Guy Lavoie

The fact that virtual devices don't generate control events can be worked around, by having the status change trigger a program that then resets the status after a short wait. It just makes things a bit more cumbersome.

Yup, that plus a few more Matter related fixes and improvements:

I guess triggering device changes from UD Mobile is indistinguishable from doing the same thing from Admin Console, right? It would have been nice if turning a virtual switch on or off from UD Mobile could generate Control events as well as Status change events, just like a physical switch. Wishful thinking?

One thing: the Virtual plugin doesn't generate Switched events, only Status changes. It would be handy if it could create Switched events too, but there is no physical device involved.

You install it by going into "plugins" and selecting PG3. This will allow you to log into PG3 then select and install the plugin from the production list. The more information button will let you see the instructions on how to define virtual devices by entering custom parameters.

Click on Link management at the top, then Start Linking You will get a pop up window telling you to put the device in linking mode. Do that, and it will find the device, and show you the device ID too.

Two useful things to know as you open a ticket: Can you see it in your router'sdevice table? If so, can you ping it? Be prepared to hook up a keyboard and a hdmi screen if asked to do so.

Controllers like Google home and eisy don't necessarily "see" each other like that, unless some utility provides that. Instead, you share devices. In Google home (since this is what you have) look for a function to share that device, which will offer you either a pin code or a qr code, that will be valid for a limited time (often a few minutes) that you can then use in UD mobile to add the device to the eisy. Pin codes are easier because you can write them down, while a qr code is an image, which you have to scan ( awkward when you are running both Google home and UD Mobile on the same phone). In testing, I'd save a phone screen shot, email it to myself, open it on my pc, and scan it off the screen with UD Mobile. Hardly user friendly. Now UD Mobile supports entering a Matter pin, much better.

I'm still running 5.9.1 on my eisy, but I did get a message in UD Mobile telling me to synchronize. Until I did that, my custom icons weren't displaying, I was seeing all light bulbs. Now back to normal after doing a sync

Here is the thread I think you're looking for, as per your first post. I used that as a basis for my own monitoring of my triggerlincs and leak sensors:

Yes, that's the usual way to install updates.

Do you also have Insteon devices anywhere? If so, is the PLM able to control those?

What made you determine that the Polisy was overworked?

It would really help if UDI came up with a way of indicating the progress of an update. The uncertainty and varying update speed isn't very helpful at seeing if things are proceeding properly.

Well their hub has the PLM built-in, and I suspect that much of the PLM software part of their hub is very similar to the stand-alone PLM. I also speculate that hub-only based installations would tend to be at the smaller end of system sizes, so the need for a larger link table would not be very common. That said, if their new hub will add if/then functionality and otherwise aim for larger systems (and dare I say: compete with the eisy), then they might have an interest in keeping the increased capacity for themselves, at least initially. Just some random thoughts.

Sounds about right, from other discussions. No new PLM has been announced yet.

UDI hasn't said anything about what's new in 6.0.3, but here are the change descriptions in the sysconfig.txt file:

Try this test: open a DOS command line on your pc, then try to connect by ssh to it's IP address, ex: ssh admin@192.168.0.123 Do you get prompted for a password? If so, try keying in "admin". Just getting a connection would tell you that networking is functional on your eisy. It might then be time for a ticket with UDI

That's also been my observation: commissioning the device on something else (like Alexa or Google Home) and then sharing to the eisy usually worked. Initial commissioning to the eisy hasn't been very successful.

One possible workaround might be to install the Virtual plugin, and create a simple on/off device, that you then configure as a switch in Alexa. Then create a IoX program that looks for the virtual switch being turned on or off, which turns the scene on or off accordingly. But the initial problem must certainly have a solution.

Matter is still preliminary for many companies, not just UDI. The trick is to start small, just to get familiar with it. It's a first real effort at interoperability by home automation companies, so there are lots of players involved. I haven't implemented anything with it yet, but just learning the basic premise has been useful. You commission a device on one platform, then share it. The use of PIN codes or QR codes, etc. The reliability will eventually be there, and I'll then be ready for it. For the Nanoleaf bulbs, there have been firmware updates, a sign that things are still being sorted out.

If you press the F7 key repeatedly while powering up, does anything come up on the screen? If not, try power cycling the monitor first, then powering up the eisy again.

Do you have a Matter device to try? Ideally something that's just on/off like a switch, or light bulb.

You should ask more specific questions. But as far as the ZMatter dongle goes, it has hardly...mattered (bad pun) yet. Matter is based on IPv6 and most line powered devices will be using IP (wifi or hardwired). Battery powered devices will more likely use Thread, which is IPv6 over a Zigbee network. The few tests I have done with Thread were with Nanoleaf bulbs, which use Thread even though they are line powered. The ZMatter dongle (which is ZWave/Zigbee really) is meant to allow direct communication with Thread, as well as conventional Zigbee. But I don't think this has been implemented yet. Instead, UDI has been supporting Thread based Matter through a border router, which is what I did, using a Echo in my case. Border routers are "transparent", simply bridging IPv6 packets, across wifi/hardwired IP and Zigbee networks. There has been very little in terms of announcements from UDI since the initial release and excitement last spring. But in reading the notes in the sysconfig.txt file of the latest release (6.0.3), some additional Matter fixes were added. I don't have access to that right now, but I've seen some mentions of Matter among the changes.

Hah, I just received some Emporia plugs today to experiment with. This was a timely question and answer! Thanks.