Goose66

I had AT&T Fiber at my last home and had painstakingly gone through all my devices and set the timeserver to be my Ubiquiti EdgeRouter since outbound NTP seemed blocked. Then my EdgeRouter died and I spun up the AT&T gateway in router mode at the same address, but it would not serve time to local devices. Then I moved (completed a week ago) and now have Spectrum with an Orbi mesh Wi-fi system/router and have painstakingly gone back through and set all my devices to sync with their default timeservers over the Internet. Just one man's story. I wish timeserver was part of DHCP protocol. EDIT: After a quick Google I guess I should say I wish NTP timeserver was supported from DHCP by consumer-level devices like my Orbi and/or I knew how to set it up for Windows, RPis, and FreeBSD machines.

Yes, cleared the cache and all that, but Firmware still shows "Polisy v.5.4.2" under About.

Is "Automatically Upgrade Test-Polisy to 5.4.4" under Help dropdown supposed to work? It reboots my Polisy (currently on 5.4.2) but doesn't upgrade it.

Sorry for being out of pocket for so long. Moving is not as easy as I remember it from 24 years ago. Anyway, the Bond Bridge is unboxed, updated to the new firmware, and in the Master BR, and while the fan has to go back (couldn't get it to balance), I will add it to the Bond Bridge for testing and get the Node server working - hopefully by this coming weekend.

Sorry guys, my Bond Bridge, Polisy, and other equipment are all still packed up. I move into a townhome on August 20 and will have access to some of it, but permanently lose access to my iAquaLink pool controller, MyQ garage door openers, DSC Alarm panel and more. I'll see what I can do in September to address some of these issues.

A better comparison for purposes of troubleshooting the Node server would be to compare the operation of the Node server to the Bond app on your phone. The Node server should be (and can only be) as reliable as the Bond mobile app in controlling your fan and retaining the fan state. If you are having similar reliability problems when using the Bond mobile app, then the problem lies somewhere in your Bond bridge - perhaps position, interference, or robustness of the recorded remote signal(s). If, on the other hand, the Bond mobile app is working 100% of the time but the Node server continues to fail, then we can take a look at the logs. Also, if you have state tracking turned on for your devices in the Bond mobile app, you can look at the app to see what it thinks the ISY->node server is changing the state to even if that state change doesn't physically show up at the fan. E.g., you mentioned that your fan remote only has a "toggle direction" button. With state tracking, the app and the node server will present the direction state as "forward" or "reverse" and allow selection of the desired direction state despite the fan only having a "toggle direction" capability. If you are also using the fan's remote to toggle the direction, this tracked direction state in the app will be corrupted and the app/node server will behave unexpectedly. Again, using the app to watch for the intended direction state change is a better indicator of ISY->node server functionality than the fan itself, in these situations.

Configuration parameter for hostname or IP address is named “hostname”. See https://github.com/Goose66/NSDocs/blob/main/evldsc-pg3.md

Thanks for the info. All my development stuff (PG3/IoP) is all packed up for the move. My production stuff is PG2, so don't know that will help. Hopefully late July I can get back to this.

@bmercier Can you confirm exactly what "hint" values the Alexa and Google Home values are expecting? Are they long integers, e.g., "hint = 0x01020100" or arrays (lists) of 4 16-bit values, e.g., "hint = [0x01, 0x02, 0x01, 0x00]." It appears that the folks over on the Slack channel are not convinced these are even used anywhere.

Just an additional note, my Bond nodes, including a ceiling fan, light, fireplace, and shade all show up in both the Amazon Alexa Connectivity and the Hint Editor. Of course, my nodes are coming from the PG2 Node server and not PG3 Node server.

Here are the Bond node hints: CEILING_FAN: hint = 0x01020100 # Residential/Controller/Class A Motor Controller LIGHT: hint = 0x01020900 # Residential/Controller/Dimmer NODID_LIGHT: hint = 0x01021000 # Residential/Controller/Non-Dimming Light GENERIC: hint = 0x01040200 # Residential/Relay/On/Off Power Switch FIREPLACE: # (same as generic) SHADE: hint = 0x01040500 # Residential/Relay/Open/Close If @bmercier or whomever is in charge of the Alexa interface wants to comment, let me know and I can change the hints to support this functionality. Like I mentioned, it's my understanding that if they are being used here, this is the only place, so I can make the values comply with whatever is necessary. Unfortunately I am moving, and this is going to throw a huge wrench into much of my testing and conversion of node servers. Maybe Bond will be one that survives the move.

