apostolakisl

So far so good since I did as you suggested.

I could not be happier with my two tp link devices. https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Ethernet-Converter-Multi-Mode-MC200CM/dp/B003AVRLZI plus fiber https://www.amazon.com/Meter-Multimode-Duplex-Fiber-Optic/dp/B00804KR5Q/ref=pd_bxgy_147_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B0053H51I6&pd_rd_r=7cf8e8b0-dd41-11e8-bf93-dbc3134547a0&pd_rd_w=McBoB&pd_rd_wg=w9T3l&pf_rd_i=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=6725dbd6-9917-451d-beba-16af7874e407&pf_rd_r=RDWA8MJYEX8V5S1HWKB5&pf_rd_s=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_t=40701&refRID=RDWA8MJYEX8V5S1HWKB5&th=1 The fiber in yard is in conduit and survived a backhoe incident even though the conduit got torn to shreds (there was slack inside the buildings). OF NOTE: You must plug a gigabit switch/device at each end. 100mbs does not sync.

This probably doesn't violate code, but it is dangerous. The copper in the cat5 wire is connecting the two buildings grounding systems since your PLMs are powered by each building. Even if you chop off the PLM grounding pin, the neutral side is still tied to ground at the box. You are inviting a lightening strike disaster here. I can't really quantify the risk to life, but the risk to your electronics is very high. I ground lightening strike in the area is likely to fry your PLMs and maybe more. Plus it sounds like you have more than 1 cat5(6) with the other(s) doing internet? I can tell you some well meaning people at my church ran cat 5 between the buildings and about 2 years later a lightening strike did thousands in damage to our sound system. The sound system was connected to the LAN and you could follow the path that the power took, frying the boards most directly connected and sparing others. I replaced the copper cat 5 with fiber. That works great for IP since fiber to cat5 converters at each end are only $50 each and fiber is cheap. I would highly recommend you do that instead of using copper for your internet. As far as the RS-232, I don't know about converting that to fiber each end. Also, 600 feet is a pretty long run for copper, but I guess it is working. In general . . .NEVER connect two separate buildings with a conductor. Lastly, it is great to know you can do the PLM to PLM thing like that. Thanks for sharing that. EDIT: I don't know if fuses would be fast enough, but maybe someone does know if you put a fast blow fuse on each piece of the cat5, maybe that would arrest a lightening strike. Or maybe someone makes a purpose built device for that.

Routines works great. You can put all the Star Trek phrases in there you want.

Thanks. "turn on" and "turn off" just about cover it. Time to start playing with "routines". I think I can do a lot more with those, but haven't tried yet.

Is there a comprehensive list of words that you can use to trigger universal devices (isy) from your google home following "ok google". Right now I'm only aware of a few like "turn on <device name>"

I remember something like that I encountered a while back and reported as a bug. Please report it as a bug where Michel will see it.

I doubt using 12awg instead of 14 is going to do anything but cost you more. Since you only need one watt of power either way. Perhaps someone who knows more about Insteon PLC could chime in and say if 12awg has any better PLC comm than 14. It has been my assumption that the wire gauge has little to do with the PLC strength.

I put a 10ma fuse on the hot wire and didn't connect ground. A dual band range extender doesn't require a ground wire and with no load connected draws less than 1 watt (or in other words less than 10ma). But I did not terminate the wire out in the yard like mwester suggested, I went into the building and put an Insteon range extender right there. What I did (in my opinion) is quite safe, but would not pass code. What he said could pass code but only if you hard wired the dual band device. If you just wired a 15amp receptacle, you would need ~ 2awg wire to pass code at that distance and that would cost mucho dinaro. If you hard wire the device in, you only need a wire gauge sufficient to prevent voltage drop at the specific amp draw of the hard wired device. And a lamplinc or range extender draws so few amps that 14 gauge wire would be way more than sufficient. If smaller wire existed, you could use it, but I don't think such wire exists. In all likelihood, you are not going to care about code and you are just going to know that when you install a 15 amp receptacle in your outdoor sealed up box, that you aren't going to plug anything into it except your dual band device. You might consider zip-tieing the dual band device to the single outlet receptacle and include a warning note to use it for nothing else (just in case you die and the next yahoo who owns the property gets any ideas). In addition to the grounding issues mwester mentioned, it is also a huge risk to all your electronics to connect grounds on two different buildings. For example, a lightening strike anywhere nearby will raise a static charge in the earth that drops exponentially as you radiate away from the impact strike. That could create a big voltage difference between the grounds in the two buildings and electrons would be like "woooohoooo we can use this nice copper wire to neutralize that difference instead of this crappy conducting dirt" and they would merrily fly down that wire en mass causing all kinds of havoc. Proper grounding is a quite a subject, but basically you only want a single point of ground on any system. There are very elaborate exceptions to that, but no homeowner would ever do those.

