Everything posted by apostolakisl
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Keep fan on after AC turns off?
Every home will have different details. But the companies that make hvac systems are in a huge battle with each other to make their systems the most efficient at the best price. They all continue to run the fan after the compressor shuts down for some period of time. The have a great wealth of knowledge and research on the subject to make that decision. The price of the equipment is the same regardless of how long the fan runs after the compressor shuts down, so it would be silly to think that they didn't set it to the most efficient time. Furthermore, the fan consumes electricity. Just because the air coming out the vent is still a degree or 2 colder than the air that is in the house for a few more seconds, doesn't mean that you are being more efficient. It may be that the fan electric consumption costs you more than that slightly cooler air is worth. Again, the hvac manufacturers are far more versed in this stuff that you and I could ever hope to be and it just doesn't make a lick of sense to think that they didn't already optimize this simple control.
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Keep fan on after AC turns off?
I wouldn't. Any hvac unit that isn't ancient will continue to run the fan after the compressor is off an appropriate time to maximize energy efficiency. Running the fan after that would probably not be to your benefit.
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What is the best way to monitor and control a garage door?
Now this sounds interesting. Since my outlet is very close to the motor I would just wire it to the terminals on the motor. I'm not sure what wiring it to an rf control would do for me other than having to change the batteries very blue moon. Yes, you can just wire directly to the two same terminals on the motor itself that also go to the button. Some of the fancier buttons take issue with this because they use those two terminals to provide power to other functions on the button. But I think it was written earlier that you don't have that kind. Even if you do, putting a resistor in series with the I/O link can fix that.
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What is the best way to monitor and control a garage door?
A lot of people just wire the rf controller to the iolinc. Then you don't have to run wires back to the button or up to the unit. Of course you have to have some soldering skills to do that.
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Check internet connection
I don't think it is a bad idea to at least give it a try. If it makes no difference, then you can always go back to the old wall wart and use you nice power supply for something else. I will also add that the office dsl modem was 7 years old when it went all flaky on me. So it would appear that the power supply suffered some damage either just from time in operation or a spike hit it, or a bunch of little spikes over time got it. No idea, but I thought it was the modem at first, and clearly I was wrong. Just glad I tried changing the power out first.
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Variables Slipping by
Cause I just cut and pasted his stuff to address the question about an email at 30 min, 60 min, and then hourly. Yes, I would bundle the emails. Sorry I should have been more clear that I was answering the timing part of things and leaving your stuff to stand for itself.
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Variables Slipping by
If Status 'Garage / Main Garage Door Sensor' is On Or Status 'Garage / Small Garage Door Sensor' is On Then Repeat 2 times Wait 30 minutes Send Notification to 'Joe Text' Send Notification to 'Joe Email' Send Notification to 'Liz Text' Send Notification to 'Liz Email' Repeat 4 times wait 60 minutes Send Notification to 'Joe Text' Send Notification to 'Joe Email' Send Notification to 'Liz Text' Send Notification to 'Liz Email' Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action')
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Check internet connection
Thank you! Like you, I hardly ever need to reboot my modem/router. I have quite a few clients however that have to reboot DSL modems to get back online once in a while and I attribute that to the ISP not their modems. In one vacation home, I installed a mechanical timer switch on the modem/router to power down/up once a day just in case. This means about 15 mins of downtime everyday but its usually in the wee hours of the morning unless there has been a power outage to throw off the timer. When I come across one of these where I have an ISY installed, I will be using the ISY to monitor and reset. -Xathros I had DSL at the office and I used to have to reboot once per month. Then I put an ATX power supply at the office as well. Same modem never again needed a reboot. . . I mean never, and that was for 2 years until I moved offices and got uverse at the new office.
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Auto Rebooting
I am not a network expert either. But it seems that .14 is giving you trouble. Perhaps it has nothing to do with the .14, but a simple thing to do would be pick a different IP. Myself, I have my router dhcp set to start at .100. My ISY is static at .9 and it gets that number from ISY settings. The router doesn't have any role in assigning that address and it works always. The only thing the router does is port forward to .9 so I can access from outside my LAN if needed.
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What is the best way to monitor and control a garage door?
Assuming you don't already have it wired into an alarm system. Get an IOlinc and a standard garage door alarm contact. Wire the IOlinc input to the door contactor and the output to the open/close button.
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Check internet connection
On subject but slightly different. First off, clever! My experience has been that flaky modems and routers are a function of flaky power supplies. I put my modem, router, and ISY all on an ATX power supply and have gone years without a single reboot (prior to that reboots were needed). aside from when the UPS that it was plugged into died.