I am not exactly sure what they "ISY Portal Device Hint Editor" is or where it can be accessed. I came away from my last conversation on the Slack channel regarding hints a couple of months ago with the understanding that hints were dead, were never used by anything, and could be ignored.

Depends on what triggered the close. If the Node server is in "inactive" polling mode (longpoll interval) it's possible that the door went from "Open" to "Closing" to "Opening" and back to "Open" so quickly that the Node server never sees the status change. If the closing was initiated from the ISY, you should at least see the transition from "Open" to "Closing," and then a transition back to "Open" in the MyQ Node server logs.

That button should say “Force Update”. It causes the bond Node server to immediately poll the Bridge for up to date status. It’s really an artifact leftover from before the Bond Bridge Node server had BPUP (real-time) status updates. The problem with the text is a profile problem. I will take a look.

Unfortunately I am selling my house. I think I will be taking the Venstar Colortouch with me (putting back the old Insteon thermostat so they all match), but if I am renting for a while (looking likely), I may not be able to have it available for testing of the conversion. May need to get somebody to help. Similar story for Autelis, MyQ, EnvisaLinkl-DSC, and iAquaLink, I'm afraid.

If a command was sent from the ISY, then it will be in the MyQ Node server log. Search for “DON” and/or “open”.

The Bond Bridge is essentially just a gateway between a Wi-fi-based API and IR and RF remote control signals. What can be controlled on any given ceiling fan, fireplace, blind, or other device is a product of the design of the device and its remote. So if the fan is only controlled by one class of remote and that remote only offers a single button to cycle the speed of the fan, then that's the most that the Bond Bridge will be able to absolutely control. This is the case with the light as well, which more frequently represents a problem. While most fans I have seen offer separate speed controls on the remote, the remote often time only offers a single toggle switch for the light. So there is not absolute control over the light state. However, there are a couple of other considerations here: 1. While the remote that comes with the fan may only offer that one button, other remotes available for the fan may offer finer control over speed, light, etc., which means there are remote codes built into the fan controller onboard the fan that the Bond Bridge may be able to replicate to give you finer absolute control. Olibra has a library of codes available that can be downloaded to your Bond Bridge by specifying the FCC ID of your fan or remote, so you may enter the FCC ID of a very limited remote but get otherwise functional commands that the remote is not even capable of sending. You should investigate the capabilities of the fan and the available control/remote codes before purchasing. 2. For limited commands like speed and light toggle buttons, the Bond Bridge will (configurably) attempt to track the state of the device and provide "simulated" remote control buttons that allow you to do more absolute controls. For example, even though the fan in my bedroom only has a toggle switch for the light, I have enabled track state and the Bond Bridge presents an On and Off button in the app (and through the API) to control the light. This really only works if ALL control of the light is done through the Bond Bridge (e.g., ISY control, Alexa control, BondHome app control), however, and if someone picks up the fan remote or uses the wall controller to change the status of the light, the Bond Bridge will lose the tracked state and it has to be manually reset. The way I get around this is the remote is kept in a drawer and the wall controller is kept behind a door panel, and I have Insteon switches and Alexa commands that control the fan through the Bond Bridge via the ISY and the Bond node server. The Bond node server only exposes the commands that the Bond Bridge makes available in the BondHome app, whether the commands represent absolute commands/remote buttons available for the fan or simulated commands through tracked state. The node server itself doesn't do anything to track the state. The one thing the node server does do is provide two different ways to access and set fan speed: for a multi-speed fan that exposes absolute controls for each speed, the corresponding node from the node server exposes a state (ST) value that is controllable like an Insteon dimmable switch or fan controller, i.e. is a percentage 0-100% and responds to On, Off, Brighten, and Dim commands. The node server mathematically converts the percentage into the absolute speed and sends it to the fan via the Bond Bridge (or vice-versa for status reporting). This allows the fan to be dropped into a scene with, e.g., an Insteon dimmer switch to allow easy wall control of the fan through the ISY/node server/BondBridge. The node also has a Set Speed command allowing you to set the speed of the fan, e.g. from the Admin Console or through a program, to a specific speed number between 1 and 10 (you have to know your fan's max speed number). This allows you to setup more precise control of the fan, e.g., through Insteon keypad keys and associated programs in the ISY. My advice is, if HA control of the fans are a priority, then make sure the fans have the capability to be directly controlled. For DC fans (which I assume you are considering in a new remodel), the only way to control speed is through the remote and controller that comes with - using an AC dimmer like the Insteon Fanlinc just doesn't work. Having a fan with absolute control codes for both fan speed and light state is most desirable. Also, if the fan has more than one light, e.g. an uplight and a downlight, make sure those can be controlled separately. Whether the fan has it's own Wi-Fi interface or you end up using the Bond Bridge, choosing the right fan will give you the most options for integrating into your home automation system.

