jlloyd_UD
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Everything posted by jlloyd_UD
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I had one of these squirreled away for years when I decided to put it into play as a controller for a water main shutoff valve. I connected the device to a circuit but have left it unprogrammed until later in the season when the weather is cold and I am indoorsbound. In the meantime, I plugged a hot water recirculating pump into the "always on" side of the unit. It has worked satisfactorily for several months until it stopped last evening. At first, I thought the mechanical timer on the pump had failed but I thought I would check the "always on" receptacle. Sure enough, my simple circuit testing device signals that the receptacle has "lost its ground." I plugged the electromechanical pump into the controlled side and it worked as that receptacle must be in the "commanded on" mode or it has failed operational. I have not investigated that possibility. My intent was to plug in an I/O Linc into the controlled side to command the water main valve shut. I will plug the pump into that side as an expedient for now. My question is: Why did I lose the ground circuit on the "always on" side? I would have thought that the circuit would be completely independent of the controlled side of the receptacle even though all the wire inputs are for both sides. Where has it failed and is it fixable? If not fixable, what can I substitute for the single control 2473 device as I think a replacement device is no longer available?
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After much trial and error, I decided to scratch all my ISY fan scenes and start from the bottom of the heap. When I recreated the scenes they had newly assigned addresses which is probably not a great surprise. I installed them in the portal after clearing out the old stuff. I noticed that there were old definitions still remaining so I logged out and right back in which cleared the deleted scenes. I was then able to reassign the new scene addresses with the spokens I had previously used. I had Alexa discover the new scenes and lo and behold the fan works again as if it had not stopped working. I am suspecting now that after a PLM restoration it likely does not restore the scenes properly (unless I did not do it correctly). Once I figured out that I had to dismantle the entire scene definition process and restart from the beginning it was only a matter of about 10 minutes to get it all back working. Another lesson learned the hard way... through trial and error from a lack of full understanding of these interfaces and linkages. Now I can attend to the second fan with much less fear and trepidation.
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I decided to unlink my portal and start from afresh. I linked my ISY UUID and started entering devices and scenes with spokens again from scratch. I did not do anything with my skill. I asked Alexa to go into discovery mode and it found my devices and scenes. All my devices work flawlessly but again nothing from the scenes. All the scenes appear to be registered properly with their ISY Scene addresses. Something seems to not be working with regard to the voice control of the scenes as I continue to be able to set the fan speeds through my admin console.
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The top of mine looks similar but not the bottom:
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If I know what you are asking, here is what my screen looks like:
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In the portal, each is identified as a scene in both the ISY and the Alexa category.
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My "spokens" I think are the same as yours, fan off, fan low, fan medium and fan high, I say, "Alexa, turn on fan high" to turn the motor to high (except it does not respond). I do not say, "Alexa, turn on fan high on". I tried it and it does not work either. You mentioned whether my scenes are identified as scenes or lights. Not sure what you mean or how one tells but each of my scene names is preceded by a light bulb icon. I am including a snip shot of the list for my 4 scenes for low, medium, high and off:
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In early January, I successfully installed and had working Echo voice control of fan speeds on two Hunter 3 speed fans which had previously been controlled by a wall switch using a 4 position chain pull for 3 speeds and off. I used my ISY994i, a fanlinc model 2475F from Smarthome, a UDI ISY portal and an Amazon Echo device. A few weeks ago I had a PLM failure and all control was lost. I installed a new model 2413S serial PLM and began the chore of restoring. Most everything restored properly except for my fanlincs for which I had to disassemble and reach the fanlinc controls to perform a restore. I have successfully regained control using my administrative console and the four original scenes I had set up. In other words, I can set the speeds on the fan (and the light control as a device) using my administrative console. I have checked my portal and my Amazon echo app and despite the scenes being identified correctly in each, I have been unable to control the fan speeds using my voice commands. I can voice control the state of the dimmable light using the fanlinc. I have asked Alexa to discover scenes (no new ones), I have deleted and reinstalled the scenes and had Alexa discover the 4 new scenes. Despite all this, my voice cannot command the initiation of any of the motor speed controls. Alexa responds cheerfully OK and it tries but nothing happens so the voice commands are being understood. What could I be missing? I am using an ISY994i/IR pro with firmware and UI version 4.6.2, the ISY Optimized for Smart Home v3 from UDI (its linked) and a 2475F Fanlinc v45. I am not using any keypadlincs to control the fans and only want voice control using Echo. The scenes can be seen in both the portal and in the app on my android phone.
