Autonow

I am glad you share my thoughts. I think this whole internet/cloud/subscription stuff is doing everyone a disservice. All it does is train people to give away their personal information beware you are being watched and tracked. I was shocked how many devices send info to the manufacturer with out your knowledge

Can I ask a question why do you need another HMI. Can you just use your smart phone? They seem to be permanently attached to our bodies

Would people please share their stories on how they are using echo/Alexa for their HA projects. Besides voice commands like turn this light on/off etc what else are you doing?

Just an opinion insteon Wireless stuff OK for turning on a light but I am looking to convert to the GE wireless stuff and interface to the elk security system. The ge has 2 way comms to verify its working. Im also thinking of biting the bullet and hard wiring all my motion and leak sensors.

Well jt was about 3 years before my PLM failed. The restore procedure as described is rather straight forward except it is totally unacceptable from the standpoint you have to reinitialize all battery powered devices. I suppose the reason for this is the poor design philosophy of wireless devices. Meaning wireless devices only come alive when there is an event otherwise they appear dead to the system. Worst possible scenario for a "leak detector" you don;t know if it works until it is too late, Well after the restore about 4 wired devices are not working and I have to dig into the why.. reset or replace. As systems grow larger this too is unacceptable. It can literally take days to reset a verify everything is working. I'm just venting it is what it is

Tell me more about your geofence application? I always thought the target always had to have a gps enabled device to be detected. Where can I find more information?

Its quite simple generally on a fan you have 3 wires, a common or center tap. and 2 other wires. Usually the run capacitor is connected across these two other wires. you connect the common to your 120V neutral (should already be done that way) and your power (wire from the fanlinc) to ONE of the other wires. One wire will make the fan go one direction the other will go the opposite direction. you can test this before you spend any money! So to add forward and reverse function you need an On/Off microlinc and a 120V SPDT realy. ( I like the ones from automation direct.. less than $10 with the socket.) connect the micro link to operate the relay. Connect the fanlinc to the common of the relay (not the coil) and the two fan wires to the other two relay poles. (note the capacitor will now be wired across these two switched terminals) Now program a button to operate the microlinc. Add a delay to allow the fan to slow down before reversing!

I too have been extremely frustrated by the lack of analog IO in home automation systems and the position of many of the people who ask why I even need analog. yes the elk has analog capabilities but they are limited. the ISY has none. So what are your options... I come from the industrial automation world so here is my recommendation. You will need a PLC, but first lets look at how to connect analog. You have wireless (you still need a wired power source) there is zigbee, bluetooth, and various IP protocols, and serial type connections. Then there are a host of wired field buses and of course direct connections. THE ONLY benefits home automation systems such as the ISY offer are a host of home specific modules like dimmers, motion detectors and thermostats. AND the big one! ... the field bus over the power line. (their wireless is a con since it can not poll) So how do you combine the best of both worlds. I use the elk as a low cost Digital IO platform. Lots of local digital IO as well as a nice security feature. I like the ISY because of its ability to connect to the ELK and the simple script and scene functions for the homey stuff. but for the analog and the more industrial IO like pump control related to nearby analog USE A PLC! What do you look for in a plc.. Low cost and features! Most manufactures have good hardware but the proof is in the software. If I choose today I would pick a cpu that uses codesys software (IEC 1131 compliant) and can support modbus and has ethernet! There are tons of wireless IO and devices that support modbus (it is the lowest common denominator when it comes to protocols). But there are many other LOW COST solutions that do not use codesys. For example, many hmi's have built in web servers. So you can do your visualizations on the hmi and make it avail on the web; they can even send emails and do data logging from analog data!. A 6" full featured HMI from automation direct is $550 you will need to add the PLC for 3-5 hundred bucks. There are other similar HMI's with built in PLC's in the same price range. You can even load "PLC" type software on a PC and connect to IO via Ethernet or wireless (again use modbus). Digital IO on a PLC is 1/10 the cost of HA IO! Ok a lot to think about and a lot of choices... How to skin the cat the low cost way. First you need a PLC to do the analog logic stuff. Any PLC will do but look at how you will connect the remote IO. It must have Ethernet capabilities. Here is a hidden tip! you can use wireless access points to build your field buss or even use Ethernet extenders that work over the AC line. (just addressed that BIG benefit in the HA world!) Every analog device for the HA world has its smarts inside and give an on/off (digital) signals. Well do your analog logic in the PLC and wire the PLC outputs to ELK inputs.. You can use elk outputs to signal the PLC to do something. Your done! back to the ISY for all the management functions. There is a nice PLC avail for $250 that has lots of digital IO and capabilities to add Analog for a few bucks more. Again the PRO of the ISY is the CON of the PLC.. those pesky home type things like dimmers and KPL's. You can go full blown Building automation but it is out of reach for most home owners. Reality check.. i have a small farm. I can use approximately 25-30 analog IO to deck-out my automation system. Level, pressure, temperature, humidity, power and moisture. If those were digital HA sensors at $50 per point that would be $1500 so don't expect to spend less for analog.

