csetter911

I looked at the IOLincs, but they got horrible reviews. So we tapped into the elevators existing programmable logic controller: http://www.tri-plc.com/t100md1616.htm But of course it requires learning a little different form of logic. It's amazing the stuff you can do with a programmable logic controller, a bunch of relays, triggerlincs, and the ISY-99i. It was so reliable I got my hands on a second controller just to play with. Because the elevator "call button" is the same thing as the elevator cab "floor button", we had to do some logic to determine whether the elevator was picking someone up or was dropping someone off. One thing that was interesting if anyone ever tries it... if you ever try to hardwire multiple triggerlincs to a permanent power source (instead of the AA battery), they cannot be wired in series. They will not properly distribute power evenly. You will probably have to get a 1.5v power supply and hook them up in parallel.

Works awesome!!! I can't believe how quick you guys figured this out!! I owe you guys!!! Pure awesomeness!

Xathros: yours worked!!! You are a smart cookie. The only problem is that I was hoping to put a "wait" of 15 seconds before the lights turn on from the button press. This is because it is a glass elevator, and it is pretty sweet to see the lights fade up as you are arriving (it's a slow elevator) Based on your code, if I put that 15 seconds in, I would need to also make there be a "wait" of 15 seconds to see if the lights actually turn off. I am sorry for not mentioning it earlier, but I was trying to keep it simple. oberkc: I will give your code a try as well and report back You guys are awesome!!!

Xathros: Unfortunately, that does not work. Your program turns the lights off perfectly. But when you turn them on with a single button press, they turn on and then immediately turn off. Again, this is because pressing and releasing the button has the opposite effect of a traditional insteon switch.

You are exactly right... as I said in the previous post: When I monitor it in the Universal Devices Administrative Console "the "Opened" port on the triggerlinc goes from On (button not pressed) to Off (while button is pressed) and back to On (after the button is released)." Basically, the inverse of what you would expect. Here is what I got: --------------------------------------------------------- "Floor 1A" Program: If Status 'Elevator 1-Opened' is On Then Set Scene 'Basement Scene 1 - Group' Fade Up --------------------------------------------------------- "Floor 1B" Program: If Status 'Elevator 1-Opened' is Off Then Wait 2 seconds Set Scene 'Basement Scene 1 - Group' Fade Down ---------------------------------------------------------- As I said before, I have also tried to switch the "status" of each code around (to match the recommend code). But it still caused the same problem (albeit with the inverse results). Thoughts?

Nope, they still kick on and then off. And if I reverse the status's of the 2 programs around they kick off and then on. The problem is as soon as you release the button it sends the "on command". So while you hold in the button you are golden. But as soon as you release it, the other command will happen. I have even tried separate programs to "disable" the program midway. No such luck. Unless you guys know of a better way around this problem, I was actually thinking maybe I might need to have the button control a lamplinc (that doesn't actually control anything). That way the holding it down would set lamplinc's dim level. Then have a program "read" that dim level (greater or less than xx%) to determine how long the button was held. - i.e. if button was pressed within the 10 seconds and lamplinc level is less than 50%, turn lights on. if button was pressed within the 10 seconds and lamplinc level is more than 50%, turn lights off. - But obviously that is a pretty shaky way of programming this thing... I only wanted to try that as a last resort

no dice. Just that program alone does not turn on the lights. If I run a separate program to turn the lights on when the triggerlinc is triggered (or if I put it in the 'else' command), the lights turn on then immediately turn off again (as that what your code seems to tell it to do). This is the same problem I have been having for 2 days. I can get them to turn on. I can get them to turn off. But I can't get them to work together. A big reason seems to be that you can make it perform a function while holding in the button, but once you release it, the new "released" command seems to override the "pressing in" command.... if that makes sense. Any other thoughts? On a side note, the jumper is still in place on the triggerlinc. So the "Opened" port on the triggerlinc goes from On (button not pressed) to Off (while button is pressed) and back to On (after the button is released).