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Update: I talked to SmartHome reps today and we went through a few diagnostic steps. One was to do a factory reset on the PLM (unplug, hold set button, replug , release reset button when beep stops). After the beep stopped and I had released the reset the LED turned red and then whitish green. I plugged the cable back into an active ISY and opened the Admin Console which promptly went into Safe Mode. The technician was convinced that the PLM was failed and we worked out the exchange after I sent him a scanned copy of my purchase invoice. I should have a new PLM in about 6 days and they are providing an RMA and a mailing label which I should receive on Thursday in order to return the failed unit. Hopefully, I will be back online within a week. The SmartHome reps I talked with were very helpful and considerate. If you have a similar failure within the 2-year warranty (my unit was apparently manufactured in October 2016 and I had purchased from a third party in April 2017 so it was well inside the warranty on both accounts. Make sure you have a copy of the invoice or purchase receipt as SmartHome can do nothing without the record of the sale. A very smooth transaction overall with SmartHome. Other than the fact it failed and I will be dead in the water with automation (Hey, Alexa, fix my automation network!) it was good that I did not have to spend another $80 to get to my automation pursuit. It is not an inexpensive hobby but there are others far more expensive and maybe not as much a challenge.
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Just in case I had not restarted these two devices in the proper order, I unpowered and then repowered them in the order you have indicated. Unfortunately, the results are not changed. I think it is failed. I will investigate the warranty exchange that you suggest. Do they swap a new one for the failed one? I have the version 2.3 which was supposed to be better than the one that failed before this one. This one has lasted since my purchase in April 2017 and is my third. I think when I originally bought my controller the PLM failed right out of the box and was replaced. I have had some spotty experiences with the PLM. This PLM is encoded 4216 which might mean it was manufactured in either Feb 2016 or hopefully April 2016 depending on the date code. I will be talking with SmartHome in the morning as it was near closing time when I called them this evening. The tech who answered made an appointment to call me back, which I thought was very considerate of them (rather than letting the phone ring continuously). I'll continue to troubleshoot tomorrow.
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I tried the Diagnostic, Show PLM Links Table. When I start the test nothing seems to happen. When I ask for count I get a zero (qualifies as a low number). Repeating this multiple times returns the same count. I guess I need to look for a replacement PLM. If my Console looks otherwise normal with all devices would that indicate only the failure of the PLM? The whitish/green LED on the side of the PLM indicates what? Thanks for your feedback.
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Last April I had a failed PLM (don't recall how I figured it out or if I just took it as a given with all the reported life problems reported). I replaced it April 2017 with the Rev 2.3 4216 version. I have been adding new Insteon devices to my system after taking a few months off. I have successfully integrated fanlincs, an outlet switch and was working some leak sensors. I also successfully have integrated Amazon Echo with the portal. All was looking great! Even my wife was getting comfortable with the automation which is a real test for success. Then, my system stopped working February 12, 2018. I rebooted the admin console with no luck. When I access the admin console with username and password (defaults) I immediately get an error "Your system is in Safe Mode. Reboot your system. If this persists the PLM is defective in all likelihood." I have checked connections by unplugging and replugging and rebooting. I have reset the ISY. I have restored the ISY. I have attempted to restore PLM and receive an error "Failed resetting the PLM (-200000/-30)." Is it the likelihood that my "new" PLM is now failed? Is this a surety that I have another failed PLM or are there other means or methods for getting the system back up and running. Incidentally, the PLM has a greenish LED on the side lit. The ISY has 2 blue LED lights lit, Power and Rx. My console shows all the devices with a green write to device label on the left side of each. Is there any way to recover access to my devices short of replacing the PLM?
