KConover

Well, I have all five exterior light switches set to control all of the other light switches – means I can turn off any one and it will turn off all of the others – and I thought that it would be better to address those switches directly as individual devices, rather than picking one at random and then letting it control all the others. Do you think I was wrong in this?

I was looking for a Band-Aid approach. gzahar's comment did make me look at my code again. I had a long list of outside lights to turn off, and it was the LAST of that list that was not turning off. Maybe too much traffic in rapid succession. I added a Wait right before that list item on the list which seems to be fixing the problem. I have lots of noise filters on fans and other power supplies already, and a signal bridge between the two sides of the AC system.

>Dope slap to my head<. I should have thought of that. Thanks!

I've long had programs running on my ISY994i to turn on the outside lights 15 minutes before sunset, and another to turn off the outside lights at 11 PM. Usually works fine. But I've recently noted that one of the lights sometimes doesn't turn off. I figured I'd increase the retries in the program, but there doesn't seem to be a way to do that. When a dimmer switch controls another dimmer switch, I can specify the number of retries, but apparently not when it's a program controlling an Insteon dimmer switch. Any recommendations?

Well, you're an expert compared to me at least as far as this button! Thanks very much. I'm a UX (user experience/user interface/user interaction design) dweeb and we emphasize something called "discoverability": you should be able to figure out what something clickable on your screen does. The classic way to do this it with a hover state (hover your mouse over it) that then shows a tooltip (a little popup box that tells you what the button does). I'm not sure you could condense all of that to fit into a tooltip! For some other tips on usability, you could check out my site about usability of medical software at: http://ed-informatics.org/

So the "Ramp Rate" button really is the "Sync Ramp Rate" button? Interesting. Thank you. I needed to go to the Dining Room Keypad.D section, go down to the Dining Room Keypad.D line there, change the ramp rate there, and then click Update. I have to admit I find the user interface design of the console just a bit confusing. Another part of the UX that confuses me is the arrow buttons, for example next to the ramp rate. When I click it, it blanks the dropdown list so that nothing is showing and you can't type anything in the blank box and says "Index" to the right. Clicking the arrow button again brings back the dropdown list. While I've got an expert's ear/eyes, can you explain the significance of this button? Thanks again.

Thank you. I should have added that I also right-clicked the Dining Room Keypad.D that is in blue that is five lines above the one in red, and made sure it was set to a ramp rate of 2.0 seconds, and clicked the Update button. Several time. And still that track light is suddenly blinding me when I turn on the lights. Didn't get an error, and it didn't change the ramp rate. I also tried setting the ramp rate for Dining Room Keypad.D to 4.5 seconds and clicked Update, and it's still trying to blind me. Any other thoughts?

I just had Renewal by Andersen replace all of the windows in my house – 72 of them (it was the home and architect's studio for one of Frank Lloyd Wright's students named Lorene Lamar Shannon). Seven of them are openable awning windows nine and a half feet high at the base, or higher. I used to be able to (with a lot of difficulty) use a long S-shaped pole with a big hex socket to open them with hex nubbins that replaced the hand cranks. That won't work with these new windows. Truth manufacturing makes the openers used by Andersen for all of their awning windows. They also offer aftermarket (or for new buildings) electric openers for windows and skylights. I am seeing about getting those installed by an electrician. (I do basic electric work on the house but I need professional help for running wires and cables, there's quick a knack to it.) Each comes with a double-wide electrical box that has the buttons for opening and closing each individual window. I also spoke with the tech support person for Truth Mfg, who was very helpful. There are a couple of lines coming out of each controller that are simple open/close contacts designed for such automation. I was thinking about putting, in each one of those double-wide electrical boxes, an Insteon Micro Open/Close Module. That way I can open and close all of them at once with a single Insteon wall switch. Anyone tried this? Or anything similar? Thanks for any thoughts.

