PB11

I've been having this weird little overlay windows popping up on my Admin Console the last several days. It seems like its the tail end of my device list, but is in a separate window. When I click on it, the underlying fields come forward and this window seems to disappear, but the Devices in its list are still missing.

Wow. I have a hard time conceptualizing it. I need to spend more time gaining a deeper understanding about the guts of ISY programming. I like the sound of this. Again, beyond my comprehension at the moment, but I'll keep plugging away at it. @MrBill You are absolutely right about the mindset and that I was using Alexa as the controller. In parallel I was also trying to thoroughly configure my ISY, which was just causing conflict between the two controllers. I had originally started out with an Insteon controller, which was limited at best, but relied on Stringify for the heavy lifting. Sadly, once Stringify was shut down I lost most of my automation functionality. I decided to revisit the ISY I had been using on a very limited bases at another property. I had no understanding of its capacity at this time. Because of what seemed like ISY's complexity I embraced Alexa for its simplicity and similarity to stringify. My reasoning for the diatribe above was to maybe prevent any newcomer from going down the path I did and wasting all the learning hours on utilizing Alexa when I could have been focusing on ISY. This is not to take away from what Alexa has added to home automation. Honestly, if it weren't for this forum, and the power players on this forum, @MrBill @larryllixand several other contributors I can't currently think of, I wouldn't be utilizing ISY the way I currently am. ISY is powerful, but the real power is in the people who share their experience and knowledge. Guess I was just trying to contribute and payback all the assistance I've been given.

Hi All Let me preface this by saying, I am happy to delete this topic if is proves to be more confusing then helpful. I'm just brain dumping so I'm not certain how clear this will be to anyone but me, and the entire topic may not even be an issue for others. If anyone thinks there should be more clarity please let me know and I'm happy to edit. There are others on the forum with much more knowledge then what I have to share regarding this topic, and much of what I'm writing down has been gained from much help and input from others over the past year, but I thought I would put this into text for anyone who might be playing with a similar setup. My take on ISY Scenes, Alexa Groupings, and Alexa Routines is as follows. My initial setup was to create scenes on the ISY Admin Console, as well as Groups and routines in Alexa. The biggest hurdle was with my multiple 3 way switches By grouping any 3 way switches as a scene in ISY i.e. Kitchen Lights removed any ability to control switches on an incremental level, i.e. dimming room lights. I initially thought I could name all 3 switches "kitchen Lights" and that Alexa would send the command to all 3. This was not the case and in fact caused Alexa to see multiple devices of the same name and therefore return the error "There are multiple devices with this name, which one would you like". To get around this, I named the switches after the room followed my a number and the scene after the room light i.e Scene Name = Kitchen Lights Light Name = Kitchen Light 1. This adds difficulty when attempting to control any single switch via voice command. "Alexa, set kitchen light 3 to 50%". Functions, but not ideal. If I also created groupings in Alexa with the same room name to gain control over things like Sonos Room Grouping, it created another naming conflict which was difficult to trouble shoot and locate when trying to solve the "There are multiple devices with this name" or " The command is not possible with this device" (wording approximate)" I then thought that Alexa Routines would be the best work around, and found that creating multiple scene routines for each Room with the different settings I wanted was the way forward. i.e. Dinner Kitchen, Night Kitchen, but this quickly became too numerous to remember, and difficult to manage when returning months post creating routines. It was hard to remember my logic as well as commands for each scene. I'm sure there are several other approaches I tried, but its all a big mess in my head now. In the end. In the end I found that keeping most of my configuration within ISY and being more selective on scenes and the naming of scenes in my isy, gave me a more accurate and incremental control on lights via Alexa. In ISY Using the main power switch in all my 3 ways, I named it after the specific room i.e. "Kitchen lights", then the remaining 3 way switches, Kitchen Lights 2, Kitchen Lights 3. I also created a Scene named after the room i.e. Kitchen. This setup lets me dim lights by using logical light name i.e. "Alexa, set kitchen lights to 30%", but also control the entire room as a whole i.e. Alexa, turn off kitchen, without any further setup required in Alexa other then syncing devices and scenes via the portal. With this said, it is nice to have a few additional scenes for specific moments. i.e. Alexa, turn on Cooking, Alexa, Dim house. Approaching things in this manner, has significantly reduced the number of routines or groupings needed On the Alexa side as Alexa will interact with the ISY scenes as rooms/groups anyway. I also only introduce the switch with main power to the Alexa list of devices to reduce number of devices to manage and to simplify and increase accuracy of voice commands. In Alexa Minimizing configuration in Alexa, ie. very few groups if any, only primary light switches, and no granular routines made for the cleanest and most accurate functionality. It also really simplifies making changes or adding functionality which are primarily done on the ISY. I've also noticed a significant uptake and understanding of commands throughout my family with this cleaner setup. My motto now is, Less is More. Not sure if this offers any clarity, and again am happy to delete should this only make things more cloudy for some. PB

@Geddy Just an update, things seem to be syncing on their own at this point. Thanks for helping me out on this one. All the best.

