dansmith

I have the same setup as Bill. Used to use a browser to access the ISYs. Now using the admin console java applet. I was able to enter both local and remote addresses into the ISY Finder. When I am at each of my places I am able to access locally the ISY. I am also able to access my other ISY remotely. All works good. However, the problem happens when I am at work where there is no ISY. When I start the admin console (ISY Finder) it is blank and is not populated with either of my ISY remote or local addresses. And all I get is a message that the ISY Finder cannot find an ISY. At work this morning - nothing. No access. I came to remote site 2 and as soon as I get on my local network I have access locally to site 2 as well as remote access to site 1. I had this issue a couple of years ago and I "shortcutted" the solution by just using the web browser and my dyndns.org addresses. Worked fine.

I upgraded last month to 3.17 but have just gotten around to email notifications. Like the other poster, only the first email sends and then I get an Server timeout error. I am not using First Name Last Name: email setting. Not sure which version notifications last worked on, but it was beta 3.xx something. Sorry I can't be more specific. I usually only turn them on when I am going away for a couple of days. Here is a screen shot of my settings. Works for first email only, but used to work all the time.

I added an integer variable with initial value of 0 and added it to a program. The count incremented up to 6 during my testing as I expected and I was happy. I then deleted that variable, hit Save and it was gone. This morning I wanted to do some more testing and so I added a new integer variable and hit save. The present value of that integer was 6. I was surprised as that was the present value of the integer variable that I had deleted last night. I did further testing and confirmed that the present value of a variable is not cleared when the variable is deleted (even after hitting save). If a variable is deleted and then a new one is added (in the same ID spot) then the present value is not cleared upon deletion. Is this intended? (Not sure if this should be in this post or under variable support forum).

I am also excited to see variables. I had an Ocelot for about 3 years before making the move to the ISY. There were so many features that made the ISY so much better, but my one frustration was the lack of variables. However, even without variables, the ISY is by far the very best home automation product that I have ever owned. The support and free ongoing software updates are fantastic!

Updated from 2.8.8 to 2.8.16 with no problems. Followed all instructions including removing java certificates and clearing java files and apps. Everything appears to work okay except that I have no status of my devices showing when I am on the Main tab of the Admin console. For the dimmers neither the status nor the on level is updated. On level just shows zero. I have complete control of my devices from the Admin console, but even when manually turning on or turning off the device from the admin console, the status remains blank. Have accessed my admin console via http://www.universal-devices.com/99i/2.8.16/admin.jnlp as well as http://www.universal-devices.com/99i/2.8.16 and there is no difference. I have queried the devices and still no status change. Oops, rebooted my PC and now it works. Seems that a reboot was necessary even after following all the instructions. Dan

Thanks Michel. You guys are great - product supported before it is released! Wish I could say the same for some other tech companies.

I see that SH is supposedly releasing a DB Switchlinc Dimmer this week. I was planning on buying a couple of access points or DB Lamplincs for my garage and basement where I currently don't have RF coverage. However, in both those spots I was also planning on installing a Switchlinc. Using the new DB Switchlinc would solve both problems with one device. Just wondering if there is any estimate of when ISY will support this device? I am trying to plan and need to have this installed by the middle of November in order to support my Christmas light display.

Thanks guys for the help. For some reason I had a mental block on this one and just couldn't seem to see it straight. Either solution will work for me - it just becomes a question of whether I want the light to go out when I turn off the Away Flag. My programming background likes to keep similar functioning programs in the same style, but I am learning with the ISY that function takes precedence over form.

