IT Solutions

Thanks @MrBill. Our message format was not exactly correct. It is working now.

@MrBill We subscribed to Pushover, we can send a test push from pushover and we get it, but when we try a test from ISY it fails with: Setup is: We have triple checked our keys and they are correct. Any idea what we are missing? Thank you.

Good Morning, Is there a way to renumber the Z-Wave devices in ISY? The default numbering is conflicting with existing lighting in the ELK. Thank you.

Your statement, "An act of God will always (emphasis added) throw anything for a loop." is the ridiculous statement as I (and many others) have already proven it wrong. I never stated, "it can never fail" My point is simple. One should include a reasonable amount of monitoring, redundancy and backups in any plan to minimize the chance of failure from anything. What is reasonable for one, my not be reasonable for another. Also, different people will vary in their abilities to implement these safe guards. BTW, backing up to an SD card in the ISY is not a good solution as a power surge can easily fry both, and then one will have lost everything. Have fun recreating all your programming from scratch after that. I backup with the Administrative Console to a computer and it replaces off site automatically.

My business has two data centers. They are in two different cities, on two different electrical grids, both have redundant battery backups, generators, and redundant Internet, with a total of 3 different ISPs between the two. When the derecho came through Iowa in August 2020 both locations lost utility power, one for 2 days and one for 5 days, and two of the three ISPs went down. Since we had battery backups and generators, neither data center ever lost power, and our primary ISP to our primary datacenter never went down (their building is built to withstand an F5 tornado), so we as a company never went down. We watched the storm live on security cameras from an underground shelter designed to withstand anything except a direct missile strike. So yes, the right amount of planning will overcome, "An act of God", if one plans well. Also, a properly implemented backup system will always help.

@lilyoyo1 Tell that the everyone in TX that has been without power for days.

@Michel Kohanim It all depends on what one is storing in the variable. If one is keeping track of the number of times something happens in a variable, and that value is backed up automatically on a regular schedule, that value will be restored when the backup is reloaded. If it is not, the information is lost. If one is storing a value in a variable that is likely to change between the backup and the restore, yes it is useless. I have programmed my ISY to control my floor heating system (the my ELK). It needs to keep track of the number of zones that are turned on. Each time the ISY startes it updates that counter as it is likely that something changed while it was off. I still set the init for the variable to the value of the variable so it will be close to what it was last at at start up. ISY is very powerful, and I still have a lot to learn, but am making progress with help from others on the forum. Thank you. Here is some code I wrote to keep email updates when the zone count changes to no more often than every 5 minutes. Is there a better way to do this? -------------------------------------------------------------- Zone Change Email Notification - [ID 0021][Parent 0015] If $S.FH.Zone.Count >= 0 And $I.FH.Zone.Change.Wait is 0 Then Send Notification to 'ELk Logs' content 'Floor Heat Notification' $I.FH.Zone.Change.Wait = 1 Run Program 'Wait 5 Min' (Then Path) Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action') ------------------------------------------------------------ Wait 5 Min - [ID 0027][Parent 0015] If - No Conditions - (To add one, press 'Schedule' or 'Condition') Then Wait 5 minutes $I.FH.Zone.Change.Wait = 0 Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action')

I notice that variables only handle numbers. Is there a way to handle Characters? We have programs that set an Integer to 0 or 1 to indicate OFF or ON. When we send an email to notify of the current status it show 0 or 1. Is there a way to get it to show OFF or ON? Thank you for the assist!

@Michel Kohanim That will work if one remembers to do that, which is not a reliable way of backing up critical information. Also, while configurations are static, data, like variables, are not. Does the backup save the values in variables?

I notice from the admin console I can manually back the ISY to my computer. Is there a way to automate this process so it backs up once a day? Thank you.

I notice from the admin console I can manually back the ISY to my computer. Is there a way to automate this process so it backs up once a day? Thank you.

@apostolakisl I went to add the code to alert when the counter stopped and I noticed it was stopped and we had not had an email from these programs since about 9;30 this morning. I do have the Administrator Console open all the time. Maybe that makes a difference. I did get an an email around 2:30 that was generated from a different program, so we know the email is working. I am going to add the code to generate an alert when the counter stops and see what happens.

