mountainman3520

Hello Everyone. I've been running old 4.7.3 ISY firmware at a few locations for over a year. Checked back in here to see what has developed. I was expecting a significant new update since there has been more activity than ever before in the broader smarthouse industry. Lots of new products, protocols, vendors, equipment, etc. I'm looking for control of new products, integration with mobile apps on iPhone, maybe some sort of integration with Apple, Ring, and Nest products which I am using now. Surprisingly, there was NO new update for my ISY that was running 4.7.3 2018 firmware! Really? How could this be? So I looked on the forums and there are many 5.x beta releases but none of these has moved passed the RC (release candidate) maturity stage. What's going on with ISY and Universal Devices? Thanks

Just tried that. Set to a static IP with DNS 8.8.8.8. The error changed but the NTP sync still failed. The popup error box now says "NTP server DNS error [time.nist.gov]". This error is repeated twice in the same error box. I took a screen shot and attached.

Hello, for some unknown reason I can't get NTP working. I have an ISY-994i/IR Pro and I'm 95% sure that I previously had NTP working, but the last few months my event timers have been drifting off and I logged into the ISY to debug and found an exclamation point by the NTP config. When I clock the sync now button I get a pop up error about 10 seconds later that the NTP server is not responding. Other devices on my network, ie within my firewall, are able to reach time.nist.gov and pool.ntp.org with no issues. Please help! -Dan

Thanks Michel. A few follow-ups: - The link you included on (2) above doesn't work. Could you please fix or add the correct link? Is it better to use the locally installed admin GUI application instead of clicking on the admin console link from the ISY's internal webpage, which I assume downloads a java app each time? - Why do the menus and configuration options look different on my admin console than in the UD network config guide? I don't seem to have choices to configure the security certificates. Thanks again. I found another way to install the admin console link, using the ISY internal webpage. So I'm set on that. I'm running an ISY 994i/IR PRO with firmware 4.0.5. So I think I've got all the latest versions. But the menus do not match the UD instruction document and I can't find the network setup options anywhere. When I click the menu choice under help, called "Request/Manage SSL Certificates", it opens a webpage with the instruction doc but nothing seems to match. What's going on?

Thanks Michel. A few follow-ups: - The link you included on (2) above doesn't work. Could you please fix or add the correct link? Is it better to use the locally installed admin GUI application instead of clicking on the admin console link from the ISY's internal webpage, which I assume downloads a java app each time? - Why do the menus and configuration options look different on my admin console than in the UD network config guide? I don't seem to have choices to configure the security certificates. Thanks again.

Another piece of information, I can launch the java client via HTTPS and it seems to load correctly, albeit slowly. The ISY admin app window opens and looks normal, but after around 30 seconds, instead of properly prompting for user login credentials, instead I get two popup error boxes containing the messages listed in the prior post. I can clear the messages and navigate around the ISY admin app screen but it is mostly blank, not showing anything from my ISY and only some of the top menus are populated. Logging in to the ISY externally via HTTP works perfectly, including loading the java client. So the problem is unique to external HTTPS with the java gui. I tried to check the certificates but the menu choice doesn't work right. Instead of opening a window to configure certificates, it opens a PDF file from here: http://www.universal-devices.com/docs/I ... 0Guide.pdf This file contains instructions for setting up networking, except that it looks like it is out of date. The photos of the configuration menus do not match what my ISY displays. I can't find the menu containing license settings.

Hello, I'm setting up a few ISYs for external access and working on port forwarding setup in my firewall. So far I've setup user defined external inbound ports for HTTP and HTTPS: - 51194 forwards and remaps to 80 (unsecure HTTP) - 61194 forwards and remaps to 443 (secure HTTPS) I have all outbound ports open. I plan to generally leave the port 51194/80 HTTP port forward disabled to avoid exposing my ISY to unsecure connections. What do people think of this? Better to block external HTTP connections to the ISY? Does it cause any problems to only leave 443 open? I generally like to leave the end device such as the ISY in its default state, ie configured for normal port 80 and 443, and use the port mapping feature of my router to map to the unique external ports for that device. Anyone see a problem with that? Are there any other ports that are needed by the ISY? I saw some article on portforward.com that included inbound ports 49168-49187. What are these? Are they needed for some ISY function or was that an error? Everything seems to be working via HTTP or HTTPS to open the basic ISY web based manager. But I get errors when I then try to run the java admin client over HTTPS: "Socket Open Failed java.net.SocketTimeoutException" "XML Parse Error https://.dyndns.org:61194/desc" What is causing these? Is it some timeout error? If so, what can I do to resolve it? I'd like to be able to run the full java client remotely over a secure HTTPS connection. Thanks!

