Jay M

I just read through your posts. Very helpful stuff! We really are only worried about complying with the code. Code requires a vacancy sensor. Occupany= lights turn on automatically when they sense motion, then turn off automatically when no motion is sensed after a period of time. Vacancy= lights must be manually switched on, then turn off automatically when no motion is sensed after a period of time. What does "else" do in a program? Teken, how do you create key that allows your to disable a program? thanks, ~Jay

wow! you guys are fast.... I'll need to digest all this good stuff. And I did google the definitions.... it turns out what we need are Vacancy sensors. Our plans have the wrong wording. ~Jay

We have installed a buch of Insteon controlled fixtures in a commercial environment. It's all working great, but we need an occupancy sensor to meet the code. We've purchased a motion sensor so we can meet the code. It's installed and working, but how should I program it? There's dozens of options, but I need help with what is best to meet code and work for us. As far as I understand the code, the lights must go off when no one is in the room. You obviously don't want them to turn off while the room is occupied. Can anyone suggest a methodology for programming? I made a quick program the sends an off command when no motion is detected. What I don't know is how long the delay should be. I also don't know if there are any other programming criteria typically used in an occupancy sensor. One odd thing I'll need to google... this is different than a vacancy sensor. Occupancy vs Vacancy? sounds like the same thing to me. Code specifies occupancy, not vacancy. thanks, ~Jay

I have not tried this, but to copy a device, could you just replace it, which will program the new device with old device's settings while removing the old device from the ISY. Could you then add the old device back in as a "new" device, but not overwrite the programming? ~Jay

As if that's not bad enough... now we are trying to add a second keypad with all the same scenes. I'm sure it will work, but it's taking some trial and error. Is there a way to mirror a keypad? ~Jay

Thanks, I have it working properly now. Oberkc, I used what you spelled out in your reply. It took some trial and error, but I got it sorted out. There's just so many parameters that can be controlled, that it makes it confusing for a non-programmer like me. The ballast dimmers are fairly complex little devices and we have 18 of them in every scene. The good news is that thanks to your help, I was able to make it work as I imagined it should! Now, I need to go home and reprogram my house. :/ ~Jay

Let me make sure I understand.... You put all of the buttons in every scene? Scene "A" would have button "A" as a controller, then B, C, and D are responders, and set to zero to turn off their status LED?

I know I should know this by now. I've had an ISY for many, many years. At home, I just lived with it not doing exactly what I want. Now at work, it needs to be right. Here's what I have: 6 button keypad and 18 lights in the ceiling using the Insteon ballast dimmer. I want the ON button to turn all the lights on bright. I want the OFF button to turn all the lights off. I want buttons A-D to trigger different scenes: Scene A - all lights at 50% Scene B - all light lights at 30% Scene C - most lights at 30% but a few off and a few bright. Scene D - like C, but another variation. How do I do this? What I've been doing was including the scene "A" button in the scene. The problem I have is that the ON button stays lit. Then pressing the Scene "A" button again turns the lights off. If I want to go to Scene "B", then the "A" button remains illuminated. What's the proper way do do this? I think of ON and OFF as two different scenes- all lights on, or all lights off. When I press button "A", I want the ON button's LED to turn off. If I press "A" again nothing should happen unless it failed the first time. The second press of button "A" would be my attempt to get all the lights as they should be for that scene. Currently the second press turns all the lights off. Thanks for your help! ~Jay

I would say that the LEDs I tested are as smooth as the best LEDs I've seen. Because the don't warm up as they dim like the Phillips Warm-Glow bulbs, dimmer is a very special occasion. What makes incadescent so beautiful full is how smoothly they go from black to 100% and back to black. They way the filament naturally dissolves is not only pleasing to the eye, it's also what we have been accustomed to seeing for most of our lives. That said, these LEDs as well as the cheap Philips Warm-Glow bulbs are very smooth and don't appear to be stepped. When I refereed to the dimming speed, I wasn't very clear at all. What I meant to say was that an incandescent bulb directly attached to a switchlink dimmer will ramp up or down at a specific speed when you hold the paddle. When that same Switchlink is a controller for the ballast dimmer that is dimming these particular LED fixtures, the speed at witch it dims or brightens is noticeably faster. It's not so fast as to be difficult to get where you want without overshooting, it's just difficult when you are so used to a particular speed. I think that creating scenes with these lights, and knowing their limitations, it will be a very pleasant transition from one scene to the next. The only exception, will be when I need to turn off, and then back on, like for a video presentation or something. It's not going to be nice. But if I can program the scene with the right ramp rate, then I think the result will still be much smoother than manually moving a more traditional dimmer. We won't receive the rest of the lights until mid-October, but we are taking a leap of faith that Insteon + ISY on a 277v system will work. If not, it's not a big deal to rewire for 120v. Our fixture can handle both voltages. So at the end of October, I'll try to remember to give an update. I'm sure I'll be here frequently seeking programming advice! ~Jay

