apostolakisl

rain data is piss poor at every station that I have ever tried anywhere near my current house or my old house.

Great to see you got that working. A couple things that might help you. Elk outputs are 12v and 50ma max (didn't look up the 50ma but I take your word for it). The actually amps is determined by the resistance of the load, it doesn't just always flow 50ma. So a 12v 30ma device will only draw 30ma, no need for resistors. The 50ma rating is only a warning to not use a device that draws more than 50ma since you may damage the Elk. The equation V=IR dictates the situation. V is set by Elk, and R is a property the attached load, I is the result of the other 2. The resistors you added have dropped the voltage presented to the relay. Apparently the relay still works despite the lower voltage. At present, your voltage is getting split up between the resistors and the relay. It will be split up proportionately based on the relative resistances of the relay as compared to the resistance of the resistors (for example if they were equal, then each would be getting half the volts). Since you know that v=ir for each device, and that i must be equal for the two devices (they are in series), and that total voltage is 12v, the following equations apply. Vrelay/Rrelay = Vresistor/Rresistor where Vrelay + Vresistor = 12. The same holds true at home where your typical wall output is rated 120v 15amps. That doesn't mean that everything you plug in gets 15 amps forced through it. Bypassing zones on an armed Elk system is allowed and can be done from Elk rules. I haven't looked into ISY's ability to do so and take your word for it that it can't. If you need to bypass a zone on an armed system, it can always be done from Elk rules. If you want ISY to do something on Elk that only can be done from an Elk rule (like bypass an armed zone), then you need to trip an elk rule from ISY. To do this, use an unused Elk output. Have ISY turn the output on for one second (pick something high that you will never actually have a real voltage connected to, like output 100), and then have an Elk rule tripped by "whenever output 100 turns on, then blah blah blah"

Yes, I do know what that is.

I'd be interested in seeing a wiring diagram on how swapping 2 single pole 120v breakers in the same box with the same neutral bar affects neutral load. But that aside. Might I make another suggestion. You appear to have very few devices in this setup. At a glance it appears that they are all dual band. Consider filtering all of your Insteon devices. Take the power line component completely out of the equation and let the RF do all the work. Of course if your devices are at a distance this won't work. But it is a thought. Another thought would be to abandon Insteon and use IP. A global cache device can be controlled by the ISY network module but communicates over IP. Unfortunately, I don't believe they have a wifi version that would accommodate your needs. But you could use a wifi bridge if wired IP isn't available. You could also consider a webcontrol board. Same holds true regarding wifi. Perhaps there are other brands of devices I am unaware of that control relays over wifi IP natively that can run on the ISY network module.

Assumptions: 1) 120v x 3 incoming power from the utility 2) Insteon devices are all plugged into standard 120v outlets going back to single pole breakers at the panel. 3) None of the 120v breakers that go to outlets that the Insteon devices are plugged into have significant loads (which they definitely would not if they are going to standard wall outlets.) Swapping which of the 3 phases any of those single pole breakers take power off the grid from will have no impact on anything inside the building, including neutrals. Neutral trouble can come to bear if you change around your hots away from the breaker box (in a j-box for example). But if you are unsure of what you are doing, consult an electrician. Not that this is a cure all. The 3 phase motors will of course be attached to all 3 phases so if one of them is noisy or attenuates signal, then you will have solved nothing since there is a good chance it will affect all 3 phases. Although, this is not for sure. Many times some components of a 3 phase device will only take power off of one of the three phases. For example, a 3 phase motor may have a control panel that is powered off of 120v, so if the control panel were noisy, the other 2 phases may survive unaffected. An algorithm: 1) Identify which breakers power your Insteon devices. 2) Shut off all breakers except the one going to ISY 3) Turn on the breaker going to your first Insteon device. Test for comm reliability. 4) Repeat step 3 until all the Insteon devices are on. 5) If communciation between all the devices is reliable, start turning on additional breakers one at a time without powering on the loads connected to the breaker. 6) Repeat step 5 until all breakers are on 7) Once all breakers are on and if you still have not run into reliability troubles, start turning the loads on one at a time. If at any time you lose reliability, turn that breaker or load off, tag it as a trouble maker, and move on. If you are able to determine that you have one or more trouble makers, then consider how to solve that based on what is causing the trouble. Sadly, if it is a high amp device, you may be out of luck. Filters for high amps are very pricey and may just not be available depending on how many amps you are talking. If your lucky enough to find a single phase circuit that is the root of your trouble, moving your Insteon devices off of that phase may be all you need. Or you may be able to filter that entire breaker (assuming no Insteon devices on the breaker and that it is 20 amp or less).