I think this is a great idea. While I agree that its valuable for people to be able to share imported/exported programs directly without retyping them, it would also be really helpful for the community and sharing knowledge if we could conveniently extract blocks of programming into a text editor, showing the program names, hierarchy, readable formatting, etc. And then edit that content to insert comments to explain whatever we are trying to share. And then paste that content into forum posts. I'd love to see some of the programs from the very advanced users who have been learning to make the most of the ISY for years. And I'll probably have useful content to share as well.

Hello, Now that I am beginning to accumulate cool programs an capabilities on my ISY setups, it's time to go mobile! I can access the ISY through my firewall via a typical web browser on my Android phone but I'd really like a nice app to provide a local GUI client, easy integration with buttons, etc. And I'd like the Android client to connect directly to my ISY, not use a third party computer such as a cloud server. What are my options? The only one that seems currently active, receiving upgrades, with widespread use is Mobilinc. Is that really the only option and a no-brainer selection? Thanks!

Hello, I think I understand the function of the "Status" field and the content makes sense for most of my programs. By sometimes the status shows something that isn't what I expected and I'd like to understand, since it probably means I don't fully understand how/when programs start and stop execution. I believe the status field shows the current boolean (true/false) result of the IF condition in the program. But here is an example of a program that is showing a "true" status even though it seems like this program's IF condition should be false: If Time is 3:00:00AM Then Set 'Therm Up - Main' Synchronize Clock Set 'Therm Down - Main' Synchronize Clock Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action') I would have thought this program's status would flicker briefly to true at 3am, maybe only for 1 second because once it reached 3:00:01AM the condition would become false. The brief time in the true state would trigger execution of the then actions, which might continue after the IF was no longer true if they took longer than 1 second. Am I correctly understanding the operation or am I missing something? If this is right, why does the state continue to show as true all day? Thanks.

Hmmmm, is there some trick to exporting or copying ISY programming? I have a hierarchy of programs in subfolders that I'd like to copy and paste on this forum as examples of how I've used variables to control my thermostats. But I've only figured out how to copy each individual program and it doesn't include any hierarchy info so its tough to post a complete program that is hierarchically organized and have it be comprehensible to the reader. Screen shot? Lol Screen shots won't work either since each little program must be separately selected in the left window for the code to display in the right window. So a program with 20 subprograms would need 20 screenshots. Not a practical way to share info. UD team: please enhance the "copy to clipboard" feature so that if a user has selected multiple programs or directories in the left window, the copy to clipboard options should copy all selected programs including program names and code, in a readable format. Thanks. This feature could have a big impact on how easily and frequently the ISY user community collaborates, shares code, improves the ISY product use experience, and thereby helps UD sell mode ISYs. If you want a vibrant community, we need to be able to conveniently share programs.

Hmmmm, is there some trick to exporting or copying ISY programming? I have a hierarchy of programs in subfolders that I'd like to copy and paste on this forum as examples of how I've used variables to control my thermostats. But I've only figured out how to copy each individual program and it doesn't include any hierarchy info so its tough to post a complete program that is hierarchically organized and have it be comprehensible to the reader.

Wow! I have to correct my comment above. Actually, the ISY DOES include a function to synchronize the 2441's internal clock with the ISY clock!! Its very cleverly named "synchronize clocks". I'm not sure how I missed it before. Maybe it was added in a recent software upgrade. Anyway, I'm very pleased. I've now added a program that syncs the clocks of all my thermostats every day at 3am. Good work ISY hackers!

My apologies for not reading the full thread to try to find the current answer to this question. I'd like to add future based decision making into my thermostat programs. The idea is to adjust the current temp programs based on how hot or cold the next day is predicted to be. Is there a good way to get local weather forecast of the next few days into the isy? Does the weather module do that? If not, it should. Please add that feature. I'd like to know high and low temp for night and day, plus rain probability. This would factor into irrigation programs too, as well as hvac.

