Wes Westhaver

Can someone tell me where I can find information about the network module for the ISY994i? I'd like to know what functionally it provides. Thanks in advance. -Wes

I purchased two of these units several months ago and mounted them on our nightstands to trigger what I call a 'bathroom run'. We like to sleep in total darkness so when it's time to make a bathroom run, tapping one of these remotes lights up a path to the bathroom and then extinguishes all lights when we return to bed. Your info will make it easier to use these types of remotes for other purposes. Thanks for posting!

I'm running ISY994i firmware version 5.3.4 and Z-Wave version 6.82.01. It would be great if there was some documentation that explains all of the possible Event Viewer entries. There's a lot of cryptic shorthand in there that I'm certain is very helpful if you can interpret it. Btw, I wrote a small web application in Zojo that runs on a Raspberry Pi (24/7) and I use the application to trigger most of my scenes and programs. The web application uses the ISY994i's REST interface to talk to the ISY. This application has been running great for over a year and both my wife and I use it constantly. I like the fact that whenever I need to make changes or additions to the app and I recompile it the app auto-magically appears on our smartphones (since it is web based) rather than having to download and re-install like you would have to do if it was a native smartphone app. This makes updates non-disruptive for the wife and that is a *really* good thing.

Most of the time a query returns a single reply but I randomly get multiple replies from other Z-Wave devices also.

I see the rapid ON/OFF/ON/OFF... sequence sometimes and it is quite disconcerting. It seems that you can't send multiple Z-Wave commands without waiting a few seconds between the commands to let the network settle down. But I believe the popcorn effect that others have talked about is different. My understanding of the popcorn effect is that Z-Wave commands each device in succession when setting a scene instead of the Insteon 'everyone responds at the same time' (which is a very nice Insteon feature.) I've noticed that too. And adding more Z-Wave devices also seems to help as well. Yes, I've spent quite a bit of time with these options and observing the results in the Event Viewer. I also ran the "Z-Wave | Synchronize Nodes | New & Deleted" which found about a half dozen Z-Wave devices that no longer exist in my network. Clearing out the missing Z-Wave devices seemed to make the network respond faster. I'm assuming (maybe wrongly) that the Z-Wave daughter-board may have been getting slowed down by trying to communicate with the non-existent devices and needed to time-out before moving on. I really don't know enough to be certain of this hypothesis. I am in the same boat. When Insteon first came out I read all the protocol docs I could get my hands on and was impressed by the amount of thought that went into the Insteon design. I certainly wish they were still around. I'd like to get to the same level of familiarity with the Z-Wave protocol but it may take some time to get there. I've been looking at the "Z-Wave | Show Information in Event Viewer" and all of my Z-Wave devices appear to have numerous neighbors and that is why I'm pretty confident that my mesh is solid.

I have an ISY994i equipped with the Z-Wave daughter-board. I initially purchased the ISY to work with my Insteon devices but now am moving to more Z-Wave devices. I currently have about 15 Z-Wave devices. My home is relatively small and all the Z-Wave devices are in close proximity to each other. But I am seeing occasional delays in device control. When I click the "Query" button in the Admin Console for a specific Z-Wave device most of the time I get a single response in the Event Viewer but often I get several apparently redundant responses. I've attached a screen shot below: Is this normal? I've interrogated the Z-Wave devices and they all seem to be aware of multiple neighbors so my mesh should be solid but I don't understand what I'm seeing in the Event Viewer. Thoughts? -Wes

That's too bad. I'd like to be able to query any/all of my Z-Wave devices. Most of them are Zooz and Zooz has a penchant for issuing multiple versions of their firmware along with multiple documents describing the features of each version. The trouble is, unless you know what firmware you are working with you won't know which firmware documentation to reference when configuring a device. I appreciate Zooz making lots of enhancements to their firmware but... It would be great if the ISY994i could query my Z-wave device version info and then do OTA firmware updates.

As stated in the subject line, I'm wondering if a Z-Wave device can be queried/interrogated to determine its firmware version. I can't find any info on this. It would seem to be something that should be available in the Z-Wave protocol. -Wes

As asked in the thread title, I just want to know if the ISY994i is frozen at end-of-life because the new Polisy is the focus of UDI's attention now. Or is it still ok to ask for firmware enhancements?

