lilyoyo1

You don't extract it. You just download it and the isy will take care of the rest

Manually controlling the outlet is different than the isy controlling it which is why it works. The fast on is built into the insteon structure so that any device can control another device the same way (you can also dim a dimmable device with a relay) While I don't use it for my outlets, (I don't manually turn them on), I have many things that happen off a double tap

Someone else posted the same thing I've before. While I have these outlets, I've never bothered to check to see what happens asa gay on with a relay outlet is no different than a standard on. With the addressed device actually being the top outlet, I can see this being normal behavior

Here's a post with others thoughts on the subject

They'll update but generally once per hour or so. Depending on use, it could already be dark by the time it updates

Also, for the light sensor to work properly for those that do, most need to be hardwired to update accordingly

Not really. It's not as simple as buying 2 things. Since you do not have zwave devices now you would need to build it's network to ensure strong communication. Depending on where your isy is located in relation to the light in question, this could mean a multitude of devices at 40-50 dollars a pop

What do you mean by wanting to do something more automated for your outside? Are you asking for suggestions or how to achieve a goal? If lights aren't turning on I would say you have a comm issue. How do you have your scene setup? Are you using a scene directly or via a program?

Yeah. I can't move mine around. I use ubiquity and they are in the ceiling. Lol

Thank you. I would recommend making a pigtail which is what I use. I simply cut up an extension cord, made a hot, neutral, and load with it and plug it in when needed. I'm your case it's easy with your Google WiFi but a pigtail is easier and faster