I fixed my issues. In short I was not setting the controller values correctly. First I ***-u-me you connected every thing correctly. On My KPL I use the top two buttons as a dimmer, right button dim up the left button dim down. the next 4 buttons are fan off, low , med and high, and the 7th button is fwd and reverse. It takes 6 scenes to accomplish all of the above. My mistake is where to make the scene settings. When you click on the scene these are General settings or the "current settings". If you click on the controller (red) these are the controller settings. You need 2 controllers one for on and one for off for the light. The key is to set the Button characteristic for the on off buttons. Click on the button you want (not the controller) and set the toggle mode.. the off button is non-toggle off and the on button is non-toggle on (use similar setting for the fan non toggle off for the off button and non toggle on for low med and hi) I used a single button for fwd/rev so i left that on at toggle. Once the buttons are set create your scenes. Set the max min on levels at the controller (in red) double click on the buttons are either full on or full off. Press and hold will ramp the level.

Great topic since I want to get a meter. I find bits of info to my questions in other posts but no complete answer. Question 1. I have an ISY994i is there an upgrade to Zigbee? If so what is the P/n and where do I buy. Once I buy the upgrade what model ISY am I now equivalent to ISY994iZ? Question 2. Some links above do not work.. So what Brultech models work? On the site it refers to wifi and Ethernet and also refers to zigbee (but not an option) which I assume is not one of the 2. Here is the link http://www.brultech.com/home/store/prod ... roduct=108

Argh More elk IO stuff. After I get the new ELK IO to show in the ELK status tab. It will not show when I try to select the Zone from the programming tab Now that I have left the site (not on local network) I can not refresh the topology. Says Elk disconnected. Yet it seems to connect (report alarm status and other info). In the elk configuration tab the address was the IP address of the elk on the local net. now that I am away I tried changing it to a mapped address "URL" I hate stuff that does not work as advertised I have another issue with the elk web keypad it that it only Occasionally shows the correct status. It was once always correct.

yes about 100x it does not always update but eventually does. Still have issues with updating elk IO elk says one thing ISY says another. I had one instance where i disarmed elk from the keypad bUT ISY said still armed. Also elk "web" keypad said still armed. argh why can't it all work as advertised.

Ok i got them to import BUT even though the voltage changes in the ISY it does not report the status correctly. Elk says violated ISY says normal. Why is something so simple so difficult.

I have a 16pt Elk expander. Up until now I was using just the first eight inputs. The ISY showed 24 inputs( the first 8 of the expander). I just added "enabled" input 25 and 26 but the isy does not show them. What am I missing? I have the elk module. how do I force it to show the other 8 inputs?

fascinating! that answers a lot of questions.. So really a scene has 2 controllers. The one in red (it has a set of values) and the PLM with its set of values. So if from a program I set a scene "on' I will get the "PLM/scene" values and not the red controller values? is this correct? What do I get when I set the scene off? does nothing? or sets all the "responders" off. From a program i can adjust scene values (which are independent of the red controller values) cool...

I got it... I almost did everything right the first time. I was clicking on the scene and setting all the levels. NOT the controller. Once I did that it worked So the question needs to be asked what the difference between the "scene" levels and the "controller" levels? Thanks for your help! Problem solved a good lesson

Did a firmware upgrade.. Reprogrammed scenes as described. All work except the lights. all lights.. (off, low med high) come on in low med or high.. off turns them all off. So fan linc works but not kpl.. An fyi the 'program" equal does not work at all... It can not execute the if on statement. Thoughts on writing a program just for the lights? Have them follow the state of the fan?

