The power of remote control macros! Now that we know what a macro is, let me give you an example of how powerful a macro can be. Below is a screen shot of a macro I use in our home every day. The idea behind this macro is when we turn off the TV at night and are headed to bed (from between the hours of 8:30pm and 11pm on the weekdays and midnight on the weekends) the following sequence of events happens. The reason I have chosen to have specific ending times, is I have recognized that if someone is up extra late, and other folks are sleeping, I don’t want lights or TVs coming on and waking them up.
Spoiler alert!!! This one is VERY long and detailed.
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The macro starts simply enough by turning off some audio / video devices. This is a very common use of a macro (i.e. to turn off (or on) any number of devices from TVs to audio video receivers (AVRs) to anything you can think of). After turning these off, things get a bit interesting. You can see a lighting scene, called Intermission is activated. What this does is slowly bring up the lights to a level that allows us to see and take up and dishes or glasses or else we might have (as the lights were probably off while we were watching a movie). Yes, that would be another macro.
Macros also allow for you to select certain times they can be run. Here, you see that if it’s between 7pm and 12:30am, ANOTHER macro (called a nested macro (which, in English means one macro inside another macro)) is run for the thermostats to go to specific “sleeping” temperatures. After a few delays, another “nested macro” runs a Bedtime series of steps.
As an aside, you might be asking, why have a macro inside a macro? Why not just list all the steps under one main macro. The reason is, this way, you can change things associated with one and use it in different places or instances. Let’s say I want the temperature to change when I go to bed and be executed EITHER when I press the off button on the TV remote OR when I press a button on a lighting keypad in our bedroom. I can insert the same Temperature Night macro under both buttons. Now, let’s say I want to change the temperature from, say 68 degrees to 70 degrees, every time I press either button. I can change this in ONE place, the Temperature Night macro, and it will change the action when I turn off the TV or when I press the button on the lighting keypad.
This is one the first step in a long series of this one macro that we live with every day. I will go more in depth, next time, showing you alarm arming, door locking, lighting changes, ceiling fans, TVs turning on and off, delayed lighting scenes and more. For now, just remember that macros are intended to do anything action you normally do, over and over, and automate that action to happen how and when you want it to.
If you have any questions, give us a shot at 704-696-2792 or email me at mark@svavnc.com. We LOVE talking about this stuff!
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