MarkJames

Thanks, Oberkc... I'd actually gone down the path of enabled folders depending on time of day. The thing is that I'm really trying to avoid programs for turning the light on because of the lag issue. I see your point, Rand, as far as making the ramp rate longer but personally I don't much care for the ramp on effect outside of things like a movie mode or dinner mode or something like that. I like having the sensor turn it on as part of the scene as that's pretty much instantaneous. The light switch is just inside the door - so when you walk in and the light doesn't pop right on - which is what happens with programs - you tend to hit the button - which isn't a big deal but it defeats the purpose of the sensor. The other issue with the sensor is that if you have a long off time and someone manually turns the light off then the sensor won't send another ON until the delay times out - so a short delay is preferable. On the other hand, if you go out of sight of the sensor - like in the shower - a long delay is needed. It gets unwieldy. What I'm trying to accomplish is to have the sensor turn on a different scene depending on the time of day. I'd hoped that I could use the ISY adjust scene program control to change the on level for a scene. What I'd originally written was simply a program so that at 10pm an adjust scene happened that turned the level of the bathroom light to 20% and then at 6am it turned it back to 100%. But I misunderstood this function and it doesn't work the way I'd anticipated - it just turns the light on to the level I specify at that time - in other words it's not changing the on level associated with the responder link - it's merely adjusting the scene light levels. This is also a useful function - but doesn't help me. So what I'm doing now is making the sensor the controller of a scene with the bathroom light in it set to 20% So the sensor will always turn it on at 20% but during the day the program will jump in a moment later and ramp it up to 100%. This works for the most part - I'm just trying to come up with a more creative way. I don't know if it's been suggested before but it might be a nice function to add to ISY so that you could actually have the ISY write or change links and scene memberships programatically. That would allow you to have scene levels change depending on device settings or even allow you to change it so a button controls one light during the day but another during the evening.... could be very cool. It wouldn't entirely solve my motion sensor issue as the sensor wouldn't be in linking mode so it couldn't be changed directly... ie I wouldn't be able to change the timeout, but the responder record in the controlled light could have its on level changed without needing the sensor record changed. I'll look at the motion sensor programs recommended and see if that helps me any. [edit] I just looked through the bathroom programs in the wiki. They are, indeed, very complete. Makes me want to add a wireless contact to the bathroom door just to run the fan The only thing is it still has the issue of program lag. I'm going to have to do some benchmarks and see how long it takes as a scene member vs as a program and decide what to do. Thanks, mark

OK.. that makes sense..... and it's an easy enough change. Can you think of a more efficient way to do this, though? Have a motion sensor trigger a scene with different on levels and different time outs dependent on the time of day? I had originally done this with programs alone - not letting the motion sensor directly control the light. The only problem with that is there is a slight lag between the sensor message and the program execution. I'd also tried setting a program to adjust the on level of the scene dependent on the time of day but it seems that the adjusted on level only 'sticks' till the light is turned off - so the next time it turns on it goes back to the local on level. The two things that drive me craziest with HA are motion sensors and trying to determine if someone is coming into the house or leaving the house. mark

Well, I've run into a bit of an understanding problem. I have a 2420 that I'm using in my masterbathroom to turn on the lights. The thing of it is that I'm trying NOT to use the 2420's built in off command. The reason for this is that I'm trying to get the lights to turn on for say 15 minutes at 100% during the morning - it has to be long enough so that the lights don't turn off while the sensor can't see you in the shower. Then on for like 5 minutes during the day, again at 100%, but for only 3 minutes at 20% during the early hours for when you get up at night for a quick pee. So my sensors are Rev 2.0 so I can program them using ISY. I've set the jumpers so that they don't send an off command, and they're programmed from ISY. The basic setup I've chosen and there's probably a better way is this... The sensor is controller of a scene with the bathroom light as responder but the light is set for 20%. When the sensor turns the light on a program runs and checks the time. If the time is daytime it runs a different program that adjusts the scene to 100%, waits 15 or 5 minutes depending on the time of day and then turns it off. If the time is nighttime then it runs a program that simply waits 3 minutes then turns it off., leaving the scene at 20% The reason for the second program running is a bit legacy in that I didn't want the sensor OFF message retriggering the program and running the else effectively canceling the wait. The problem is that with the motion sensor jumpered to not send an off - I'm confused as to whether ISY will ALWAYS see it as on. Any thoughts on a better way to accomplish this? and any thoughts on the limitations of using a 2420 in ISY that doesn't send an OFF? Actually, I guess more significantly, what does it mean to ISY when the sensor doesn't send an OFF?. Does this mean that it won't send an OFF message to its responders but will still report its own status as OFF? Or does it simply not send an OFF anymore? Can ISY still expect to see the sensor status OFF after the timeout delay set in the sensor? mark