@Michel Kohanim I don't use MobilLinc so that would not apply here. I've been exploring the Admin Console a bit and did run a "Tools | Generate Topology" report which includes node notes. Could that have generated those Event Viewer entries?

Thanks, I'll do that.

Can anyone tell me what these mean?: Fri 04/22/2022 04:21:30 PM : [FileOpen ] Open failed for [/CONF/122.PRP] (r) Fri 04/22/2022 04:24:31 PM : [FileOpen ] Open failed for [/CONF/143.PRP] (r) Fri 04/22/2022 04:24:53 PM : [FileOpen ] Open failed for [/CONF/30.PRP] (r) Fri 04/22/2022 04:30:38 PM : [FileOpen ] Open failed for [/CONF/16.PRP] (r) Fri 04/22/2022 04:32:05 PM : [FileOpen ] Open failed for [/CONF/17.PRP] (r) Fri 04/22/2022 04:32:52 PM : [FileOpen ] Open failed for [/CONF/49.PRP] (r) Fri 04/22/2022 04:33:02 PM : [FileOpen ] Open failed for [/CONF/48.PRP] (r) Fri 04/22/2022 04:33:58 PM : [FileOpen ] Open failed for [/CONF/42.PRP] (r) Fri 04/22/2022 04:36:41 PM : [FileOpen ] Open failed for [/CONF/94.PRP] (r) Fri 04/22/2022 04:38:06 PM : [FileOpen ] Open failed for [/CONF/92.PRP] (r) Fri 04/22/2022 04:39:53 PM : [FileOpen ] Open failed for [/CONF/100.PRP] (r) Fri 04/22/2022 04:40:19 PM : [ Time] 16:40:22 0(0) Fri 04/22/2022 04:40:40 PM : [FileOpen ] Open failed for [/CONF/91.PRP] (r) I took a look at my ISY944i event viewer today and found a bunch of the above.

Update: I was able to fix the problem by performing a factory reset on the ZEN71's and then moving them closer to my ISY and re-introducing them to the ISY. Once that process finished I was able to see On/Off messages being transmitted to the ISY and was able to use these messages to trigger a program. So everything is working fine now.

I just installed two Zooz Zen71 On/Off switches and introduced them to my ISY. My ISY can see them and control them but I can't seem to get a simple test program to respond to them as controllers. I've included the test program below. My program is looking for any of the paddles to be pressed and then beep my FanLinc. It's a useless program but I hoped it would at least let me see if the paddle presses could be used as a program trigger. So far no luck. Any idea what I'm doing wrong??? GBaRm-ExhaustFan-TimeOut - [ID 0021][Parent 0020] If 'Modules / Guest Suite / Bathroom / GBaRm-ExhaustFan' is switched On Or 'Modules / Guest Suite / Bathroom / GBaRm-ExhaustFanPaddleBtn1' is switched On Or 'Modules / Guest Suite / Bathroom / GBaRm-ExhaustFanPaddleBtn2' is switched On Or 'Modules / Guest Suite / Bathroom / GBaRm-Lights' is switched On Or 'Modules / Guest Suite / Bathroom / GBaRm-LightsPaddleBtn1' is switched On Or 'Modules / Guest Suite / Bathroom / GBaRm-LightsPaddleBtn2' is switched On Then Set 'Modules / Guest Suite / Bedroom / GBdRm-CeilingFan' Beep Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action')

OK, so i seems that 'm voted down in my request. But I'd still like to know the answer to my second question. In most programming languages if an OS feature is not exposed through a built-in language command or function you can usually reach the feature via a direct OS call. So is there a way provided by the ISY to address Insteon functionality that is not exposed by a built-in ISY interface?

Clearly the option exists to enable/disable the LEDs. Why then can it not be toggled via a program? You may not see the utility in having this option but I do, otherwise I would not have asked. So I hope a definitive answer will be forthcoming from UD's engineers. I took a look at the communications in the diagnostics dialog and it's pretty clear that to toggle this option a very minor amount of bit twiddling is required: http://www.westhaver.com/isy_event_viewer_led_backlight_toggle1.png http://www.westhaver.com/isy_event_viewer_led_backlight_toggle2.png Is there any mechanism provided in ISY to generate custom communication transactions for situations where ISY does not provide an interface? -Wes

I have tested it and it appears that they can be enabled/disabled (though not individually.) So I find it odd that this is not made available to programs. -Wes PS. I don't want to change their color (red/green) or their brightness or control them individually, just enable or disable them as is possible via the ISY options dialog.