Yes that is exactly what I did! But it does not work. I do not understand the non toggle on mode. If the button is pressed it sends an on status. but once it is on how can the ISY see another transition (on command) if it already on? If I were ever to check the 'status' of a button in a program it would always be on so there would be no transition to evaluate. In the scene example (programed as you described) it all worked once as each non toggle button was set to on. The off worked OK as a nontoggle off. But once all the button were on the fan would only operate on high. Perhaps because it was the "last" scene to be evaluated? I am at version 3 something I will try version 4. Any known elk issues with V4?

I have an 8 button keypadlinc. And I just do not understand how the buttons work. HELP!! For a given button you can have toggle or toggle on or toggle off. Toggle on means if you press it, the state will change to the opposite state. Press once its on press again its off. Toggle on appears to set the switch on but there is no way to set it off. IMO is should be like a momentary on. What I want to do is control a fanlinc. it has 4 states Off, low, med and high. I want each button (4 required) to set the state. Obviously there are many variations (transitions) off to high, high to off, high to med, etc etc and with all this we have the led status of each button (on or off) and to top it all off in addition to the keypadlinc we want to control the fan remotely and have the keypad linc indicate the proper status. Normally I could whip this out in a couple of seconds with a "normal" plc and momentary push buttons. But with the "maintained" nature of the switches I do not have an answer. You never want to use a maintained switch if you want to control from more than 1 location. So how do I do it? Scenes? possibly.. A program will not work because the switches are maintained AND you can not change the state of a switch from a program only the LED status. Also can you explain how grouping works?

Im just a newbie to ISY, but when I think industrial control and what can interface to the ISY I think Zigbee. Zigbee has a host of IO options and I hear it is compatible with the ISY as well as other industrial control devices.

A bit of a newbie question. I have a scene with 2 buttons (an on button and off button) when I press the button it will ramp the light on or off until i release the button. All is good. I have the Max value of the light at 100%. Question 1.. if I set the max value to 50% will the max the light can go on be 50% with the buttons? or will it still go to 100% Reason I ask is because I have criteria (a program) that will turn on the light as well. except i only want the light to go on to 50%. So in my program, should I set the scene on? or should I set the light on? I can set the light on to any value I want in the program. I assume the scene control will still control the light. Question 2 Can you set a scene on to a certain value? If so how? Or is this value the value you set in the scene ie 50%? so a scene on command will yield 50% but the buttons can still ramp to 100? Confused....

For what it is worth.. It makes sense to me now. Wireless devices can not be polled... The way they work is they transmit the signal when they are tripped. So with the water sensor you get a status in the ISY when it trips (an on signal) AND when it resets (an off signal) Since the ISY is event driven (as opposed to a continuous scan) it retains the last status of the device. It (the ISY) is waiting for a "status change" in order to do something. The main thing to remember is what you perceive as the status is only what was last transmitted. Not the actual status. even though you may not register a status in the isy after a reboot (powerloss) it will act on any new signal received. You are forcing a transmit when you put the device in test which sends the current state. Remember wireless devices are asleep and only wake up to transmit a new event. the reason they can not be polled! Clear as mud?

In the server box I have tried "pool.ntp.org" This one works on the elk system but not the ISY I have also tried "time.nist.gov" But I just tried nist-time-server.eoni.com and it works Thanks

I have isy 994 ver 3.3.10 and can not get the time server to update. (red !) and fails sync now test. All network access works I can send emails and access remotely. Whats up?

A newbie to insteon and the ISY. I created a scene, selected a motion detector and a light and dragged them to the scene. The motion detector was the controller and the light the responder. Every thing looked good and it started to link and I get the error message can not communicate to the motion detector. Now I get a red "!" on the motion detector. If I trigger the motion detector the light turns on and off (as expected) but now the "!" changes to a delayed write Icon. If I force a write to the device I get the can not communicate message and back to the red "!" I tripped the sensor just before I tried the write thinking it may be a sleep mode thing.. no-joy Am I missing something Here?