I'll try to describe how well it dims. It seems to dim a little faster than incandescent. Also there is a slight delay before it begins to dim or brighten. The delay is helpful in one instance. If you want the fixture to dim as low as possible, it will go to its lowest point, and then pause for a second before the relay shuts off power. For $100 more we could have purchased a lighting fixture that dims to 0. With that fixture, I don't think we would need to wire in the relay, we could just use the 0-10v wires. The fixture we used is Acuity Brands Lighting 2GTL2. ~Jay

I'll see if I can find more specifics for you. I'll try to post that later today. I called universal devices and they told me that the 2475DA2 is definitely supported. ~Jay

This is all very helpful! Today we tested one of them. It's not a complete test, but I'll tell you what we did so far. We don't have a ISY here yet. We attached the low voltage wires to the fixture, and left 2475DA2 dangling from the ceiling. We attached relay 1 wire from the 2475DA2 to the LED fixture. We installed an Insteon dimmer in the wall to the 277v box that switched the old lights. We capped off the load line. I pressed the set button on the switch, and then the 2475DA2 to link them. It worked quite well. The fixture got very dim, and then at the bottom the relay finally clicked off. Double tapping for fast on clicked the relay on and the LEDs went to 100% instantly. The dimmer feel was pretty good... Not as good a incandescent, but sadly, that's no longer an option. What we still need to test is how well it will communicate via RF if the dimmer is in a metal box. We also need to know if the ISY supports it. ~Jay

Thanks, that's very helpful. The whole building is 16 years old and so are all the florescent ballasts that are on the 277v lighting circuits. We are not a hospital, but we do have our share of wireless technology in the building. The one thing we do have going for us is that it's all in one room that is not very big, and I'm pretty sure the new LED lighting will be on it's own circuit. I suppose we could just run a separate 120v circuit just for the Insteon controllers. In fact, the controllers could be located in one place together and then just run the low voltage to each fixture. ~Jay

Thanks Brian, We have 120v outlets in the room, but the lighting is 277v. The question is: will the RF only connection between the PLM and Lights be reliable? The other question is if the 2475DA2 is supports in the ISY. thanks, ~Jay

I want to control the lighting in a new conference room at work. The lighting is all 277v. We will be using LED fixtures that can be controlled by the Insteon 2475DA2 0-10v ballast dimmer. Does the ISY support the 2475DA2? The Insteon paddle switches can run at 277 volts, but the PLM is only 120 volts. What is the most reliable way to have the ISY talk to the 277 volt lighting system? I assume it will only be through RF? Is that reliable enough? thanks, ~Jay

It's ok, this thread is already out of control! I was referring to the Mackie DL1608. If I'm not mistaken, it was the first iPad controlled mixer... or maybe Presonus was, but Presonus required that a computer be attached to the mixer for the iPad app to work. I also own an X32. The ability to roam the venue as you mix is invaluable. The $25,000 mixer I was referring to is a Yamaha CL3, and the $250,000 mixer was the top of the line Digico. Mackie and Behringer can have about 10 devices attached controlling it, but the Yamaha can only have one. It would be nice if Yamaha could do what the cheap stuff does. It's also a pain in the butt to get that one iPad to work with the Yamaha, whereas on the cheap Mackie and Behringer it's as easy as attaching to public WiFi. ~Jay