My upgrade went smoothly. I think I upgraded too quickly, though, and got a brain freeze. This might be related to the code freeze you mentioned earlier. I'll try upgrading more slowly and see if it's reproducible. mark

Hi, Michel, I reset the PLM and did a restore. My count is now 565 and my motion sensor status is reading correctly. Thanks for the help! mark

Hi, Michelle, Yes... I've been away a bit.... we've had some health issues in the family to deal with so HA has been on the back burner for a while. Things are back to 'normal' now so I have some more time. I think you've hit the nail on the head as far as links. I'm using a 2412S and the PLM link table count is now at 4228 and still counting! That's just wrong! This is odd as I haven't added that much recently and my count was down in the 500's a while ago. I had an issue trying to restore one KPL and ran the restore multiple times before it finally 'took'. That KPL had an 'all lights off' scene attached to it which contained some 90-100 links. I must have run the restore at least 5 times. Could it be possible that each time I ran the restore it duplicated the link records in the PLM? I ask because if that's the case then wiping my PLM and letting ISY restore it should fix my problem and bring my count back down. mark

I don't think so... I have 5 other 2420s and ISY shows all of their states for motion sensor on/off, dusk/dawn on/off and low batt on/off. With this one I don't see a state for any of them. It does, indeed, work as I can link it to devices manually and control them. ISY sees it too, as it will add it as a device and set/read its options. I wonder if it's faulty....

Any idea why a 2420m that I just added to my system won't display it's state? It's a version 2.0 but I have the jumper off so it' just using its default settings. It added fine but I can't see it's status (on/off) from the ISY Mark

Teenage daughter and her friend. I thought my daughter was bad... her friend made her look like an angel. By the second day of a 4 day Easter weekend stay I'd blocked the mac address of her laptop and her ipod touch and blocked all cell access. Before I did she spent 8pm to 3am laughing and skyping with her boyfriend - spent every waking moment texting and every other moment on either facebook or skype. I love technology but I HATE social networking sites, texting, skype, and MSN and its relatives. Kids these days have lost the ability to be by themselves and don't seem to grasp how rude it is to sit at a table with one person while texting a different one. Fortunately if it comes down to a battle of technology I'm a very well armed individual. Knowledge IS power.

hahahahahahahaha never mind... I figured it out. I've been running a high powered cell phone jammer for the last couple of days. It seems to interfere with the RF capabilities of Insteon. I turned it off and all returned to normal mark

Well... I recently upgraded to pro - but I'm having issues that I didn't have before. At the moment I'm trying to add back a 2420m that I could not restore the links in. I cannot add it back, though. Here's the log of the attempt Sun 04/04/2010 08:30:40 PM : ---- Initializing the linked devices ---- Sun 04/04/2010 08:30:40 PM : ---- All Linked Devices are now initialized ---- Sun 04/04/2010 08:30:40 PM : ---- Add remaining devices ---- Sun 04/04/2010 08:30:40 PM : [ 11 A6 36 1] Removing all links Sun 04/04/2010 08:30:40 PM : [11 A6 36 1 ] Querying engine version Sun 04/04/2010 08:30:40 PM : [iNST-ACK ] 02 62 11.A6.36 0F 0D 00 06 (00) Sun 04/04/2010 08:30:48 PM : [iNST-ACK ] 02 62 11.A6.36 0F 0D 00 06 (00) Sun 04/04/2010 08:30:57 PM : [iNST-ACK ] 02 62 11.A6.36 0F 0D 00 06 (00) Sun 04/04/2010 08:31:00 PM : [11 A6 36 1 ] Failed getting engine version. Reverting to i1. Sun 04/04/2010 08:31:00 PM : [11 A6 36 1 ] Using engine version i2 Sun 04/04/2010 08:31:00 PM : [iNST-ACK ] 02 62 11.A6.36 1F 2F 02 00 00 0F FF 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 06 (02) Sun 04/04/2010 08:31:09 PM : [iNST-ACK ] 02 62 11.A6.36 1F 2F 02 00 00 0F FF 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 06 (02) Sun 04/04/2010 08:31:17 PM : [iNST-ACK ] 02 62 11.A6.36 1F 2F 02 00 00 0F FF 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 06 (02) Sun 04/04/2010 08:31:21 PM : [ 11 A6 36 1] ** Not added ** Remove Device Links failed Sun 04/04/2010 08:31:21 PM : ---- All Remaining Device Added ---- I'm on 2.7.14 I've hard reset the motion sensor twice already There are 563 devices in my PLM link table I put the device into linking mode prior to adding it I believe this is a symptom of a more general communication problem as I seem to be having a hard time restoring/writing to devices all of a sudden even though everything is functioning properly. I can't understand why, as nothing I can think of has changed. I have two devices which are not functioning but I've disabled them. Thanks for any insight. mark

