bhlonewolf

You've got two options, really, you can get a weather station and sensors and hook it up around your house and outside, collect rainfall, etc. Or, you can get the data from the internet. Both have their pros and cons. I get my data now from the internet using a small program I wrote, which then feeds the data into Powerhome, which in turn can make decisions on ... well, anything really -- but irrigation is one example. If it's windy, I can either water longer or wait until it's not windy -- if it's hot, I can water a bit extra, etc. Because I wrote the software myself as a stand alone app, I don't have clean integration with powerhome, but I do update it via socket calls. So my hope is that the ISY can take in custom variables like this, and through the API I'd be able to feed them to the ISY as well. It's not 100% ideal at this point, but it has worked flawlessly for about 6 months now. The advantage of owning a station yourself is that you can place more sensors -- for example, in the attic. Also, it's possible rainfall totals will be slightly off, as it's not unheard of for storms to pass over one area here but not another.

Excellent! Thanks for the feedback! So far it looks like the variables and extend-wait times are the only things I'm missing. Looks like the extended timers have a work around ... Not bad for a little device.

Thanks Michel -- Sorry, let me explain more thoroughly. First regarding status -- if there's an option to do an explicit status query (for example, "IF [bathroom Light] is ON ..." where the ISY actually checks the device, that is great. I have a situation now where sometimes devices won't send traffic on the line because two buttons get hit at the same time. This is especially the case in bathrooms. What Powerhome offers is "GetInsteonLevel" and "GetInsteonLevelRT", where the latter queries the device. In my case, I like this functionality as it has meant more reliable programs/macros. Regarding the second program wait question. Let me start over. Suppose I have a button on a KPL. When I press the button, I want to turn on a fan for 10 minutes. I know this can be done w/ the ISY. But what I want is EACH press of the button to "extend" that time -- for example, I press the button twice, it runs the fan for 20 minutes, 3 times, 30 minutes, etc. In Powerhome terms, programs are Macros and to do the above, you'd simply use the ExtendMacroWait function. This is really valuable if you want to basically have a configurable timer.

Thanks Michel, Two quick follow ups -- If you want to check the status of a device, is it done "in real time" by polling the device, or by checking the status in the ISY database? Second, if a program is running/waiting, how is the timeout extended on the ISY? I've been going through some samples of programs that have waits but couldn't figure it out. Is there a sample you could post of this? Thx much!

Hi all, Looking at the ISY99i ... do most of my functionality now on a PLC w/ Powerhome. Questions to tackle in a transition would be: 1) Lots of PLC-based groups now triggered from something -- timed event, etc. Main usefulness thing here is that keeps KPL buttons and status up to date. Can this be done via the ISY? 2) I think the programs/triggers will do what I want ... can one program cancel and/or change another program? One thing I do quite a bit is run a timer countdown on fans ... for example, I turn off the bathroom light and the fan will turn off in 10 minutes. If I hit off on the light again, it doubles that timeout. Or if I hit the fan "on" it will simply cancel the prorgram. Can these be done? 3) Is it possible to import data (simple stuff, really) into the ISY? Basically like user-defined data? I have weather data, for example, on my PC, and I import that data in Powerhome now. PH can then use it to make changes to irrigation, fans, thermostats, etc. Thx!