Teken

I'm sorry your missing the point - before any sort of voice integration was ever invented the system allowed a person to integrate their home automation with their ELK security panel. Tens of thousands of people see great value in this as it offers unique features not found in competing products. Now, fast forward to the 2000's voice control is available to the masses. How did Amazon Echo (Alexa) ever make the connection to your security alarm system?!? Magic? Did you not have to sit down and setup, configure, and allow said voice appliance to connect to your system?!? I am sure it wasn't magic was it?

I'm not sure how you lay blame to something *YOU DECIDED* to do?!?! Its like blaming GM, Ford, Chrysler, Honda, Toyota, because some fool got drunk and thought it was a good idea to get behind a wheel drunk. The fault lies with the automotive industry because they provided you the means to do so?!? A gun maker is responsible for every fool who ever picked up a gun and killed someone? Everything is a tool until its not . . .

LOL . . . Elvis, what did Spideys *Uncle Ben* say to Peter Parker? As I have stated many times just because you can do a thing - doesn't mean you should. This is why the whole home automation industry is quickly going down the toilet because consumers in general have no clue. The rarest element in the multiverse is common sense . . . I know its all the rage to say *Look what I can do* but the sad reality is none of these people have taken one second to understand the consequences of doing so. The very fact people come on to these forums and others bragging they have actually linked their security alarm system to un-certified appliance should give you pause. The sad reality is until someone dies, injured, or what is more likely gets hit in the pocket book. These people in general will continue on this kind of silliness which truly defies logic! Then we have some random one time poster claiming an ELK system is being installed into a Fortune 500 company?!?! Your freaking dreaming I say . . . Voice control is turning into the same delusional toy as the self driving car. One only needs to Google the poor fool who ended up as a smear on the ground when he was run over by a huge semi trailer! Instead of *DRIVING* he was fooling around like an idiot and thus died! The reality is twenty something million fools bought the pet rock back in the day. So, that must directly mean it was the right thing to do?!?! I'm just going to close my eyes and count to ten and wait for the fall out - because its coming.

From a technical stand point no . . . From a real world use and application stand point more than likely. You have to keep in mind from a true home automation perspective power line / RF communications is consumer solution. It is not in any way considered a prosumer / commercial solution for those serious about control and management. Serious is defined as 100% communications, reliability, and using low / high voltage hard line. Every home has some kind of noise maker / signal sucker in the home that's just the natural evils of electronics, motors, etc. Generally speaking almost everything in your home ages and when it does often times injected noise is the end result. If you haven't placed the most common appliances on a filter please consider doing so. The invested time, effort, and resources can not be over stated as it relates to a positive outcome. I've seen million dollar homes ignoring this basic fact because they just accepted the technology is *Supposed* work around these issues. They don't . . . This is why the basics are always important to follow: 1. Confirmation of bridging / coupling of the single split phase electrical system via the 4 tap beacon test. 2. Filtering all noise makers / signal suckers - removing, replacing anything that can't be filtered. 3. Distribution: Having at least one plugin dual band device on each corner of the home on all levels, floors, zones. 4. Hard resetting all devices to a OEM state prior to installing and enrolling to the Insteon network. 5. Always use linked scenes when possible and only use programs for conditional logic. 6. Avoid close loop programming, blinking, beeper, applications. 7. Adhere to the minimum / maximum rating of each hardware device and the supported loads. 8. Never use a dimmer on a outlet, motor, or anything not rated to do so. 9. Always employ a three layered approach in terms of surge protection throughout the home. 10. Insurance: Always update your home owners insurance to cover these out of band technologies.

You Sir, have most definitely used and applied Insteon home automation as it was intended! Bravo . . .

What exactly does this scene do that includes 90 devices?!?!

Another member last month had the same issue where lights would flicker / pulse. It was found the problem was the Lutron dimmer and not the Insteon hardware given it impacts the incandescent load that would be the first area to review.

Thanks for this - That little nugget wasn't made clear in anything I have read thus far. I am really looking forward to seeing 5.XX Beta released sometime this year! Besides node server support I am eager to have precision values to convert all the whole numbers in place now. As noted in my other thread about the Alexa Custom Announcements its really odd hearing Alexa call out numbers that should be a few decimals over. Having her say the hallway temperature is 210'C vs 21.0'C is very odd to hear! Larry showed me how to use some basic math to convert the whole values in the past. But at this juncture having hundreds of variables in place made no sense investing the time to convert them all. So, I shall await patiently for 5.XX Beta to be released into the wild and go from there.

