johnnyt

In the overnight automatic virus scan, MS Defender quarantined Nodelink, calling it a "severe" threat. See attached screenshot, and below is what I got when I clicked "Learn more" https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=142185&name=Trojan:Win32/Wacatac.B!ml&threatid=2147735505 I don't actually use nodelink anymore but thought I would mention it here.

I'd like to know this too before I take the leap. Either remove/uninstall or disable such that it doesn't restart at next reboot. In case it causes more grief than its worth and I need to wait until all the kinks are worked out.

the problem started before the upgrade command. I wasn't able to restart ISY but was focusing on the commands given for this post. below a more complete sequence of errors, and attached is the stuff before that, which seemed to work ok other than issue with /dev/speaker. sudo service isy restart isy does not exist in /etc/rc.d or the local startup directories (/usr/local/etc/rc.d), or is not executable [admin@polisy ~]$ sudo service isy restart isy does not exist in /etc/rc.d or the local startup directories (/usr/local/etc/rc.d), or is not executable [admin@polisy ~]$ [admin@polisy ~]$ sudo pkg upgrade isy Updating FreeBSD-base repository catalogue... FreeBSD-base repository is up to date. Updating udi repository catalogue... udi repository is up to date. All repositories are up to date. pkg: isy is not installed, therefore upgrade is impossible Checking integrity... done (0 conflicting) Your packages are up to date. ISY-update.txt

so to be clear I've done the following: - sudo pkg update- sudo pkg upgrade (this should upgrade your ISY to 5.0.1)_ sudo service udx restart- sudo service isy restart sudo pkg updatesudo pkg upgrade isy (-> 5.0.2_2) and posted the messages related to the last command above

I'm talking about the steps at the top of *this* post: sudo pkg updatesudo pkg upgrade isy (-> 5.0.2_2)sudo service udx restartsudo service isy restart I was just saying I did the steps from linked post BEFORE in case it was key to being able to do these steps

Am getting message that "isy is not installed..." [admin@polisy ~]$ sudo pkg upgrade isy Updating FreeBSD-base repository catalogue... FreeBSD-base repository is up to date. Updating udi repository catalogue... udi repository is up to date. All repositories are up to date. pkg: isy is not installed, therefore upgrade is impossible is did follow the steps outlined here first. what am I missing?

Ok so am thinking probably manageable second PLM scenario Now what about the steps I propose to follow to get it done (and the outstanding question):

I learned from Aartech that Smarthome will be providing a PLM to replace my still warrantied defective one. I also found one on Ebay yesterday from a reseller that converts USB version to serial. I went back this morning to post link here but it was no longer available. When I found it, it said there were 10 left (102 sold, with 100% positive feedback) Just to bring this thread back to what I'm asking about, below is the context I provided earlier in response to "How many devices do you have in your system? Even with 200 devices that 5 programs for each and every one. I would recommend looking at your programs and cleaning them up..." ...and further down/attached is a screenshot of my ISY Inventory. Bottom line, if my secondary insteon network only has 3 infrequently used keypadlincs (24 nodes) with programming that factors in risk of collisions, how likely am I to have a lot of problems?

I reached out to Eaton about their RFWC5 and they replied that: I've since found a number places that sell them for far less than amazon.ca but between only being 5 buttons (I'm looking to replace 8-button Keypadlincs) and having reached EOL, I don't think I'll go for this. Inovelli has only 3 buttons that can light up to act as an indicator that something is ON so I would need 3 to replace 1 KPL. I may have to give up on zwave for what I'm looking to do.