I would like to enable/disable the two LEDs on my FanLincs. This can be done via the "Options" button which takes you to the "Device Options" dialog and then you can check/uncheck the "LED Backlight" option. But I want to do this from a program and I don't see any way to accomplish this. It's obviously doable via the options dialog so how can I do this from a program? -Wes PS. I can accomplish this on my KeypadLincs via a program so I'm wondering why this isn't available with a FanLinc?

Thanks guys. I figured that the ISY994i was using a CAT5 ethernet cable for RS-232 communications but wanted to verify. As such, the rules for CAT5 ethernet cable lengths don't apply but the rules for RS-232 cable lengths do apply. I'm working out how I want to arrange my system now that my ISY994i has a Z-Wave board in it. Without the Z-Wave board it didn't really matter where I placed the ISY994i. But now I have to take into account the fact that the ISY994i needs to be placed in a way that promotes good RF signal propagation. The current placement in my basement is no longer optimal. I doubt that I'll exceed a 50' separation between the ISY994i and the PLM but I just wanted to get other opinions before I inserted a longer cable between the two devices. -Wes

Does anyone know if there is a limit to the length of the CAT5 cable connecting the ISY994i to the Insteon PLM? "The ISY994 Home Automation Cookbook" states: Port A is an RJ-45 connector used to attach your INSTEON PLM to the ISY. This allows the ISY to communicate with your INSTEON devices. Please use a standard Category 5e network patch cable (included) to connect your ISY to the PLM. I want to keep my PLM in its current location and move the ISY994i to another location using a longer CAT5 cable (to allow the ISY994i Z-Wave module better range with fewer obstructions.) So, is there a practical limit to how long the CAT5 cable connecting the two units can be? -Wes

@Michel Kohanim If bad sectors exist on the MicroSD card and they happen to contain user data then it's a loss no matter what method of backup is employed (File / Backup ISY or Card Imaging.) I suspect that ISY994i MicroSD card failures are going to be pretty rare. I base this on a post I found that advised that there is no way to do an orderly shutdown of the ISY994i, just pull the plug. This would be terrible advice if the ISY994i was writing to the MicroSD card. But since the recommended shutdown is "pull the plug" I have to assume the MicroSD card is strictly read-only unless a configuration update is being executed.

If I have a mirror image of the current MicroSD card then it should be: Burn .IMG file onto new MicroSD card. Insert the MicroSD card into ISY994i. Done This seems simpler/quicker. MicroSD cards are dirt cheap and I always keep spares around. I also have Terabytes of storage available where I keep my image files. Unless I'm missing something, a mirror image of the original MicroSD card should have the exact characteristics as the original MicroSD card. So there should be no need to worry about what special sectoring. And your password, timezone etc. are contained in the image.

I never paid much attention to the fact that the ISY994i had a MicroSD card but I've started to wonder what the life expectancy is of the MicroSD card. I've been employing Raspberry Pi's around my house for many years now and have learned that it is always a good idea to keep backups of their MicroSD cards in case one of them fails. The easiest way to do this is to make an image file (.IMG) of the entire MicroSD card. Would this be a good backup technique for the MicroSD card in the ISY994i? I know the ISY994i Admin Console has a "File / Backup ISY" option but making an image file of the whole MicroSD card seems like it would be a quicker way to restore the ISY994i to working order in the event of a MicroSD card failure since an image file contains everything on the MicroSD card including the formatting. Thoughts?

Interesting. I've not had any trouble with the admin console crashing or hanging. It just seems to be unable to retain the theme selection from one boot-up to the next. Any suggestions about how to enlarge the java memory size would be appreciated. BTW, I am using "Iced Tea Web" to run the admin console under Ubuntu. I know very little about Iced Tea Web other than from what I read here on the forum. As I recall it is needed to support java applications since my web browser of choice (Firefox) no longer supports java applications running in the browser.

Does the theme selection survive a system reboot on your computer? I can understand storing settings in a cache somewhere but shouldn't the cache persist between reboots?