AllDigital

Ok, I have just reached the other side of the chasm, so I thought I'd share my experience making the transition from the ISY994i to EISY. TLDR - SUMMARY My upgrade went great. It wasn’t without some snags and frustrations, but everything works well for me except a lag time when sending commands to my Elk M1G. My original 994i included a lot of Insteon devices (switches, I/O, motion, thermostats, etc), as well as an Elk system, Ring integration, network resources, and more. After my migration, I added z-wave/matter and tried some 700 series devices and wow the range is amazing. Below is my experience: BACK-UP and RESTORE I upgraded the firmware on my ISY and on the new EISY. I then did a light housecleaning on my ISY to remove old devices, programs, variables, and other things not in use. I backed up the final "golden" version. On the EISY the restore of the back-up went pretty well, although I did need to reset/reboot a few times to get everything to show up properly. All my Insteon devices came over, along with all my programs, network resources, etc. The programs that referenced the Elk module all appeared in yellow and had to be edited later. I powered down the EISY, connected my old Insteon PLM, plugged in the PLM to the EISY (using the official cables/adapter) and then powered up the EISY. All the Insteon devices connected correctly the first time. As a note, you really do need the official RS232 cable/adapter for the EISY. The PLMs have a proprietary RJ45 wiring scheme and I'm pretty sure the EISY depends on the prolific USB chipset to match with the correct driver. I also tested email notifications, thermostats, and other basic features and I was impressed at how much transferred without issue. PG3 SETUP After I did the restore, I changed the admin password and then went to work on the PG3 setup. Getting PG3 set up so I could buy a Node Server was messy. The EISY needs to be set up correctly in the ISY Portal first, before you can buy anything. My ISY994i was already set up in the portal, so I had to add my EISY UUID manually. After I added it I still couldn't get it to work with PG3 and I couldn't transfer the license from my 994i to the EISY. It turns out, I had to enroll the EISY that I had manually added in a 30 day free trial license. That allowed me to approve it in the EISY admin console and then transfer the 994i license to the EISY. NOTE: This is a "point of no return”, since I couldn't easily roll-back to the 994i after making this license move -- a leap of faith, since I wasn't sure if the Elk NS and other integrations would work. Also Note, the login and authentication to PG3 web interface is really messy, at least on a Mac. Every time I went to PG3 I needed to log into the ISY Portal and then log into PG3, sometimes it required one or the other login twice. PG3 relies on the ISY Portal, so just know you have two layers of login to do. ELK SETUP After PG3 was set up I was able to buy and then configure the Elk NS. The configuration was straight forward in PG3 but it took a while to import all the Elk internal setup. I think I power cycled the EISY and then went into the admin console. It took a while to process all the Elk configurations the first time, but once it was done it showed as a device and everything was there in perfect order. I was able to edit all my programs that used Elk to adapt to the new Node Server instead of the old Elk Module. NOTE: The 994i restore blanks out all the Elk lines in programs, so make sure you know what you need to edit in each program. Overall, even with 20+ programs to edit it was pretty easy. The only substantial issue was there is a delay (10-30 seconds) when issuing commands to the Elk system. That is causing me issue with some automations, but hopefully it gets fixed soon. RING INTEGRATION I use IFTTT Webhooks and the ISY Portal for my Ring doorbell integration. After I did the license migration the Ring integration did not work. The Ring-to-IFTTT-ISY Portal isn’t a complicated set up, but for some reason this caused me the most hassle. I ended up deleting all the old Webhooks and recreating everything from scratch and it still didn’t work. I had issue with IFTTT getting notified from Ring, which is strange since none of that was involved in the EISY transfer. Ultimately, I found that if I set up a IFTTT webhook for Ring Motion it started working and then I was able to use the Ring Doorbell event. There is no reason this part should have broken during upgrade, except I went in to edit the IFTTT webhook to ISY Portal. Somewhere on the interweb I found a note that said setting up a motion event webhook with Ring first allowed the doorbell events to start working (ugh!). NETWORK RESOURCES I have a number of very simple network resources that make html GET calls to a Raspberry Pi. I knew I had to go in and edit these, but after I edited and saved them they still did not work. I could initiate them just fine from a browser, but not from a program. I edited, updated, and saved them six different ways and power cycled the box at least three times and eventually they just started working. I’m not sure why network resources need to be edited and/or why they are problematic, but eventually they started working with no material difference (timeouts, URLs, etc.) then the original network resources. MOBILE APP I had been using MobiLinc Pro with my ISY 994i which required ports to be open in my router. I decided to move over to UD Mobile and I am very happy with the interface and functionality. I can still access all my devices, programs, thermostats, etc. and I don’t need the extra port open. It does require the ISY Portal license, but I’m already there for my Ring Doorbell integration and I’m happy to pay $10/year if it will help keep this platform viable. Z-WAVE / MATTER The whole reason I upgraded from the 994i was to give me more options on devices. Honestly, after getting the baseline 994i to EISY upgraded, I don’t see a lot of (any?) real advantage in speed or UI as compared to the 994i. I know the queries are faster, but there really would be no reason for me to upgrade just to upgrade my current system. In my situation, I need to add a lot more devices far away in my backyard (motion, relays, etc.). The 700 series z-wave interested me and the future of Matter also interests me. As it turns out, there are not yet a lot of 700 series z-wave devices and using just one 500 series device will just slow the entire network, so options are limited. But there are options. Today I tested a Zooz 700 series relay to gauge usable distance. I was sure I was going to need to add extra antennas to the Matter board and a few 700 Series repeaters to reach the far end of my backyard. My EISY is inside my office at home and to get to the backyard the signal needs to go through three inside rooms and the 125 feet to the end of my backyard. It worked flawlessly and reliably on the first try. So, I moved it to the far end of my house deep on the floor of my garage and it also worked. Then I moved it to my neighbors and it also worked - all without a second z-wave node on the network. So, wow! I’m sold on the 700 series z-wave, at least for now. I’ll try some more devices, but this is very different from my old z-wave experience and my Insteon experience. I can barely get Insteon RF signals to go 20 feet or through a few walls. Thank you to everyone for sharing your experience on this forum. It has all been very helpful. Happy migrating!

