Guy Lavoie

Well the eisy can certainly communicate with a serial PLM for Insteon using a USB adapter. But now the question is: if you can add a second USB adapter, how could you talk to it? There are no programming options to access a USB or serial device. You would need to have a module like the networking module, but to talk to a serial port over USB. I did experiment with accessing a serial device server from a python program over IP. It works. But a plugin would need to be developed to do this. I'm experimenting with creating a plugin that communicates with that serial device server, but for another purpose.

Many of the handy features in IoX are those for maintaining and upgrading an installation. I'm talking about things like restore device, PLM replacement process, replace switch with... etc. I've just had the pleasure of using the replace feature to upgrade several switches to dual band models. One constraint is that it only allows replacing a switch with one of the same type (dimmer with dimmer, on/off with on/off). It would be handy if this feature also allowed replacing one with the other type. It could list the differing type switches at the bottom of the list, and selecting one could pop up a message warning that this is a different type, and that adjustments might be needed in programs and scenes. Sometimes you only want to replace a switch that is used as a 3 way slave, so it doesn't matter what type it is. Or simply don't need the dimming feature anymore in a location and want to reuse it elsewhere. Economics and availibility. Food for UDI thought.

The utility of the virtual switch is that it can serve as a flag for following the status of a scene. If all the lights in your scene are lights that can also be controlled individually, then you can't know for sure if any given light was turned on by itself or as part of a scene. If you want to keep track of if a scene was activated, the idea is to add a virtual switch as an additional responder to the scene. The virtual switch doesn't have a physical control, so the only way it can get turned on or off is with a scene command. So let's say that the eisy turns on the scene, and you'd like to update the backlight for that scene on your keypadlinc: First you create a new scene with one of the switches that can control the scene as a controller, and add the keypadlinc button as a responder. You might already have this if you have switches other than the keypadlinc that can turn the scene on or off. You might need to create a new, separate scene if it has the keypadlinc button as a controller, because you can't have the same button both as a controller and a responder in the same scene. I name these as "reverse" scenes. Now you create a new program that looks for the status of that virtual switch turning on or off, and have the program turn that new scene on or off, for the purpose of updating the button.

I also have keypadlincs and I like the button to reflect the status of the last scene command, wherever it originates from. This is especially true of keypadlinc buttons that are set up in toggle mode. So what I did was install a plugin called "Virtual" with which you can create virtual switches. It's a free plugin. Then I added a virtual switch to the scene as a responder, so that it get's turned on or off with the scene, no matter who/what turns the scene on or off. After that I added a program which monitors the status of that virtual switch, and sends the appropriate on or off command to the keypadlinc button. That keeps it in sync perfectly. If you have a light that is only ever turned on as part of a scene, then you can monitor the status of that individual light instead, and skip the virtual switch.

1- Please don't close the thread. I think there are still a few things worth discussing, and reliability testing over time. Wow, how long did it take you to write that post? You say that it would have been easier to just start from scratch, but I would argue that everything learned along the way was more valuable, and not just for you... About that quote I just made above: what type of keypads are these? If there is a way to turn off the light on the button by sending a off command to it, then I do have a workaround that is able to track scenes nicely. I have keypadlincs that I do that with.

Well the Hub 2 is an Insteon product, not UDI. So you won't learn much about it here. Not sure how much it can really do without a subscription, but if the bankruptcy of Insteon in 2022 is an indication, the hubs basically became useless. What exactly do you mean by "Alexa was updated" and no longer supported the isy994?

https://www.universal-devices.com/contact-us/#contact Or log into your account and open a ticket.