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I might have finally understood the situation. When I set up this control circuit, I added the two Insteon devices by address and then I linked the switch to the motion sensor II by manually setting the linkage totally independent from the ISY programming feature. I then programmed the circuit to come on with motion only during the day up until 11 pm and then not come on from 11 pm to sunrise. I think I have got it to run that way now by breaking the manually set linkage (ie. remove switchlinc as a responder to Motion Sensor II). Now I believe I have the relationship ONLY controlled by the program and in testing it seems to work that way. Being bold, I created two bands of time frames where the light will come on with motion outside the 11 PM to dawn -1 hour time frame where the Motion Sensor will not command the switch to turn on the light. My wife will be happy if this now works this way. Tonight after 11 PM if my wife visits the bathroom and the light does not come on, I will have succeeded. I did notice that if I manually turn on the light it will stay on without motion but after 5 minutes any motion will shut the light off. Is that a proper response? Should I not be able to manually light the circuit for as long as I need it? Or do I need to add some additional logic? By the way, I went back and restored both devices making sure the MS II was in set mode after I had done a factory reset to clear any extraneous conditions on the devices. I will let you know how things work tomorrow but as of right now the light is remaining off at 2:30 PM when the sun has illuminated that bathroom and needs no artificial lighting. Keeping my fingers crossed but I do appreciate the coaching assistance. I think I understand better what I am doing now. BTW the manual linking of sensor and receptor ... is that equivalent to a "scene" even though it is not an ISY scene?
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1) the program has no unsaved changes. I have closed and opened it and saved changes with no effect. 2) I have no other programs that use this light as a responder. I disabled the only program I wrote for the control of the Motion Sensor comm with the switch relay. I do not sense any other programs being triggered. Looking back at the program I am trying to replicate, the plain English terminology is "turn off light" Is this the same as in my program logic "Insteon set "Shower light MB" off? Where Shower light MB is my Insteon Model 2477S on/off relay switch? Does the "set" off command for the relay freeze out any command sent from the Motion Sensor? I will try it again tonight but suspect there will be no change with what I did today.
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I have not created any scene using these two newly installed devices. I added the relay and the motion sensor II and linked both addresses as devices in the ISY controller and then set up the single program to try to disable the command for turning on the light after 11 PM and before sunrise. I am attaching a screenshot of my motion sensor and its set device options which also show no evidence of scenes
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Answers to your questions: Not completely. No and No. I have not totally disregarded your warnings about scenes but have not heeded them either. I will try to verify whether I have a scene or not now. However, I was able to check my revised programming last evening. The program works more like it should but not exactly how I want it yet because after 11 PM the light briefly comes on but then shuts off after a couple of seconds and then stays off. I am seeking for the light to stay completely off (not momentarily come on and then extinguish) between 11 PM and sunrise of the next day but it is better than it was. I will look for whether this motion sensor and relay (both newly installed from the box) are set up in a scene. If so, I did not intentionally set up the scene. I think the refinements to the program are getting me closer to my goal. I do need to better understand the concept of scenes. I have tinkered with scenes recently in setting up a fanlinc in a completely different circuit. I finally got the fanlinc to work the way I want using Alexa and voice commands and the ISY portal. I will freely admit I do not fully understand what I know about it but can eventually get things to work following instructions from several sources. Thanks for bearing with me.
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I see the option near the bottom: Export to Clipboard I did that and here is what results after a paste: <?xml version="1.0" ?><triggers><d2d><trigger><id>10</id><name>MB Shower</name><parent>1</parent><if><and /><schedule><from><sunrise>0</sunrise></from><to><time>82800</time></to></schedule><and /><device><node>4A 45 BF 1</node><op>=</op><control>DON</control></device></if><then><device><node>46 11 EF 1</node><control>DON</control></device><wait><minutes>2</minutes></wait><device><node>46 11 EF 1</node><control>DOF</control><action>0</action></device></then><else><device><node>46 11 EF 1</node><control>DOF</control><action>0</action></device></else><comment></comment></trigger></d2d></triggers> Even when I try to paste it as plain text. I can pick out the program steps but it is not exactly listed as plain English as listed on the program content. Is this how export to clipboard works when the content is pasted?
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I tried the copy program line and paste but all it did was replicate the program as a program line copy and I was unable to paste its content to the Forum. That would be a nice feature to use if I can figure it out. I did the right click method and it replicated but would not right click paste the content into the Forum block I also did a control C method but it only copied the title of the program. Off topic but of interest to me.
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I made the change from "status" to "control" and noticed one other important omission. I left out the turn off the light after 2 minutes command. I have now corrected both problems and the logic looks like what I am attaching in the snipping attached. I'll test it again this evening. I knew that you cannot command the motion sensor to stop but I thought you could negate its command to switch on the light. An interrupt of sorts. Thanks for helping me troubleshoot.
