starmanj

There were old discussion but no solutions yet. Wouldn't it be cool to push a button and play an Itunes playlist? So you can airplay music on-demand to zones in your home? Without fumbling with a phone? I am running Itunes on a dedicated home windows server. Airplay activates on-demand amplifiers to play music in the house. I can play music via my Ipad or android via Itunes controller apps, but want to push an Insteon button or activate music via geofencing. Has anybody done this yet? How? Thanks Starmanj

Yep deleting and re-adding fixed it. Now updates in real time. Question-- how often is status checked by the ISY? I get notified about every minute, is this the default polling rate? Thanks! Starmanj

Michel, Thanks for the tips. I did the link count-- it's 532. I don't think I have 532 linkable objects in the house, but it's possible-- every light switch, EZIO relays, etc. Don't I get 1000 links in a PLM? The program worked at 3am when the ISY does its standard nightly "Query All". So I must do a query for it to work. Starmanj

Anybody? It's a Venstar Insteon thermostat. If I do a manual query, the program works. But it won't work if I just let it run checking "status".

I have "if status of thermostat < 60 degrees" then "send notification to my email". Problem is, it doesn't work. Do I need to get the ISY to make a query first? On a regular schedule? Thanks Starmanj

All working great. It's good to know you can get your money's worth out of the EZIO8SA. All 8 relays are performing (motorized blinds), as well as all 4 digital inputs (motion sensors). DSC alarm panel isn't complaining either. Hope this thread can help anyone else with same issues. Starmanj

Thanks for input-- I assumed if I introduced a 1k resistor in series with EZIO that it would cause an even greater voltage drop across the EZIO; the manual says it needs 3v, but it works now with 2v. A resistor would take a piece of that voltage across it, leaving less for the EZIO (I think-- been 30 years since my EE classes). After resetting the DSC panel, the warning alarms reset and all seems well. I'll hook up other two motion sensors to EZIO tomorrow and program light "pass-thru" zones. I'm also going to setup alarm emails for when I'm away. It's nice having a hard-wired non-battery motion sensor!

Okay folks it is now fully working. The problem: for some reason the EZIO state wasn't matched to the ISY. I restored the EZIO to match the ISY settings and the digital inputs work. Also the 2V seems sufficient to trigger the EZIO now, directly on the 1I+ and 1I- terminals. I'm going to see if the DSC panel is happy with seeing only 2V vs. 6v when the motion sensor is triggered. If it's happy, then problem solved. FYI I created a scene for the motion sensor to trip a light in my office. My office light is tripping on and off constantly when someone passes through the "zone". Now I'll create a program to "dampen" the events by leaving the light on for 5 minutes before I turn it off.

THanks LeeG- I tied +12V to 1I+, and GND to 1I-. I saw the PLM light flash, but still see no event on ISY. I wonder if the EZIO is defective, or the ISY is paired wrong. All the output relays are working find raising and lowering blinds in the house. The analog inputs are both tied to GND, had to do that to get the output relays to work.

Wow. What a journey of discovery. So the alarm panel has 6.6v across its zone. The motion sensor has a resistance of 30 ohms when closed, and zero voltage when open. So the problem is the alarm panel wants to see 6volts or so when the motion sensor is triggered therefore open. Adding the EZIO in parallel drops the resistance so the panel can't output a full 6volts, only 2 volts. I tried taking the alarm panel and seeing if its 6 volts would trigger the EZIO. I'm looking at the ISY event viewer set to "device communications events". I don't see any traffic from the EZIO even with the 6 volts, though I do see the PLM light up when I touch 1I+ and 1I-. Shouldn't I see the event then?

I was thinking of boosting voltage across the Digital input #1. The analog inputs, 5 and 6, might be triggered by a 2V input, I will try that also. Starmanj

Can I use the +12v source on the EZIO with a "pull-up" resistor I have heard about?

Thanks for suggestion folks --HOWEVER when I tied my EZIO8SA in parallel, voltage drops from 6v to 2V, which does not trigger the EZIO (when I view the event viewer), and may not trigger the alarm panel but I'm not sure. Is there anyway to get around this? Starmanj

You are both quite correct, I had someone walking in front of the sensor to read voltage originally but must have tested the wrong one. There is a 6 volt reading when the sensor is activated. Therefore LeeG's suggestion of tying the alarm panel in parallel directly to 1I+ and 1I- is the way to go. Thanks, I am grateful for the wonderful assistance available on this forum! Starmanj

