Teken

Hello, I would like to know and propose some ideas with respect to the Amazon Echo and how it may ultimately serve me and others in achieving more awareness and energy management. My first question to those who know is what are the *current* abilities of the Echo with respect to the energy management? - Can the echo tell me if the something is on, off, the value of said device? Such as if I ask Alexa to tell me the current energy consumption in my home will the skill be able to tell me this? - If at some point the Echo is able to push notifications to the user. I would like it to do similar things like the *To Do List*. The only difference is I would tell her to set an alert level for XXX device, appliance, what ever. Should that threshold be met it will announce *Teken, the energy target is fast approaching. The current value is 10 KWH your set limit is 11 KWH* - ToU: I would like the system to also alert me to Time Of Use rates. In the big picture the system should allow a person to invoke programs which control the HA system. So instead of reactive elements it should offer the person proactive choices that are well defined. Meaning if I feel based on Alexa feed back listed above that I will not meet my ToU target I can ask her to enable different tiered energy management programs. - Google Calendar: Off the top of my head I don't know what could be done with the calendar with respect to energy management besides having her be able to recall each days total, days running total, to allowing the end user to place filters in the calendar which she can know about and invoke another action. I am hoping this discussion brings insight, development, and integration into the whole energy management field. It goes with out saying I expect these features to support not only utility but those of us using the Brultech ECM-1240, Green Eye Monitor, and Z-Wave. I am a strong believer in champion this endeavor and the invested time and resources will be rewarded in kind via sales growth. I have been involved with energy management for more than 25 years and only in the last eight has there been huge strides in integrating home automation, energy monitoring, and energy management. I look forward to reading from many other members of their ideas of how such a product like the Echo could be exploited to be a powerful tool.

There are two methods when speaking about the MS only. One is of course pressing the set button inside of the unit. The other method is to create a program in the Admin Console that writes updates to the device upon detection of movement. This feature has been available in HL2 software for ages and most recently UDI has included this feature in the 4.XX branch. It should be noted this remote write update feature does not always work and some trial and error is required. Meaning some units require a wait period of 0-3 seconds to be included in the program before the MS will accept the remote update. Lastly, some MS units depending upon firmware did not support the remote update upon detection but recall this was in v1.X versions. So unless you have really old gear all the latest v2.X versions will do this minus the caveat I called out. With respect to the other battery operated devices if a unit has the *Heart Beat* in its firmware you can use this as a trigger to keep the unit awake to also complete the pending writes etc. It should be noted obviously you will need to wait the 24 hours before it happens and there is also a high likely hood this process will not work. So you are in the same spot where you have to go and press and hold the set button. But given the two possible solutions this is more than you had before! Ha . . .

I did but unfortunately I'm using a iOS device and won't be due for a new phone until next year. Boooooooooo . . .

If and when you get it hammered out it would be great if you could track your efforts in a step by step guide in the forums. Can this application run on a RPi?

Oh this might be something I have to look into much thanks for sharing this information.

You should be much more relaxed after watching Star Wars! Bo Bo Fet didn't make you feel all warm and fuzzy? LOL . . .

Hello Jeff, As to why leaving the controller in DHCP mode is the preferred choice? From a IT perspective depending upon environment its best practices. As leaving a device in DHCP mode will allow that device to always obtain the latest network configurations should it change. This allows any device that goes off line to release the IP address back to the pool. When you reserve the IP address via MAC reservation you have the benefit of a static IP that the router has assigned and the ability to push any network parameters that may change along the way. Whether that be the ISP changed your public facing IP address to DNS redirects etc. In a ideal world if an appliance is assigned a static IP address its always known to the end user which is good. But you get the same effect by reserving the address via MAC reservation. Everyday in the IT world there is something that can't or won't connect due to the famous: IP Conflict Meaning nothing stops a person from assigning a static IP address to an appliance besides for knowledge. When that person isn't on the ball this causes other devices to literally drop off the network.