Hello mountainman3520- Many of us us the same approach as you have. It does make things more flexible. -Xathros I have been programming the ISY on and off (more off) for about a year now. I understand what a variable is, but I'm not sure if I understand how to program a variable in the ISY and use it for programming purposes. My fear is that I'll be creating messy programs when I could simply be using variables but not realizing it. So sad.... No need to despair. The isy makes variable use very easy. I'll post a few examples when I get back to a computer.

Hello, I am doing some similar automations and ended up with a slightly different twist. I also have multiple house states, such as home and away, summer and winter, etc. But there are multiple potential controls that could affect the current house state, and many potential programs that are affected by the state. So I used a set of variables to define all my states instead of using particular insteon devices as the state. Various controls or events change the variables, for example a keypad button. And then all my programs refer to the variables. The programs effectively work the same way but I think this approach is more flexible and potentially makes programs more simple to write, read, and maintain. But I've only been programming the isy for a few months so its possible I'm overlooking some downside of using variables. Feedback from the seasoned experts welcomed.

Hi Michael. Thanks for the reply, and for the support of the 2441TH. So far you've included all the main, most important functions, even if a few are missing. It's allowing my system and programs to work great. Maybe put others like the time on your upgrade list? A few related questions, I guess more general programming questions: - How does the isy resolve slightly overlapping conflicting programs? Example: if time is between x and y, variable=1 and if time is between y and z, variable=0. What happens at time y? Which program wins? Will programs like this run reliably or is it better to make sure no conflicts exist by shifting the times off by a minute? - When using times, you have a choice of "same day" or "next day" etc. I have programs that are set to run until 12AM. Technically this is the next day but I have the same day option checked and it seems to be working as the same day, ie the program isn't running for an extra 24 hours. What is the isys definition of same day vs 12am? I realize I can avoid creating this uncertainty by ending my programs at 11:59pm and then it's clearly same day. - I have programs that use the date and run annually based on date. It looks like your date functions always require day month year, ie I couldn't figure out how to specify Oct 31 every year. Instead I had to make a long chain of oct 31 2013 or oct 31 2014 or .... am I missing something? If there isn't a way to specify the 4th of every month (month and year are don't cares) or every Oct 31 (year is a don't care), then please add this to your upgrade list. All the date and time triggers should allow fields to be set as don't cares in some nice consisted way. Thanks -Dan

I started with an ecobee and its an okay product but not great. The wall unit is too glitzy, I dislike the touchscreen that is always needing cleaned of dust and smears, the interface just doesn't seem very elegant, and I strongly dislike the need to use their cloud service just to access my own local equipment. Plus, for a person trying to automate their home, as most anyone with an isy is probably doing, linking the thermostat into programs is a big deal. Pretty fundamental actually. So I removed my ecobee and installed three 2441TH units in two houses. They are working great. I've had zero issues. I've got programs on the isys controlling all the temp set points based on if I'm home or away, the season, and my time based variable power rates, which also change based on day and season. It's great. Way better than a separate web accessible non-smart thermostat. And I have full remote access to view and control both houses via my isy, without "help" from a third party server. This is really important to have everything linked. Otherwise I'd have to log into two different systems, one to turn the heat up and another to turn the driveway lights on. That would really bug me! Now I just send a single command to say I'm arriving and programs do the rest. The extra work of having a separate system ripples. I also have notification alarm emails and texts setup for a growing list of events (temp, freeze, water leaks, lights left on, security, etc). I want inside house temps and thermostat status tied into that decision tree and alert system. All of this stuff is kinda the point of home automation systems. Right? To me it seems like anyone with an isy should be using an insteon thermostat. It's one of my favorite automatons and you are missing out. One question I do have is that the clocks on the 2441s drift a lot. Note that I don't use these clocks for anything since the isy controls the thermostat set points, and I'd turn the clocks off if I could, but I can't so it bugs me when they don't display the accurate time. I'd like to write an isy program to periodically set them to isy time, which is in sync with a time server. Anyone know how to view and change these other features of the 2441 from the isy? Ps - slightly used mint condition ecobee for sale, including the box and all docs, good as new!