Let us know how it goes. Just to be clear, you are NOT connecting the electrical systems with the extension cord. You are just putting a dual band device close to building 2 running it off building 1's power system. The idea is then that you have dual band device's inside of building 2 that receive the rf from the dual band device on the end of that 'extension cord" and "inject" the Insteon signal into building 2. This is the same concept as connecting power phases within a single building. My suggestion to you would be to trial it out before a permanent/trenched install. Perhaps you have 600 feet of actual extension cord on hand, if so, I'd just plug those guys in and stretch it across the yard. If all works well, get yourself some burial grade 14 gauge 2 plus ground and trench it over. You might also consider dropping some fiber in the trench if you want to share internet. I also did that.

I did a similar situation with my church. I basically ran an "extension cord" between the two buildings. This plugged into building 1 where the main network is located and at the end of that cord at the entry to building two is a dual band on/off module (with nothing plugged into it). That dual band device repeats the signal between the two electric systems. It works great. It is not 600 feet long, it is probably 150 feet. I have at home a 300 foot run of power cable that provides insteon com without issue. I think 600 feet would probably be fine if it is a dedicated wire without any interference.

I have several older Insteon outdoor on/off modules and I have never put them inside of any enclosure. I don't let them sit on the ground, but they definitely get hit by rain and they all are working fine.

I agree, just get an extension cord of appropriate length to get the on/off module in a better location. I would not put the on/off module directly on the ground, but you can pound a short stake in the ground somewhere out of site or set it on top of some random object, again, out of sight. Or maybe strap it to whatever it is your are strapping your holiday lights to.

I don't think the new feature is intended to be used to not run the same program that it is contained within.

If you are using mobilinc to shut if off, you could execute program 2 from mobile linc rather the scene directly.

I haven't played with this feature, but I don't think this would work. Since the motion sensor would be a trigger and keep pushing back the last run time preventing the program from ever running true until there was no motion for 5 continuous minutes, which I don't think is desired here. He wants it to wait 5 minutes from the last time it ran "True", not just the last time it ran at all.

You can have the program run another program that disables it, waits 5 minutes, then enables it. ie Program 1 IF whatever you want Then Run program 2 "then" section Program 2 If blank Then Disable program 1 all the stuff you want wait 5 minutes Enable program 1 EDIT: Also, set program 2 run at startup. Just in case there is a power failure in the middle of the wait, when power comes back on, program 2 will run so that program 1 isn't left disabled. (a blank "if" section will always run "then" at startup if set to run at startup).

I have one in my backyard running my pond aerator. We have had insane rain here. It has basically rained every single day for over a month and in the last 48 yours we have had about a foot of rain. Plus it was 100% humidity all night long every night the last month. My outdoor on/off switch is not protected, it is plugged into an outlet that is on a post, out in a field, and is dangling down below the protective door. It is working fine. Mine is pretty old too, it is pre-dual band.

I would remove the inlinelinc and use an Insteon micro dimmer switch in the post immediately before power goes into the post light. In this fashion, the outlet would now be hot all the time. Then you can plug the outdoor on/off module listed above into that outlet and turn it on/off at any time of the day or night. The micro dimmer is quite small (on purpose) so you can locate it like that. The micro dimmer is not waterproof, but the j-box you place the micro dimmer within in your light post should be.

I have Agave, which is very nice, but it is slow to connect. I may starting using google home (thanks to you pointing this out) for a quickey. Trouble is, unlike Agave, I will have to go through and add all of these things to Google Home one by one. Agave has everything by default. And I have a lot of stuff.

I don't see where google home app shows scenes or programs or anything besides devices.

There is a Nest node module within Polyglot.

If you have access to the top plate or bottom plate of the wall with the no-neutral box (ie unfinished basement/crawlspace/attic) you can always drill into the wall and pull new wires. You just need to tap into a hot/neutral from some other box accessible from that attic/crawlspace/basement. Or, if it is an attic, you can pull a new wire between the box and light fixture.

OK, so you had a 3 way set up between the two boxes and switch loop from one box to the fixture. That isn't code anymore (at least not here). You should expect this problem in other fixtures in your house (both 3 way and single). Unfortunately that means more cost for the micro-module.

Good to hear. I guess you had no unused conductors between the light fixture and any of the boxes. If you are new to Insteon and ISY, you need to go set up the scene so that your local on-level/ramp rate and scene on-level/ramp rate are the same. Otherwise your dimmer switches led indicators won't follow what the light is actually doing.