bhihifi

I have some buttons that control scenes not turn off even when the scene is turned off from a voice command or from another controller scene member. I fail to fix it because I don’t remember how to duplicate the problem. You want a mutually exclusive set where each button is a responder to the inverse state of the active button. So after each button is a scene by itself, turn the other scene(s) off when another scene is on. You could use a single subprogram that you run as part of each scene’s main program to clean up the other buttons using a single state variable or argument specifying the desired active scene. You could use a series of if-then statements to mimic a case statement conditional on the active scene.

@larryllix Good additional option. Was not an issue in selling previous homes but buyers behave strangely. I got into HA because a home I bought had an X10 system and I got the bug. One realtor opined, due to the contemporary styling of my home and price point, that the HA system would be a selling feature, not a detriment. I will have to negotiate what I will and will not do. But I shall prepare for option 4 as well.

If I understand you correctly, the HA system is the signaling and status interface but the real control lies in your EISY setup. I'm not well-versed in mutual exclusivity but you can implement this in EISY program logic with conditions and state variables. May not be as fast as having mutual exclusivity within the switch itself, assuming that this was also an option. As an exercise, I would actually draw out my desired states and actions in a flowchart first to see what I want to have happen, then figure out the implementation that created the least dependency on hardware features.

This hit home (sorry) for me. Either in the event of my demise or relocation to a more age-appropriate home, I need to make a succession plan for my setup. I have a mix of Z-wave and Insteon devices with the Polisy, Zmatter and a USB PLM to communicate. My only programs turn things on and off at specific times; I use scenes and voice commands with Alexa. I haven't gotten into more sophisticated programming. My alarm system has Z-wave capabilities. I have not enrolled my Zmatter devices with the alarm system. I am pondering options: 1. Only have Insteon devices and leave a Hub behind for the next owner. This would mean swapping out some Z-wave devices but I have only 5-6 of them in use. The only reason for the Hub would be to allow voice commands for the next owner and scene management for the 6-button switches in some places. 2. Leave the mixed bag with Polisy setup and let the next owner figure it out. With documentation, of course. I update all the switches and scenes configuration via the Polisy topology export. 3. Leave the Insteon switches to communicate with each other without a hub. Let the next owner add the Z-wave to the alarm system or implement something else. The Polisy scenes that mix Z-wave and Insteon devices will no longer work. Would appreciate your feedback on these options.

Following. I'm here to learn but sharing some thoughts which may help. I wonder if you may be setting yourself up for future issues with multiple control points. Although you may have good reasons for doing this, as a former real-time software developer, I would anticipate situations that might be difficult to troubleshoot between systems, especially with timing and status updates. Others who run multiple control systems for years may disagree. In that case, I'm here to learn. You may have a lot of time and effort invested in the Home Assistant setup and the porting of all of that to a different platform will seem redundant and time-consuming. If I were implementing this, I would keep all of the scene and device control elements on one platform, and use the other platform just for signaling (requesting action by setting variables or flags) and displaying status. Then you isolate all the decision making to one place and only have to troubleshoot the signaling.

Essentially new. I took it out of the box to test it with Home Assistant (on a Raspberry Pi 4) and Polisy Pro, then cleared the link table. Works well with both systems. I prefer the dual band PLMs. This one relies only on the wireless Insteon protocol so you need a dual band device nearby. It eliminates the need to connect a cable between your controller and a PLM. Free insured shipping to continental US. Payment via PayPal Goods and Services. $129. It is listed on eBay for $150 but I would rather sell to someone in this community for less. Priced similarly to recent eBay sales.

Sent you a message.

@CJVann There may also be an upgrade or discount code to buy the Polisy if you already own a 994i. You may have to search on this forum to find it.

Many of the advantages of Polisy are listed above; I'll only add a few that I found useful. I purchased the Polisy Pro, because I wanted the flexibility to install without Ethernet nearby and the ability to use both serial and USB (wireless and plug-in) PLMs. I ended up installing near my router, so not using the WiFi. It also has a multiport Ethernet switch built in so if you needed to expand your wired network it works well. My main router does not have extra ports, and I would have needed a switch for a wireless access point which I was able to connect to the Polisy Pro.

If controlling Z-wave devices, devices only "include" with one controller. You would have to start from scratch anyway with Z-wave migration to the Polisy from the ISY994i by excluding all the devices from the ISY994i then including them with the Polisy running IOP. You cannot control the same Z-wave device simultaneously with both controllers. Make a backup or two of your ISY 994i before you do anything. This can get you back to where you were before the Polisy if you ever need to. You can pre-load Polisy with the Insteon link tables from the ISY994i using a migration process (described in detail elsewhere on this forum). However, you are either going to control an Insteon device from one hub or the other, not both. If you have 2 PLMs then you could move a few devices at a time off the ISY (meaning delete them from the ISY's link tables) to the Polisy, test, then move some more. If you have only 1 PLM then you're going to be restoring the PLM each time you swap controllers. Back up each controller each time you make a change that works so you have a known starting point for the next change.

@apostolakisl I understand your predicament. Being new to this, I take the belt and suspenders approach. My extra caution is due to prior experience in writing real-time embedded system software. Anything that relies on timing will screw things up. If the status condition is supposed to indicate the recent past then your view of this difference with IoP as a bug makes sense. Curious to learn what UDI will say.

@apostolakisl Sorry your reply crossed my edit. You might eliminate timing issues with a state variable.

@apostolakisl Try re-sequencing the “if” clauses so the switched off is the first condition: does behavior change? I predict that it will not. I believe the clauses are evaluated sequentially but the status changes before your switch is detected so the first condition goes true even when switching off from on. Polisy executes faster than a standalone ISY so you may have a timing issue for your first two conditions. What you want is to know if the switch was off when switched off, but the status may update too quickly to use it directly. Perhaps a state variable could help here. It would change when switched off or on, but only after a slight delay.

