
apostolakisl
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Everything posted by apostolakisl
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It appears that Crestron has more than one system. I was under the impression that crestron hard wired (the line voltage, not a control wire) every device back to a control panel . . . meaning that once installed you pretty much were hosed if you didn't like it. This is what my friend had who sold the house because he hated it so much. I think this is the classic Crestron system. They also have a low voltage control wire solution where the AC is wired mostly like normal but LV control wires go to all the fixtures/switches. This seems like it could be easily undone, but can only be installed if you have the walls open. Finally it looks like they also have a "z-wave" solution. https://www.crestron.com/downloads/pdf/product_misc/dg_lighting_120v_277v.pdf
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The problem with Crestron, as I understand, is you can't rip it out. Insteon, Zwave, or similar systems simply require replacing the fancy switch with a regular switch. And I know your pain with Insteon hardware in the early days. However, they did end up warranty covering everything. That didn't change the PITA of the whole thing, but the current hardware seems to be very reliable. The only current issue as far as I know is under-rated capacitors on the PLM (which many of us simply replaced ourselves).
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Are you adverse to using a program to do this? There will be a lag of maybe up to 1 second, but a program can do exactly what you want. If control switch 1 is turned on Then set switch 2 off If control switch 1 is turned off Then set switch 2 on As mentioned, there isn't a way to do what you want with pure Insteon linking. You simply can't have an off command from switch 1 turn switch 2 on using linking. EDIT: If you linked the 2 switches with switch 1 as a controller and switch 2 as a responder with an on level set to 0%, that would accomplish program 1. Then use program 2 to do the opposite. There should be enough lag on program 2 that even though the linking is shutting the switch off (pushing off on switch 1 will send and off command to switch 2), that switch 2 should turn on. You'll have to play with it but it would probably work.
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Minimum 25 watt device. Well that pretty much eliminates any led fixture, unless you have 3 or 4 lights on the fixture. I think Insteon uses a little more than .01 watts unless something has change since I last checked. My recollection is that it is more like .7 watts, but maybe the newer models are better. Not sure how any reasonable person is going to justify spending that kind of cash on Crestron when there are so many other choices out there now that are capable of working just as well at maybe 5% (or less) of the price. Furthermore the "poor man" brands are feverishly integrating with all the other regular "poor man" stuff that we all own.
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I'm sure some Crestron systems are just great. But a client of mine bought a house with Crestron . .. and sold it BECAUSE of Crestron. He Hated it. He said it constantly had issues and it was so damn locked down that you couldn't do anything to it. And when it went down, he was literally in the dark. It cost him hundreds of dollars in labor for the guy just to show up and, like waiting for the cable guy, was a huge inconvenience. I suspect Crestron days are numbered as the quality of the competition has vastly improved in the last 10 years. And the options/functionality/connectivity of the competition is past Crestron and racing forward at mach speed.
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If your trying to get a scheduled recording on a foscam to record with audio. . . you can't. At least you can't on my model and I think that this is the case across the board. I had to use a PC and a 3rd party software to record with sound on a schedule. It will record with audio on a motion alarm, but the longest you can set a motion alarm to record for is 5 minutes.
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Everyone should have a 120vac plug behind their washer/dryer since the washer requires one. The alarm system contactor on the flapper door/io linc won't require any fuses or any "messing with dangerous stuff" at all. You would be using it as intended, to detect an open/closed door. It would not run the risk of voiding any warranties and probably would be one of the easiest to install.
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This is the same thing as wrapping a small wire around one of the conductors, it is just a commercial version of the home made version. At least with my dryer, you don't need to do anything to install one of these since the dryer plug wire was installed in the dryer such that there is about 2 inches of individual conductor accessible where the outer jacket was stripped back further than what ended up being contained inside the hook-up box of the dryer.
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Depending on how it is put together, you might not be able to do it without cracking a warranty seal.
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Either way, you can use a standard alarm system door contactor regardless of whether the dryer vent and flapper is ferrous or not. Standard door contactors work just fine on steel doors. It's just a matter of proper mounting.
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If you have a gas dryer, just use a standard synchrolinc. What you are referring to is a sail switch. They make them for hvac systems. They cost about $40 and would require some creative mounting.
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That's not what I was thinking. I was thinking running the coil wire to an IO linc input directly. It is looking for 5vdc to trip it (and it warns not to exceed 5v, I'm thinking 2 or 3 volts might be enough). I had an entirely different idea which may be better yet. Run a wire out your dryer vent to the outside where the flapper is. Put a standard alarm system magnetic reed switch. When it opens, dryer is running, closed dryer is off. Plus added bonus, if it fails to close, you know your flapper need cleaning.