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Generators
Sorry for you big PITA issue. Sadly I suspect you have a lot of damaged electronics that are still hanging on by a thread so don't be surprised if you start seeing random failures around the house.
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Thermostat ramp up program
I would use thermostat wire. It is 18g. 24g is pretty small. Thermostat wire comes with 4 or more conductors depending on what you want. These wire carry 24vac. . . not sure on the current, but they wouldn't normally use 18g just to waste money.
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Water temperature...
Does ISY have a display or output of the temp somewhere? I don't have any Insteon thermostats since my system is all proprietary rs485 (probably) comm signals. I know with Elk temp readings ISY can text/email those two you or send them to an Elk Keypad for display. I don't see thermostat reading in the custom notifications section, but that could be because I don't have any thermostats. If ISY can't send you the temp, I know you can get it to work using cai webcontrol and the ISY.
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Thermostat ramp up program
I love this idea. So what else do I need besides an IOLinc if I want to get the temp from outside? I guess I would do this at the main unit in my basement. Here is a link to wire color schemes. http://www.toad.net/~jsmeenen/wiring.html Just make sure you don't disable your units defrost mode. As far as temp from outside. You can buy the ISY weatherbug module which should be plenty accurate enough. You can also buy a cai webcontrol board and link that to the ISY using WClink program written by IOguy and posted on this forum for transferring temp into ISY. The webcontrol board can also be your I/O controller instead of using the Insteon IOLinc. Kills 2 birds with one stone. Although using weatherbug and IOLinc will require less effort on your part.
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dim vs. fade down and how the ISY handles them?
I might add, and Lee pointed this out to me, that ISY does not read the actual percent level after a fade up/down command. It estimates it based on the time between the fade start command and the fade end command. If after a fade up/down happens, you query the device, you will almost certainly see the number returned as being different than ISY guessed it to be (usually not by much though).
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Thermostat ramp up program
I would vote for this solution. You could write all kinds of programs that either allow for resistance heat or not based on the type of situation. Morning warm up could start a half hour before you awake and then 5 minutes before it could allow the strips to come on if needed. That sort of thing.
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General questions...
Never had anything not in a scene be red italic. Java issue makes sense. I clicked away like crazy at the devices not in scenes and after a while java started to screw up and I got some italic-like looking stuff. I'm running Java 6
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General questions...
In scenes, the red italic item is a controller. At least that is how it is on my ISY.
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Programming Question
I have noticed you using "else" clauses a lot. Generally speaking, "else" clauses end up with unintended consequences. There are times where else clauses work very well but in ISY, they are not that common. As a new programmer, I highly suggest sticking with "if" clauses that when true cause something to happen and when false don't do anything (else clause is empty).
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General questions...
Use the print screen command on you keyboard (hold the blue "fn" key and the "print screen" button). This turns the contents of your screen into a picture and holds it in memory. Then paste (control v) the picture into a photo program and save it. Then you can upload the photo to a web hosting service and put the link into your post.
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Programming Question
You shouldn't use the "else" clause to make this work right. The trouble is you have two programs running on thursday and both are going to run false at the "end" time The best way to do this is to separate your two times. Have one program for each time instead of from/to. I would suggest you do that with all of your programs. Each program should just say at x time, set to y temp. You can have the temp change as many times during the day as you want and there will never be a conflict.
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Remote control of ISY-99i
As above. I use remote desktop from a tablet. Trying to do it from a phone would be very challenging with the small screen.
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Programming Question
Here, just separate out the toggle program from the temp setting. Then you can use your from/to. If On Thu at 12:00:01AM And $Every.Other.Thursday is 0 Then $Every.Other.Thursday = 1 init $Every.Other.Thursday = 1 Else $Every.Other.Thursday = 0 init $Every.Other.Thursday = 0 If On Thu From 8:00:00AM To 4:00:00PM (same day) And $Every.Other.Thursday is 1 Then Set 'Downstairs - Main' 85° (Cool Setpoint) Else Set 'Downstairs - Main' 74° (Cool Setpoint) If On Thu From 11:00:00AM To 11:00:00PM (same day) And $Every.Other.Thursday is 0 Then Set 'Downstairs - Main' 74° (Cool Setpoint) Else Set 'Downstairs - Main' 76° (Cool Setpoint)
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Programming Question
No, that won't work. Please go back and read the post where I said it won't work the first time. You can't use the from/to. The "to" will be false every single thursday and run the false which will screw up the 0/1. And your second program for the other Thursday shouldn't set the variable. The first program is toggling the variable. Your two programs will fight each other with variable.