Greetings All I've had Occupancy setup for a year or so(can't remember which version i.e. Occupancy, Occupancy 2(Mobile Device), Occupancy 2(Geofence) and uncertain how to confirm this), and on the most part has been pretty solid. Once in a while, today being one of those times, the status of our 2 iphones is not accurate. What I'm wondering is if there is a way to force a status check? I've attempted to run the "If" component of my geofence program but I think its really only checking on the existing status not actually confirming the status I've used the "Query" button on the Admin Console Main Page for the iphone Geofence node, but nothing seems to happen with status or in the Event Viewer. Would anyone be able to shed some light on this one? Thanks very much Peter

Hi @Geddy Yes, I was referring to the Alexa side of things. Thanks for clarifying. I suspected thats what the "refresh" control was for, but after clicking it with no change I assumed it was only a webpage refresh and not a isy/my.isy.io portal sync. I'll try again and see if things are different. I'm in the country so it could be that hit and miss internet connectivity. Thanks for the input.

Wait a tick, do I recall reading many moons ago, that all changes on the ISY require a reboot to be recognized by the portal?

Hello All. Wondering if there is a method to force a sync between my ISY and the Web Portal? When I create a scene on my ISY, its taking some time to have it show on my ISY portal? Thanks kindly for any suggestions. PB

Hello @MrBill Wanted to let you know that Locative is working like a charm. I'm now restructuring some of my other programs as you have layout. Hoping to get my motion sensors working. Thanks for your time and experience. All the best.

@MrBill I like it. On the 15th read there was some clarity. Few more times over and I think I'll have it. Its logical, just very incremental. I'll spend some time on it and let you know how I make out. Just bought you a virtual cold beer.?

First off, thank you. Ok, just to digest this. The from sunset to sunrise in this statement isn't being evaluated because its disabled? But does it still not act as two separate points of activation? One at Sunset and one at Sunrise or did I misinterpret. This I did understand, but thought the confirmation of gps status was transmitted via cellular or wifi data lines. Just for a better understanding. Is this assessed by ISY as 3 individual if's and each trigger the "then" or do all 3 need to be met to trigger the "then"? By the verbiage I assumed "and" meant that all 3 needed to be true before being authorized to move on to the "then" statement. I've pulled open the cooked book once again, and gave it a pinned tab on my google browser. I'll implement what you've given me above and will see how and why it works the way it does. Very much appreciate the time you've taken @MrBill

@MrBillThe James Bond comment made me chuckle. That was exactly what I was going for. Can't have the cool cars, might as well have the cool garage door opener. Ok, that can easily be sacrificed. Once Security is mentioned I start to get twitchy. My logic in my programs was this. In the Arriving Home at night program, I thought all 3 If's had to be met before the "then" was triggered. This explains a lot, and makes me realize I have a lot of changes to make throughout my programming. The double Geo fence was for reasons exactly mentioned by @Geddy. I was finding my programs would be triggered at 5am and I assumed it was my phone bouncing in and out of Geofence, though I'm now wondering if its the "From Sunset to Sunrise" in my If statements. Again here what I assumed was "sunset to sunrise" was a span of time, not 2 separate instances. Apparently my thought process isn't as logical as I thought. Thanks for the pointers.

Ok @MrBill I'm back looking at my locative setup I struggle to digest the information when someone posts their programs on this forum, but I'm wondering if I can post how I have locative setup for you to review? I understand if this is a bit much and you would rather not, so pls don't hesitate to pass and I will not be offended. I've stripped all buy my iphone from the equation and I'll only post the arrival scenario. If I can get this working I'm certain I can transfer the proper format forward. I've created 2 geofences in Locative. 1)PBLakeHouse: for entry into my property, and 2) PBNeighborhood: for entry into a larger geofence surrounding neighborhood. I've also created 2 state variables. One is "sPBHome" and one is "sNeighborhood". I've created each variable a "Variable" program which changes their values based on my geolocation. Geofence program: PBHome - [ID 0056][Parent 002B][Run At Startup] If '#Geofence / Lake House / PBLakeHouse' Occupied is True Then $sPBHome = 1 Wait 6 minutes $sPBHome = 3 Else $sPBHome = 3 Neighborhood - [ID 0057][Parent 002B][Run At Startup] If '#Geofence / Neighborhood / PBNeighborhood' Occupied is True Then $sNeighborhood = 1 Wait 10 minutes $sNeighborhood = 3 Else $sNeighborhood = 3 I've had both variables change to an obscure value after a period of time to prevent gps jump causing my doors to randomly open. Here is my arriving home at night program Arriving Home at Night PB - [ID 002A][Parent 002B][Run At Startup] If $sPBHome is 1 And $sNeighborhood is 1 And ( From Sunset To Sunrise (next day) ) Then Send Notification to 'Lake House' content 'PB Night Geofence Ran' Set 'Garage / Garage 2 / Garage 2' Open Set '#House / Arriving Home' On Wait 2 minutes Set 'Garage / Garage 2 / Garage 2' Close Set 'Security / Security' Off Wait 10 minutes Set 'Back door / Backdoor' Off Set 'Hallway / Hallway' Off $sPBHome = 3 Else Run Program 'Arriving Home Daylight PB' (If) Daytime Arrival Program Arriving Home Daylight PB - [ID 0030][Parent 002B][Run At Startup] If $sPBHome is 1 And $sNeighborhood is 1 And From Sunrise + 1 second To Sunset - 1 second (same day) Then Send Notification to 'Lake House' content 'PB Day Geofence Ran' Set 'Garage / Garage 2 / Garage 2' Open Wait 3 minutes Set 'Garage / Garage 2 / Garage 2' Close $sPBHome = 3 Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action') Hope that makes sense. PB