I know that there has been plenty of discussion on how IF, THEN, and ELSE statements execute. It took me a while to figure it out when I first got my ISY, but I thought that I finally had a handle on it. Have written some fairly complicated programs and everything has worked to my satisfaction. Then along comes what I think is something simple and it just doesn't work the way that I expected. Here are two programs: Program Kitchen Lights Away If From Sunset To 11:14:00PM (same day) And Program 'Away Flag' is True Then Set 'Kitchen Pots' On Else Set 'Kitchen Pots' Off Program Away Flag If Status 'DR Keypad D' is On Then - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action') Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action') If I am away from the house then I set the DR Keypad D button on before I go. Then at Sunset the Kitchen lights will turn on and at 11:14 pm the kitchen lights will turn off. If I come home before 11:14 pm and turn Keypad D button off, then the kitchen lights will turn off. All works as expected and planned. Last night I was at home and had manually turned the kitchen lights on about 11:00pm. At 11:14 pm the kitchen lights went out. This was not what I expected as the Away Flag was false. However, what appears to be happening is that at 11:14pm the schedule condition goes false and thus the ELSE statement is executed and the Kitchen Pots are turned off. Following that logic it makes sense that if the Away Flag is false then the ELSE statement would also be executed at Sunset. I don't really want to put the Kitchen Lights Away program into a folder controlled by Away Flag as I have several other programs that I have written using Away Flag that won't work inside a folder. Is there any other alternative other than breaking this one tidy program into two programs; one for Kitchen Lights On and one for Kitchen Lights Off. That would avoid the ELSE statement.

I will second that motion. The support from UDI is unheard of these days. Thanks guys.

Kingwr got me curious. In my post above I showed the code that worked for me for a sunset condition. I assumed that this would be the same, but ran a test anyways. If Sunrise+30 occurs before 6:50 AM the IF will not become true and the THEN statement will not execute. So this example should work just fine.

I have a similar application, but in the opposite direction. I only want to turn my kitchen table light on if it is one hour before sunset and if that occurs in a half hour window. The program that I set up as a flag for Sunset Window was: If From Sunset - 1 hour To 7:25:00PM (same day) Then - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action') Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action') If Sunset - 1 Hour is greater than 7:25 pm then this program will remain false when the time reaches one hour before sunset. It is only when Sunset - 1 hour is less than 7:25 pm that the program will be true.

I would say that "preempting" s the key word here. If there isn't a WAIT or a REPEAT, the THEN or ELSE will most likely execute "almost immediately". Therefore there wouldn't be anything to stop. However, if you have used a program as a variable, then this could be affected as the true/false would change. Could have a much different effect on your program than you expected. Also, as I pointed out in an earlier post, using the climate module and checking for light level, I found that the IF statement was evaluated and the THEN statement was executed every time that the weatherbug was pollled. Since I was just using the program to turn off a light, it wasn't a big deal, but it did send out an OFF command every 60 seconds which was totally unneccessary and flooding the power line.

So a question that hasn't been answered yet. What does "Error Discovering Nodes. Retry" mean?

Just wanted to provide a final update to the issues that I had so that if anyone else encounters problems, perhaps my solutions will help them. Well, last night half of my devices stopped working again. In frustration I did a factory reset of the PLM and the ISY and started rebuilding from scratch. In the forums I have found advice that this shouldn't be necessary, but I was bullheaded and went ahead anyways. Eventually found out that in my case it was unneccesary. During the reprogramming I found that I was still not able to link to certain devices. Then I confirmed that I was not able to link to them from other working Insteon devices either. That confirmed a comm issue rather than an ISY issue. Took me about 7 hours between last night and today to figure everything out. 1. The main issue was a CFL that had gone bad in one of my outside pot lights. I was able to track this down as I last night I had systematically shut off breakers for all the potential "noisy" devices in the house. This didn't help at all. This morning, I was able to link and control all my devices without a problem. Thus narrowed it down to okay in the daytime, but problems in the evening. I kept testing linking and control throughout the day and it was only after my front pot lights came on that the problem started again. Replaced a CFL bulb and success - communications again. 2. The problems all started when I tried to move a DB Lamplinc and do some testing. I didn't realize that I had a bad CFL at that time and figured that the issue was with the ISY or the PLM. Well, I did create one problem with my testing. During testing I linked a couple of Insteon switches to the ISY , but then moved the DB Lamplinc before I unlinked them after testing. I could no longer communicate with the devices but decided to remove them from the ISY anyways. It was after doing this that the Error Discovering Nodes kept locking up the ISY. Not sure what the process is in the ISY, but I don't think that this was a good idea. From now on I will only remove devices if I can communicate with them. System is back to operation and I am again a happy camper. It was frustrating, but I also learned quite a bit.