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It absolutely will work, they only question is how many turns around the wire it takes. You would need a bridge rectifier.
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I finally got around to doing this. I used this http://www.freescale.com/files/sensors/doc/data_sheet/MPX5010.pdf It doesn't really work. Yes, it definitely registers an increase in pressure wen you turn the dryer on, but it is very small. About a .1 volt increase or about .03 PSI. So, you could make this work, but not by using an IO linc. I could program one of my webcontrol boards to do it and post to a variable on ISY. However, I am thinking that if you are going to take that route, a much easier way would be to use the webcontrol board plus a 1-wire temp sensor and use exhaust vent temp to detect when the dryer shuts off. This is cheaper than an IO linc, however, you need lan acess so either you pull ethernet to it or you need to buy a wireless to ethernet adapter. Looks like a $100 project to me. Temp would not be quite so instant when the dryer shuts off, but I bet 5 minutes or so.
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I didn't get around to playing with it yesterday. I am hoping that the air pressure is high enough that it just max's out the 1.5 psi transducer so things like turbulence and venturi affect are irrelevant. The burst pressure on this particular unit is pretty high, like 15 psi or something, which it definitely will not encounter from the dryer vent. It may be that I need to use a small tube and point it directly into the air stream, which is super easy to do. The little drip irrigation hoses fit this transducer nipple perfectly. In fact, I think that is what I will do no matter what, then I can run the hose several feet and keep all the electronics in one package. The power draw on the transducer is negligible.
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Another idea on the dryer. http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/MPX5010GP/MPX5010GP-ND/464055 Plug that into the side of your dryer vent and wire it to an io linc. When the dryer is on, I'm guessing it is producing at least 1.5 psi so the voltage output would go to 4.7 when the dryer is on, and .2v when off. I have a lot of experience with the freescale pressure transducers and they are very durable. I actually have some of almost the same model as these and will give it a try tonight.
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Here is my program. I found 6 minutes did the trick. Washer Upstairs - [ID 00F8][Parent 00F7] If Control (Old) 'Upstairs Washer' is switched Off And Control (Old) 'Upstairs Washer' is not switched On And From 8:00:00AM To 8:25:00PM (same day) Then Wait 6 minutes Send Notification to 'ellen text' content 'Laundry Upstairs' Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action')
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Yes. Well I suppose you would put a bridge rectifier on it to get dc current. I have never tried this with an io linc. I did it just for kicks with my power drill as the current draw and I energized an electromagnet sufficiently to pick up a nut. I did it to teach my kids. I took a regular cheapo extension cord and split it down the middle. Then I used some bell wire and just wrapped it a bunch of times around the wire and then again a bunch of times around the bolt to make an electro magnet. A bunch of times was not that many, though. It wasn't like I spent more than 30 minutes on the project.
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I use a synchrolinc on the washer and it took a bit of tweaking to account for the shutting down between cycles, but it works. I never tried hooking my 240 dryer up. You can actually make a current detector by splitting the insulation down the middle or otherwise separating the chords and then wrapping one conductor with another wire a bunch of times and hooking to an io linc. How many time to wrap the wire needs to be figured out.
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Correct way to program a fan or light to turn off? control vs status.
apostolakisl replied to chachdog's topic in ISY994
By this line Control Dimmer Button is ON Do you actually mean Control 'Dimmer Button' is switched on Is "Dimmer Button" the name of the device that your refer to as "device" in all the other lines of code? And the other two lines in your and clause also? If indeed that is the case, then any action on that switch will trigger the program with off and fast off trigger the else clause. Keep in mind, that someone could dim down the switch all the way to off and your program will still run true, which I don't think is your intent. -
I think cree's professional grade stuff is very good. The CR6 are great and I have a bunch of Cree troffers in my office that have all been great. However, the mass market low price stuff seems to be junk.
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They still have both the new flow ones and the older ones at my HD. Just bought 2 of the older style to replace bad ones.
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I have many (like maybe 100) Cree CR6 fixtures and have had no failures. About half of them are 6 years old and the other half are 2 years old. I have maybe 25 of the A19 bulbs and have had about 4 fail. These have all failed in less than 2 years. Clearly the A19 are not made to the same standard. HD requires that you mail them back to Cree. Not impressed.
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What is the differene between 'Status' and 'Control' under Conditions?
apostolakisl replied to rlanza1054's topic in ISY994
Take screen shots and post them. One each of the main page with each of the two scenes highlighted in the left tree. -
What is the differene between 'Status' and 'Control' under Conditions?
apostolakisl replied to rlanza1054's topic in ISY994
First confirm that the motion sensor is tripping. A program such as If Control motion sensor is switched on Then $testvariable = $testvariable + 1 With each trigger of the MS, the variable will increase by 1.