@AnthemAVM If you wind up with newer fans with DC motors in them, those ZWave fan switches (or FanLinc, for that matter) ain't going to work. Also, there are several DC fans from Minka Aire available that has Bond controller built-in ("Smart By Bond" or "SBB"). That way you don't have to buy a Bond Bridge, but you're going to pay the difference in the price of the fan. But if that's what the wife lands on from a style standpoint - bonus!

I guess this could be differences in the panels and/or the programming. I have a DSC PC1832 board and there are four ways to arm it: "Away" keypad button, "Stay" keypad button, what they refer to as "*9" (Zero Entry) arming, and by entering user code. These correspond to the four available arming commands in the EnvisaLink TPI: CMD_ARM_PARTITION = b"030" CMD_ARM_PARTITION_STAY = b"031" CMD_ARM_PARTITION_NO_ENTRY_DELAY = b"032" CMD_ARM_PARTITION_WITH_CODE = b"033" The three buttons on the Partition node in the node server, "Arm Away," "Arm Stay." and "Arm Zero Entry" correspond to the first three methods, respectively. If your panel is programmed to require a code for arming, the EnvisaLink will ask for the code and node server will supply it through a sort of "handshake" routine. The fourth (user code entry) is meant to be interactive (all the keypads beep incessantly during the exit delay and such) and is not supported in the node server.

I can only arm my system AWAY, no matter how I arm it, which is probably because I have no motion sensors. So I wonder what would happen in your case if you just used the node server (or Nodelink) to send command 032 (in the node server's case the "Arm Zero Entry" button) to the alarm panel without previously arming it? Would it arm in Away Zero Entry or Stay Zero Entry mode? In my case, it arms in Away Zero Entry mode (I have no motion sensors).

Ok, so I just tested it remotely thanks to UD Mobile, and unfortunately the Arm Zero Entry command by itself does seem to put it in Armed Away ZE status instead of Armed Stay ZE status. Further, sending the Arm Zero Entry command after an Arm Away or Arm Stay seems to have no effect - it just remains in the Armed Away or Armed Stay state. So I will have to play with this and rollout a new version of PG3. Seems what we want is an Arm Zero Entry command that results in Armed Stay ZE, because the alternative (Armed Away ZE) doesn't really make any sense.

Ah, sorry I was way off track here. In my defense, I was responding from vacation using my phone, and it was after coming back from dinner with my group, so..... let's start again: Yes, in the current EnvisaLink-DSC node server, there is a "Arm Zero Entry" command (button) on the Partition node that sends command TPI command 032. Interestingly, there is one partition status for Armed Stay Zero Entry (ZE) and another for Armed Away ZE, but I haven't really known how the panel ever gets into the latter state. If the intent of the API (TPI) was that the node server would send Arm Stay or Arm Away AND THEN Arm Zero Entry, then that's not how it working right now. It just sends code 032 and the panel seems to arm with it. My previous alarm system had an "Instant" button that armed Stay with no entry or exit delays. We used it every night to the point that the label was rubbed off, and I miss that on the DSC.

I’m asking what happens today when you press “Armed Zero Entry” button on the partition node in the ISY Admin Console.

So what happens when you press the Arm Zero Entry button on the partition? Is that arm away zero-entry?

I am not aware of that command. I don’t believe the DSC supports an instant arm. If you are talking about Zero Entry, that’s already supported. If not, please send the command details and I will take a look at it.