KeviNH

Entirely unrelated, this is for OpenADR, just reports whether the VTN (Virtual Top Node) is online. The VTN is usually a service running out at your utility company, not a device in your home, and the status does not do a traditional PING test.

I like the idea of having a way to do delays in Network Resources, but suspect this project goes beyond what can be expected of Network Resources. If you have a rPi or some other always-on unix-like computer, you could have an "expect" script that runs on that computer and which can handle the prompt-and-response interactiveness of your startup needs. Then you can use a Network Resource to make a call out to the rPi to cause it to run that program.

If you have the network module (or Portal), any program on the ISY994 use a notification to append to a local webpage. See here: http://forum.universal-devices.com/topic/17927-debug-or-log-for-program-execution-in-isy/?p=163240 I use this to make a simple and legible daily log of what I consider important events. Using variables in the notification, I only had to make 2 custom notifications to log all the various door/light/sensor events I want to see in my log.

Which model (e.g. 75790)? What firmware? TMK, the "Insteon" camera doesn't have any inherent "Insteon" functionality. The configuration to have the camera send email when motion is detected is entirely done in the camera setup, not in ISY, and is covered in the documentation. Some firmware in a few brands of IP cameras offer a "HTTP on alarm" setting which can be used to trigger an ISY event.

That's a very common deployment,if you use an iolinc with multiple inputs, you can connect more than one of the relays, so a single iolinc can tell you which channel was triggered. I'd be happier if I could avoid all that wiring and get a fully functional Smartenit EZSnsRF. I talked to Dakota Alert at ISC West a few months back, and they said they are working on an updated receiver with built-in Z-Wave functionality, so it will appear as an open/close Z-Wave sensor for easy home automation.

First, skip the Smartenit EZSnsRF, I never got it to work reliably. Using the Dakota base-station receiver relays with IOlinc works great, but it's really a solution for when range is an issue, could be overkill for your needs. The Dakota driveway alert with the buried coil works very well for detecting a car coming up your driveway, is the best solution to reduce false positives. Getting back to motion detection, the motion sensor in the Dakota and the Insteon motion are both Passive Infrared Sensor (PIR), so a clear case may not work; you need a material that is transparent to infrared light -- many "clear" plastics block infrared, and some translucent plastics (e.g. polyethylene) pass IR. That's how Dakota does it, they have a less-than-weatherproof PIR sensor inside a weatherproof box with a window:

Remotely power-cycling the ISY994 every day at 2AM seems excessive, mine very rarely actually "freezes", and I use the above-mentioned web-controlled power if it happens. You can take measures to ensure that initial values are appropriate values, for example I have this program, and also I manually save certain variables current value as the Init value when important changes to variables are made (as this requires a write to SD, I try not to do it too often): SaveState If Time is 1:55 AM Then $s.Home Init To $s.Home $s.GuestCount Init To $s.GuestCount (etc, etc) $i.FanRuntime Init To $i.FanRunTime

I use these professionally all the time, have a few at home. Models by APC, Cyberpower, and Web Power Switch are all good products, prices vary, but none are cheap. They are also good for controlling the startup order after a power outage, you can set the order of startup and delay so you can have the cablemodem come up first, then your firewall, then the ISY. I like using these for remote recovery of crashed devices (including my ISY) because they have a 'Cycle Outlet' option, which will turn off the selected outlet, wait X seconds ,then turn it back on. This way I can remotely force the ISY to reset with a single click. For around a hundred bucks you can find older Digital Loggers brand "Web Power Switches" on eBay. Most can be easily controlled by sending a HTTP request as a Network Resource, so you can use the ISY to control other devices, or even have the ISY reboot itself using 'Cycle'!

Simple answer on the variable question -- when using a variable as the only folder condition, always use a state variable. If you know you never would want to use the variable you are creating as a condition, go ahead and make it an Integer, but if you think you'll ever need to use that variable to trigger a program, make it a state variable; you can't go back and change type later. Also, if you're going to make constant variables like $cTrue and $cFalse, go ahead and make those integer variables. The easiest way to run a program on demand is to make it run when you press a button on a Keypadlinc. Program "Saw Home Button" If Control 'Front Door Keypadlinc - B Home' is switched Off Then Run Program 'Goodbye' (Then Path) $Away = 1 Set Scene 'Bye Buttons Track Away value' Off Regarding the above program formatting -- To make code samples appear highlighted, paste the text, select it with the mouse, then in the editor toolbar click on the .

You might be able to do this with your existing alarm and sensors, just need an interface device, some software, something to run it on (e.g. rPi) Many, but not all, older ADT systems use a Ademoco/Honeywell "Vista" Panels (Vista20P, 21iP, 15P, 10P, 128P, and 250P) alarm "brain" which is compatible with the interface box needed for 'dsclinc' or the other two ways to integrate these specific alarms with ISY. Warning: Expect to spend +$150 and a fair amount of time getting this working.

This is a good application for "State" variables. Use a variable as the folder condition, and you have multiple options for setting the variable to a 1 or a 0 to enable or disable the folder: Folder Conditions for 'Away' If $I_am_Home < 1 Then Allow the programs in this folder to run. I have an Insteon "Open/Close" sensor attached to a key hook. When my keys are hanging on the hook, then the sensor sees the door as closed, and a program runs that sets $I_am_Home to 1. Pick up the keys, and a program runs that resets the variable to zero: Keys Up If Status 'Home / A.Wireless / Keys are Gone' is On And $I_am_Home is 1 Then Set Scene 'Goodbye' Off $I_am_Home = 0 Wait 15 seconds $I_am_Home Init To 0 Notice that this program only runs if the variable started out set to 1? If I use a program or otherwise set $I_am_home to 2, I can force it to always see me as home, even if the keys are on the hook. Or set it to -1 and it always sees me as away.