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I tried my program last evening and the motion sensor triggered the light after 11 PM. How exactly do I address the motions sensor in the program logic? I have three separate identities for the motion sensor in my lighting list 1) MB Motion dusk-dawn 2) MB Motion low bat and 3 ) MB Motion sensor. When I wrote my logic as you suggested, where you say If "control motion sensor" is turned ON my logic says, If status 'MB Motion sensor' is ON Should there not be a line statement that commands the motion sensor to off or disabled during the times I do not want to trigger the light? Again, this is a Motion Sensor II and no jumpers are involved. DO I need to use the program approach with my older Motion Sensor until interfaces are defined?
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I have no jumpers on the Motion Sensor II; only on the older motion sensor. I have written the program for my MS II and will monitor the reaction after 11 PM this evening to see if the Motion Sensor is disabled and the light is not commanded on. If that does not work I will go back to the older MS to see if I can implement the scene solution. Thanks for both responses.
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I integrated a new Insteon Switch (2477S) and a motion sensor II (2844-222) into a single light circuit with motion on and time out into my ISY994i with installed firmware 4.6.2. Coincidentally, I saw something where control of MSII is not complete until version 5.x.x whenever that will be. My simple circuit works but I would like to disable the motion sensing during a block of hours, for example, between 11 PM and dawn. I wrote a simple program but am not sure it is properly written as it does not disable the light from illuminating during the period I want it disabled. Is there a way to do this with ISY994i and the current lack of capability for the new MS II sensor? By program or otherwise? Additional Background: I have an older MS (2420M, 1909 rev 1.1) that has no adjustable timeout so I bought the new one only to find it seems to be no different. The MS II seems to have a fixed timeout of about 1 minute; the older one stays on for much longer and never seemed to time out. (Always stayed on even with the proper jumper 4 unbridged). I think the older MS was supposed to timeout at 1 minute also with jumper 4 unbridged. I performed several factory resets on the older MS before resorting to purchasing the new MS II.
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I just received one of the new leak sensors from Smarthome and am anxious to use it for detecting water in my basement around the a/c condenser sump pump and the floor around the water heater. I have an ISY99i and believe it is not yet integrated into its firmware but it will at some point soon. I used the quick set up card to set up the device (leak sensor 2852-222, 4212 rev 1.0) as a controller by linking it with a 2486D KeypadLinc Dimmer v. 2D controlling a simple fluorescent light bulb in a pendant lamp in the kitchen. I am successfully communicating as I can light the bulb and the LED on the Dimmer by pressing the set button. I used a small puddle of water on the kitchen counter to cause the device to light the bulb and the LED using the water to bridge the sensor's two electrodes. I think it is working but I am not sure it is working as designed as the literature is sparse. The quick start guide infers you can extinguish the light by pressing the set button but releasing it and it does not cause the light to go off. The controller link would have more utility if the bulb were to flash off and on so it would better signal an urgent problem rather than to have to surmise from a lit bulb a need to check the sensor location. I presume a simple binary sensor like this and a link to the Keypad device will not do that directly but will I be able to set something up so it operates that way when the sensor is integrated into the ISY 99 automation controller? Eventually as I gain confidence in this sensor I'd like to also add a device to turn off the water supply and add other sensors to places where water is undesired.
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I thought I'd close out this discussion with a status report. I returned my PLM and obtained a replacement from Smarthome. The transaction was painless. I installed the new PLM about an hour or so ago and have successfully linked all my relays without any difficulty. The new PLM corrected the no op situation. I am now refining my understanding of scenes so I might fine tune my setup. I'll likely be back with questions on operations as I learn. Thanks for all your support and advice. Jim
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dnl, I might have been a little sloppy in my terminology. The cables I am using are the two supplied blue Ethernet (3 feet long each) cables that came with the unit and I believe were identical. The packaging said Cat 5 or some derivative, but I do not have them here with me so I cannot verify it. These should be sufficient as all I was really trying to report was that I had switched them in an effort to rule out a bad cable. Sorry to confuse and I do appreciate you suggesting some additional consideration if my unit continues to be inoperative when I receive and plug in the new PLM. Jim
