aweber1nj

Yeah, this is a very good point. Unfortunately, I have a mish-mosh of different plugs so I'll have to go find the factory reset info for each model. But yes, good idea. Thanks.

Trying to exclude/remove some Z-Wave switches from my ISY in preparation to move them, but when I choose Remove a Device, that window just says Listening for Devices and eventually just dismisses itself, not returning anything or doing anything. I did see some SSL errors recently, but not sure what those are all about. ISY v5.3.1 ZWave 6.82.01 / 21100 Any help/tips would be greatly appreciated. Found this in the log, don't know if it helps? ZW 004 Multilevel Switch Error 0.00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 Wed 2024/01/31 04:51:36 PM System Log ZW 004 Multilevel Switch Wed 2024/01/31 04:51:36 PM System -2 D R Side board Lights Status 100% Wed 2024/01/31 04:55:06 PM System Log L R Lights 3 Status 50% Wed 2024/01/31 05:20:06 PM System Log ZW Outdoor1 On-Off Error 0.00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 Wed 2024/01/31 07:52:50 PM System Log Get NodeDef ZWave 0 Wed 2024/01/31 08:36:34 PM System Log ZW 005 On-Off Power Switch Status On Wed 2024/01/31 08:36:57 PM System Log Start Exclude ZWave Wed 2024/01/31 08:37:15 PM System Log Start Exclude ZWave Wed 2024/01/31 08:39:43 PM System Log Cancel Include/Excl ZWave Wed 2024/01/31 08:40:38 PM System Log Start Exclude ZWave Wed 2024/01/31 08:41:16 PM System Log ZW Outdoor1 On-Off Status Off Wed 2024/01/31 08:44:08 PM System Log ZW Outdoor1 On-Off Status On Wed 2024/01/31 08:44:11 PM System Log ZW Outdoor1 On-Off Status Off Wed 2024/01/31 08:44:17 PM System Log ZW Outdoor1 On-Off Error 0.00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 Wed 2024/01/31 08:44:28 PM System Log ZW Outdoor1 On-Off Wed 2024/01/31 08:44:28 PM System -2 [ZWCMD cmd.51] ZWave Wed 2024/01/31 08:44:50 PM System Log [ZWCMD cmd.51] ZWave Wed 2024/01/31 08:44:51 PM System Log [ZWCMD cmd.51] ZWave Wed 2024/01/31 08:44:51 PM System Log [ZWCMD cmd.51] ZWave Wed 2024/01/31 08:45:19 PM System Log [ZWCMD cmd.51] ZWave Wed 2024/01/31 08:45:19 PM System Log [ZWCMD cmd.51] ZWave Wed 2024/01/31 08:45:20 PM System Log Start Exclude ZWave Wed 2024/01/31 08:45:30 PM System Log Get Dongle Version ZWave Wed 2024/01/31 08:50:44 PM System Log Get NodeDef ZWave 0 Wed 2024/01/31 08:55:57 PM System Log ZW Indoor1-On-Off Error 0.00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 Wed 2024/01/31 08:57:18 PM System Log ZW Indoor1-On-Off Wed 2024/01/31 08:57:18 PM System -2

Anyone receive any updates/news lately? Just setting up for the holidays and need to add/replace a few module, but finding they're sold-out everywhere. I can understand a parts-shortage from China (or anywhere), but is there any feedback from Insteon or SmartHome to say whether this is a temporary thing, or are they going to abandon the technology? Ugh.

I installed a "commercial" SSL Cert on my isy a few years ago. I think this was for an alternate portal...or maybe I was trying to "roll my own" extranet access to my isy (very likely with wiki or forum topics). I just got a notification that my SSL Cert needs to be renewed... My question is: If I'm paying for the (official) ISY Portal, and I currently only use that - and its Amazon Echo integration - do I need an SSL certificate installed on my isy device anymore? Can I just let that expire? Or is it necessary for comms with the Portal? Thanks for any info. -AJ

As much as I like the banter (and I do), just to get back to the OP... Still having trouble with this. I actually always had just "tree" as a secondary name for the outlet-module, but it doesn't help. The really strange thing is that Alexa doesn't seem to ever have a problem with the "on" command. It is only turning it "off" that she thinks the device does not support the command. In addition, sometimes she replies that she can't execute that command, but then it turns off anyway. So I'm wondering if there is some timing or other resource issue where commands aren't being sent to the portal or ACK'ed back to Alexa in a timely manner? Still...why only the "off" command? I did notice my devices get messed-up over the past few days as one poster had mentioned (some were in Spanish, some were devices I never had, etc.)...I did a forget-all and re-discover and it appeared to get my devices back. Any further ideas or updates from the devs? Thanks again, AJ

