apnar

Could add relays after the transformer to each zone. Then flip relays with IO linc or GPIO pins on a Pi. Relays are likely good bit cheaper than transformer for each zone and then you also get around needing to handle switching actual voltage.

Likely sacrilege around here but my wife hates anything that breaks up walls and wants things as small as possible if they must be there so I actually removed the double gang boxes and replaced them with single gang boxes in a number of places throughout the house. Little drywall work and you need to make sure the number of wires going through is to code in a single gang but overall pretty easy project.

Same with my Insteon wired stats. They randomly would turn on eco mode which moved both set points out 4 degrees. To make matters worse you can not query or change Eco mode via insteon commands. So far I've replaced one with a venstar and have been happy with it so far.

I ended up doing the same thing but grabbed a Liftmaster 885LM control instead of using existing remote. Works well, can usually find it under $20, and has some fairly easy solder points. https://www.liftmaster.com/for-homes/Accessories/Control-Panels/model-885LM

Check the scene for the speed B represents. Look at the sub node under that scene for button B. In that make sure the "on level" for A is 0%.

Should be. Set fan pull chain to high and lamp to both banks then hide the pull chains. Then connect up fanlinc and link up with KPL.

If you think those are awesome then wait until you try the Wago Lever Nuts. They are similar to push wire but have levers so you can lock or release each individual wire.

I'd think a middle ground approach might be a good balance. If you could split your list into 5-10 scenes that each contain a logical grouping of lights (which ideally you could double use for some other programs) that would cut your update times down but still not have a crazy long program to maintain either. As to the benefit of requiring the ISY or not, without the ISY what are you having setting the scene every 15 minutes?

I recently went through the same exercise. I ended up giving up and going with normal hardwired smoke/CO. I figure at some point I can detect voltage on the hardwired trigger line if I really need to tie them in.

There are other options if you want to do a little more work yourself and have another machine running locally (like a Pi). You can setup a Hue emulator that will allow you to make your own glue between the Echo and ISY. It was the path many took before the ISY portal was available so you can find some threads on here about it.

I've often wanted for a true virtual device in the ISY that mimics a single device but is backed by one or more scenes. For example I have a whole bunch of fanlincs with matching 6 button key pads. To make them work you need to create 4 scenes (one for each fan speed), but for every use I want those 4 scenes treated as a single device with 4 speeds. Same thing with 3 and 4 way switches, I always want them treated as a single device. I envision it as picking the type of device to mimic (on/off, fan, dimmer) then for each state (or range of dim values) you pick which scene backs that state. It might be a little tricky to make a decent UI for but I don't see why functionally it couldn't work. You might end up with a ton of scenes though. You can sort of fake this with programs but it'd be I think it'd be better as a virtual device.

The micro dimmer would work or you could use a In-LineLinc Dimmer Switch if you need more watts.

For those like me that aren't that sharp, this works with a specific doorbell system called "Ring". Details of it are here: https://ring.com

Also the thing about the micro in this case that makes it work is the "sense" capability allowing the use of the normal switches.

I considered the same micro approach. The catch for me was it is only rated at 100w. With LEDs that might be doable now but I hadn't converted yet. I ended up replacing all the switches and have been very happy with the decision. As to cost, I usually grab the 4 packs from costco online for about $160.

I don't have the reference handy but I distinctly recall reading in previous threads that SmartHome did change the sensor included in the kit a year or two ago. At the time of researching it caused me to buy the IOlink and Seco-Larm (linked above) separately instead of the garage door kit.

From other posts it's most likely that the delay is on the IFTTT side of things. You can accomplish the same thing without the delay and without needing to use "trigger" by using a local Hue emulator as the brdige from the Echo to the Harmony hub. The downside of course is need a box up 24x7 to run the emulator on.

Instead of ordering two you can find a thread on here about fixing the old one. Swapping a few caps should get the old one working again so you have it as a backup. Edit: thread: http://forum.universal-devices.com/index.php?/topic/13866-Repair-of-2413S-PLM-When-the-Power-Supply-Fails

Siriproxy stopped working on IOS8 unfortunately (unless there is a way to get around the issue via jailbreak that I'm unaware of). Also Siri still uses the cloud for voice processing just like the echo. If you want to give Siri a try you can go the HomeKit route. There is a thread on here that covers setting it up. You run a server (similar to hue bridge) that advertises to HomeKit and then makes calls to the ISY. Edit: thread on HomeKit: http://forum.universal-devices.com/index.php?/topic/16329-HomeKit-Support-via-HomeBridge---Siri-Voice-Control

Also, curious why the focus on iTunes playlists if you aren't into the Apple ecosystem?

Take a look at logitechs squeezebox media server. The squeezebox line is pretty much end of life but the server is open source and is still kept reasonably up to date. There is an iTunes plugin that can read playlists. You can either grab older Logitech hardware from eBay or use a number of open source software players. Allows multiple zones which can easily be independent or synced. It should hit almost all your requirements and it's totally free to try out.

You should be able to run the emulator directly on your iMac, no need to run it inside Windows VM.

predevice: upstairs, downstairs, basement may also consider making "kitchen" predevice also as you have a handful of devices that start that way

So the udp6 (and tcp6) is normal, I just checked my working install and netstat doesn't list anything for either udp or tcp, only the 6 ones. I found this a bit odd as I can connect just fine to service via ipv4. After a bit of digging I found that this is likely due to the use of IPv4-mapped IPv6 addresses in the servers network code. It's a way for a dual-stack program to listen on both v4 and v6 without needing to use double work. It's the first time I've seen it before but found examples of its use by Apache and EleasticSearch so it's not too uncommon.

Barry, I'm curious why you use a VNC server? What are you doing that you need a GUI for that you can't do via text through SSH? Also, is "Sarah" a Eureka reference?