It seems you're reliving my life from last night! For the benefit of others these are the steps I took to get the portal to operate. - Installed the module and soft rebooted - followed with a hard reboot. - Created a portal account and added my ISY with the UUID. - In the portal top right *My Profile* I select the ISY and selected save. - Went back to the Admin Console and waited for the pending request from the portal. - Enabled the pending request - which required another soft / hard reboot to let me get past the pop up message. Came back to the portal and saw the grey LED finally turned green!

It was noted once the module was installed in the ISY Controller a hard reboot had to be completed. Simply doing a soft reboot via the Admin Console did nothing. You may want to consider doing that simple step and see if it allows you to enable the portal once you see the pending request in the Admin Console *Portal* tab. If it appears later when you completed the hard reboot and you notice when you select OK. If you see a error pop up message to the affect saying *Bad Process* or what ever. Perform an soft boot and it should allow you to complete the enrollment process.

Let us know if updating to 4.4.2 resolves the access issue. In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.

You and I share very similar thoughts about HA and other topics that is for sure. I can't speak for Michel but feel he is trying to balance the whole cloud vs local control. Everyone knows I personally hate the whole cloud idea when it comes to automation, services, etc. Its not that its a bad thing its the people who are behind it have such a poor grasp of how its supposed to be used. In Enterprise way back in the day it was well understood why remote access and having off site resources were important. With the current industry trend almost all of these companies have simply abused the whole concept of the cloud. They do it for for selfish reasons besides just being cheap . . . As I indicated in another thread (feels like ground hog day) I have no problem with UDI supporting cloud hosted services like IFTT at all. Because its the premise and idea behind it that makes it powerful for all of us. Meaning in no way does it dumb down the the 994 Series Controller but extends its ability and capability to link to 3rd party devices / services which normally would be near impossible to do. Doing it the *local command & control* first is already present in the 994 and by allowing it to use the power of the IFTT service to me offers lots of value. With respect to UDI following Smartlabs that's hard to say but if it forced his hand in moving toward with things like Echo, IFTT, etc. Better to have and not need . . . Then, to need and not have . . . I can tell by your written text and tone this is something that bothers you. As it has for me and many others in the past but I look at it this way. Regardless of why these services / hardware devices are being supported its better than: As Michel indicated over the years his company is small and to try to support all things in the market place is simply not possible from a business / resource perspective. This is why I am so happy they decided to move forward with Z-Wave as this has allowed them to capture another revenue stream and also hedge their bets should Insteon every falter. UDI may not be super speedy in the IoT area but at least you know someone is thinking about the long term and not a flash in the pan fad. My view is (IF) UDI makes a concerted effort to focus development and resources to make lots of the most common asked device support native in the controller. This will drive sales, adoption, and long term growth for the company and in my eyes the main drivers should be: Amazon Echo, Sonos, IFTT, Z-Wave, ZigBee, Plugin Support.

There must have been a problem on the server because this morning all of the spoken words all showed every phrase I entered exactly as I typed it. For example the spoken word: Kitchen Table, now going back into the portal you're correct all of the words are lower case.

I had chocolate milk pouring out of my nose when I read that! LMAO, well played my friend . . .

Once the controller settles down login and let us know the PLM link count. Also can you let us know what firmware you're running right now? Make sure the Help -> About indicates the UI & Firmware is the same . . . Aside from those basic things you should confirm if your system has any programs that have conflicts or if you have lots of network resources in use now. Specifically you need to verify there aren't too many tight loop programs running with short intervals. You also need to limit any of the many silly things I see people doing like making the controller flash and beep Insteon devices. Just doing this act will tie up the controller forever . . . You should also confirm best practices are in play which is - is your network and the computer that is accessing the controller is properly accessible from firewall, anti-virus, port forwarding, and random ISP IP changes. Best thing is to save both error logs and send it to UDI for direct support and reference this thread. This will get the ball going and limit all the guessing from this point forward. You may create a service request using this resource link: http://www.universal-devices.com/contact-support/

Yes, in the App it shows its in lower case yet in the portal it shows in upper case? Still not sure what the distinction there would be to a voice activated device. As its not like you're entering a password but then again the Echo uses Linux. Unless I am mistaken and in such cases it does make a difference in basic command structure.