I decided to start this post due to the many posters that are starting out and having the exact same problems with their zwave devices. Hopefully, others will chime in as well with what they've learned over the years. This will give new users an easy place to go to for reference and help vs digging through the forums looking for it. Zwave Boards and updates There are now technically 3 boards. The 300, 500, and 700 series (Polisy only. Currently in testing). The new 500 series has been out for over 3 years now (I'd say at least 4 years), so unless one purchases a used ISY994, most likely they have the 500 series board. The ISY994 does not have and will not receive a 700 series board. Likewise, Current boards will not be compatible with Polisy but your current zwave devices (once ready) will be able to be used with the 700 board. If you are starting out with zwave and can hold off, you are better off waiting and getting the zooz dongle and polisy when its ready. You can find the dongle on Amazon . Note: in order to take full advantage of 700 series features, all devices must be 700 series. All series are still compatible with one another but all must be at the same level to fully utilize whatever added benefits the new series brings. I would disregard any Instructions about zwave board updates at this time Currently, there are no new firmware updates for either board. The 300 was updated many moons ago and haven't been since. I'd be highly surprised if there are any in the wild that hasn't been updated. Should this change, I'll update this post with the correct firmware. DO NOT UPGRADE YOUR ISY PAST 5.0.16C IF YOU HAVE THE 300 BOARD!!! YOU WILL RUIN YOUR SYSTEM!!! If you are not certain which one you have....ASK!!! Its much easier to avoid issues than it is to fix issues simply by asking and verifying. The immediate physical differences between the 2 boards is that the 300 series card has a blue light in the back of the isy while the 500 does not. Choosing Devices There are many caveats when choosing zwave devices. I won't touch this but will answer questions if someone has any. The main thing is to choose zwave plus devices at a minimum. At this time, there aren't many 700 series devices but if given a choice, I would go with 700 series of the same device to future proof yourself. I'm not going to go into great details about this as it'll make things more confusing but should someone want to know why, they can always ask and then I'll explain the particulars. Zooz, Leviton, Aeotech are a few companies that currently make 700 series devices. Yale is coming out with a new module for their locks in January (currently released to dealers. Not yet available to open public). Newer locks sold by them will also be available (I do not have a specific date yet). Zwave devices are backwards compatible so 700 series devices will work with the current 500 series board. You won't realize the benefits that 700 series has while using the 500 board but device control and status (where applicable) will function as normal. The same applies if you were to use the 300 board with 700 series devices. I also recommend sticking with well known manufacturers such as aeotech, fibaro, homeseer, and ge. Quality or lack of quality issues aside, you'll find more help and support with them than some fly by night no name company. There is a second tier of companies that many (including myself) such as dome (personal favorite) and enerwave. Saving money is great. However ask yourself if those few dollars are worth the hassle and no help. In addition, if you are still using the 4.0 branch and are having issues with adding general devices (especially multi channel), you need to upgrade to the 5.0 branch. You should probably update anyway regardless. If you're on 5.0 and have Leviton devices. You definitely need the latest 5.0.16C in order for their newest devices to work properly. Mesh Network and Repeating If you only have 1 or 2 devices for your network, there is really no point in asking for help in regards to why the isy won't talk to them or intermittent communication issues. The advice from everyone will be the same. Add more devices. This can be in the form of a repeater such as those from aeotech. You can also use in wall receptacles or plug in modules. I prefer in wall receptacles since plug in modules can be unplugged or moved to a different location by someone. Keep in mind embedded devices such as receptacles will not have the range of external devices so you will need more if you go that route. Battery powered devices do not act as repeaters. You can have 100 of them but if they are not constantly powered such as a plug in module or outlet, you will not be building a strong mesh network. This leads to the next step. Beaming devices. Make sure your repeaters that are closest to security devices (such as locks) support beaming. Personally, I recommend a beaming devices be closest to any battery powered device as well as simply buying devices that support beaming. That way you don't have to wonder and worry. Generally this isn't an issue with zwave plus but you never know. With the amount of companies telling shortcuts, I added it just in case. Range Many people feel the range on the new 500 series is worse than the 300 series. There is some truth to that. From my experience, an all 500 series (zwave plus) has really good range. Regardless, I still believe in repeaters no matter what (I'll be getting to that later). My general rule is a repeating device 20-30 feet open air (line of sight). 20 feet if embedded (such as in wall switch or receptacle) and 30 if exposed. I cut those numbers in half if there is a wall in between. Once I add up what I think I need, I add 1 extra to the count. Why? I could be wrong. It easier and cheaper to buy 1 extra device than move things around until I find the right location mixture. My second and biggest reason is that zwave devices can heal themselves. This is especially important for small installs such as those where one is trying to control some locks. Obviously a large install or zwave only install makes this a moot point. By adding extra devices, you are potentially adding a secondary path for the signal to route through vs shutting down the single route you have causing a headache. A note on range since some will argue about greater range and question why they still have problems. Do not fall for the hype. All tests are done in open air under perfect conditions. The increased range will help if you have a modern home with an open floor plan. HOWEVER- older homes with doors and walls everywhere will still suffer from range issues that any other wireless device suffers from. This is made worse once devices are installed in metal boxes, behind fish tanks, etc. Save yourself the headaches and simply buy extra devices Controllers as repeaters I see many people on here having problems with the Isy controlling their single lock 10 feet away. This is less a range issue but a system issue. Controllers make poor repeaters. Their job is to send a signal to a device and move on to the next device. If they have to wake up a device, wait for it to wake up, send a signal (especially if it's encrypted), wait for a response.....I'm sure you see where I'm going. Imagine a company. Your controller is the director. The beaming devices are supervisors and leads. If the director tried to tell everyone what to do and keep up with everything else, nothing would get done. When you have a controller without beaming capable repeating devices, that is what happens. They've either moved on to another task during that process or their que gets filled and something gets missed. Beaming devices can hold that message until the device wakes up, send it to the device, and wait for the response. During this time, the controller can handle its other duties and get the message when ready. Adding Devices When adding devices, I always add within 3 feet of the isy. This is generally a requirement of security devices (such as locks) but it's one I follow with all my devices (including insteon and my hue with the hue hub). This allows me to verify the isy can control things without issue before installing in it's final location. This way, if there is an issue, I've taken the isy out of the equation. I add devices in the order I'm installing from closest to farthest. While this isn't necessary, I still do this from when zwave first came out. Earlier I said there were caveats with zwave and here is another one. This capability is called Network wide inclusion. If a device supports it, then you may get away with installation and adding after the fact. BUT....why set yourself up when range could still potentially be an issue. Now, if you have a house full of zwave with devices that support NWI, then you may be ok. For the most part, most devices can only be added to one controller. Yes, there are some variables such as primary and secondary controllers but for a newbie, that's advanced information that can cause confusion. Should more detail be needed, ask and I will explain. The best way to add a device is to exclude it first and then add it. Personally, I factory reset my devices manually and still do that process but at the very least exclude then include. Excluding clears all links regardless of what it was added to. Once all devices have been added, I will generally wait a day before doing anything with them. I've found that they sometime will populate nodes hours after being added. Once done, I will run a network heal (5.0.16c and below) After that is done, I'm finished and can program to my heart's content. If you are running 5.3 and above, network heal is no longer there. This isn't on UDI but zwave itself no longer supporting network heal (official zwave +) along with the fact that network heal caused more issues than it solved. 500 series devices are self healing. Should a heal need to be done, you would do it on individual devices by right clicking on the device you want to update and using update neighbors. In closing, I hope this helps someone and others will leave what they learned behind. This post isn't about device specific support but general zwave help which is why I didn't go into specific devices. Hopefully this be stickied for newcomers to find @Michel Kohanim