Hi Guys, I was hoping that since almost all of you seem much smarter than me at this... maybe you can help me with something that I have been having problems with for 2 days now. I am going to try and keep this simple and give you the "quick version". I have an elevator. Inside that elevator you have the floor buttons (1st floor, 2nd floor, and 3rd floor). Each "floor" button is connected to it's own triggerlinc. When you press the "1st floor" button it activates the 1st floor triggerlinc, which in turn turns on the 1st floor lights. So currently the way it is setup, you get in the elevator and press a floor, the lights come on in the floor you are going to. Works awesome!!! Here is the part I am having trouble with. Let's forget about all of the other floors for simplicity sake. I would like to press the "1st floor" button and have the lights come on. But I would also like to press the "1st floor" button for several seconds and have them turn off. Basically making the same button (i.e. the same triggerlinc) have two different commands. Almost like a "on" vs a "fast on". The problem I keep having, is that no matter how I program it in the ISY-99i, I can't get it to work right. It seems like it should be simple, but in practice it isn't (or at least it isn't for me). By pressing the button and holding it in, I have been successful in making the lights turn off, but as soon as I release the button the "light on" command initiates again. So I guess what I am looking for is some type of time-based variable for the triggerlinc??? Something that says if the triggerlinc is "triggered" for less than 2 seconds turn on the lights, if it is pressed for more than 2 seconds turn on the lights? Maybe? Thoughts? Please?

In regards to your browser question... no, I normally have to pull the plug on the ISY... restarting the browser (and clearing Java) does not normally fix it. I bet today I have reset my ISY about 15 times. The point is... I have WAY to many problems with this thing to post on this forum. I understand upgrading can cause trouble... but this thing is useless since I can't even make minor modifications. This isn't a "user" issue, this is a contant "locking-up" issue. In fact I just got done rebooting my ISY 3 times in a row to make it work again. When I finally got it back up the KPL that i just got done totally reprogramming after a factory reset shows approximately 60 "missing this record" and "record mismatch" errors in the diagnostic comparison. How do you guys handle upgrades? Can it be returned if I still have problems? Can me and my baseball bat get a little "pay back" time with the ISY-26 before we send it in? (that was a joke... unless I really can... because I would really love to). Thanks, CJ

Yes, I had some of those problems. I had to factory reset the devices that were "magically" turning on to make the problem go away. It was the only way I found to fix it.

Hi Mike, I resolved my firewall/antivirus problem over a year ago. I can (typically) access my ISY. I can also typically make changes to my ISY... but with every change that i try to make... something else always seems to stop working. It just seems like an endless uphill battle. I am simply curious if other have the same "on-going struggle" issues I experience or if perhaps i am in the minority. I have gotten to the point that I dont even want to touch my ISY because it seems more unstable then a beta version of windows. For example yesterday I attempted to add a light to a scene. I add the light, but when I go to adjust the ramp rates the ISY hangs up. I power cycle the ISY and now the trigger doesnt seem to work for the scene. I decide to restore my ISY and install the latest upgrade. So I... - Installed upgrade - That made my motion detectors show up as "unsupported devices" - Factory reset all my motion detectors (since restoring them did not work) - Had to update all of my motion detector programs - Then a "motion off" button on my KPL stopped working as a result - KPL restore did not work - Had to factory reset my KPL - Had to then reprogram all my other KPL buttons - etc. - fast forward 18 hours and I finally get that one light added to the scene I run into a large drawn-out problem every time I mess with the ISY (from anyone of my 3 computers). I am not looking for a "solution" to a single problem, I have trouble shooted my way for over a year (after-all it was a battle for me to just get the 70 scenes working). I have even gone as far to re-do my entire ISY. No offense, but I find myself asking how this product can have such great reviews. That is why I asked... I thought perhaps I was just in the minority. If everyone else has a (for the most part) trouble-free ISY experience, I would gladly upgrade. But if my experience is very common, I would rather save my sanity at this point All i'm trying to figure out is when the "average joe" adds a device, or modifies a scene, or does an upgrade, etc to his ISY... how often does something go wrong with the ISY? 1% of the time? 25%? 50%? CJ p.s. I hope that this does not come across as rude... I really do appreciate the excellent support you guys provide. But I've spent literally hundreds of hours struggling with the Insteon/ISY combo in a hundred different ways. Does my "problem" seem normal or rare?