Apostolakis has clearly defined the question that we have all been wrestling with and not been able to articulate it so well. What triggers a program to evaluate the if statement. Just speaking for myself, I have a handle on the Boolean logic, but it is confusing for me what triggers the program to re-evaluate the IF statement. In programming my old Ocelot I had a couple of time choices which obviously work differently than in the ISY. For example in Ocelot if I had the following statement: If Time = 6:25 pm This would be true as long as the time is 6:25 pm. Once the time became 6:26pm the IF statement would become false and remain false until 6:25 pm the next day. However, the THEN statement would continuously execute for the one minute from 6:25pm until 6:26 pm which I would expect. There was also a statement in the Ocelot which was: If Time becomes 6:25 pm This would be true the moment that the internal clock reached 6:25 pm and the THEN statement would execute. If would then go false during the next execution of the program logic. (One shot type of logic). Now my understanding is the same as outlined by Apostolakis above. The ISY triggers the program to evaluate the IF statement and run the THEN statement only when the time becomes 6:25pm. This only occurs once and occurs at the moment that the internal clock hits 6:25:00. However where some of us are getting confused is that the program status that contains this IF statement remains TRUE even after 6:25 pm. I can live with this, but a wiki to spell this out would be really helpful so that we are aware of it. I have the climate module and have been trying to use light levels to control my lights. Again, let me say that I understand the IF logic, but it is only by trial and error that I have been able to understand what causes the IF statement containing the climate module to be evaluated. What I thought would work actually didn't work (this is related to the WAIT statement but lets ignore that for now). I will simplify the code and only show what I have found true with regard to the program triggering the IF statement a For example, If Module Climate Light >15 Then Turn Living Room Light Off I have the Climate module set at its default polling of every 60 seconds. Thus every 60 seconds the Climate module goes out to weatherbug and gets all the weather data including the light level. What I expected was that when the Light level increased above 15, the THEN statement was executed and the Living Room Light would turn off. This happened exactly as I had expected. What I did not expect was that every 60 seconds, when the polling of the weatherbug site occurred, the program would be triggered to evaluate the IF statement and even though the light level was still above 15, the IF statement would be evaluated and then THEN statement would be executed. In other words, when the light level was above 15, every 60 seconds the ISY would send the command to turn on the Living Room lights. This also is the case for an IF statement with light level containing an =. Every 60 seconds (default polling) the program would cause the IF statement to be evaluated and the THEN would execute if the light level had not changed. I give this example because it is different from how STATUS LIGHT = ON or TIME=6:25 operates. To summarize: If a program contains the statement IF time = 6:25 pm the THEN statement following will only be executed once - when the time becomes 6:25 pm. This is what I would call a One Shot. If a program contains the statement IF Module Climate Light = 15, the THEN statement following will be executed every time that the ISY polls the Weatherbug data source (every 60 seconds) and as long as light level = 15. Same construct of an IF statement, but the result in the two cases is different.

I have been chasing my tail here with half of my devices quitting working and the Discovering Node errors etc (other post). That seems to have settled down and I have just gotten back to this issue. It has not happened since and I haven't changed anything, so not sure what was going on. Works for now and I am going to leave it at that. Thanks for all your help. Dan

I do not have any switchlinc V35 - they are all V38. Not sure what you about the difference between the state of the devices? Both problem switches were factory reset last night. Have been unable to link to them using the ISY. The linking that I did this morning was a direct link with the remotelinc and two other insteon switches. IE I put remotelinc into linking mode and then pressed the top paddle of the problem switchlinc for 10 seconds. The two devices linked and I was able to control the problem switch from the remotelinc. This was all done independent of the ISY. I guess my biggest question is what is causing the ISY to report this Discovering Node error? Thanks Dan Addendum Came home tonight thinking that I would have to factory restore the PLM and the ISY to get things working. Much to my surprise I was now able to relink the problem switches and the outlet linc. No more errors. I watched the Event Viewer the whole time and everything programmed perfectly.