When I want multiple sources of triggers for actions, I have the triggers set a state variable, and the program controlling the device looks for that variable being set to the trigger value, turns the device on or off, and resets the variable for the next trigger. That way, you detach the trigger source from the activation of the device. Another benefit is that you can set the variable to different values for different actions of the same switch (ie: trigger two separate programs). For example you could have a slave switch or Alexa set the variable to 1 to just turn on the switch, and the motion sensor set the variable to 2 because you only want to turn on the switch for 30 seconds. - First your trigger programs: If slave switch Status is on and variable = 0 then variable = 1 If motion sensor control is on and variable = 0 then variable = 2 (For Alexa you would just directly set the variable to 1 in the portal) - Then your action programs: If variable = 1 then turn on switch then variable = 0 if variable = 2 then turn on switch then wait 20 seconds then turn off switch then variable = 0 Furthermore, you might want to override the motion sensor activation if the light is turned on by the switch or Alexa. so that the motion detection doesn't turn the light off on you when you actually want to be there for some time. So you might want to modify the action program to leave the variable set to 1 until the light is actually turned off by the switch or Alexa. This would be one or two additional programs looking for those triggers and setting the variable to 0. That way, the motion sensor trigger wouldn't happen because the condition to do so is by getting the motion sensor On command AND the variable being equal to 0. That's the difference between having just a hub vs a fully programmable controller.

The only difference between state and integer variables is that a state variable's value can be used as a trigger for a program (so the program "state" is true or false). Both variable types can contain the same values. In theory, they could have made all variables state variables. This was probably done to lighten the cpu load, to avoid needlessly testing the value of a variable that is only used for math, totals, etc. You would define variables for that purpose as integer.

Like with most software products, documentation is often behind in relation to the features. With the announcement that an entirely new admin console is in the works, I don't think much time will be spent updating the documentation of the current one.

Then you should contact UDI and inquire.

For the ISY994i, renewals are limited to single years only. That was announced here: https://www.universal-devices.com/994-portal/

Yes it will. The only thing we know at this point is that there is a new admin console planned, and that it will be web based (I guess/hope they mean browser based).

Choose the On level you want from the list, then click on the "On Level" button to the left of the list. It's not obvious but that is a button, not just a label for the field.

Is UDI or it's employees impacted by this terrible disaster?

Well you'll need to wait until UDI releases the update that supports Matter. That should be very soon according to the latest announcement: https://www.universal-devices.com/2025-liftoff/

I'm referring to scenes, created in IoX, not programs.

Sounds like it's somewhat like z-wave, where a device can only belong to one network at a time. Some topologies, like Insteon, can be controlled by more than one main controller (ie: PLM) but each controller needs to be able to respect (leave) any links that aren't to devices it knows about. That's what the eisy does when you add a new Insteon devices and it gives you the option of leaving any existing links intact. Other networks like z-wave require you to remove a device from any other network in order to add it to a new controller. Zigbee might be similar.

I got my weekly test email just fine, today at noon.

This sounds similar to the problem I had with the i/o linc status being incorrect for my garage door. The sensor status indicated the door was closed, even after opening it. And a query would update it. A discussion of this in another thread brought up the fact that the i/o linc is powerline only (not dual band), and that the electrical noise of the opener motor might be inhibiting the status update that the module is sending out right after the door starts opening. As a workaround I tried adding a couple of query statements, sent a few seconds after the door is fully open and the motor stops (I timed the door opening and added a few extra seconds). It seems to have helped. I also added a lamplinc in the garage, as a signal booster and converter to rf signal as well. Interesting that we're both talking about a garage. These tend to be farther away and isolated (physically and electrically) from the rest of our living spaces, which might make any signal issues more relevant. If you have a spare lamplinc on hand, you might give that a try. Also, how is your motion sensor configured? Does it send both on and off commands, and what is the on time? On the ones I use, I have the time set to the minimum 30 seconds, and sending on/off commands.

Question: are you able to trigger scenes (created in IoX) with those Lutron switches? If you create a scene where a Lutron switch is a controller and an Insteon switch is a responder, does the Lutron switch control the Insteon one?

It would be clearer if you could post the actual program(s). Bring up the program, right click on the program name, and then "copy to clipboard" at the very bottom.

I've also been leaving the admin console open for days on end, at least when I was still actively implementing new devices and programs. After reading several posts about it not being a good idea, I'm avoiding doing that now. I'm not sure exactly how it might affect the operation of the eisy itself, but it certainly does end up freezing sometimes, which can be a cause of unneeded resource (cpu, memory, sockets) consumption.

First thing to try with any motion sensor related issues is try a fresh battery.

Great! Keep us posted...