I have an Insteon 6-button wall switch in my dining room that has served me well for many years. But recently it seems to be developing Oppositional Defiant Disorder: not paying any attention to instructions I send it. I had to replace an Insteon wall switch that had died, one that controls the track lights in the dining room. Like all the other lights in the dining room, and for that matter those throughout the house, I want them to come on with a 2.0 second ramp. I wired in the new switch, and used the Replace function to replace it in my ISY994i. I set it to come on with a 2.0 second ramp when used with local control… works fine. I checked to make sure both the dining room and kitchen 6-button switches were still set so that "D" turned on and off all of the dining room lights with a 2.0 second ramp, just like they worked before. I have been fighting with this 6-buttton switch and now with the 6-button switch in the kitchen, as they both seem to have developed ODD. Pressing D on either one of them makes the track lights come on instantly despite my telling them, through the ISY, to turn on more slowly. So I don't think it's a hardware issue with the 6-button switches, though it could be a problem with the paddle switch that controls the track lights. Looking in the Admin Console (LAN), everything looks OK, as shown in the picture below. I have right-clicked Dining Room Track lights (both for the dining room and kitchen 6-button wall switches) and clicked: Write Updates to Device Restore Device Restore Link Between Dining Room Lights and Controller (both of the sub-menu items) I have clicked the button at the bottom right of the screen that says "Write Changes." I have clicked the button at the bottom right that says "Options" and made sure "Program Lock" is unchecked. I have clicked on the Dining Room Keybad.D just above what's highlighted in the picture (I mistyped Keypad but I think it was a Freudian slip) and checked to make sure that the ramp rate was set to 2.0 seconds – it was – and clicked the Update button. None of these things have worked, nor do they provide any error messages. This wouldn't be so bad, except the dining room 6-button keypad is right next to where one of the spotlights is aimed and it's like getting a laser in my eye every time I turn on the dining room lights. I seem to be out of buttons to push. Anyone have any other suggestions, other than ones that start with reformatting my hard drive, I mean, physically replacing the Dining Room Track Lights paddle switch? Thanks for any insight.

Thanks, tazman and MrBill! I gave myself a >dopeslap to the head< and realized that I hadn't added the http:// at the beginning. http://192.168.1.159 did the trick; the IoX Finder added the /desc at the end for me. I did have to reboot the ISY, but now everything seems to be working fine. I am also relieved that I can now get Insteon wall switches again; one of mine just died. I was thinking about upgrading to an EISY so I could add Z-wave stuff, but I like the instant-ish response of Insteon switches and lamp modules, and I hear that Z-wave is not as fast as Insteon. Now if I could only figure out what Matter is going to do to people like us and companies like Insteon and Universal Devices… Thanks again!

I have been connecting to my ISY994i using start.jnlp (IoX finder) or IoX launcher. I just had to replace my router, and the ISY994i's connection to the Ethernet network and power and the Insteon PLM was interrupted during the replacement. I reconnected the ISY994i to the PLM and the PLM is connected to house power. The ISY is connected to the FiOS extender (Had to replace the router next to the ISY994i in my upstairs office with a FiOS extender as the actual router had to go in the basement next to the system unit.) So the connections seem right. I logged into the router and found the URL of the ISY994i is now 192.168.1.159. So I click on start.jnlp to start the IoX finder. It doesn't see my ISY994i. I clicked Add, and in the dialog box that says Enter the URL I typed 192.168.1.159 and pressed OK. "Invalid URL." I seem to remember that when I was connecting to my ISY994i before, there was something after the "192.168.1.159" that was needed to connect. Is that my problem? I need to know what else goes into the URL? Thanks for any help.

This was as I was accessing the forums and writing the above. I was in a Firefox browser tab. I ended up simply creating my post in an ASCII editor and then pasting it into the window so I only had to Recaptcha once.

Disregard. It was simply a problem of my naming it something confusing. It's there.

I just added a new device – an Insteon lamp module – to my ISY994. On version 5.3.4 of both firmware and Admin Console. The device is 35.0D.08 L:ampLinc BiPhy V 4.3. Added it, no problem. But, in the list of devices in the Admin Console, I can't see it to link it. I tried adding it again, but the Admin Console insisted it was already there. Restarting the Admin Console didn't help. Is there some way I can delete it and add it again if I can't see it in the list in the Admin Console? --Puzzled in Pittsburgh P.S., Why do I have to do a ReCaptcha every 15 seconds?