@DaveStLou Alas, it won't be the last belt & suspenders solution in your HA setup. I got the MyQ before I got the Polisy so I was happy to have the MyQ app just to avoid the "I drove away and can't remember if I closed the door" issue that inevitably resulted in returning home to check and annoying other passengers ;-). I've been thinking about the same issue and the only other option would be to Force Query in large time increments (every 10 minutes?) and hope that it persists long enough when you need it.

@lilyoyo1 A state variable set in another program if status is on and then polled in the timer program? Do you reset the state variable after the interval?

Side swyping is dangerous, @lilyoyo1.

I bought an Insteon 2448A7 USB dongle on eBay. Since the Insteon shutdown it is possible they took the listing down, but you might want to contact the seller chabaut_58 to see if they still have them. The dongle works well with the Polisy.

The 2413s can be repaired by replacing some capacitors. Deploy the U and fix the S. If you don’t want it, I will gladly take it off your hands.

@DaveStLou If you had a motion sensor monitoring the driveway, it could trigger the Force Query, then if the GDO was activated (such as when the driver uses an RF remote), you could know sooner that the door was opening without polling the MyQ service. But will the motion sensor trigger fast enough to make this work well? I'm going to experiment with an Insteon sensor to see. I seek a way to turn outside lights on when the garage door is opened at night. Coming from inside, the program is not really needed since the outside light switch is next to the GDO control. I only need to have them switch on if opening from outside after dark, so the motion sensor might do the trick. Of course, you could have the motion sensor turn on the lights regardless of the GDO, as a safety measure, in which case the GDO status does not matter. I also implemented a turn off timer program to switch off the outside lights after 10 minutes so they don't stay on all night if someone comes home and forgets to turn them off.

@DaveStLou Have you thought about what happens if the door is opened using the GDO wall keypad or the in-car remote? These openings don't come from an app or program so I wonder if you can have the same actions triggered when the door is opened another way and still do a Force Query first.

First, a huge thanks and praise for @firstone who wrote this great, useful NS and for his very attentive and rapid responses to resolve an issue. Also thanks to @Geddy for creating this sub-forum to make it easier to post and find information on AVRemote. The LG WebOS TV is finicky and for some versions, one needs a secret menu to enable IP control before the NS works. The LG ThinQ app will control the TV but Alexa skills barely work and are not easy to set up (need to enable 2 skills and link to ThinQ). I first installed version 0.8.9 of the NS to control my LG WebOS TV but could not turn the TV on. I sent a message to the developer and he responded very quickly with troubleshooting and data gathering steps, even walking me through the ssh commands needed to perform them. He quickly identified the issue and updated the Node Server within a few days to include specifying a subnet mask if necessary to make the on command work. I hope he will port to PG3 so I can support his work. The Power On command from the Admin Console causes the NS to send a Wake on LAN (WOL) packet to the TV's IP Address (aka HostName in the NS configuration page). WOL is a broadcast command that uses an IP subnet mask which defaults to 255.255.255.255. However, my LG TV will respond to WOL only if the subnet for the LG TV is narrowed to xxx.yyy.zzz.255 where xxx.yyy.zzz are the first three octets in the TV's IP address. Apparently lgwebostv does not always work as a proxy for the LG TV's IP address, so my LG TV needs the HostName configuration field to have the TV's actual IP address. Here's what I did to make it work: Configure the TV: Go into the Main setup screen (All Settings) > Connection When Connection is highlighted, key in 82888 and you will get a secret menu (IP Control). Make sure Network Control and Wake On LAN are enabled). Note down the IP address and MAC address for the TV here for both WiFi and Ethernet connections; these addresses will help configure the Node Server. Hit the Back key to return to Configuration. Set the TV Name to whatever you like. You'll use this in the Node Server configuration as well. For the Node server configuration screen: AVRemote Node Server Version should be 0.9.1. If not, you need to stop and start it again to force an update. TV's name should match the TV's name that you set up for the TV (using the LG TV Menus) HostName is TV's IP Address xxx.yyy.zzz.### Port is 3000 MAC address needs to be delimited with periods, like AA.BB.CC.DD.EE.FF Broadcast address should match TV's IP subnet xxx.yyy.zzz.255

Or something like this. You might already have one lying around in a junk drawer.

I ordered some capacitor kits from eBay. The seller, @Schlyguy, is on these forums, very responsive and ships fast. He also includes a blob of rosin flux which helps with the soldering/desoldering. I'm about to perform my first capacitor transplant on a failed 2443 Access Point. At recent sales prices of serial PLMs on eBay, you could get a new Polisy from Universal Devices and get the USB Insteon Dongle (also from eBay here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/353621496562). The seller of the dongle accepts offers lower than asking price if you try. The dongle works better with a dual-band device nearby for better signal transmission. I bought my Polisy (my first UDI product) along with a discounted Zooz Z-wave USB dongle. If you're going to run a dual USB setup with the Polisy, I recommend at least one USB extension cable or port extender because the two dongles are a little too thick to plug in one above the other.

@Ajax, I had the same flashing LED/communication issue you have in your bathroom for the virtual switch in a 3-way configuration. It connects the other phase of electrical service versus the PLM. I added an Insteon 2443 Access Point and coupled phases with the 2413U PLM. Communications work much better now. I don't know if you have already coupled phases in your setup, but if you haven't, it's worth a try. Other Insteon devices can also be used as phase couplers, but you would have to check their documentation to know if they can be set up that way.

I bought one to use with IoP. I made an offer of $34; the seller accepted. It will perform better if a dual band device is nearby. Wired PLM works better if you have a lot of electrical noise in your house wiring.