Not sure if important, but here is the log entries after rebooting, 0 /CONF/1 Fri 2010/03/26 12:03:07 AM System -110022 0 /CONF/1 Fri 2010/03/26 12:03:07 AM System -110012 0 null Fri 2010/03/26 12:09:32 AM System -5012 0 null Fri 2010/03/26 12:09:32 AM System -5012 0 null Fri 2010/03/26 12:09:54 AM System -5012 Also entries from the log when I tried to query the two non-communicating switches. 12 33 F8 1 Status Query Thu 2010/03/25 11:34:37 PM System Log 12 33 F8 1 Thu 2010/03/25 11:34:59 PM System -2 12 30 7E 1 Status Query Thu 2010/03/25 11:34:59 PM System Log 12 30 7E 1 Thu 2010/03/25 11:35:21 PM System -2

Okay, I had a very successful initial install of my ISY andit has been functioning well over the past two weeks. Last night I decided to do a little experimenting. I wanted to see if adding a Dual Band Lamplinc to my son's room would help comm issues with a switch in his room. (That is a separate issue that I will deal with later). So, I moved one of my two DBLlinks from the dining room to his bedroom. I was able to successfully link his switch now to the ISY and I then removed the link once I had proved that it had worked. During the process I noticed that the ISY was showing a loss of communication to three of my other devices in the house, two 2476 dimmers and an outlet linc. Since both of my DB Lamplincs were now on the same phase, I wasn't too surprised and assumed that once I moved the DB Lamplinc back to it's original spot, everything would be okay. Wrong! 1. Moved DB Lamplinc back to original spot and confirmed with the phase test that I had one DB Lamplinc on each phase. 2. Queried the two switches and outlet linc that had red exclamation marks. No response to the query. 3 Rebooted ISY, cleared my Java cache, left it for 10 minutes, and booted up the admin console. Still red exclamation marks. Put ISY into linking mode and tried linking one of the switches. ISY just not seeing the switch. Tried linking by entering the switches address and nothing. 4. Decided to remove the switch from the ISY and it at least disappeared from the main menu, although the process (System Busy) in the ISY took about 5 minutes. 5. Tried linking again both auto and manual way in the ISY and switch and ISY just weren't communicating. 6. Did a factory reset on one problem switch and tried to link again - now I got "Error Discovering Nodes Try Again". However many times I tried to link I still got this error message. 7. Unplug PLM/ISY. Left it for about 10 minutes while I had a coffee and plugged it back in. Seemed to reboot okay, but when I went to link I again got the Error Discovering Nodes. 8. Rebooted the ISY again and went to bed. This morning all my programs on the rest of the working switches and outlets had run correctly. Went to try and link the problem switches and got the same Error message. 9. I did a factory reset on the other problem switch and outlet linc. Still could not link and got the Discovering Node error. Rebooted ISY and after the reboot the linking dialogue automatically came up. I tried to link both problem switches and neither responded to either the auto discover mode or the manual mode. When I went to try it a second time I got the Error Discovering Nodes message again. 10. Wondering if I had a phase comm issue I tried linking the two problem switches without using the ISY. I used a remotelinc and a couple of other Insteon switches that are not linked in the ISY. The linking worked fine and I was able to control both problem switches through this manual linking. Removed the links and tried one final time with the ISY. Still not able to link to either problem switch or outlet linc. 10. Now I am stuck. Running 2.7.13 Thanks for any advice. Dan

My apologies if my question regarding folders and the specific example got this discussion off track. I was wanting some clarification in my own mind that folders, whether intentional or not, are actually a method of implementing your Trigger/IF model that you suggested. My previous controller was an Ocelot which uses ladder logic type programing. As having spent 12 years some time ago programming PLCs, it was very easy for me to program in the Ocelot. However the organization of the program and the ability to have different programs enabled at different times was very cumbersome. I am now trying to wrap my brain around folders and IF statements and how and when they are evaluated. Apologies again if I take this off track, but the reevaluation of the IF at the end of the WAIT has taken me by surprise. If I have a very simple program like the following, does the IF get reevaluated at the end of the WAIT? If so, why? Program Outside Porch Light On If Time=6:45 pm Then Wait 3 Minutes Turn Porch Light On

Can you link the motion sensor to the ISY okay? At first my motion sensor wasn't in range of my access points. I had to move the access point up from the basement to a location closer to the pantry where the sensor is located. Before doing anything I would set the jumpers, link to the ISY, change the settings and then monitor the status. Make sure that the status changes as you would expect it to. I made the mistake of inserting it into a program before fully testing it. I knew better, but went ahead and did it anyways. This sensor definitely works different than the X10 motion sensors.