It has been mentioned that three phase power plus poor comm/noise is at the root of your problem. I might suggest you consider re-configuring the phases so you can get everything Insteon on the same phase. Hopefully you can find one of the three phases that is not cluttered with noisy devices. 3 phase panels generally are such that every 3rd contact on the panel is of the same phase. If you swap the wires/breakers up/down one there is a good chance you can get all of your insteon devices to be on the same phase. It seems as though you only have few devices so probably very few modifications would be necessary to accomplish this.

Yup! The as of yet unreleased webcontrol32 board is user upgradable. But that doesn't really help out for now does it. Probably it was Wayne. CAI webcontrol is a small time operation. I have had quite a few email interactions with them and all of them ended up in Wayne's inbox. My gut feeling is that Wayne is the US face of the company and that otherwise it is a foreign (Chinese) operation.

Agreed. When you first added variables to ISY and I went to give out a few names (using spaces of course) and nothing happened, I was at first thinking, Hmmmm, what the heck. After a few more tries my language got more colorful until I surmised the no spaces allowed restriction.

So I looked up the 1100. It does allow an RF extender. What you need to do is buy one of those and put it's "blaster" in line of sight of the ISY and designate the ISY commands to go to the RF extender. This device receives the RF from the remote and translates to IR. This is a proprietary signal that isn't receivable by anything except the Harmony RF extender (as far as I know of at least). If you already have an RF receiver, you probably can have 2 of them on the same 1100. You definitely can on the 890 (I have 2 on that one), but you should confirm this before buying. Also keep in mind that you can make an extension cord for the RF "blaster". So if you already have one and there is a way to get a wire from it to your ISY, no need for another one. I have one extension cord running like 50 feet without issue. You need a mono 1/8 inch female and another 1/8 male (please check to be certain your uses 1/8 size) and wire up however many feet between them you need. Or, you could just cut the wire it already has and splice in an extension. Keep in mind that polarity does matter when wiring these up.

I think we could have fun. Tried welding inside once too. Don't recommend it. Smoke detectors are very sensitive to whatever the microscopic invisible smoke that comes off when welding. On the CAI units, I would check to see what firmware is shipping. I just sent several of mine back for upgrading to 3.2.16 which might not be shipping yet unless you ask for it. They added GET function for CAI to CAI comm. as well as more email capacity. I am hoping the GET function is flexible enough to use ISY's REST function so that we no longer need to run wclink (not that I don't very much appreciate wclink, I just would rather skip that extra step). Sometime in the next few months cai will have a new bigger board with double everything and other extra features. So if you have any thoughts of controlling anything with lots of ins/outs you might keep that in mind. That board also firmware updates over the internet, so no needing to mail it back.

I don't have the 1100 model, but I do have a couple 890's and a 900 model harmony, so will give you my thoughts based on that experience. First off, I assume you are confident that you have line of sight from the remote to the ISY receiver. I can confirm that Harmony imported ISY codes do work on all of my remotes and I would doubt that the code library isn't exactly the same for all Harmony downloads. Does the 1100 model have the option to use an RF receiver? If so, check to be certain that you don't accidentally have the ISY codes going out as RF.

I just emailed Wayne at CAI and he tells me that the 3.2.14 firmware has a bug. That's why the .15 version only a few weeks later. He is sending me out the .16 version which also includes GET function to post values/states between two (or more?) CAI's. I'm looking forward to seeing it. Maybe it will let me post to ISY, but I doubt it. Wayne tells me the current hardware is pretty much out of space for adding any more features and aside from cleaning up any bugs, this is the end of the line for new features. EDIT: I found the flow meter I got a while back. I'll hook it up to the CAI board when I get them back and let you know how it works.

Yes, those relays will work. I actually have one of those exact boards. The only downside to that model is that it is backwards. In other words, it is ground switched, so when 5v is applied, it turns off, and vice-versa. That board (and some others like it) use regular coil relays which are not physically powered by the CAI. These are dry contact relays and have decently high voltage/current switching so you can switch motors and other full out stuff. CAI has an option to use "state reversed" to help not get confused when using backwards relays. In other words, turning an output on actually turns the 5v off when using this mode. You can also use a true solid state relay board. These cost a little more (like $25 for 8 board). I have not used the board I see for sale on amazon and ebay, but others I have used do not require any power supply (it all comes from the CAI). These are more limited in what you can power off of them. Also, I found the relay board you listed on Amazon for cheaper with free shipping. It probably will come a lot faster too and Amazon in general is a bit more reliable. Searches that bring up the ttl level relays include "arduino relay", "pic relay", "ssr relay", and "ttl relay". As far as power supplies. I have the same issue. I have taken to using old ATX power supplies and wiring up to terminal strips. They are cheap (free) and typically provide high current, stable, clean power. Trouble is, no 9v. Soldering can be quick, or not. I soldered up my garage door opener and it was probably a 5 minute job. It had plenty of room around the 3 micro switches and there were only 6 wires total to solder. But another project required 8 micro switches that each required 4 solders and the board was packed super tight. That one was very tedious and when I was done it looked like the board had grown a mohawk.

