switch, I could control the power of each LED strip independently. Very cool!
What's not cool is that I can't figure out how to assign different brightness levels to each strip. One the devices I created, it doesn't matter how I adjust their dim levels. They all go to the same dim level. That dim level is set by the master Fibaro device that's created when the device is included in the system. Any pointers, Ryan? I know this isn't your setup, but you would have more insight than I do. Perhaps I'm wired incorrectly?
Also, I'd like to know what all those values are for. Why are there 5 "End Point" values? Apparently 5 is W, 4 is B, 3 is G, and I don't have a strip connected to it but I assume R is 2. What is 1? And there's 6 "LevelChanged" values? I thought I might see values for the four input terminals, but I don't think that's what those are...but I don't know!
Please help! Thanks!
Ok, I've been working on this so I have a quick update. I figured I'd post my questions and findings here for the benefit of anyone else who's stuck on the Fibaro RGB or RGBW and Axial or InControl (got to get all those terms in there for the robot!).
It looks like the key to my issue is parameter 14. Apparently by default all the levels are the same. The problem is that the manual is extremely confusing as to how to change this for my setup. Fibaro sent me to this PDF describing how to enter the proper HEX code into an online calculator and come up with the right answer. The problem is that it's written in very technical jargon and doesn't make any sense. It also seems to contradict its self, saying that 1111 isn't an accepted entry in that table, but 1111 is actually the default value for the parameter! Like I said, very confusing.
I tried changing it to 1110, but that made the W strip unusable. I have no idea what I'm doing at this point...
Any guidance? Please?
I tried changing it to 1110, but that made the W strip unusable. I have no idea what I'm doing at this point...
Is hex 1110 the value you determined you need for your setup? If so, you'll need to convert that to decimal (DEC) and enter the dec number into Axial. 1110 converted to decimal is 4368.
By the way, it appears that 1110 makes your first 3 channels set to "output" mode as momentary switches. The 4th channel is "0" which is apparanly an invalid setting, possible explaining why your "W" is unusable.
There's a brightness mode, which is assigned a value of 5. You might try hex 5555 (21845 in decimal).
This is just a mess. So I switched the W lead to R so that I had my three strips attached to R, G, and B, just in case that was messing things up. I've tried the default hex, 4368, and the one you came up with, 21845, and none of them worked. It results in just a bizarre set of behavior, with some devices controlling other devices, only one of them can be dimmed at a time, but only if one of the controlling devices is dimmed, and one of the devices even turns the three devices off. I'd get more specific, but it's just a messy web of failure :) I'd really appreciate some guidance on this...
I'm not sure what else to suggest. If I get some free time, I can try to order the parts and play around with a similar configuration. Maybe someone else has some more experieince with the configuration that can jump in and give some ideas.
Also, I think the default was 1111, not 1110.
Correct, I was just listing the different ones I've tried. Those were two separate ones.
It would help if I could understand what all the items are. There's the initial device that shows up in Axial. Then there's the five "End Point" items listed.
I want to try to explain what's happening, just in case it rings any bells, but it's very difficult to do so. Let me try. I'll start by listing the devices I have, mostly created from the End Point items:
1 - the initial device that showed up after I paired the Fibaro RGBW
2 - End Point 1
R - End Point 2
G - End Point 3
B - End Point 4
W - End Point 5 (I'm not using this one)
2 just seems to be 1. It matches the Level item on 1, and if either 1 or 2 is changed, the other will reflect it. I'll refer to them both as 1.
Turning 1 off will turn all the others off. Turning 1 on will turn on whatever others were on before. Once the last of R/G/B is turned off, 1 turns off.
Scenario: 1 and R are on. R's dim level cannot be adjusted. Adjusting 1's dim level adjust R's dim level instead.
That's the easiest part to explain. Now it gets weird...
Scenario: 1 and R are on, I set 1 to 5%. I turn them off. I turn on G, which turns on 1 too. I set 1 to 10%. I repeat the process to set B to 30%. I then R, G, and B on. They're all at the levels I set them to. 1 sets its self to the level of the highest one, 30%. Again, I can't adjust any of the RGB dim levels. It does nothing and just returns to whatever value it was set up using 1. What I can do is adjust the dim level of 1 to, say 99%. Now what it does is adjust the RGB values to higher values, like 15/33/99.
The only thing I can conclude is that the system still thinks I have an RGB LED strip. It seems like it's attempting to keep the same color value for a single strip.
I don't know if it's simply a matter of finding the right value for parameter 14 or not, but that would certainly be the easiest thing to adjust. But like I said before, nothing I set it to seems to help that...
Ok, so just after I wrote that whole post I finally understood the HEX code thing. I got the DEC conversion part, but I didn't understand how the HEX corresponded to the channels. Now I do and I'm going to try a few DEC values to see if I can get it to do what I want.
So far, I can only get it to do pretty much what I described above. I simply cannot adjust dim or power levels independently for each LED strip.
Ryan,
After hours of messing around with this, 30 minutes on the phone with Fibaro, and an email to Aeon Labs, I haven't come to a conclusion. Fibaro pointed the finger at the Z-Stick. Aeon Labs pointed the finger at you. So everyone is passing the buck now.
I've tried so many different values for parameter 14, and they all pretty much do the same thing. Dim level is only controlled by the initial device. Changing the dim level of any individual strip does absolutely nothing. It really seems like Axial only treats the controller as an RGBW controller for an RGBW LED strip, when it's fully capable of controlling individual elements.
What settings etc. did Fibraro have you set that weren't working? Can you summarize what each party said was the problem? Also, if you still have a contact at Fibraro, maybe ask them to send the integrator's guide to using their controller; maybe there's some clues in it that would help.
You have all the information that I do. I spoke to someone at fibaro on the phone, so I don't have their email address or anything. And Aeon Labs said nothing more than it was the software's problem...
All I've done is try to change parameter 14, and everything results in the same way, I can't change anything.
I also haven't gotten a sense from you what all the items on the right under the initial device do. What do you call those things again? I want to have the terminology down. Anyway, there are 5 items in there underneath Level, and one of them seems to be exactly the same as Level...
I personally call them "readings" - but that's not totally accurate. In the case of that controller, there are some device readings, and there are some "channels." The software just reads them right from the device and spits them out there; I'm not entirely sure what each one represents.
What value was Fibraro trying to get you to set for parameter #14?