I've done some program cleaning up and will certainly continue to look for opportunities but, after spending weeks/months doing countless things to finally get things to the point where I wasn't also exceeding the ISY event queue (mostly at startup, which was leaving system inconsistent and causing program misbehavior), I want to get back to spending time adding to my automation rather than trying to code around technical limitations, which means that program cleanup would only buy me time, not solve my issue (a more powerful ISY). To provide a bit of context, I guesstimate that 70% of my programs are related to HVAC and react in multiple ways to multiple conditions and multiple sensors. For example I have about 40 programs running just my HRV (one device for high and one device for low) based on time of year, time of day, temp inside, temp outside, humidity, air air quality sensors (CO2, VOCs, Radon). That's 20 programs per device right there. Probably that many programs also running furnace fan (two devices: stat and dry contact for fan high) based on similar set of factors. I completely redid the HRV series of programs looking for efficiencies, including fewer programs and more "waits" to allow time for things to run (HVAC is not as time sensitive as a motion sensor to turn a light on). While I'm happy to program new HRV usage conditions, I'm tired of spending time just looking to do the same thing more efficiently, which has returned little value for the money. In addition, carving off the HVAC would also allow me to leave that but remove all the lighting if I sell the house (with time to figure that all out before we're ready to sell) On the HVAC front I would only have 2-3 keypadlincs. That would be the only insteon on my 2nd network, and none of those would interact with lights. If I could find similar keypad offering in zwave I would get some but I can't find anything suitable. They're only to enable/disable HVAC events, and to act as reminders to change filters and reset those reminders. That's 16-24 infrequently used insteon devices and I could probably add some redundant actions to account for potential collisions. Yes, I could have email reminders to reduce that down by a keypad but the convenience of being able to press a button to reset a reminder vs going into ISY to reset it along with the variables that track usage is worth quite a bit to me (and helps with the WAF). My biggest concern with this second network was making sure the insteon signal reached the devices / ISY because of distance to ISY. Is that a valid concern, and given what I just explained, should I really still be worried about other issues? Thanks.

sorry @lilyoyo1that I haven't seen any of your 1000 posts but the messaging in the few places I've just been to this morning is confusion. It's one thing (understandable right now) to say things are back ordered. it's quite another to say something is discontinued. What little I am seeing right now reads more on the side of "discontinued". Case in point, I coincidently I just returned a 1 yr old PLM for warranty replacement this week (fortunately I had two older working ones) and my vendor Aartech.ca just now advised me that: I notice it doesn't say back ordered or delayed. Are they simply misinterpreting what smarthome told them? Unless maybe they're dropping it, or that smarthome will no longer be allowing resellers to sell it even when production resumes? By the way, forgive my ignorance in this front too, but are you from smarthome and speaking for smarthome? I'd be more than happy to settle on your explanation over others that may be potentially misunderstanding what's happening. Thanks

Wow. So is PLM moving to USB only or is Smarthome only supporting insteon through the hub, leaving ISY and others needing independent PLM out to dry? This definitely could change my plans. I have a couple of reasons for wanting to separate things out. The main one is that, generally speaking, I've overloaded my ISY. I am approaching 1000 programs (I recently learned there's a limit of 1024). It's often busy, with my AC getting socket fail messages regularly, among other things. Sometimes zwave commands soak up all the CPU and delay lighting programs such as an insteon motion sensor triggering an insteon light when someone enters a room. With respect to completely different insteon networks, how does it work? Would I need a second set of repeaters? How would I link the second repeater to the 2nd PLM? I don't remember those being linked like a regular device. This may be moot as I digest the PLM issue but curious anyway. FWIW, at least in the short term I do have a spare PLM I could use. With this revelation, however, I probably need to keep that spare around until I understand the outlook better.

I'm considering splitting my lighting automation (all insteon) from my HVAC automation (zwave with a couple insteon keypads) and I'd like feedback on the questions and the process I'm outlining below. Obviously I'd rather not have to remove every device/program from first ISY and rebuild everything from scratch on the second one. Target end state: use existing ISY 1/PLM 1 for HVAC and (new) ISY 2/PLM 2 without zwave for lighting Q1: will my insteon network be able to handle two PLM's and will each device repeat any/all insteon signals? Q2: can I restore an ISY backup from an ISY with a Zwave dongle onto an ISY without a zwave dongle? Assuming yes to both, am hoping the following would work: 1. Backup ISY 1 2. Get (new) ISY 2 up to same firmware level but using "no PLM" version 3. Restore ISY 1 backup onto ISY 2 without PLM 2 plugged in 4. Remove all HVAC related automation from ISY 2, leaving it with only lighting related stuff Q3: will not having a zwave dongle cause all kinds of grief here, or might it actually help by highlighting what programs have zwave devices (now missing)? 5. Remove all lighting related devices and programs from ISY 1 with PLM 1 plugged in, deleting device links in lighting related devices and leaving ISY 1/PLM1 with only HVAC related stuff 6. Power off ISY 2 / plug in PLM 2 / power on ISY 2 7. Restore PLM 2 8. Grab a beverage and admire how everything now works better than before Am I missing something?

Am looking for a zwave keypad like the insteon keypadlinc but want a non insteon option that works with ISY I found this https://www.amazon.ca/Cooper-Devices-RFWC5AW-5-Button-Control/dp/B0053ZIRWK but it's pretty pricey and this is first I even hear of this brand. I don't know if it would even work properly with ISY. And this one looks like it's sold only through HA installers https://www.rticontrol.com/zwave-5scene-switch.html Much of my search for zwave keypad point to locks...