ISY994z on UPS works fine for me. My PLM is plugged into a "panel outlet" at the breaker box, then patched 30 feet away to where the UPS and ISY are located. The ISY recovers without an issue when the PLM loses power and then comes back, sometimes hours later. The biggest downside to keeping the ISY up during outages is that I lose all the benefits of Catch up schedules at Restart./ Missed Schedule Grace Period.

Pi is a very deep hole. Deeper even than Arduino. So far I've been able to resist both of those. I've looked around for simpler options to control a display or array of LEDs with something more specific to the purpose. Anybody worked with NodeMCU?

Lastly, don't forget the usefulness of the Network Module. With this, you can have a program update a local webpage stored on the ISY itself, or send a TCP/UDP network command to any intranet/internet connected device or service. Some of us have even implemented Text-To-Speech: local audio announcements via ISY programs. A Raspberry Pi board can control a dozen or more LEDs independently.

If you have Z-Wave and don't need extra sensors directly controlling the thermostat, the Honeywell YTH8320ZW1007 has worked well for me. I did read that Honeywell won't honor their 1-Year warranty unless you spring for the professional installation, but I was just swapping out an older Honeywell touchscreen, it was easy enough to copy over the settings, so I installed it myself. I figured that since it was selling at around a hundred bucks (only a slight premium over their $72 non-networked touchscreen model), and nearly all of the cost was covered by utility rebate, if I didn't like it I could sell or gift the thermostat to a relative who doesn't already have a smart thermostat. The YTH8320ZW1007/TH8320ZW1000 works perfectly fine as a standalone 7-day programmable when you turn off Zwave.

I'm not sure what they're thinking -- The ISY994zw has full control of the Z-wave thermostat, so you control it just like you would anything else connected to your ISY, e.g. via the Portal. While the ISY has a "Synchronize Clock" button on the UI, that does not work (returns a "Request failed" message). However the thermostat has a CR2032 coin cell battery to maintain the clock, though if you fail to replace the battery then the thermostat would lose the time and other settings when the power goes out.

I've gotten used to it. Might even say I've gotten so good at working around it that I've stopped taing notice. The sentence "adding a piece of hardware and spending time configuring some software because a piece of commercial equipment is missing a pretty basic feature" describes a significant source of my income for the past two decades. If you think it's annoying to spend a couple hundred bucks and find out the features you need are not only not implemented but aren't on the vendor's roadmap, imagine how corporate directors feel when that happens in relation to a six figure software package? I'm not saying it's the way things should be, but it's a living.

I didn't write my own interface. That's basically what I did; took a commercially available proxy and wrote about 5 lines of configuration settings to: Deny requests for admin Deny requests not coming from specific internal IPs Permit requests for the WebUI and certain REST commands (RunIf, RunThen, etc). Insert an authentication header with the ISY username,password. forward permitted requests to the ISY. Took me about an hour to set up and test.

There is no supported way to do this with just the ISY by itself. Do you have any sort of a server on your local network, something like a Raspberry Pi or another Unix-like machine that is always on? If so, you can make this work by running a listener on that machine that forwards lighting commands but blocks admin commands. It's not trivial, but it is possible.

When you say "double switches" are you talking about 3-way switches (multiple switches in different parts of the house, both controlling the same light), or do you have two switches, controlling two different lights, in a single-gang box? Double switch: My previous home had a bunch of these installed (usually rotated 90 degrees), and they were a pain as were the very cramped single-gang shallow steel junction boxes they were installed in.

FWIW, my monochrome touchscreen Honeywell Z-Wave thermostat doesn't have the same issues as their WiFi models. No unexplained dropouts, and the temperature reported by the thermostat is always within half a degree of the temperature reported by an Aeotec Zwave multisensor (about 8 feet away). The user interface is almost as good as the older Honeywell monochrome touchscreen thermostat, it does lack the ability to set "Hold temperature until ..." when manually setting the temperature at the thermostat.

Yes, a multimeter will be fine. I think by "Voltage Indicator" he means the simple single-lamp devices intended to just show that some AC voltage exists (also known as a "Voltage Detector"), but not the voltage level (e,g, 24, 48, or 120VAC). The multimeter will give the voltage level.

I'm happy with my Honeywell YTH8320ZW1007 z-wave thermostat. I've had it installed for a year, am about to install a second one for my other zone. With no dependency on WiFi/Cloud, it works great as a 7-day programmable without depending on outside resources, and provides fast remote control and reporting via Z-Wave. I track how many minutes/day the heat or AC is running with a simple ISY program, and also have a program to do geofencing so the thermostat switches to "Energy Save" mode when nobody is home. The Honeywell package includes a "wire saver module" for upgrading 4-wire installs.

UDI should add the option of automated backups to the portal.

Sounds like a good application for an opto-isolator. Commercially potted optoisolators usually provide multi-kilovolt isolation from mains current. You could buy one, or build a simple circuit in 5 minutes with white LED and photoresistor or phototransistor. See here: http://forum.universal-devices.com/topic/9381-laundry-monitoring/?p=74800