Rotary Encoder and Dimmer Module (Dimmer2 Module)

[pippipmilk 0]

Hi,

 

A brief bit of background, I'm a complete newbie in home automation but I work in IT and used to mess around with electronics and microprocessors when I was a young.

 

I'm rewiring my house and I'm interested in controlling the lighting.  What drew me to the fibaro dimmer module was that I am making a chandelier with several Edison bulbs and I'll need to set the maximum brightness of the bulbs to substantially less than 100%, both to prolong the life of the (expensive) bulbs  -

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and to reduce the brightness and heat from the large number of bulbs.  As far as I can tell the fibaro is the only dimmer readily available in the UK that has the is feature, regardless of the home automation features.

 

In addition the dining room that the chandelier will occupy has two doors, so I'd like a dimmer switch near both.  At the moment one door has a rotary dimmer switch and the other a "staircase" switch.  The fibaro dimmer module handles this situation better, with a dimer being possible in both places.  I've also come round to the idea of using the dimmers throughout the house so that we can control the lighting from our phones in bed or in the living room which has a projector.  We might also benefit from scheduling the lights to deter burglars when we are away.

 

One thing that I don't like about the fibaro the is the control switch options, the "roller blind" style switch is the best option but this is still no where near as good as a rotary control IMHO.  It would be good if the fibaro dimmer module had a rotary encoder mode.  In case you don't know a rotary encoder is a device which can measure the movement of a rotating shaft in pulses usually using magnets or light sensors.  A quadrature or 2 channel incremental rotary encoder has three pins that could be connected to Sx, S1 and S2 and it would then, with a firmware update from fibaro, be able to sense if the lights were being dimmed or undimmed and at what rate.

 

Here is an explanation of rotary encoders, the incremental encoders section being the most relevant part -

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and here is an example product

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 There is probably a rotary encoder for the volume control (and other things) in your car's central console.

 

Unfortunately there would not be a pin of the fibaro for the usual on/off push function of rotary controls, this is how you'd usually switch your car stereo on and off, and it would make sense to have a quick on/off for the lights at their previously dimmed level by pushing the encoder since that's how old style dimmer switches used to work.  Depending on the electronic implementation of the fibaro there may be a way around this, but it's unlikely.

 

Would anyone else like to see this feature?

 

Another option, bearing in mind that fibaro quite possibly don't care for my idea is to implement it myself, as a hack.  I'm going to try to build a circuit that uses the "roller blind switch" mode (value 2 for Parameter No. 14) of the fibaro dimmer to control the fibaro using the rotary encoder.  It won't be as good as native support, largely because increasing the rate of change (Parameter No. 9 and 11) will decrease the resolution.  Basically my idea is to connect Sx to S1 for a fixed duration pulse when I read a clockwise movement from the encoder and connect Sx to S2 for a similar duration when I read anti-clockwise movement.  I may even be able to make the push on/off feature of the rotary encoder work by having the circuit send pulses when the encoder is pushed that will be interpreted as being double or triple clicks by the fibaro.

 

Is anyone interested in this?

[Guest fat]

What about using a momentary switch at each switch wired in paralell to a dimmer module. If you press and hold the monetary switch it will let you dim the lights, let go and press and hold again and it will raise the brightness. If they are wired in parallel it will mean you can switch the light on as well as dim from either location

[pippipmilk 0]

I'm aware you can wire them in parallel this way.  You could also do that with the "roller blind" style up down paddle switches that use Sx, S1 and S2.  I just prefer rotary switches - I won't have to show my mother how to use them.

[noname 0]

Pippipmilk,

as I guess the output from an incremental encoder could be quite fast. I don't think there are products that support every type input signal if they are not designed to do so. In normal dimmers You have usually an integrated potentiometer to give absolute value of the dimming. Other companies could have integrated encoder modules, but they are specific for that type of application.

As i imagine, you try to make a switch that holds it action for a specific time period, proportional to the impulses You apply from the encoder.

Are You aware of, that dimmer module hold action needs about a second to make dimming possible? So this control device would have a significant delay in operation

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/emoticons/default_smile.png" alt=":)" srcset="https://forum.fibaro.com/uploads/emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" /> (not like the old fashioned potentiometric dimmers).

What kind of wall rotary encoder readily available, safe and compatible with AC grid you consider?

BTW, i'm also an old-fashioned style devices fan

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/emoticons/default_smile.png" alt=":)" srcset="https://forum.fibaro.com/uploads/emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" /> Nice looking light bulbs.

 

 

One thing that I don't like about the fibaro the is the control switch options, the "roller blind" style switch is the best option but this is still no where near as good as a rotary control IMHO.  It would be good if the fibaro dimmer module had a rotary encoder mode.  In case you don't know a rotary encoder is a device which can measure the movement of a rotating shaft in pulses usually using magnets or light sensors.  A quadrature or 2 channel incremental rotary encoder has three pins that could be connected to Sx, S1 and S2 and it would then, with a firmware update from fibaro, be able to sense if the lights were being dimmed or undimmed and at what rate.

[...]

Unfortunately there would not be a pin of the fibaro for the usual on/off push function of rotary controls, this is how you'd usually switch your car stereo on and off, and it would make sense to have a quick on/off for the lights at their previously dimmed level by pushing the encoder since that's how old style dimmer switches used to work.  Depending on the electronic implementation of the fibaro there may be a way around this, but it's unlikely.

So this is an idea, but there is still issue with instant on/off action and probably response times. Returning to the beginning, are there on the market specific dimming rotary encoder devices, not a DIY solution? I think the answer is no, excluding DMX or other type of control interfaces.

 

Another option, bearing in mind that fibaro quite possibly don't care for my idea is to implement it myself, as a hack.

Pippipmilk, as long as this won't induce any hazardous actions or possible electric shock to anybody, i keep my fingers crossed for the project.

You may not agree with my opinion, but i think that engineers from Fibaro try to push the technology and product's functionalities to the border of possibility.

You can send here Your ideas. It is really nice to see what community can do with Fibaro modules, we try to help as much as we can.

 

Maybe a rollerblind 3 pole center retract switch would be optimal for You - 1/click, hold action in both directions?

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