Yeah, I don't know Alexa's implementation, but I did work with the MSFT speech sdk at one point and it (logically enough) would try and "understand" all words, then throw-out all the ones that it figured were irrelevant according to its "vocabulary". So technically, you should be able to say something like, "Alexa, please turn the Christmas tree in here all the way on right now", and it would only care about noun and verb for this case: "Christmas Tree" and "On". Certainly, other "skills" or actions require additional vocabulary -- even ISY's; like if it recognized the word "percent" it might try and find the number to associate with the command as well as changing it's pattern to look for the words "up" or "down" as adverbs. I appreciate the advice and experience. I'll try to re-arrange my requests to Alexa (though I'm sure Amazon's goal is to make the order of the sentence anything at all)...us early adopters have to deal with idiosyncrasies sometimes!

Thanks, Andy. Doesn't seem directly related, other than they're fixing some bugs in the integration. Appreciate the heads-up.

Are the bugs related to the "newer" version of the alexa skill? Maybe I was really lucky, but I don't remember having a single problem with the older one. Not sure which "other recent thread", but if you can point me in the right direction, I'll be happy to read through it. Thanks for your reply!

I upgraded my Amazon Echo to the new ISY "skill" (v2) last week. I had been using the original integration via the ISY Portal successfully. Everything seemed to be working smoothly...and for the most part, everything still is, except... I added an insteon module to control the Christmas Tree. Also added it to the portal. First two days everything worked great: "Alexa, turn Christmas tree on/off" was flawless. Yesterday afternoon I turned it on (using Alexa), no problem. But when I was headed to bed, I couldn't turn it off! Alexa kept responding with, "That command doesn't work for this device." The command being "off". This morning I tested it and it turned on fine. But when I went to turn it off, she complained again...but then successfully turned it off? Has anyone experienced something like this controlling ISY-devices via their Echo? Any tips/tricks? Thanks in advance, AJ

OK, cool. So 8001 was originally missing - it's not a "standard" port so I have it blocked by default. Once I allowed all outbound traffic last night, things started working fine. (I did double-check the HTTPS Client settings, and they were OK.) I can go back and change the firewall rule to only allow 443/tcp and 8001/tcp for the ISY's MAC address instead of "everything". Thank you for the response. -AJ

I really don't want to get off topic here. The vast majority of networked appliances leverage https (sometimes http) to connect to servers in the cloud. I have plenty of them. Those that don't use standard ports typically publish their requirements somewhere. Google something like "Sonos ports", or "ecobee network ports". You'll see them explicitly define what they require for normal operation. They typically wouldn't be prone to viruses either. Anyway, thank you for the feedback!

Outbound ports shouldn't be too insecure to publish. You can't connect to them, they're outbound. The reason I don't allow "all ports" outbound is to reduce exposure for anything malicious that finds its way into my network. (And because I'm a freak. ) I just feel that if you have a connected device, you should ask for (or specify requirements for) communications; consider it a privilege, not a right. It's not a huge deal. Just thought if a dev read this, they could correct me or publish the info for "the next guy".

That's what I was wondering. If the ISY uses http/https (or a multitude of other ports I already have open), it would be OK. If it's using something specific, I think it should be published somewhere so crazy guys with hardened home firewalls know what the device requires to operate.

Yessir, I registered it. Could be total coincidence, but when I set an exception in my firewall to allow the ISY unfettered access outbound, things started to get back on track. I saw it ask for permission in the ISY Console, the icon went yellow in the portal, and after accepting it, it went green and now I'm off and running. So IDK if it's coincidence or if the devs are using a non-standard port to communicate outbound to the portal servers.

Are there any specific ports that my isy994i needs to connect out to the ISY Portal? I just purchased the portal to try it out with my Amazon Echo. The ISY is added to the portal, but continues to say "Never connected". The ISY Portals page shows "Offline Never Registered". Hopefully it's just a little slow tonight, because there isn't any info I can find that says there are any special ports that it requires outbound (my firewall DOES filter outbound traffic). Any ideas? Thanks, AJ

@oberkc: Thank you for the clarification. That's the details I was looking for. Still trying to fully solve the original issue, but thank you very much for that info!