@apostolakisl I'm sure I didn't make any changes to the counting program yesterday, but I could have made changes to other programs and saved them. Would that cause the counting to stop?

@apostolakisl Okay, so in your example the change of the state variable will trigger the program, and each additional change will cause it to start over, terminating the 2 minute wait. Is this correct? I was concerned that it would generate another instance of the program running, and the 1st instance would also continue to run thus sending the failure message when it had not failed. I will still want to add something so I don't get an email every two minutes until it resets (or I reset it). Thank you for your assist!

@apostolakisl I am not following your suggestion. With my understand of ISY, every time the counter variable changes, the IF will check if it is zero, which it will not be, then wait to minutes, then send the notification that it has stopped counting. Am I missing something? I think this might work: If $counter is not 0 and $wait is not 0 then Set $check = $counter Set $wait = 1 wait 2 minutes Run program compare Compare: If $check = $ counter then email counter has stopped working. else $wait = 0

@apostolakisl Thank you for the details on the colors. I will have to catch it when it is hung next time and check that. I did search for the variable in ALL programs and only found it in the two I post. One changes it, once checks it, and we send the value in emails, which is how I caught that it had hung again. By the time I caught it, it had already reset and started counting again. Other than emailing, what other tools does ISY have for debugging things like this? I can't be watching it for hours on end looking for when it hangs. Thank you.

@MrBill Thank you for that idea, but I had already checked that and have no conditions on folders.

@apostolakisl Well, we have done the impossible, again. This time it stopped counting at 511. Other than displaying the value in an email, the there are only two references to the counter variable in the programs: Floor Heat ON/OFF Actions - [ID 0011][Parent 0015] If Elk Output 'Floor Heat Contr' is On And Elk Output 'Floor Heat Contr' is not Off Then Send Notification to 'ELk Logs' content 'Floor Heat ON' $S.Floor.Heat.Run.Timer = 0 Repeat Every 1 minute $S.Floor.Heat.Run.Timer += 1 Else Send Notification to 'ELk Logs' content 'Floor Heat OFF' and: Master Bath Time Limit - [ID 0016][Parent 0010] If $S.Floor.Heat.Run.Timer >= 60 And $S.FH.Zone.Count <= 1 And Elk Zone 'FlHeatZ7-MBath' is Violated Then Set Elk Output 'Floor Heat Contr' Off Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action') The ISY programs continue to run and we continue to get emails showing other variables changing, but the counter sticks at 511 until it reset to 0, and then it starts counting again. It was stuck for almost 14 hours.

@Jimbo Thank you for that information. What about Custom Settings? Are we going to have access to them? They are a little more complicated because each one can be a number, a timer, or a time of day. Being able to tell the ELK to run a Task would also be helpful, like Run Task #XX. Syncing the Task names would also help, but it not needed. We have been installing and programming ELK M1s for over a dozen years. If you have any ELK questions, we would be happy to help in any way we can. I personally know the top two Tech Support people at ELK. Odie (see picture) and I visited their corporate offices about 10 years ago. It is quite a big operation. ISY is the ONLY product ELK is currently recommending for ZWave integration with the ELK, but they know little to nothing about it. ISY really adds a lot more to the ELK M1 than just ZWave.

@apostolakisl @DennisC Thanks for all the information. Having it part of the Policy box is much better than having it run on a different box. Hopefully it will support control for ELK lighting and give us access to ELK Counters and Custom Values. What does Policy have that ISY does not that will make one want to switch? Is there a way to load ISY programming into Policy, or does one need to start over?

@apostolakisl Thank you for the information. New technology with more features is always nice, but adding another device in the mix adds another point of failure, which is a bad idea. When looking for reliability, one needs to minimize the single points of failure. We will not be moving to the Polisy hardware. Too many points of failure. BTW, we created our own "Node Server" for ELK that enhances the email capabilities of the ELK (they are very limited) using an RPi. We also configured the ELK to monitor the RPi and the RPi to monitor the ELK using a dead man/heart beat system. If either one fails to send the heart beat signal, the other one notifies of the failure. Redundancy and active monitoring are the keys to reliability.

