Pioneer

I have had (2) different ISY stop communicating with (2) different PLM after upgrading from 2.6.x to 2.7 latest version. The first issue was when I went to my inlaws house last week to work on their system -- I thought the ISY or PLM were dead as no matter what I did (reset PLM, reset devices, etc) I could get no communication between ISY/PLM/Devices, its like the devices did not exist. I have a system at home (similar setup) and brought the potentially broken devices home to play around with. I started playing with my own ones first, backing up the system, etc. and then I upgraded to the latest firmware on MY isy and PLM.... now I have the same issue on my home system(!) I can login, see all my devices, etc. but there is no "status" on any device. Prior to upgrading I was able to say "ALL ON" and everything would turn on -- now I can't even turn one switch on/off and no query. When I try to query all devices, they all just give errors as no communication. Nothing else in the system has been changed. Any thoughts? I am not sure of the version from/to but it was definitely 2.6.x to the latest version. On the home system I did the auto upgrade that was available in the admin tool. Everything seems running fine and I even tried "replace PLM" and "replace devices" and let it do it's thing -- it seems to try and do it all but still wont work -- tried rebooting the device by cable twice too. HELP

Thanks for speedy update! Tried out the toggle button feature -- any tips on how to trigger on a toggle button? I setup a trigger that says "when C is ON" which worked, then changed button to a toggle style. Now C just flashes twice and nothing happens... also tried "when C is OFF"... Thanks -John

I think I might have found another variation for All On/Off using scenes and triggers -- but not sure. Example, I want someone to be able to hit "Keypad D" and turn it on -- when it is turned on it will: * Turn off Switch A * Turn off Switch B * Turn off Switch C THEN it will itself unlight and turn off... so it works like a pushbutton rather than a toggle. I did it this way: Created a scene (1) with A,B,C as responders Created a second scene (2) with Keypad D as a responder Created a trigger such that when Keypad D is turned on, Scene (1) is turned fast off and Scene (2) is turned fast off When KP D is turned on, A,B,C turn off then D turns off. You could also put Keypad D directly into Scene 1, it does work -- however then you cannot use Scene 1 for other purposes. This is why I think it would be a great feature to be able to trigger Keypad D off directly from the trigger menu and not have to put it in a scene.

I saw that you can theoretically change the keypad backlight level -- definitely would like to see that option, but if you add it, I would love to see it be able to be "Scheduled" or "Triggered"... For example I would want to be able to dim the keypad at night after sundown and bright it at sunrise, especially in the bedroom.

Michel -- can you give a little more detail on how communications work with the Insteon switches and ISY. I have played around with what you suggested, and it did work -- to a degree. I had 3 switches A (dimmer - main),B (switch),C (keypad button) that controlled a light -- made them all "Controllers" and they all linked properly and functioned... however it seemed confusing as to which setting in the software did which level and if I turned the light on with the Dimmer (A) then B and C never lit up. . -------- How would you do something like this: A - a light in one room B - a light in another room C - a light in a third room D - a keypad button Pressing A,B, or C turns on their respective lights -- but also if A,B or C are turned on manually then the D lights up to indicate "there is a light on somewhere" Pressing D when it is lit up, sends a signal to A,B and C to shut off. (The other option is that D never lights up -- that pressing D will turn it on for a second as it sends signals to A,B,C to shutoff and then the D LED turns off. this is not optimal as you have no indication lights are still on -- you would just be able to press D to make sure everything was off) Last option -- what if you wanted it to work as the first part, but turning D on turned all lights on, turning D off turned all lights off, but turning A,B, or C on manually had D light up -- basically D lit up indicates "some light is on somewhere, press me again to turn everything off".

I linked my switches to the ISY in another room -- the software detects ON/OFF no problem when i change the switches but if i try to click on/off in the software, i get intermittant errors to that room of not being able to communicate... Also sometimes the switches that are linked have delays in their function, when i turn the timer switches off there is a delay in turning the light off, im assuming and from talking with smarthome it has to do with waiting for a response back from the ISY that it got the update message. I only have 2 rooms wired right now im guessing that there is just a signal issue to the ISY run due to limited items in my house (I do have the RF bridge working) -John

Maybe I am misunderstanding what the ISY is used for then -- I understand that insteon products, for example two insteon switches, can communicate with each other and can be setup without software... so If I have switches A and B, I can link them directly to each other so each one sends a signal to the other. From what I understand, the ISY is a separate device for which I can link A to ISY and B to ISY, and then ISY can do something similar, acting as a liaison between the two, so If I press A, signal goes to ISY which has been informed to send a signal to B and vice versa. Regarding Scenes, you mentioned once I setup a scene I can unplug the ISY -- this leads me to believe that by using "Scenes", I am actually programming the internal linking of the Insteon devices, so that A talks directly to B and vice versa -- is this correct? I just did a test of the above, and from what I can tell that is what is happening (Scenes are directly programming insteon device). If I am correct, then it sounds like what you told me to do was to re-do what I had already done, but within the software... and either one of these two is what happens: * By programming the same thing thru the software, some extra information is saved in the device to understand just how A & B communicate so that the system can "figure out" that when I press A, the light on B changes as well... OR * By programming thru the software, the ISY asked each switch to not only talk to each other but to send a message to the ISY device as well so that the ISY can know the light has changed Is either one of these correct? Next questions * is there a way to query switches that have already been setup to be linked (manually) to showup as scenes in the ISY?... or must they be programmed thru the software... * Is there an easy way to update the status reversely -- for example if I have switches A (master),B,C which all link together and I want the status to change on all of them if either is pressed, must I create three scenes to do this such that: Scene1: Pressing A turns on/off light and tells B/C status of light Scene 2: perssing B turns on/off light A and tells C status of light Scene 3: pressing C turns on/off light A and tells B status of light When I recreated what you suggested earlier, I had to create a second scene it seems to reverse the light setup. -John

You know, i had the same question -- i am using timers all over my bathrooms... and was wondering which way to go. Here is my thought: The timers are similar in price, only a few dollars difference... so i dont think that should be a consideration. My thought was that if i used a switch I could use it for another purpose in the future ... However, there is a positive of using a timer switch -- it will be way more reliable than using ISY and beaming signals all over the place.. everything is built in. If your ISY dies, or signal does not reach etc. then it should still theoretically work, as it is all self contained. the downside is of course you are limited to 15m/1hr increments.... I am currently having spotty signals from my ISY to my bathroom... Bottom line, if you know you are always going to use a timer in a spot, I would prefer to use the Timer device unless i needed something odd like a more elaborite timing setup. -John

Hi - I have a Insteon Keypad (6) and a Timer relay running a fan. I have the Timer and Keypad A button dual linked, so that pressing "A" turns on the Timer, again turns it off, and if I turn the Timer on/off directly the A lights up or unlights. I have both items "learned" in the ISY software (latest version)... however If I turn the Timer on manually for example, the A lights up as planned, but the software does not notice that A has been lit up (due to the Insteon linking) Secondly, I have tried "Query" on the keypad A button item, but it still shows "Off". * Is this a software glitch, or a limitation due to the way Insteon programming works? * Why doesn't query work on the device, or am I misunderstanding what "Query" is suppose to do (in the right mouse click on the item in the list). I am guessing someone will tell me to use the ISY to handle the remote button pressing -- I suppose I could do that, but to me I would prefer to use the internal mechanisms when possible, as they will a) be highly reliable (both switches are on the same circuit) and no need to be concerned about a third item in the loop. I would prefer to use the ISY for more complex items not required. -John