The hub is cool as a way to centrally connect multiple units spread out in the house and to allow real time updates to dashboard as well as for API updates if/when they come. Aside from radon readings, you can (with ISY) run your HVAC or get a nudge to open the windows, etc., whenever the humidity is high (or low), CO2 or VOC's levels are high (that new item you just bought, cooking smells, mold levels, etc.). CO2 and VOCs can cause headaches and are bad for you at high levels and you don't even realize it. Hopefully they get enough people bugging them that they put some priority on getting the API done...

I just got this reply to my query to them about offering API for consumer products: I pointed out that when I got into these devices -about 6 months ago- it was in part because their website said they would be providing a public API soon and I don't recall any differentiation made between consumer and business products. Perhaps if we all send a note showing interest they will put a higher priority on it. Go to https://help.airthings.com/en/ and ask the API question for their "Wave Plus" device saying you would buy if an API was available. These are $US230 / $CAD300 / 269 Euro devices with a case to be made for having more than one especially if you're the kind of prosumer who would make use of an API...

Can you tell is this applies to webhooks too? Is that a usable alternative?

D'oh!

I have a four Airthings Wave Plus and really like them. Would love to be able to run some ISY controlled HVAC functions (and send emails) when VOC's, or CO2 levels get a little high. I noticed recently they've made their API generally available with what looks like an API for those data https://developer.airthings.com/api-docs.html#/devices/getThresholdBreaches. See https://developer.airthings.com/docs/api.html for overall info Not being that deep into coding myself I'm wondering if someone can provide a reader's digest version of what one would need to do to populate ISY variables with the various sensor info? I noticed there's also webhooks option, which is part of the solution when I connected some IFTTT apps, which works for email notifications but doesn't work for populating an ISY variable because the data returned is not an integer. See related post below. It looks to me like it would be better overall to use the API method, including more timely/up to date data, but thoughts on this would also be appreciated.

Yikes. Yes, I'd really like to be able to do it but would want to think it's very likely to work. Starting over would definitely be an ordeal. Alternatively, can I do this independent of ISY using the Aoetec Zwave stick I have, which takes me back to the question that started this discussion - would I need to exclude from ISY in order to link it to zwave stick for the OTA process? The ZEN20 I want to upgrade is only in about 4 programs so not that big a deal if I have to take it out and put it back in after. That said, I have or will have other zwave devices I may like to OTA upgrade that have more tentacles so being able to do this process without impacting ISY's link to the device is what I'd really like. Thanks for your help with this.

@simplextechI've installed the PC Controller software but can't find instructions on how to set up secondary controller to the ISY. I found UDI wiki guide on changing primary controller in ISY (which apparently no longer applies in 5.2) but nothing about setting up any secondary controllers. Can you please elaborate on what I'd need to do?

yeah, I guess technically the phantom nodes issue could have been fixed in 5.3. I'm on 5.2 and am planning to wait for 5.3.1 or later after reading in release notes that there are "no functional changes in (5.3) build when compared to 5.2", and that "As part of Z-Wave Plus certification, some incompatible changes were made that may cause issues when migrating from older versions of the ISY. We are looking at mitigating these issues in future builds. If you have a stable working system, you may want to wait before migrating."

bookmarked the new link. great stuff. I don't know if it's easy to add, or if it's an issue that's expected to go away with time, but it would be interesting to know if it's the kind of device that keeps adding new nodes, as a number of devices do. All things being equal between 2 similar devices I would pick the one that doesn't keep adding new nodes periodically. I periodically have to move a new phantom nodes to a "Not Used" folder to get them out of the way. Deleting them doesn't last and Freeze Node doesn't work in a number of cases. For my worst offender, a Zooz ZEN 20 power bar, there are almost as many phantom nodes as real ones, and I expect the numbers to be the same before the end of this year ?.

Does anyone have either good or bad experience using the following zwave outlets and getting power usage info from them (I have a 500-series ISY 994ZW w/firmware version 5.2)? https://www.domeha.com/z-wave-plug-on-off-switch https://aeotec.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/6000056905-smart-switch-6-user-guide- https://www.getzooz.com/zooz-zen06-smart-plug.html https://www.getzooz.com/zooz-zen15-power-switch.html https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B0781XZYWR/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Any other ones?

I downloaded the silicon labs "PC Controller" and got the firmware update from vendor. Do I need to exclude the device from ISY before I do the upgrade or is it possible to just add it to 2nd controller (then delete it after) without messing with the ISY association?