Goose66

Did not know that. This is good information!

@carealtor Perfect. My Z-wave module is currently in a cardboard box in the basement next to where the ISY is mounted. I just didn't want to have to go down there - it's dark and scary.

I put in a ticket but never got an answer to this question (and I don't see it here): if I upgrade my ISY with my series 300 Z-Wave module installed to 5.2.0, do I just lose Z-wave functionality or does my ISY explode and take out a corner of my house (or some third thing)?

And that's going to pass the WFT (wife-factor test)?

Answer is yes - it will write the proper links to the PLM even without the battery devices in program mode. You then have to restore each of the battery devices individually. I usually go around and take all mine down, bring them into my office, and go through the restore one-by-one. I take that opportunity to replace the batteries as well. Then go put them all back up.

I just got a 12-zone b-hyve controller from Orbit that has Wi-fi and a website for $99 (got it for my parents so I can make adjustments to their system over the web). The 6 zone is even cheaper. I will see if it has an API for ISY.

@Chris Jahn Any additional details for the Date/Time NTP UOM, like what's that? Here's hoping it's a timestamp.

Those were the events during the PLM Restore?

My PLMs have lasted about three years. On my fourth one. Backup your ISY, open the Event Viewer, Set the level to 3, and then try doing a Restore Modem (PLM). If you get a bunch of errors or unacknowledged writes, or just general hanging of the process, good chance the PLM is bad.

It doesn't have a noticeable button to initiate such a check, like my rackmount UPS in my wiring/network closet does. Just glancing at the user manual and the unit itself, I'm guessing is not very sophisticated from a firmware perspective.

So it was installed a few days ago and I just got around to mounting it (and putting in the second outlet) yesterday. Assuming it was fully charged when I started, it went through one very short (maybe a minute or two) charging cycle when I unplugged it from the old outlet and plugged it into the new. Then, while I was running the network cable and mounting the ISY and UPS (approx. 25 minutes), it went through at least one more charging cycle (green -> red -> green). My comment was based more on how short the charging cycles were and how closed together they were, rather than how many times it charged. It has 4 screws on the bottom in the corners, but mine looks to have at least one spot where the bottom appears to be welded to the rest of the enclosure. That may just be physical damage, however. I didn't try to take the bottom off.

2-3 years is not very long, especially without a replaceable battery. Also, I am noticing it is essentially an "online" UPS, where the ISY (or whatever) is 100% fed by the battery, and the battery is periodically recharged by the supplied charger. I don't what the low and high thresholds are for charging, but they are close enough that it switched on and off at least once (red light/green light) while I was installing a second outlet and mounting it in my utility closet. If it is going to go through charging cycles like this several times a day, especially if it's charging to 95% or 100%, then I can see why the life would be limited. Li+ batteries need limited charging cycles and should be kept between 20% and 80% charged for longest life.

Should I be using the 9V output for my ISY or one of the 12V outputs?

It seems to me that this is a problem with authentication to the ISY. Since NodeLink is now running, go to System Config and ensure your ISY credentials are correct, then restart NodeLink from the web interface.

@Teken Don't know how one tests and validates long term impact on anything Insteon given the lack of diagnostic tools and the fact that Insteon is so flaky, varying in performance from day-to-day.

Does it avoid the need to use a FilterLinc to protect Insteon? That would reduce the total price. Also, I was comparing VA to mAH, which obviously (to me now) is not comparable. I moved my ISY to the utility closet with my electrical panels recently and was just searching for UPSes for it this morning! EDIT: For anybody finding this post in the future, the 700VA UPS I was considering in the same price range has a 108Wh battery compared to a 98Wh battery for this unit. I am sure there are additional losses in all the conversion from AC-DC-AC-DC and 120V to 12V to 120V to 12V so this is a pretty good solution cost-per-Wh wise.

Just out curiosity, why would one want this device over a more traditional line interactive UPS that had 25x the backup capacity for the same price or less?

You can use one of the dimmer switches for the light, but probably best to get an On/Off switch for the fan, or get a FanLinc and link with the two switches for control of the light and fan.

I have had Insteon thermostats for may years now. But I just installed a Venstar ColorTouch 7900 in my basement and wrote a Polyglot Nodeserver for it. One of the primary reasons I was excited to try something different is I was having Insteon problems (another dying PLM, as it turns out) and communication with the Insteon thermostats was one of the first to go. I really like the Venstar ColorTouch 7900 and the mobile app (Skyport) that works with it. The Wi-fi connection seems very reliable. There's also native Alexa support without going through the ISY (although I haven't played with it). The Polyglot nodeserver also let's me control all the same aspects of the Venstar thermostat as I was on my Insteon thermostats, primarily changing setpoints for vacation mode. But the nodeserver has to poll the Venstar (every 10 seconds or so) and doesn't get the instantaneous updates on state and temps from the thermostat like the Insteon thermostat does. Also, I don't believe the Venstar thermostats (or any nodeserver-supported thermostats) are supported with a thermostat-friendly interface in Mobilinc or Agave.

This use case begs for an occupancy sensor. Is there a thought process here or is it just a cost issue? The money you save in electricity from having occupancy sensors in the home will pay back their cost over a few years, IMO.

@madcodger I forget that another place where Nodeservers cans be hosted is Polyglot Cloud, or "PGC." PGC is available through my.isy.io if you have a ISY Portal subscription. The nodeservers available on PCG are primarily those requiring an interface to cloud services (e.g., Tesla, Ring, etc.) instead of local APIs that run internally on your home network. Any PGC nodeservers that you configure will also count towards the 25 nodeserver limit on your ISY.

Each nodeserver can reside on a different host. Therefore you can have multiple RPis running Polyglot or Nodelink or hosting native nodeservers all hooked to the same ISY, as long as the total number of individual nodeservers doesn't exceed the ISY limit. For example, I have three instances of Polyglot connected to my ISY: one running on an older, RPi 2 which has reached EOL, my development instance running on a newly imaged RPi 3, and my "production" instance running on my Polisy. Conversely, a single RPi can only run one instance of Polyglot, and that instance of Polyglot can only connect to one ISY.

I have seen this question before in other contexts. I guess I don't see why it needs to be any more complicated than put in 5 years worth of halloween dates and then revisit it in 5 years. This is what I do for my Holiday_Lighting state variable that drives nightime lighting and program execution for Christmas dates and my programs for irrigation. Nothing in my setup tends to last more than a couple of years without changes, anyway.

I am interested, as well. I would most like to see it have a framework for developers of Nodeservers that provide custom intefacing of the ISY 994i to 3rd Party devices and services. Nodeserver development includes XML that defines the interface (driver values and commands) of the ISY to devices (nodes) supported by the nodeserver. If there was a way a developer could define a tile for their devices (nodes) that works with these driver values and commands (in addition to tiles for the ISY's natively supported devices), that would be great!

Also, it appears that the Tesla Polyglot nodeserver is keeping my car awake! Car info is now instantly available every time I bring up the Tesla app on my phone. Did Benoit look at the effect of this on battery drain?!?