Earlier this week I was testing an old KPL I had lying around the house. I took a power cord off an old pc and cut the female end off. I left the ground wire on it - stripped - plus it has a reinforcement wire running its length to prevent stretch. This wire is also hooked to ground. I wirenutted the load and neutral to the KPL and cord to energize it and was programming it. I had just finished programming it in ISY (it was plugged into the wall - wirenuts on load, hot, and neutral - no wire nuts on the loose ground wire or reinforcement wire). I flipped it over to see what labels it had and when I flipped it back the bare ground end slid up inside the wirenut on the load wire. The KPL literally exploded. So much for a $60 KPL - but a good lesson to cap/tape any wires not in use. mark

but be sure and put a wirenut on the load wire - it'll still go hot when you press the on button. mark

ahhh... Thank you. You prompted me to look on smarthome.com - There's a newer manual for the rev 2.0 which shows J5 jumpered for remote management. Much appreciated! Mark

They are reasonably new (past 6 months) - rev 2.0 They have adjustment pots but I don't have any jumpers on. My 2420 manual shows J1 - sensitivity J2 - disable LED J3 - night-only J4 - on-only J5 - not used.

I've never set my 2420's to time out other than the default time. I recently tried to change the default time on 2 of them from the options dialog. I set one for 5 minutes and one for 8 minutes. However they both remain at the default time. When I go back to the options menu I put them in linking mode, ISY goes out to query them, and it returns with the appropriate values (5min and 8min) but even so they send an off command after the default 1min. I can't seem to make them last longer than 1min. Any idea what to check with this? mark

I'll try and hide my disappointment - but it'll be tough!

Well spank my *** and call me Sally - that worked. $30 later I've now got a couple of shiny new toys to play with. Much thanks mark

is that combined total of devices + scenes? I just checked this with a new switchlinc dimmer - same error - so it's not the 2420s or anything to do with them. I have roughly 100 -110 devices not including access points (, remotelincs (3) and 2420s (5 with 2 more pending) - about 70 scenes. I think the problem is my PLM Link table count. I just checked it and it's over 800 - I gave up waiting for the final count I'm not sure why it popped up so high... it was down in the 300's till I added homeseer to my system. I'm running it on a dedicated machine with the ultram1g plugin, the isy plugin, and the weatherbug plugin. Homeseer should not have created PLM entries, though, should it? mark

OK.. I'm stumped. I have 5 2420m's already so I'm no stranger to them. I'm trying to add 2 new ones but can't get either one to add into ISY. I keep getting errors. First things first... I'm on 2.7.12 I notice that when adding a 2420m ISY does not prompt you to put the device into linking mode. I assume it has to be so I put it in by holding the button 5 seconds till it starts slow flashing. To be on the safe side I've tried adding it without putting into linking mode but then I get the 'failed to write high water mark' error instead. So... I put it in linking mode, bring up the add insteon device dialog, put in a name, add the address (there are no 0's or O's - it's 13.EF.36), and select 2420m from the dropdown box. ISY goes out to add it but fails with node not added - failed restoring device. I've factory reset the 2420's, though they're new. I've backed up my system and reinstalled 2.7.12 in case something got corrupt I've removed all the access points in my house except for the one right beside me and the 2420 I've deleted my java cache I've confirmed that it's 2.7.12 from the help->about box Now I"m not sure that this is only related to the motion sensors. Yesterday I was trying to add in a couple of old KPL's in a seldom used area. They wouldn't add - same error - node not added - failed restoring device. I chalked this up to these KPL's possibly being faulty as they were in my 'spare parts' drawer. mark

Ahh... OK... I thought it was some strange GUI thingy for ISY. Sort of a graphical layout tool for your switches and such. I tried to use it for that but obviously that didn't work out so much. Thanks! Mark

Well, Bob, I bought a new atom based PC to run homeseer and the ISY plugin. The one I bought has 4gb of RAM and a 500gb hard drive - all for under $400. Pretty good value for the money, really. Has an HDMI output that I'll never use and came with a cordless keyboard/mouse besides. Slick little box! Amazing that it has no fan in it. I can't even hear the drive running - I could actually put this in my bedroom to watch movies across the network and not mind it at all. Even has built in wifi and gb lan! Now to get it up and integrated! Mark

I tried to find an answer to this but using search with the word 'Floor Plan' brought up everything that had to do with plan or floor. Too many results to wade through. Anyways... what's the deal on the 'floor plan' function? Is anyone using this? What is it's intended purpose? Mark

I see, oberkc, that you're a glass-half-full kinda guy! Good point, though! Mark

Oh.. ok... I only have a few in my installation and none are part of scenes that require them to turn off when the scene turns on. I just assumed. It's a shame that the KPL buttons can't be made to match up using scenes - it leaves KPL buttons 'out of sync' with the devices they control. I guess the only way to do it is make the KPL Leds part of a scene and then turn that scene off programmatically. Thanks, Rand, mark