The real question you should be asking is how old is the 2413S PLM and is it fast approaching the two year death mark? Also do a PLM link count and see how many links the system shows. Run it a few times to ensure its accurate . . . If you have like 25-50 devices and you see something really stupid like 12 links. Well, you have your answer and need to either repair the PLM or purchase another unit. NOTE: For the benefit of others please state if the ISY has any LED's lit up when you notice this problem arise. Using the Wiki you can determine what the LED's indicate and best course of action to take if its the controller itself. Lastly, its rare but ensure the power supply to the controller is fine.

Barry, I will try this approach and see how the Echo reacts to this phrase. The system has always been set to DHCP with a reserved IP from the router. I could toggle over to a static IP address to see if there is any differences seen but prefer to leave it the other way for obvious reasons. Hello Benoit, Yes, not sure what the root cause is for such a thing to happen. But know with a high level of confidence its not my network or ISP. As I have several network appliances that monitor all traffic and network health. Any guidance or areas to focus on is greatly appreciated and will dig deeper into other logs to see if I can narrow down any pattern. You know I read that in another thread and don't recall off the top of my head what the answer was. Why does the system care if the spoken word is upper / lower case? If this resolves some of the odd behavior for sure this is something that can easily be changed. I will move forward and change some of the problem scenes and see if the lower case makes a difference. I will also use Barry's suggestion and use the shut command instead of off in case it doesn't understand tree hugger Canukian. LOL . . .

Not sure if the portal is being serviced right this moment but these pop up error message are showing up. They have occurred on January 26, 2016 at 3:17 PM CST and moving forward.

Hello Benoit, Yes this is something I did see also. Not sure why Echo would confuse the two words of on vs off. As a simple test to eliminate ambient noise, distance, pronunciation, and speaking cadence. I placed the Echo in a isolated room which is void of any sound reverberation. In audiophile terms its called a dead room because the sounds in that room simply drop hard in the air. Meaning if I say hello a person in the same room can hear every word due to the active / passive elements in that safe room. It made no difference to the Echo besides me sounding really pissed off. LOL . . .

Yup, saw that from another forum member and followed those steps. Still can't explain why the Echo will turn on various appliances with out issue but won't turn them off?!?! As I read from other people maybe I just need to come up with another word. But don't believe calling my dishwasher / microwave something like *Grunts Oven / Girl Friend Replacement* is the best choice right now. Ha . . .

SteinyD, There is never a stupid question when it comes to technology and how to obtain, use, manage. Cheers!

Login to the Admin Console and select purchase module and it will take you to the web page to purchase the UDI Portal.

Xathros, My friend it would be most excellent if you could find the time at some point and offer a real world review of this UBI device. Interested in the details of how it excels and were it falls short.

Hello Benoit, These errors were seen today (January 26, 2016) at about 9-11:00 AM CST. Yes, I could see in the back ground when the 500 errors were declared the rest requests were failing to complete. To me there just seemed to be a bottleneck in the service which to be fair I've seen the same thing with the Echo. Meaning I will ask her to do something and she will spin around and just think about it. When that happens sometimes she doesn't even reply back . . . I also found it odd certain scenes could be commanded to come on yet using the exact same phrase Echo would not turn that scene off? I saw this with my dishwasher, microwave, and some other device. Keeping in mind they operate just fine via the Admin Console and from a manual control at all times. Any programs that reference these devices also have no problem turning them on/off. Not sure how it can turn on a microwave in one command and not do so later? Asking her in a different way like *turn off the microwave vs microwave off didn't seem to make a difference.

I won't lie having gone through almost 18 hours trying to figure this all out left me with more questions. Technically any system should call out something that is associated or linked has been lost. That is the only way a lay person would ever figure out where to focus their attention and resources on. Lets all be clear here, its not lost on me there are many dependencies and links to various hardware / software platforms. The fact once its all set up and it works as intended is pure magic in itself. There is no doubt in my mind the global team will resolve lots of these issues. As more people find bugs like I listed above it will only serve to make the product better! For me this was a good exercise in critical thinking and trouble shooting. Don't get me wrong at hour 12 I was past annoyed and really needed to unplug. LOL . . .