@ergodic: I want to thank you for all the good ideas. I will see which of these I can investigate further. @LeeG: So the From-To doesn't really act like a test after the (milli-)second the time hits the actual "From", except when the time hits the actual "To"? The way it's worded, I was hoping this is a time-range where the rest of the conditionals can determine the final T/F path -- when there are additional conditionals. In other words, if a STATUS changes during the time-range, does the From-To portion still return TRUE (provided it's not exactly at the TO time)? Thanks for the details! -AJ

So the status has to change -- an event regarding a change in status of the module has to occur during the time-period for it to trigger? If that is the case, then those "Status" clauses would always rely upon another program/scene or someone manually activating the module, right? Thinking more about it, that strawman program (outlined above) did work last night, and the module was already responding and On when the time-period arrived. So maybe if ANY of the triggers changes, the IF statement will be evaluated, which is kinda what I want in this case... If the time-period starts, and the lights are on, turn them off. If the time-period starts and the module is not responding, then you have to just wait (unfortunately). If, during that same time-period, my other program is running a Query-Module every minute until it succeeds...if the module responds to a query, it would (I am guessing here) change its status to "Responding"...so evaluate the IF statement (and turn them off). That's what I want anyway, I'm still fuzzy on how the FROM-TO part evaluates (and how often it evaluates).

The garage door openers. If I do something like this: From 11PM to 11:30PM (same day) AND Status Outdoor2 is responding AND Status Outdoor2 is On Then Set Outdoor2 Off Will this program run ONCE between that time when the Outdoor2 module responds? ASSUME: I have another program for that time period that Repeats every 1 Minute, "Query Outdoor2" while it is NOT responding. (I'm still confused as to the "FROM" condition and how often the ISY will check other conditions like the event that the Outdoor2 "is responding" -- since the second program will attempt to query it every minute.)

This is a 2634-222 outdoor on/off module. AFAIK, it's dual-band, and it's certainly not a motion sensor.

I have an Insteon outdoor (on/off) module that is out in my detached garage. For whatever reason it is occasionally not found or "offline" per the ISY. I assume this is some combination of factors including distance to the garage, what circuits are on in the house, etc., that would take me an unreasonable time to really figure out. For example, I logged into the controller just now and it displayed a message that the module was not found. When I right-clicked on it and chose "Query", it came back with the current (and correct) status. So my question is if anyone has any code-snippets or best-practices to workaround this situation when I need to switch that module in a program? It didn't switch-on at dusk (other modules reacted correctly to that program), and like I said, when I went on to the ISY it showed it offline. Does anyone have any recommended "retry logic" that will attempt to re-communicate with the module and make sure it switches to the correct state? Perhaps with a timeout (like only try 10x over 5min or something so it's not trying "forever")? Should I insert some kind of explicit "Query" into the program before sending a command and see if that helps bring it online first? Thanks for any ideas/tips/tricks! (Yes, these are Holiday Lights! ) -AJ

Great info, and thank you for the quick reply! I'm going to split it into two programs. I'm also going to try creating a variable to track when one of the LR Lights is turned "on" (is not "Off"), and increment that each time a light is turned on...with some creative thinking, that should help me track whether someone manually toggled a light (on), or whether the program ran and turned it on automatically. Thanks again, AJ

(Sorry the title couldn't be more descriptive...) I can export the program if it helps, but here's the "main program": Here's "LRLightsOff1": So basically, what I'm trying to do at sundown is check if any of the Living Room ("LR") lights have already been turned on. If not, turn on #3. At 10:05PM, if none of the other lights are on, turn #3 off. (This is a very "simplistic" program - it should probably have a way to record if any lights have been toggled/adjusted at all in the room and disable the auto-off at 10:05.) What happens is that at sundown, #3 goes on...then off...then on...then off...in a loop. I guess this is an artifact of the if statement. I was under the impression that it only gets evaluated at the designated time, where a time is in the IF statement. I guess it's triggering again as the state of LR3 changes (though that doesn't explain why it would loop -- that would make it turn on once, and then turn off)? Anyway, can someone tell me why my logic is incorrect, and "for bonus points" suggest a way to implement what I'm trying to do? THANKS! -AJ

Great info on the "Waits" and "Repeats", thank you! -AJ

No, if you read my previous posts, you'd note that I specifically said I wasn't trying to bash the ISY and am trying to understand how the programs logic is put together. It isn't apparent as first glance because it seems the constructs aren't entirely what they seem. So I ask for information in a Q&A forum. So you are absolutely right; I don't know how the ISY works, and that's why I'm posting my question here. So far, I love this device, but to get the most power out of it, I strive to understand it better. The programming constructs are tripping me up. I always value responses, because they're from people taking the time to help others. I think it's the labels here. And I'm sorry if I offended you. The simple example of a "switched on" event you mention I totally agree with and understand. There should be no Else allowed in that program. I'm just saying back to you (in trying to understand it) that what we're saying is it's a trigger event, not really an if-statement per se. Otherwise we'd need definition as to when the if is evaluated, and if it's more frequently than when the event occurs, and you throw time specs in with and logic, then else statements would be run a lot.