Hi Guys, I have a ISY-26 and was wondering if you could give me your opinion. For over a year I have found that whenever I try to do just about anything with my ISY-26 it becomes a major headache. I find myself resetting the ISY a couple times, deleting the Java files repeatedly, restoring devices, factory resetting devices, etc. everytime I try to make the simplest change or program. I try to keep up with all of the upgrades (although I do not remember a time when anything was ever easy with the device). I have approximately 130 insteon devices (ranging from motion detectors to keypad lincs) and around 70 scenes. I run only about 20 programs (I would run many more if I could ever get them to work). I do appear to have plenty of memory left over (and like I said, this has always been a problem). I have filterlincs all plugged into the tvs, plenty of access points, etc. Is it possible that some people make a change to a scene or a program... and ISY/Insteon simply works everytime?? I don't mean this to sound sarcastic at all... I ask b/c mine almost never does without having to do some type of power cycle. When I finally get it working... it works great. But getting 1 simple program to work takes me literally 10 hours of "resetting this..." and "clearing that..." (this especially true when I have to start factory resetting stuff... and then reprogramming). Basically... is the ISY a rather sensitive device that requires all of the Insteon devices to work 100% defect free? Or do you guys think I might have a defective unit? I am just trying to get a sense of everyone else's day-to-day experience with the ISY. Thanks for your time CJ

Correct me if Im wrong... but if I set it as a controller in a scene, then made a program to only allow it to run at certain times... wouldnt that go something like: -motion detector senses motion & sends "on" command -light immediately turns on (because it is the responder) -program runs (for scheduled times) -statement becomes false and the ISY turns off the light So what you would end up with is a light that comes on for a second and then turns off. I think the ISY "programs" is what takes the extra 1-2 seconds (since it actually has to process the logic information). That is why I was looking to see if anyone knew of any other (albeit it more complicated) workarounds.

The problem with setting the jumpers to "on only" is the motion detector does not seem to "refresh" the "on" command in programs very dependably. It's really a shame... I had such high hopes for these little sensors

Hello Everyone, I have been testing out the new insteon motion detectors and have noticed that when I directly link the motion detector to a device (making a "New Scene" and making the 2420M a controller and another device a responder) I get almost no delay (from motion to light-on). As an alternative, if I use the motion sensor as a "trigger" for a program to have a light turn on I notice I get an almost 3 second delay. Is everyone else experiencing this as well?? Is this just the nature of the beast? So I find myself trying to have the best of both worlds… I (like everyone else) am trying to figure out how to: Have an "instant-on" (no delay) "on" response similar to when there is a direct link, but be able to set at least some variables. So here is what I am trying to do: 1. I have a KPL button called "Motion Off" that disables many of my programs that are "motion" activated. I had this working previously with some Dakota Motions and an EZSnsRF (I didn't care for the unreliability and delay of these devices… when you have too many the signals seem to cancel each other out). Basically, there are motion detectors in every room and when I roll over in bed would prefer for the lights not to come on For instance, all this would be achievable if there was some way to "prevent" a 2420M signal from being processed by the insteon network between the hours of 11:00PM & 6:00 AM (but then still have all other devices work normally). 2. Set timers: If motion is detected in the middle of the night in the bathroom… do not turn the bathroom light on 100% (I would like to fall back asleep). (All this while having an "instant-on" motion detector) 3. If motion is sensed (turn instantly on), and I would like a 3 min delay since "last motion". I know that many of you used to have programs that did this. Running a program that would "renew" every time motion was sensed (in essence, restarting the countdown timer). Since this new motion detector only seems to send 1 "On" command… it makes it difficult. Is it possible to "block" a signal?? For example, lets say I directly link the motion to a device (not using a program with variables)… Motion would (almost instantly) turn on a lamp. 60 seconds later (with no motion) it would send an "off command to turn it off. Is it possible for the motion "on" command to turn it on, but for the "off" command to be issued BUT not to have it turn off the light? Then the "off" command could be used as a "trigger" for a command. I have experimented with putting a: If 2420 Motion "On" happens… Then wait 58 seconds Then turn on lamp Then turn on lamp Then turn on lamp Then turn on lamp Then turn on lamp Then turn on lamp Etc. I have had limited success with it. I am basically just trying to flood the network with "on" commands for a few seconds so it will not carry out the "off" command (but the ISY will still see it). Anyways… any input would be appreciated. CJ