No, there would be no loss in hops. To add more clarification to what Stu noted between the 2406H vs any dual band device. Any and all dual band device repeats and strengthens the Insteon signal. By rebroadcasting the original message. The 2406H simply passes the original message as is even if it's weak and offers no rebroadcast.

No, only if the main device is (IN) a folder. A device in a scene is not considered in a folder. ========================= The highest calling in life is to serve ones country faithfully - Teach others what can be. Do what is right and not what is popular.

Add the new KPL to the system than right mouse click and use the replace with. The new KPL should be listed as one of the available option keeping in mind it must be the same type: Dimmer vs Relay. Once the system has successfully replaced the KPL it will delete the *New* KPL and replace it with the existing KPL name.

Looking forward to using the Polyglot Node Server for such an integration. Is there a general ETA when the Beta release will be seen this year? In the provided link you offered there was talk about stream lining the whole (Polyglot) process. Has someone started on the path to create a RPi image where all a person needs to do is change a few network parameters? I can't stress enough investing the time and resources to get such a thing done will surely increase and speed the adoption rate of such frame work. After reading countless threads with some of the smartest people having basic to advanced issues just to get the system up and running. Isn't something I would consider plug and play which ultimately affects public adoption for the average user.

Hello Jim, This will require a couple things to be setup and in order for this to operate as expected. The motion sensor needs to be programmed to send a *ON* only. This will allow the ISY Series Controller to send and manage the *OFF* state of the lights. The following are two programs which will allow you to have both automated lights and manual override of the same light fixture. This program will allow you to have what ever specified duration for the lights to come on then turn off. Office Over Ride Timer - [iD 02C7][Parent 00C0] If Control 'Office Motion Sensor-Sensor' is switched On And Program 'Office Manual' is False Then Wait 1 second Set Scene 'Office Light' On Wait 2 minutes Set Scene 'Office Light' Off Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action') =============================================== =============================================== This program (Replace with KPL button of choice) when pressed will stop the *Over Ride Timer* and allow the lights to remain on. You obviously need to turn the lights off once your done like normal. Office Manual - [iD 02D3][Parent 00C0] If Control 'Office Lights' is switched On And Control 'Office Lights' is not switched Off Then - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action') Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action') Please let me know if you require more insight or guidance . . .

Hello Mark, The ALL ON / ALL OFF has nothing to do with the 2413S PLM sending out this message. It doesn't matter what anyone tells you that is an empirical fact that many are simply not accepting. One of the key problems which you can't avoid at the moment is you have lots of legacy hardware like me. Which does include the ALL ON / ALL OFF command class. So unless your willing to replace all your insteon hardware with new gear that is void of this command class expect to see this problem again. I've asked countless people over the years to perform one simple test and that is to yank the controller out of the system and report back what happens. As of this writing not one single person has ever done so, none . . .

Hello Mark, I think your little test makes sense but it doesn't really address the key issues. If you haven't reviewed your programs its highly suggested you place a few *Waits* in programs that might be tightly looped. Since you don't have any motion sensors you should be checking any other battery operated devices you may have like open-close, hidden door sensor, leak sensor etc. Again, you may want to consider placing a wait statement in the programs that monitor said device. If you have the latest 2.XX PLM using v9E firmware its been stated this and many other Insteon devices are void of the ALL ON / ALL OFF command broadcast message.

Hello Jim, The Admin Console will show a blank condition anytime the system has been rebooted. If you were not aware of this fantastic program from Belias please do take the time to incorporate it to your system. This will tell you if the system has not seen a proper heart beat in the allotted time regardless of the blank state. http://forum.universal-devices.com/topic/11566-leak-sensors-a-suggested-complete-program-package/?hl=%2Bleak+%2Bsensor

Michael, Much Thanks ! ========================= The highest calling in life is to serve ones country faithfully - Teach others what can be. Do what is right and not what is popular.

Michael, Your contribution to this effort is also greatly appreciated - more the merrier I say! I should add the bulk of this deployment is *Local First* as I'm trying to reduce my reliance on other outside factors like a loss of Internet, 3rd party services, etc.

Ah got it - Sadly, I won't be using the Sonos for such a use case so the *Cut In* will be more than fine in this application. For me its trying to find a network speaker that allows tight integration with the ISY Series Controller to alter the volume when and if required. Bumbershoot has already offered this critical piece of information so unless someone can offer a comparable alternative system it may very well be the Sono's is the speaker of choice.