@MrBill Hi MrBill. I'm using the portal IFTTT. Not familiar with direct API calls. Regarding Locative, I started out with a portal node server "Occupancy", then someone suggested I should use Admin Console Occupancy V2.0 (Geofence). I never fully understood the difference, but hacked away at all of them until I had some level of functionality. ? I've had great results with Locative when it works. The response from locative on my phone seems spot on, but isy responding is spotty at best. After some success its just been so unreliable that I just assume not have it. Sometimes its responding after we've been home for 5 min. I did go through the exercise as detailed by another member of creating separate neighborhood and home geofences which prevented my house from opening up randomly at 4 am. I would be happy to stick with locative if I could get it working as I have several programs configured to work with it. By webhooks are you referring to the generated URL? https://my.isy.io/api/ifttt/PBD/key/ Or this Testing IFTTT location for response only, seems quick and accurate. I live in the country on a dead-end spit of land which juts into the lake. I'm guessing I connect to a single cell tower. I'm assuming this isn't ideal, but historically I had great geofencing using Yonomi and the Insteon hub, but I haven't found compatibility with ISY and Yonomi. Any thoughts appreciated PB

Hello All Hoping someone might have some insight as I'm just not understanding. I'm testing IFTTT's locations applet as locative just isn't cutting. What I'm attempting to do is have IFTTT change the state variable base on me being in our out of my geofence. I'm creating 2 webhooks in the ISY portal for the same state variable each with a different value based on geofence state. I.e: PB is home so sPBHome=1 PB is away so sPBHome=2 If I click on the URL created in the each webhook, its the same no mater what the variable value is set to. This confuses me. When this "Webhook" is triggered based on geofence, how is ISY able to distinguish weather its the 1 value or the other if its the same URL being sent. I'm not seeing how the specific value could be differentiated. Am I missing something? I'm now thinking I may need two separate state variables and create a webhook for each. I.e PB is home so sPBHome=1 PB is away so sPBAway=2 Thanks for any info. PB

Thank you very much @apostolakisl

Not Critical. I hadn't realized ISY could do first day of the month. Hadn't seen this as an option. Will research all the above. Thanks everyone.

No conditions on folders. I had started with the state variable but couldn't figure out the date +1. I'll revisit this. 750 hours was the only way i could figure out the 30 day equivalent. Thanks @gzahar

Hi All, and good morning. I have some batteries that need to be charged every thirty days. I have them plugged into an insteon switch and 2 programs that are meant to trigger them. First program "Robot Charging" is just a "then" which turns on the outlets, charges 3 hours, then turns off. Second program "Robot Timer" is an "If" that triggers "Robot Charging" program. Its not working. Even in the summary windows, it shows last run and next run if I manually kick on the "Robot Charging" but then nothing happen on the next scheduled event. If I reboot the isy, am I losing the "next scheduled event"? It seems all fields are empty after reboot. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Robot Charging - [ID 005A][Parent 0059][Run At Startup] If - No Conditions - (To add one, press 'Schedule' or 'Condition') Then Set 'Garage / Robot Outlets / Robot Outlet.1 On-Off Top' On Set 'Garage / Robot Outlets / Robot Outlet.2 On-Off Bot' On Send Notification to 'Lake House' content 'Robot Charging on' Wait 3 hours Set 'Garage / Robot Outlets / Robot Outlet.1 On-Off Top' Off Set 'Garage / Robot Outlets / Robot Outlet.2 On-Off Bot' Off Send Notification to 'Lake House' content 'Robot Charging Off' Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action') Robot Timer - [ID 0058][Parent 0059][Run At Startup] If Time is Last Run Time for 'Robot Charging' + 750 hours Then Run Program 'Robot Charging' (Then Path) Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action')

Hello All Wondering if/how I can bring up a window to watch what's currently happening on my isy. I know I can go into the Program window and look at the "Summary Tab", but wondering if there is an interface from which i can see what type of back log there may be. Thanks in advance PB

Is there a number for these links and how do I know if I've exceeded this number? I'm seeing this error in my Summary tab.

@larryllixSo far, my biggest issue is response time of a program triggered by MS.

Ah, thanks. I've just purchased 2 MS over the holidays, but am only just dabbling as I'm struggling to understand their usage value and how to utilize their data fields.

Where's the fun in that? Can I ask what you mean by MS?

so better if I simply change the state of a program at one moment ie 11pm with 10 seconds between each line of code. Rather then "If between 11pm and sunrise"? Then at sunrise run a program change scene back to default?