There are no updates to the zwave module

You say your having problems but not the problems you're having so we can't help there. You have the newest zwave board so that information does not apply to you. Yours is the correct version for the board that you are having. What is your firmware and UI of the isy

I can understand that. The only people coming into my home are those I'm close to. They already know cameras aren't in private places such as bathrooms and bedrooms. Anywhere else, I readily admit there are cameras around. My favorite line is; "it's not the cameras you see that gets you, it's the ones that you don't".

Automation should be experienced and not really interacted with. Having to do unnecessary button presses ruins the experience as its not making anything more convenient. While one could keep hitting buttons to keep lights on, its not natural. Secondly, lights turning off at the wrong moment simply ruins the whole experience. This is where using a motion sensor makes most sense. It'll allow you to keep the lights on when a room is occupied and off when it is not. Instead of doing it the way you're trying to, I would invest in a motion sensor. With that, regardless of whats on, everything would turn off if the room is unoccupied (or simply the light that you want). Much more natural flow which makes the system much more enjoyable

Because scenes do not work that way with alexa. They can't be dimmed You need to create a scene, set the devices to 50% and then tell Alexa to turn it on

You're introducing complexity into something which most likely will cause you more issues than simply upgrading one and working out the kinks that way. There are enough upgrade stories that should give you an idea of what to look for and how to easily fix (especially since you only have insteon). Read a few of them and you'll see. Trying to buy a new isy not only ways your money, but wastes your time setting up as well as adding unnecessary complexity which will make troubleshooting even worse

While association can cut down on the effect, association only works with a very small and limited number of devices....generally around 4 which still sucks from am automation standpoint. Also from my experience (with other controllers), when using association, status isn't reflected with those devices. Depending on how someone programs their house, this isn't an issue but still isn't optimal

Zwave and insteon act differently when it comes to scenes. With insteon, the signal is sent to all devices at once. With zwave, signals are sent 1 at a time to each device resulting in a popcorn effect. Unfortunately, you won't get the same simultaneous effect like you get with insteon

I do the same in my half baths when it comes to using motion and door sensors together. The only difference is that the motion doesnt turn on the lights and if the door is closed with the lights off then the lights will automatically turn on (unless manually turned off when leaving bathroom. If the lights are somehow left on with the door closed, they will time out at some point without any motion. I also connected my fans to the lights. If the lights are off for more than 15 minutes and fans are on, then the fans will turn off

One thing I learned is to keep things simple. If you dont want to integrate sensors into your system to check for occupancy, I would use the double tap method. A single tap turns on the light for 30 minutes and a double tap can be an hr or indefinitely. For the bathrooms in my house, I extended the lights on period during the hours most people take baths/showers (morning and evening). This will disable the motion sensors so that the lights will not turn the lights off on any one. For me, this system has worked out well since anyone can turn the lights on normally without worrying about them turning it off or remembering extra steps.

They used to make something but I don't know if they still do. I don't it as they didn't sell many

People still use timers but the isy is a better manger of time than a device specifically built to handle that task. With the Isy, you can override your timers as well as set them for what you want them to be vs what someone feels you need

This may not be smartlabs doing. Companies fork zwave and zigbee for their own needs all the time vs trying to make it part of someone else's ecosystem.

Insteon needs the plm in order to send/receive insteon signals. If the plm is bad they won't get the signal regardless of what you do so it's irrelevant. Those programs wouldn't work anyway. Any non insteon based programs would still run however. With the zwave only firmware, once you get a new Plm, those would work like normal.