Groups and Scenes

Groups and Scenes are two distinct ways combine devices for simplified automation.

Groups let you select a collection bulbs, dimmers and switches that you would like to control together as if they were a single device. This means they will all turn on and off, adjust levels, and change color together using a single Group Bulb Dimmer device for use with Hubitat^® Simple Lighting, Motion Lighting, Button Controller, Rule Machine^®, Hubitat^® Dashboard, or with Alexa and Google Assistant. In addition to making lighting easier to use, the Zigbee Group Messaging option allows you to group supported Zigbee lights together to eliminate the "popcorn effect" when you turn them on or adjust levels..

Scenes are used to capture devices in their unique states and repeat the exact condition as often as you want. Once that scene is captured, Hubitat Elevation^® can activate devices to the same captured state. The scene is linked to a virtual Scene Activator device that can be used with Hubitat^® Simple Lighting, Motion Lighting, Button Controller, Rule Machine^®, Hubitat^® Dashboard, or with Alexa and Google Assistant.

Installing Hubitat Groups and Scenes

1. From the Hubitat Web Interface select Apps
   
2. Choose the Groups and Scenes from the list of Hubitat Elevation^® Built-In Apps
   

Building a Hubitat Group

1. Open the Groups and Scenes app in the Hubitat Web Interface.
   
2. Select Create New Group
   
3. Give your new group a name, then press the Tab key or tap in the space at the bottom of the setup page to refresh. Your Hubitat Group name is the same name you will use to control the group with Alexa and Google Assistant, so be sure to make it easily understandable.
   
4. Use the drop-down menus to select the devices you'd like to include in your group. You can include bulbs, dimmers and switches. You will find bulbs directly connected to Hubitat Elevation^® and Hue Rooms will be in the first drop-down, Bulbs for group. Individual Hue bulbs, virtual and physical dimmers will be in the second drop-down, Dimmers for group. Virtual and physical switches will be in the last drop-down Switches for group
   
5. Use the toggle to select if you would like to Enable Zigbee group messaging. This option uses the Zigbee Multicast capability for supported devices in order to more efficiently deliver Zigbee messaging data. This can potentially reduce or eliminate the so called "popcorn effect" were lights turn on or adjust one by one, instead of simultaneously as a group. Hubitat Groups may still contain devices that do not support Zigbee group messaging when this feature is enabled, but there is a possibly that some popcorn effect may still occur.
   
6. Once your group options are selected, select Done. Your new group will now be available as a Group Bulb Dimmer device for use with Simple Lighting, Motion Lighting, Button Controller, Rule Machine^®, Dashboard, or with Alexa and Google Assistant.

Create and capture a Scene

Creating a scene allow you to capture devices in their unique states and repeat the exact condition. Once the scene is captured, Hubitat Elevation^® can activate devices to the same captured state. The scene is linked to a virtual Scene Activator device that can be used with Simple Lighting, Motion Lighting, Button Controller, Rule Machine^®, Dashboard, or with Alexa and Google Assistant.

1. Open the Groups and Scenes app in the Hubitat Web Interface.
   
2. Select Create New Scene
   
3. Give your new scene a name, then press the Tab key or tap in the space at the bottom of the setup page to refresh. Your Hubitat Scene name is the same name you will use to control the group with Alexa and Google Assistant, so be sure to make it easily understandable.
   
4. Use the drop down menus to select the devices you'd like to include in your scene. You can include bulbs, dimmers and switches. NOTE: The Scene name at the top of the page will be appended with (Not Captured) to warn that the Scene is still incomplete. While you have defined the devices for the scene, you have not yet defined what their captured state should be.
   
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5. Additionally, there is an option to push a button on a button device, such as a keypad. This is useful for activating scenes (phantom buttons) in a Lutron system.
   
6. For lights that support the feature, you may enter a transition time to allow gradual dimming
   
7. Enabling the Ignore activate switch off feature will prevent scenes from being turned off. This is useful to prevent Amazon Echo and Google Home device turning off lights if a user tries to turn off a scene. Lutron users will find this similar to the Set Scene function.
   
8. Use the Create capture device option to create an addition virtual device for your scene. This can be assigned to a button to capture the current state of your scene devices. For example, you could program a button hold to capture the state of devices, and a button press to activate that scene.
   
9. You have the option to add restrictions to your Scene. This limits the scene to only being active during certain modes or conditions. Your restriction options include:

   Only between two times - Select specific times, Sunrise/Sunset, or a combination of Sunrise or Sunset and specific times.

   Only on certain days of the week - Restrict to specific days of the week for activation.

   Only when mode is - Restrict by mode. For example, Only when mode is Evening, means scene will not activate when the mode does not match.

   Only when illuminance is - Select an illuminance sensor and comparison light level to only allow scene activation when illuminance is equal or lower than a specified level or when it is equal or greater than a specified level.

   Switch to disable scene - Select an optional switch to disallow your scene from being activated.

   

10. Once your devices and restrictions are selected, select Done to create your scene, and then you may either select devices for additional scenes, or select Done again to complete the process and build your scene(s). You can also use the Clone feature to duplicate existing scenes. This simplifies setup when scene settings and devices are similar.
    
11. Your scene is created, but you still need to capture the state of those devices as you want them in the scene.
12. Start by adjusting all of the devices in your scene to the level you desire. Turn off the devices you want off, turn on the devices you want on, set dimmers and colors to create the perfect setting.
13. With your devices set, open your scene settings and press the Capture Scene button to record their current state.
    
14. You can adjust your scene capture settings at any time simply by adjusting your devices, then pressing Re-Capture Scene button, or if you enabled the optional Create capture device in step 8, you can re-capture the scene this way too. Scene Capture devices will appear together in the Devices list with Scene Activator devices when this option is enabled.
    
15. You can also manually change scene settings by select Adjust Scene Settings and then manually changing the scene settings. NOTE: Do not use the Re-capture Scene button after manually adjusting scene settings. If you do, the current state of the devices in the scene will be captured again, instead of the manual settings you entered.
    
    

Activating a Scene

Once your scene has been captured, you activate using the Scene Activator device, which can be used used with Simple Lighting, Motion Lighting, Button Controller, Rule Machine^®, Dashboard, or with Alexa and Google Assistant. If the Scene Activator device is turned off, all of the member devices are turned off. If you don't want this to happen, use the Ignore activate switch off feature describe in Step 7.