I resolved this issue. For future travelers, when adding your new EISY you need to sign it up for a free license before you can approve it and then you can migrate the old to the new. The UI does not indicate that anywhere nor do the instructions, so that would be a good update in the wiki.

I have the same issue. I just migrated over to EISY from a 994i. When I send commands to the Elk it has a substantial delay. If I send a lot of commands, like speaking ten words in a program, it takes a lot longer (>30 seconds for ten words). If I send ten speak commands they all speak at once correctly, but there is a 30+ second delay to start speaking.

One additional data point... I am able to make new Node Server purchases and install them from PG3 which connects into the ISY Portal, even though the UUID is still pending approval. Without the ability to approve the EISY in ISY Portal I am unable to transfer my license from the old 994i to the new EISY.

I've completed all the firmware upgrades and migration of my 994i to my new EISY. I've got Insteon working well and I just went to set up connectivity to the ISY Portal, so I can purchase nodes, but it won't let me approve from the admin console. After I restored my 994i backup the portal tab said "Online" and "Registered" under Portal Integration, but I had not yet added my EISY to my ISY Portal. I then added my UUID to the Portal and it shows yellow with "Pending approval by the owner". When I go back to the EISY admin console under portals, It now shows the same "online" and "registered" but two more sections have been added (Active Services and Requested Services). Under Requested services I see my user id and the +Approve button. Under "More Info" I see all the correct account info. When I click the +Approve button I get a pop error "Bad Request". In the event viewer I get the following: [timestamp]: Portal-SEC: Connecting to my.isy.io [timestamp]: Portal-SECR: Connecting to my.isy.io [timestamp]: Portal-SECA: Connecting to my.isy.io When I check the ISY Portal it still is not approved. I have tried power cycling the EISY twice and logging out of the ISY console, but the "Bad Request" error repeats each time I try and approve. Please advise.

I've got a pretty substantial ISY 994i + Insteon home automation system and I'm considering the upgrade to the eisy, so I can start to expand using the new zwave 700 series components. Specifically, I need to add another five motion sensors in my backyard and the Insteon range isn't workable, so I am evaluating other options (hardwire + I/O, zwave, etc.). I have a new eisy in the box here and the zwave board on the way, but as I started to read through the forum on other 994i upgrades I am getting cold feet. Here is my current footprint (somewhat dated, since I haven't touched it in years): ISY 994i (1120) running 5.0.16 55 custom programs / 59 variables Dual-band PLM 2413S 36 Insteon devices (switches, motion, thermostats, I/O lincs, siren, extenders, etc) Elk Integration (all zones, voice/speak/siren) Ring node server Seven network resources UDI Portal integration email notifications w/20+ customizations MobiLinc Pro iOS app I am not using any of the energy features or older zwave tech. From what I've read, it seems like most of my system should port over to the eisy, but I am concerned about the Elk integration. I use the ISY as a "passive" alarm system when the Elk isn't armed and I use the Elk voice/speak features for lots of notifications in the house (eg, says "doorbell" when someone rings the doorbell). Will all the functionality come over and/or will I need to re-write all the programs? If it is going to be a massive lift to port everything and then I am left with big gaps in functionality, I might just stay on the 994i longer and solve my immediate needs with more Insteon gear. Let me know what you think. If I do take the plunge, I'll be sure to share the journey. Thanks, -Mike

It appears that IFTTT has a bug in their Ring integration. As I posted above, the IFTTT integration for a Ring event and motion event work just fine. They call the ISY portal POST event and all is good. The issue is when I go to "Live View" in the Ring app it also triggers a Ring event (as if someone pushed the button). This morning, I switched over to Stringify. I set up a trigger using their Ring "thing" and then I used their Maker thing and gave it the same ISY Portal URL for my IFTTT. I then disabled the IFTTT flows and retested. The Stringify flow also works perfect (with very little latency) and when I go to Live View in the app it does not erroneously fire the Ring event. I suspected it was a bug with Ring, but it appears to be a bug with IFTTT. Either way, good to know that Stringify also works well for ISY to Ring integration.

I've got a Ring Pro integrated to my ISY994i via IFTTT and the Portal. I'm using it initiate a chime and voice in the house from the ISY to an Elk Alarm. It also turns on lights, based on the time of day. In general, it works well with only 3-4 seconds of latency, but there is an odd bug with the Ring app, when I go to "Live View" in the Ring app it triggers a ring event to IFTTT, so the doorbell goes off in the house and the lights go on. If I get a motion event and I want to go to live view I can't do it without triggering the chime from the ISY and annoying the family -- a bigger issue late at night. Is anyone else experiencing this? I hope the upcoming direct integration is less buggy.