Hi Lee- I don't get any voltage across the motion sensor relay connections, so I don't think it will trigger the EZIO across 1I- and 1I+. STRANGE thing is how I can get lower resistance when I uncouple the motion sensor leads from the alarm-- my old EE class taught me resistance always drops when you add a circuit in parallel. The DSC panel must do something active to the motion sensor relay circuit. I guess I'll just try all scenarios and see what happens. I'll tell the alarm company to ignore alarms. Worst case I fry the DSC panel. I must be the first person to try this on a "normally closed" motion sensor... Starmanj

Thanks for the help-- the DSC panel is model PC1832 installed 6 moths ago. Brian I think you are right; it's 90 ohms if tested directly on the panel, but only 40 ohms through the sensor if I remove the leads from the panel. I was planning to leave the terminals on the DSC panel and tie into the EZIO in parallel. I am assuming this won't interfere with the DSC panel. TJF1960 I am also worried about flooding from the motion sensors always triggering, but isn't the same true for the wireless Insteon motion sensor? So I am assuming the powerline network as well as ISY can handle the signal flood. I hope to find out. My original idea was to use "smart lighting" by creating motion-triggered lighting at night. A "pass-through zone" where dim lighting comes on as you walk through a zone, and automatically turns off after a minute, using existing pre-wired motion sensors.

Thanks Lee-- So am I right that both scenarios will have a current most of the time (since the sensors are closed normally)? That is, I1+ is directly connected to I1- inside the EZIO, and the EZIO is detecting current or no current? I suppose the 90 ohms will give the +12v a resistance and prevent a short circuit, but I'm a little concerned about the resistors and power supply under constant load. I guess that's what they are made for--? Is there any way to test if the two motion connection wires are optically isolated from the other two power wires that connect to the alarm panel? Are most 4-wire motion detectors opto-isolated? Will bad things happen if they really aren't isolated?

I hoped there might be expertise here on this; can't find anything in simplehomenet's site. The EZIO8SA manual says this: Inputs I1 - I4 can be used in a way that the signal source is totally isolated from the EZIO8SA, as may be the requirement for certain alarm panel monitoring. In this case, the input must provide a voltage between 3 and 30 VDC, connected between the positive (Ix+) and negative (I1– or I2-) terminals. If isolation is not required, these inputs can easily be connected to “dry†contact closures such as those from external relays, proximity detectors or door closure sensors. In this case, connect the positive (I1+ or I2+) terminal to the +12V terminal, and the contact closure between the negative (I1- or I2-) terminal and the GND terminal. I have DSC alarm panel, with a 4-wire motion detector. Two leads are power, two leads are "normally closed" with resistance of 90 ohms read at the alarm panel. There are no resistors in-line with the motion detectors. Am I correct to treat the motion detectors as "dry" contact closures? The last sentence above is confusing-- do I run a line directly from say DI1+ to the +12v terminal on the EZIO, and then take the two contact leads and screw one into DI1- and the OTHER lead to the GND terminal? I'm not sure what that would accomplish. When the motion sensor triggers, it OPENS the connection, therefore disconnecting DI1- right to GND. How will that trigger the EZIO? It seems like there will normally be 12 volts shorted to GND all the time?? This can't be right... Help? Starmanj

So the If Control is a better way. It now works correctly with no delay. Thanks, I'll look at the Wiki again- Starmanj

Thanks Lee. What is the difference between "control" and "status"? I thought if status was on, then the light would turn on, and stay on as long as status stays on. If status turns off, then the wait timer would expire and the light would turn off. When I move in front of the sensor immediately after, status becomes on...? Starmanj

I attached a picture.

I set the sensing mode option to avoid the countdown. But it still won't run the program again unless I manually run the program (run the if statement)-- then the light turns on with no delay. The program is active (green icon), but it won't execute automatically.

I'm trying to use an Insteon motion sensor to turn on a local light for 15 seconds, as I'm "passing through" at night. So it turns on when motion is sensed, waits 20 seconds, then turns off. Problem: It works the first time, turns off, but then won't turn on again. Does the ISY have a program delay once a program is triggered? I would think as soon as the wait period is over, and lights turn off, the ISY would be armed for the next motion sense. Or maybe the Insteon has a delay between active triggers? Any ideas? Thanks! Starmanj

Looks like it was a corrupted PLM database. I deleted the EZIO and re-added and it seems to work now (though there is still a database mismatch on one relay). Before the ISY had no data pulled from the EZIO.

I have an EZIO8SA controlling my window shades. I can raise and lower the shades when in admin console controlling the ISY just fine. But when I make a scene, using a keypadlinc button as controller and the relay as responder, nothing happens. If I manually move the relay "on level" inside the scene from 0 to 100, the relay triggers. But the controller key does nothing. Am I missing something? Does the ISY think the relay is a dimmer or something? Thanks! Starmanj