Do you mean you are trying to change the name of the variable? Is so, you can have no spaces in the names of variables. If you put a space in, it won't give you an error, it just won't change the name. Commonly people use a period instead of a space. Also, it is common to start the name of any integer variable with an "i" and any state variable with an "s" since there is otherwise no distinction when you pull the variables up in programs.

It looks like 3.2.14 which came out in September. They also have one more after that which is 3.2.15. According to the manual, it will handle up to 2mhz on ttl input 1. It also appears that it can be set to read out frequency or do a raw count. I am figuring this out reading the online manual and have no experience with it yet. It also appears that using this function will preclude using it as an x10 device.

Curious comments for sure. CAI as a relay controller is quite simple. You need 1) CAI 2) TTL relay board ($15 on ebay) 3) some wire 4) A couple wall warts Connect the 8 outputs on cai to the corresponding 8 relay inputs on the board with your wire. Connect your wall warts and plug it in Plug cat5 into switch/router Log into your CAI and set the IP, port, username, and password you desire. Go to Network resource settings on your ISY Http Get IP on your LAN of CAI Port number of CAI (often left at 80) Path /api/setttloutput.cgi?output=1&state=1 (this turns output 1 on, sub out the 1 to 0 after state to turn it off) Click "ADD", then "authorization" and put your CAI user/password Click "Update" Click "Save" Click "Save" on the main screen. Create 2 of these for each output, one to turn it on, and one off. Just use the "copy" function and change just those values and give it a name that corresponds. Now, in ISY, just write your program If Event of your choice Then Resource 'CAI Webcontrol Output 1 On' Wait 1 second Resource 'CAI Webcontrol Output 1 Off' Wait 1 second Resource 'CAI Webcontrol Output 2 On' Wait 1 second Resource 'CAI Webcontrol Output 2 Off' Wait 1 second Resource 'CAI Webcontrol Output 3 On' Wait 1 second Resource 'CAI Webcontrol Output 3 Off' Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action') Once you get the soldering done, I am guessing 15 minutes for the setup. This would "push" the three buttons for one second each with one second delay in between. Mind you, this is only an output solution. If you want input, you need to use WClink and a computer (or pogo thing a ma jigger). But the car started only needed 3 outputs. Total Cost for this is $60 assuming you have wire and wall warts. This also can be accessed not just on your LAN but anywhere in the world. For example: you could control a CAI board at your office from the ISY at home. You could also write this program in CAI if you so choose and simply have one resource command on ISY that serves to trigger the "macro" on CAI. Your choice. But if you don't want to mess with CAI's PLC code, then don't do it that way.

Jellis, Only the newest firmware of the CAI board has the ability to count high frequency pulses from a flow meter. I have sent several of my boards back to CAI to get upgraded, but they are not back yet. Setting up a counter using the PLC code is not complicated. It would only be a few lines of code. A few more lines of code would divide the counts into ounces or into 12 ounce blocks, or both, or whatever you want. With WClink you can sync those to variables in your ISY to notify you. You could have fun with that. Flashing lights, or voice announcement (if you have Elk) or any number of crazy ideas. Regarding Keg beer: I have a designed and patented a new coupler (tap) that measures the pressure differential between the gas and liquid at the coupler and from that can tell how much beer is in the keg, if beer is flowing, and the split second when the keg runs dry. It is accurate to about +/- 10 ounces at any given level in the keg. Simplistically, you can think of it as measuring the weight of the column of beer in the dip tube above the resting level in the keg. I was using the CAI boards as the controllers for the coupler during my initial testing. The coupler itself is finished and in limited production. I have hired out the design and production of the dedicated controller as I am not one to design circuit boards. Currently we are finishing the firmware on that. It is a wifi system that posts via internet to my businesses server which then creates graphs and reports. It also uncouples the keg the split second it goes dry so you don't "blow" the keg and fill your beer line with gas (mostly a problem with bars/restaurants with long lines). This is a commercial product designed for inventory control and order fullfillment. I plan a home version as well. A timeline on this is hard to tell. So maybe you stick with your flow meter for now. Early on when I was first playing around with this I picked up a flow meter for about $40 from someone in England. It was a fine device but after working with bar owners discovered it wouldn't work for various reasons. I can't recall where I bought it, but I found it just googling.

