Guy Lavoie

Well, the more features and device support that gets added, the harder it is to create a dumbed down version. What do you leave out? I suppose you could have it just do macros and scheduled tasks...like a hub.

Any difference in range would probably be very minor. Zwave really depends on it's mesh network topology to get signals to devices that often aren't even in the same room.

It's probably just to widen the market for the eisy. The world of home automation has evolved from the early geeks who probably started with X10 (...I plead guilty) and has slowly "cunsumerized" itself with shrink wrapped products like Alexa, smart thermostats, and Homekit. Apple users aren't usually techno geeks: they're more often drawn to the slick look of the products and just want it to work. But once we get into home automation, some of us will want more than just a fancy remote control with pre-programmed routines. More often than not, those users will likely also not want to lose their initial investment, but rather add to it. Insteon was successful because it also worked with X10. Now someone who got into automation with Apple products can go the next step and expand into full programmability with the eisy.

Hopefully, they meant to say browser based...

Hah, naming devices for voice control has it's quirks. When you start to have many devices, finding good, unique names becomes a challenge.

My question is: how different will the look and feel of the new admin console be? For all it's quirks, we get used to them, so needing to relearn stuff is always a bit annoying. Will there be new console user features too? For example, it would be handy to be able to comment out program lines instead of always needing to delete them. New monitoring tools? Another thing that would be useful is a user log file that you can write to by program action. It would be handy to be able to do things like log the locking/ unlocking of doors, alarm activation, or for troubleshooting. It would be easier than needing to try to filter through hundreds of lines of the activity log. Just a few ideas.

That would be a unix version that eisy is running on. It's currently been 13.1 for most people.

If you've read up on the way Hue works, or even signed up for their developer program, you'll know that you can have local control by sending REST style commands as in your example. The "special key" to access the hub is unique, and is generated by the hub when you request one, and the link button on the hub has been pressed. I learned all about the Hue protocol by messing around with HA-Bridge, which is a java program that emulates a Hue hub, and allows you to trigger command line programs, http requests, etc from Alexa. I originally used it to control X10, directly and also through my Ocelot controller. I'm still using it with the eisy. Your comment about looking at the admin screen and causing you to hesitate is common. The learning curve looks steep. The trick is to conquer little bits at a time. I'm still new to the eisy (I first got it in August this year, have been an Ocelot and X10 user for 25 years). Then there is the forum that you can search through and ask questions. That's how we all learn!

That's one of the big selling points of a controller like the ISY: local control. A lot of vendor specific hub products go through the internet as a cloud service. UDI only sells controllers, so they're not tied to a particular device communication technology. Now the two products mentioned so far (Hue and Venstar) both feature local APIs, which is why they can keep working without the internet. Some of the vendor features like skyport for the Venstar might not work, but the ones using the local APIs will. Same with Hue. I'm not sure if the Hue app requires the internet or not (I'm seeing messages that a user account will soon be required) but the ISY or eisy can certainly keep talking to the Hue hub, unless they end up changing that someday.

That brings up a question I've had in the back of my mind: where did the names ISY99, ISY994i come from? Doesn't exactly roll off the tongue. It sounds more like a part number than an actual name. I'm sure there's a story...

I agree, and furthermore, the people developing the software shouldn't be the document writers! The usual problem is that they're too familiar with how it works, so they'll overlook stuff and can't always anticipate some of the questions that some of the users will ask themselves. I say that from experience. The Applied Digital Ocelot controller was a great little controller, but with gaping holes in it's documentation. The way the logic operates, order of precedence, etc wasn't properly explained. When they brought out the next major revision of C-Max (the equivalent of the admin console), they actually hired me, a user living in another country who had never set foot in their offices, to rewrite the manual for it. 150 pages later, it really made a difference, and they were very happy with it. It didn't happen by magic. I sent countless emails back and forth with the software developer, and we really figured out how everything worked, down to the size of the internal command output buffers, etc. and put words to it. That's the kind of thing that would need to happen with the eisy.

It often happens that you need to exit and log back into the admin console to see plugin related things, especially if you made a configuration change to the plugin.

Normally yes. https://wiki.universal-devices.com/Eisy:User_Guide Scroll down to zwave

One thing I did for pool solar pool heating automation is to make a waterproof temperature probe to use with a supported thermostat (used for temperature sensing only). My first version was with a spare Venstar T7900 , connecting a 10k thermistor, configured as an external temperature sensor. I used a stainless steel drinking straw, pinching one end closed and sealing it with JB weld. I soldered a two conductor wire to the thermistor leads, put it in the steel tube, and then sealed the wires coming out with JB weld. I put the end of this "probe" in the pool skimmer, where it's shielded from sunlight, and it's provided very reliable temperature reading. Next summer, I want to make a new version using two Insteon 2441TH thermostats (that I got as part of used lots of Insteon devices, they literally cost me nothing). One will measure the water temperature, and the second one the air temperature in my rooftop solar heating boxes. I was using a on/off fixed setting baseboard thermostat for that. Now I'll be able to use program logic to decide to switch on the solar heat based on temperature differential. An added bonus will be the ability to ask Alexa the water temperature.

The two connectors are for the zwave and zigbee antennas.