Wow, this thread has been really helpful. As a newbie I panicked the other night when I noticed that one of my programs was showing TRUE when I thought that it should be FALSE. It is one of those If Time=11:39 PM then turn off living room light. It was 5:30pm and the program was true. I was thinking that something was wrong with my ISY. Rand just suggested that this switch example would be a good candidate for a folder. So would the folder condition be based upon Switch 1 or upon the status of lights 1 to 3? I am trying to figure out why a folder might make a difference as opposed to the way that the example is shown in the wiki.

I spent about 6 hours on the weekend playing around with the motion sensor and trying out the various programming options to make it do what I wanted it to do. My application is to turn on a light in our kitchen pantry when you walk in and to keep the light on the entire time that motion is detected. In a couple of threads on here regarding motion it seemed to have been suggested that you couldn't easily detect a continued occupancy. (Maybe I just read the threads wrong, but it seemed very confusing to me). Anyways after 6 hours of playing around I finally got something to work for me. There were three separate issues to deal with: Motion Sensor jumpers, Motion Sensor settings via ISY, and the actual program inside the ISY. I took the approach of changing only one variable at a time and seeing what effect it had on status, timing etc. Trial and error basically. Here is my setup: Motion Sensor Jumpers 1. Sensitivity - left Off (single pin) 2. Disable LED - ON (both pins) 3. Night only Mode - OFF (single pin) 4. On-Only Mode - ON (both pins) 5. Remote Management - ON (both pins) Once linked to the ISY I used the following settings for the sensor: Timeout - 0.5 minutes LED Brightness - 0 Darkness Sensitivity - 35 (default) With these settings, once the motion sensor detects movement it will send an ON status out. In the ISY the motion sensor will show an ON status. Once motion has ceased to be detected then after the timeout (in my case approximately 30 seconds) the status of the motion sensor will change from ON to OFF as seen by the ISY. It is important to note here that the sensor is not sending an OFF command, it is simply reporting to the ISY that it is no longer ON which is interpreted as OFF. As long as motion is detected then the status of the motion sensor does not change and nothing is sent out from the sensor. It is only after motion has ceased and the internal timeout has expired that the status of the sensor will change. So if you moved about in front of the sensor for an hour and then walked out of range, the ON status of the sensor in the ISY would remain for an hour and 30 seconds and then change to OFF. Note also that I did not create a scene with the motion sensor. It is not linked to the light switch at all, only linked to the ISY (technically to the PLM). All control is thus by program only. I have two programs to turn the light on and off. (Don't have access to the ISY at work so I will do these from memory). Program Pantry Light On If Control Pantry Motion Sensor is switched On And Pantry Light Status is not On Then Turn Pantry Light On Else Program Pantry Light Off If Status Pantry Motion Sensor is On And Status Pantry Motion Sensor is Not Off Then Wait 20 Seconds Turn Pantry Light Off Else When someone walks into the pantry the light will come on if it is not already on. The light will remain on as long as the sensor detects movement in the pantry. About 50 seconds after movement is no longer detected then the pantry light will turn off. If I only wanted the motion sensor to operate from sunset to sunrise then I would probably put these two program into a folder that had time constraints of sunset to sunrise. In my case the only issue that I could see by putting them into a controlled folder is what would happen if the wait statement was being executed when the folder conditions went false. ie If motion ceased just moments before sunrise and the Wait 20 seconds in the THEN statement was being executed at the very moment that sunrise occurred. Would the folder going false interrupt the execution of the Wait? Would the light ever turn off? Would have to try that one. Dan

I checked the rest of the programs and nothing else is sending D3 On or Off. Something else that I did notice when going through the log was that a D3 Off was getting sent everytime the weatherbug module was polled and the light level was below 12. I am assuming that each time the status of light level is updated by polling that it causes the If statement to be evaluated. When the If is evaluated the Else statement is then executed. Last night I broke the code into two separate programs so that this wouldn't happen. However, I still cannot figure out the D3 On by program that I am seeing in the log.