Can you offer a little more insight to the high lighted portion. Was the deal breaker a pro vs con for you? As I see great benefit in *Cutting In* when an alert message is present. I have no problem using a smart application to resume audio . . . RE: RPI, I have considered going the central amplifier route already and may entertain this if a viable and straight forward solution is present. I won't lie to anyone at this juncture trying to balance *Time Suck* projects with life is something that drives much of the projects I have undertaken. I love to learn and take on new endeavors but sometimes the amount of time to learn, read, and accomplish the same just takes away the joy I'm after. I fully realize lots of this requires work, effort, and resources but right now my life is at that tipping point. Like others have said before me - Sometimes you just have to throw money at it! My problem is trying to accomplish that on a KD (Kraft Dinner) budget . . . LOL . . .

Bumbershoot, Really appreciate the over view and detailed NR's for future use. I am quite sure this same information will help those who already have a Sonos player in place. Right now I am still on the fence about laying out all this expanse for multi-room speaker (PA) system. Just trying to justify the real world cost(s) of moving forward with this or any speaker solution. There are probably more pros' vs con's spinning around my little head right now and the only single one is just plain cost. I was really hoping after five years the market would have released something like the Sono's. The major stumbling blocks I seem to run into is either no open network API, no zoning, grouping, to what I consider basic no need for a 24-7-365 PC! I am sure once all of the relevant competitor products that I am reviewing are done. It will more than likely be the Sono's players given it meets all of the requirements and ease of access etc. Thank You Sir!

Understood, I wasn't trying to store the audio files as so much as assigning zoned speakers to play specific files when required. The bulk of this conditional logic would of course be embedded into the ISY Series Controller and relies on me crafting the appropriate programs to meet this need. I just wanted to make sure each speaker could be addressed individually or as a group when and where required. This will be the next step in my home automation system which seems to have taken years to accomplish. I rather ask all the relevant questions to those who know so I can do this right the first go round. Rather not waste time, money, and resources in something that won't meet my current and future needs. As an aside there have been a few network PA speakers in the security field from Axis which initially caught my eye. If only they made this thing smaller and visually more pleasing it would have been my go to product. They also have a larger ceiling speaker that is POE and network enabled out of the box - but again it was too huge for my current project. I may consider this option later down the line but it also requires a 24/7/365 PC to be running which totally counters my energy conservation goals.

Bumbershoot, Excellent, please correct me if I am wrong since all of the speakers have an assigned IP address. I can assign what ever speaker(s) to play what ever WAV file along with setting its independent volume, correct? The initial plan(s) are to define quiet hours for less important announcements with a lower volume so its broadcast-ed to all zones speakers. Any important voice announcements would be set to the volume of choice say fire, co, weather, etc.

Hello, I would like to hear from those who own a Sonos player if this devices volume output can be manipulated via the ISY Series Controllers Network Resources. If so can you offer the required Network Resource (NR) to accomplish the same. I am in the midst of selecting a whole house PA system for my voice announcement system which you can see the details here: http://forum.universal-devices.com/topic/21106-brultech-green-eye-monitor-has-a-sexy-voice/ I was really hoping to find a hardwired speaker solution that offered tight integration with the ISY Series Controller and that which didn't exceed my modest budget. The project goals are to deploy several networked speakers such as the Sonos variety through out the home and property. The aim is to allow me to preset lower volume output for the sleeping hours for such things as when the refrigerator / freezer go into defrost mode. Currently my test bench has a very modest USB speaker directly attached to the RPi which handles the reactive Julie U.S. voice announcements. Unfortunately, its cranked wide open to allow me and the family to hear the voice messages which isn't ideal during sleeping hours. The girl friend was startled a few times when Julie U.S. started speaking in the wee hours. The ensuring result is she went into security mode and placed the entire home in lock down. Better safe than sorry for sure but it high lighted the fact people are not expecting to hear strange voices at 3:25 AM in the morning! Any insight as to the Sonos volume question is greatly appreciated. Also, if others know of a comparable (cheaper) network speaker system that has been field proven to be integrated with the ISY Series Controller please do let me know. I have no preference over one or the other and simply went this route because it was common, well supported, and had mass adoption from the HA enthusiasts. I must stress the network speaker must fall with in the Sonos price point or below along with having the ability to be connected in unison to send the same broadcast message.

Also to add to what Andyf0 provided you may consider adding a time frame to act as a *Watch Dog*. Not only does this ensure the device is turned off it will help reduce your energy consumption. Towel warmers are one of the largest vampire draw appliances a person has besides in floor heating.