Yea but Amazon doesn't even have the things and there was only 1 for sell on Amazon Marketplace. That's a lot more work than just plugging something in... Admittedly it's more inputs and outputs, but for not much more money you could just buy a SHN device, plug it in, and be done. That's also added complexity since you have to program different things in different places. A SH product would likely be completely programmable and managed by the ISY once U-D added support. It would just be one ISY program as the "single command to initiate the action". I have 10 of these. You can buy them direct if Amazon isn't working out for you. In fact, I believe the marketplace seller is the actual company. If you want easy, fine, but nothing about soldering a remote control together to run your car is easy. If you know how to use the ISY network module you will find that this is a process where the vast majority of your time is spent soldering the little tiny contacts in the remote and the rest is "easy". So I think the easy folks left the room a while ago. The car remote is a simple control which can all be done in ISY using only the network module to post commands directly to the board. You will need ioguy program if you want comm going from the webcontrol to isy, but that isn't necessary for this application. It is a lot less money than SHN Device. You are at $200 for the device plus the PLM. The $100 price I listed is for all the bells and whistles. $60 buys all the parts you need including shipping if you just get the board and the relays and mount it to a board or in a can that you already have. Also, the webcontrol does not rely on insteon power line commands. It is all done over IP. In most settings, IP is going to beat out PLC reliability by a factor of 10 or maybe even way higher depending on your PLC failure rate.

You should edit the screen shot and black out your IP/port number. I was able to access your ISY. Of course I don't have your password, but still, I wouldn't publicly broadcast this stuff.

Webcontrol board (amazon) plus a compatible relay board (ebay) will give you 8 digital inputs, 3 analog inputs, 8 digital outputs, 8 temp inputs (using 1-wire sensors), and optional humidity sensor. All this connects to ISY using io_guy's program listed on this forum. Total cost would be about $100 if you also picked up a housing and other accessories. Something like the sequence that does the car start could all be programmed into webcontrol (using PLC code) and ISY would send a single command to initiate the action.

Most folks would have at least 3 keypads in a house that size. Master Bedroom Front door Back door Other possible locations Upstairs Hall Family Room

The UD Elk module is a license upgrade to your ISY and is just a matter of paying the money and activating it. It's not a physical thing. But I suspect you will want it as it gives ISY essentially full access to everything on the Elk. You will need an XEP. ISY and Elk can't talk without it. Elk can't talk to anything internet without it and you will have to plug a computer directly into the Elk board to program it. Hard to know what else you might want since I know nothing about your house and what you want it to do. But my guess is that one keypad is going to be a bit deficient. But you may hold off and play around with using tablets as keypads as some of them are less than $100 now and with proper mounting hardware can make really slick keypads.

I ended up buying these things as well and pretty much did the same thing. I bought 2 of the units I listed above that receive the rolling code and programming 2 buttons in my car. I used my Elk panel to receive the input. Since I was down to my last unused zone on Elk, I put the 2 devices in parrallel connected to the zone, but I also put a resistor on one of the units. So, when neither button is being pushed, the zone is open (14v) When the one button is pushed, it is closed (0v) When the other button (with resistor) is pushed, it is closed, eol resistor (7v). Since ISY and Elk are linked, I set the ISY to look for open, short, and eol.

You can use a webcontrol board to count the pulses. Then using io_guy's program that links the webcontrol board to ISY, you program the 2 devices to accomplish your goal. The program io_guy has will synchronize the variables, inputs, and outputs, on webcontrol with variables on ISY. Webcontrol can be programmed to count pulses. The new firmware is necessary to count rapid pulses, so make sure you get the most up to date version. You would need to write code in the webcontrol to some extent to get values that could be transferred to ISY. http://www.amazon.com/Webcontrol-Univer ... webcontrol viewforum.php?f=81

EDIT: I got beat to it. This is the same stuff. If you used the "else" clause on your third program to send the door closed message, you could delete the other 2. The third program triggers when one of two things happen, the door opens, and the door closes. These are the only 2 possible changes that can occur to the door so that should encompass all possible triggers. When the door opens, it will run true, it will send the message from the "then" clause, then it will keep sending tgat message every 5 minutes until it is interrupted. When someone closes the door, the program will trigger (which interrupts the repeating then), but it will trigger as false. This will run the "else" clause which can contain your door closed message. Since this clause doesn't have a repeat, this program will end. If you wanted one message when the door first opened, a different message after the door was left open, then place the first message before the repeat, then wait 5 minutes, then the repeat every 5 minutes with your other message after the repeat.