Mac Home Automation

Set the internal preset level for the light without actually sending any X-10 command. This is useful for “Simulated Smart” units the next ON received for the unit will cause it to dim or brighten to this new level. You can change the preset level or saved color data of a unit that is on or off without affecting it’s current value.

sim preset (text, name of the unit)
to (integer, new preset value [0-100])

Many color capable bulbs are now available for ZWave and ZigBee via the Phillips Hue hub. XTension can also create an “RGB Pseudo” that groups any 3 other units as the red, green and blue channels of a single fixture. Even if your device is not directly supported as an individual color lamp the channels are usually available separately. This is normally the case with ZWave 3 channel controllers. There are several optional parameters to this command for setting color. Some are specific to the hue bulbs, others will work for any color capable device.

rgb color (text, a standard HTML color string with each 2 characters being 00 to FF a hex representation of the level of that color in the mix. All color devices support the rgb color command. This is the normal way to set the color of a bulb. “FF0000” would be full red, “0000FF” would be full blue.)
hue/saturation (integer, if using a Phillips Hue bulb you can set the color by passing the hue and saturation. If using this you must pass both the hue and saturation values.)
xvalue/yvalue (number, another method of sending color to a Phillips Hue bulb. If using this you must pass both the x and y coordinate values.)
color temperature (integer, currently supported only for Phillips Hue bulbs this number corresponds to the color temperature. For the hue bulbs this is not the actual color temperature in kelvin, but a number from 153 to 500 with larger numbers being warmer. As other bulbs become more commonly available that support changes in color temperature support will be added for those.)
color preset (number, 1-8, all color capable devices can have 8 colors or color temperatures set as presets. You can recall one by passing the color preset number to this parameter.)

If you are using a color capable device keep in mind that the level that the lamp displays the color at is separate from the brightness of the color that you are passing. For example, dimming a lamp to 10% with an rgb color of “FF0000” would result in a color at the lamp that is really “190000” So if you wish a dimmer red, you can just pass the full on along with a lower dim level. Color presets are handled in the same way. This can be a little confusing when just reading about it, but it does seem to make the most sense when actually using the lamp. You have your lamp at a specific color and you wish to change it to another color, you don’t wish the level to change dramatically along with that color preset change. This is how the Phillips Hue bulbs handle color changes natively and how XTension handles the RGB pseudo internally.

Since the phillips hue bulbs are always treated as simulated including a color setting in the ON command will return the bulb to the last level with that level altering the color that you are passing to be the proper brightness.

RGB colors on the computer screen do not correspond perfectly to the color displayed by the bulb. A lot of work was done to support the specific transforms necessary for the Phillips hue bulbs and as long as you are choosing a color that the bulb can actually generate the color display is pretty close. For RGB Pseudo devices there could be considerable differences between what is displayed on your screen and what is shown at the lamp. Many less expensive devices seem to have an underpowered red channel and so you may have to boost the red above what you need to see the proper color on the screen in order to see the proper color on the lamp itself.

• see manual section on Simulated Preset Dim