hi Michel, thanks for contributing. I also hate being cloud dependent, but like you said, sometimes it's necessary and very helpful. My favorite cloud service is Dropbox. If the cloud goes away, my files are still on my computers. Port forwarding, and messing with the router and stuff like that never works for me. I can't even get Plex to work outside of my house. Maybe I'll give the portal service a try. I've blown $50 on a steak before. Software development must cost a fortune. I own a $700 audio mixer that works with a free iPad app, I also work on a $25,000 mixer that has a free app, but it's not as good as the app for the $700 mixer. Then I spoke to a guy who makes a $250,000 mixer, and he was griping that his customers are expecting a free iPad app. From a customer's point of view, the more more you pay for hardware, the more that should included with it. I think from his perspective, they only sell a handful of mixers a year, so to spend $20,000 to develop an app is seen as a complete loss. In my opinion, iPad integration is an essential feature for any digital mixer. Because I paid significantly more for the ISY than I would have paid for the Insteon Hub, I kind of expect the portal to be included in the cost. From Nest, to Hue, to DIY security systems, and even my car, you set up a free account to access them remotely. Most consumer products don't require you to pay extra. ISY is a niche product with no real competitors. My only option is to take it or leave it. I'm happy that such a powerful and affordable system exists for the DIY market. I can't afford a real home automation solution. Insteon + ISY gives a lot of power and reliability at a fraction of the cost of a "real" system. ~Jay

Thanks Scott, After I get it the software installed, I'll definitely be contacting you! I'm really interested in getting better control of my Hunter-Douglas shades. Their proprietary remote really sucks, I'd love to be able to use my IR remote, or the Echo. WRK, thanks for your detailed post, it's very helpful. Dogs are funny, our dog is a slow learner, when the doorbell rings, she runs to the actual chime in the hallway, not the front door. I like your idea of a motion sensor to turn on a light for that purpose. ~Jay

Yes Scott, I did see it. I'll look into BWS Systems. I do have server/HTPC that's on 24/7. I don't use a Harmony remote, but I do use Universal Remotes remote control that I love. Is BWS difficult to set up? Can is run a scene from the ISY? I bought the Echo Dot out of curiosity, not need. People really seem to love it, but so far I haven't really seen a huge benefit. One thing that occurred to me is that I am an extremely visual learner. I asked Alexa for weather, and a minute later I forgot the day's forecast, whereas if I glance at weatherbug on my iPhone, I can remember the whole week. I'm way off topic now!

Revolv didn't go away because it's cloud was free, or it was an unprofitable business model, it went away because it was bought by a huge company who chose to kill it. But I get your point. Did you go to the Revolv website? It looks like they are trying to do the right thing... "If you're a current Revolv customer, please email us at help@revolv.com so we can help you out during this transition and provide you with a refund of the purchase price of your Revolv hub." I do own many other things which require a cloud service to be fully functional, and it's almost always free. I have some security cameras that require a cloud service to be easy to view when I'm away from home. That service is free. If I want to store video then they charge for that. One thing is for sure, my opposition won't change the mind of the good people at ISY. So tell me, is Echo control of lighting REALLY that useful? It seems like a novelty to me. I don't know if I want to spend $25 a year for a novelty. thanks, ~Jay

I bought the Echo dot. Maybe I'm just a cheapskate. It's just a bit off putting that this recurring portal fee is so expensive when most other appliances work with the Echo for free. I've already bought 2 ISY devices. The first one didn't break, it just became obsolete. I've already spent good money, it's too bad the business model isn't about adding value. I guess that's the nature of a niche market.

yikes! that's really expensive! That is half the price of the echo itself, but at least the Echo is paid for, not a subscription. Could I use the Insteon hub with the ISY instead? The $70 hub includes free Echo integration. thanks, ~Jay

I did not buy anything. I've only created a UDI portal account. Do I need to buy something to make the ISY work with the Echo?

I've looked at the many threads and wiki articles, I'm not sure where to begin. Today, May 9, 2016 - Do I need to pay to make my Echo control my ISY? I can't find a clear answer. I created a portal account, but there is no portal tab on my admin console. I have firmware 4.4.6 installed. thanks for your help. ~Jay

Thanks Michel. What would you suggest I do when I do want both a button and ir control of a device? Here's an example... I have a button on the IR remote to turn on a fountain in the back yard. I also have a button on a keypadlink that turns on and off the fountain. How can I make sure the button is illuminated when I use an IR command? ~Jay