A year or two back, I switched from deprecated HouseLinc to an ISY to manage a medium-large house with a lot of lights, all with Insteon hardware, increasingly but not yet entirely dual-band. Despite having started programming in machine code and only after that moving to A86 assembler, I find using my ISY very complex. In particular, updating the system – in an era where most of my Windows applications update with the click of a mouse, and my Android apps update by themselves – is like having to learn to play the original CompuServe Adventure/Colossal Cave game over a 300-baud modem. (Yes, I have done that.) Here is my personal ISY Conover Crib Sheet. If it helps you, great! And if you look at it and laugh and tell me an easier way to do something, even better! UPDATE NOTES ============ Mucho problema if UI (admin console) and firmware releases don't match To download and install the latest firmware: Do not extract the downloaded zip file. Start the upgrade process from the admin console and when the box opens to select the file, select the downloaded zip file. To download latest UI (admin consule) and the latest firmware: https://forum.universal-devices.com/forum/15-current-release-betas-and-bug-reports/ and look for a link for the latest firmware in the latest forum message, download BOTH firmware and UI; You download the firmware from the link, into: C:\PD\INSTALLD\House\Insteon and then Login to the (old) Admin Console and choose Help > Manually Upgrade [the name of your system] > point it at the zip file you just downloaded THEN you must clear your Java Cache: Start > Configure Java (NOT Java Control Panel like they say) > General tab > Temporary Internet Files > Settings > Temporary Internet Files > Delete Files > both Trace and Log Files and Cached Applications and Applets > OK Then, download the UI (admin console). Usuallly you download the UI at https://isy.universal-devices.com/start.jnlp and save start.jnlp in C:\PD\INSTALLD\House\Insteon and then drag-copy to desktop, overwriting old one. MISC NOTES ========= If "Write to Device" doesn't work, right-click and "Restore Device" For the mini-remotes, what worked for me: Select, for example, Garage Keypad - A in the Admin Console On the kepad, tap the A^ key once, then press the Set Button on the button on the bottom for a second until it beeps once AND the green LED is blinking slowly. Then, in the Admin Console, right-click Garage Keyad - A and select Write Updates to Device. With Laurel's headboard it gave an error but then seemed to work. Do NOT try to do two at once, it just links the two rather and cancels linking mode on both rather than putting the second into linking mode If looking at a device in Admin Console, and see a button that says, for example, Ramp Rate, with a dropdown box to the right of it, use the dropdown box on the right to select the ramp rate you want and then press the Ramp Rate button to write it to the device. To replace a switch/keypad: Link Management > Start Linking > ignore popup dialog box with three choices and "Finish" button [Go press top of switch or ON button at top of keypad for 10 seconds until beeps] wait until new device code appears in a second dialog box and write down the new switch's code below. In the FIRST popup dialog box: (Can leave as Remove Existing Links) > Click Finish Wait for "Initializing System" dialog box to disappear Admin Console > right-click OLD Switch (ONLY IN THE RED "ISY" SECTION AT THE TOP) > Replace XX.XX.XX with > Select NEW switch Admin Console will exit, that's OK, just start it again. If it shows a green icon with white 1011, meaning need to write updates to device, DON'T "write updates to device" (not harmful but useless) RESTORE device (right-click menu) One of the solutions to not being able to program a device is to UPDATE your ISY firmware (and UI=admin console) to the latest version; see above. In a Scene, you can't change a controller to a responder. You can, however, delete it and add it back in, and when adding back in, choose whether it's a responder or a controller. Legend ====== Devices: Red circle with a diagonal indicates that the device is disabled. Red exclamation mark indicates that there is a communication problem. Green with white 1011 (looks like vertical white lines) is waiting for updates to be written. Programs Green bar next to a program name indicates that the program evaluated as true, but is not running. If the symbol is solid green, then the program is running at that time (THEN is being executed). Red bar next to a program name indicates that the program evaluated as false, but is not running. If the symbol is solid red, then the program is running at that time (ELSE is being executed). Red circle at bottom right: disabled program. Completely green - currently running THEN code Completely red - currently running ELSE code Partly green - not currently running, but last ran THEN code Partly red - not currently running, but last ran the ELSE code Circle with a slash - disabled Program Folders Folders with conditions have a red bar if the condition is false.