Great! I reprogrammed my scenes such that everything is a controller. I guess my problem before was that I was thinking that I needed to have a controller and a responder and it was almost working, but not quite. In reality every device on this setup needs to be a controller. Sounds like anything that ever sends a control command anywhere needs to be a controller, right? So only a device that has no button and no ability to ever generate a control command would be set as a responder. And yet the ISY admin console often defaults devices to responders, so I had to flip the config to controller after dragging the device to the scene. The only remaining flaky thing I'm seeing is that the checkbox to "apply changes to all devices" on a scene is flaky and doesn't seem to work. Also within each device attached to a scene, the "applied locally" flag also seems flaky. Even after I click "copy scene attributes from scene X" box, and it correctly copies those attributes, the "applied locally" flag still doesn't go away. Maybe it just stays there forever once a change has ever been applied locally? Or clears at reboot? Seems like maybe a bug in the GUI. I'm very happy to have my first scenes and devices working! Thanks. Now its time to start installing a bunch of switches and keypads all over the house!

Hello, I'm in the process of setting up my first INSTEON devices and I'm having a problem. Help would be appreciated. My setup includes: (1) ISY994i Pro (2) KeypadLinc Dimmer (8 button, v.41), button A wired to light A (3) SwitchLinc Dimmer (dual band high power, v.40), wired to light B (4) RemoteLinc2 (4 scene, v.00) I created two scenes. Scene A includes: - KeypadLinc Dimmer button A (not sure if this is considered a controller since it is wired/dimming light A or a responded because it is receiving commands from itself and the RemoteLinc2) - RemoteLinc 2 scene A, setup as a controller for KeypadLinc button A Scene A seems to work perfectly. Both keypadlinc button A and remotelinc2 scene A can turn light A on or off, or dim it up or down by pressing and holding the button. Also the backlight on keypadlinc button A always indicated the correct state, ie if light A is 100% on or on but dimmed the button backlight is on, if light A is 0% on or off then the button backlight is off. Scene B includes: - SwitchLinc Dimmer as a responder (right?) wired to light B - RemoteLinc 2 button B setup as a controller for the switchlinc - Keypadlinc button B setup as a controller for the switchlinc I'm having strange problems on scene B. The switchlinc on/off/dim up/dim down features work perfectly and the brightness indicator strip seems to always accurately reflect light state. The Remotelinc2 on/off/dim up/dim down features also work perfectly. But the Keypadlinc button B isn't working quite right. The keypadlinc button works correctly by itself, turning the light on/off/dim up/dim down, and the button backlight is correct when I use the keypadlinc to control the change. And the keypadlinc correctly receives and displays light state when changed using the remotelinc2. But if I change the light state using the switchlinc, the keypadlinc doesn't seem to receive the change hence the button backlight fails to toggle on/off, and the next press of the keypadlinc button should toggle the light to the opposite state but instead it just toggles the internal keypadlinc state back to the correct value without changing the light. My theory is that the keypadlinc needs to be a responder to the switchlinc and isn't correctly setup that way. But I don't know how to confirm this is true or how to fix it. The web GUI provides some data confirming the observation that everything is working except the switchlinc is not sending state change notifications to the keypadlinc. So far I've not messed with anything advanced in the config settings or tried to manually setup connections between devices. I just created the scenes, drug the various devices under them, and checked the settings to cause all the on levels to be 100% and the ramp rates to be 0.5s. Getting this setup working reliably is really important to my INSTEON setup as I plan to install keypadlincs in multiple locations as additional controllers to check the status of lights sprinkled around the house and allow control of those lights. This won't work if a keypadlinc placed in the same scene as a switchlinc doesn't correctly display the switchlinc status. Please help. Thanks!

It would be AWESOME to have an easy method to use the ISY to control common pool equipment. I'm about to purchase an ISY to automate my house and I have a simple pool system composed of a high-tech Pentair Intelliflo pump, salt chlorine gen, and heater. Really there isn't much to it and it seems wasteful to add a complicated and expensive $2K Pentair EasyTouch controller just to talk to the pump, monitor water temp, and cycle a few relays on and off? Currently I'm using the timer built into the pump and manually controlling everything else, but it would be nice (ie more fun) to automate it all. So please! Let's get some good pool automation into the ISY! It would be great to have everything automated in one system such as the ISY.