@apostolakisl Admin console was connected as other variable were changing and I was adding more programs. Thank you for your ideas, but I am not going to waste time troubleshooting a one-off event that we can't reproduce. Thank you for the explanation on NS. We have an RPi node server for sending emails from the ELK, but the ELK communicates directly with the ISY, not through an NS. I suppose one could consider the ELK a NS itself. Where is a goo place to get a list of NS available that are compatible with ISY? The counter is for tracking how long the output was turned on. The value is sent via email when the output turns off, and again when the output turns on, indicating how long it was on last time. This is why we zero it after we send the email notifying of the output turning on. Both emails include details on what zones are on, and key temperatures. There is also a status email sent each time a zone turns on or off. This creates A LOT of emails, but for now, until I know the program is doing what I need it to do, it will stay as is. I am working towards queueing up the data and emails once every 5 minutes (if there is information to send). I am also going to be adding run times for each zone, and off times for each zone. Next will be summary stats for each zone for each day. The ELK used to control this, but yesterday I moved that code to the ISY. The ELK was at 98% of code space used so I had no space left to do much more. Taking this code out freed up 14%. There is a lot more code to more from the ELK to the ISY. We can't move anything that controls lighting because the lighting in not compatible with ISY. ISY will export lighting to the ELK, but it does not support importing lighting from the ELK. Is there an NS for ISY to communicate with CentraLite Elegance through RS232? I know the ISY stores the data and time a variable was last changed. Is there a way to show that in an email? Still learning ISY and appreciate all the help form everyone.

@larryllix Not sure what you mean by "Elk NS inputs". What does the NS stand for? This code triggers on an ELK output change which is triggered by an ISY program. When the output turns ON, we want the THEN to run. When the output turns OFF, we want the ELSE to run. The ISY variable $S.Floor.Heat.Timer does trigger a rule after it is over 60. The timer value is in the emails so moving the zero reset will make the value in the email wrong. The timer is supposed to time how long the output is ON, and is working correctly. Appreciate your help with this.

@DennisC Thank you for the idea. If you look at my post above, you will see that I do start variables with I or S as another suggested on this forum. While I am new to ISY, and its "programming language" is substantially different from most others I have used, it is somewhat similar to programming an ELK M1 which I have done for over a decade. ISY is a lot more powerful than the programming in the ELK. ELK is also a lot easier to follow because of the way to displays code on the screen. It WAS also my understanding that your code would not run unless the output changed from OFF to ON, but further testing suggests it will run every time there is a change, in either direction. If Run at Startup is the same as right click and Run If, then it should run at start up without there being a change to the output. @Michaelwould you please help clarify how these two things work. If ISY displayed its code on the screen like this: Whenever there is a change to Zone 30 and it is Violated: ..................... .................... Else .................. ................. following the code would be a lot easier for someone not already an ISY expert. This is my latest understanding of how ISY works, but we are still learning the ISY system. Not sure why you have the Wait 5 seconds in there, but that will definitely not work as the Output could change in those 5 seconds. Using the Variable Init will set that variable at startup to what is was at shut down, but that could also change between shut down and startup, so we really NEED it to check the status at startup. Since we are checking the status at startup, I don't see what the Variable Init does for us, but maybe I am missing something. The programs I posted are working correctly, but I needed to add more startup programs to get the correct zone count, and get other things set correctly. If the code If Zone is Violated runs every time the zone status changes, and runs at startup (when set to), that will greatly simplify tracking the current zone status. I would really like to find a way to track zone counts (number of zones violated) without assigning a variable to each Zone, but so far the only solution I have some up with to do that is even more complicated than what I have now. I also need to be able send an email showing the status of each Zone.

@DennisC The lock does have status available, it just does not update it automatically after a change. That is why after every LOCK or UNLOCK command we need to ask for the status (Query). We also need to Query every XX Minutes to check if someone has manually change it. As I have already posted, I am waiting for a call back from Schlage Technical Support, but do not expect to get one. The feeling I got when talking to "Customer Service" was that this is a known problem for which their is no solution so nobody wants to deal with it.