larryllix

Your ISY clock will be synchronised every 24 hours (I set mine to 8hr.). When you load the admin console a time sample is taken from your ISY and then the times is set by a java software clock, getting out of sync. You may notice timed programs running slightly off from the admin console clock and it gets worse as it is open.

A simple battery backup or even a capacitor would cure most of that problem. It is a PITA though. I have twenty-five lightbulbs that keep time and now a few clocks that use the rf time signal. They must be facing the correct direction though and then they even change to DST correctly.

Insteon thermostat only send their information when the temperature changes by more than about 2-3 degrees F. I don't know how any software can tell it is unresponsive. Try putting a warm hair dryer on the stat for about 30 seconds to force an update,

Biggest problem with fridges today is trying to get the cu.Ft. size up by making the fridge deeper. Anything past the second layer is garbage within the next year. I always thought when I built a new house I would put in 2-3 dishwashers and leave the clean dishes in them instead of cupboards. What a waste of time and space stacking them in, then on the table, then back in the dishwasher. Of course old habits die hard,

Ohhh geeeezzzz! Who ate the QR code off the icing?

We would need much bigger fridges will all those specific usage weigh scales and somebody would definitely place the marmalade on the strawberry jam scale. Pantries and cupboards would have to become a peripheral of the fridge system. Most products are refrigerate after opening, even bread products packed in nitrogen now. After spending many years running several perfect warehousing systems, even my own that I wrote software to handle back in the late 70s, I know the in/out recording systems don't work. You spend more time correcting digital data than it takes to do a manual count each time. Weigh scales or some automatic scanning would be the only way to make this work but like PV systems, would it be more work, cleaning out the sticky soda pop residue from the can that exploded than just manually taking inventory? We know that doesn't work well or we wouldn't be here...LOL!

Working at the local electrical utility, we found it amusing, for some time the firemen would stand back from a house on fire, and let it burn to the ground, if it had PV panels on the roof. Their policies prevented them from entering a building until all energy sources were disconnected, and solar PV panels had their disconnects all inside the homes. ooops!

I don't think scanning the butter each time when you put it back, and then entering you used about 1.9% of the pounds will ever fly. There are some things that will never replace the brain of a human on an easy scale. We discouraged the usage of surprise money coins in birthday cakes years ago, I don't want to find BT coins in my food.

This right on target with my attitude. I spent about $40K now on solar PV equipment and should see about $5-10K back on my investment over the next 20 years of my life. What a waste and after replacing my last inverter system for about $15K (yeah the electronics are expected to last about 15 years for the better quality units like Outback) I will not likely even make any income from the system at all. I had a lot of fun though.

***SIGH*** A man's work is never done. I guess I need to know where to put the butter better.

I was thinking of purchasing an old self-checkout machine so it knows exactly what each item weighs. The only problem is it keeps asking us to take the last item out of the fridge and scan it again. We also know we won't get spouses to put things in front of their respective photocell detectors regardless of how much Dymotape we click out.

Doesn't GH have lists for vocal usage? I would be sure they would have tried to catch up within a decade or so. We use Alexa.... Add butter. (assumes shopping list) or Alexa....add fertilizer to the USA Shopping list Now vocal editing can be done also Alexa.... remove butter from the shopping list. It also reports duplicates when you attempt it. The paper list that is always on the fridge when we are in the stores is not required anymore. We travel 15-20km to get to stores so grouping errands is important for gas economy and this works extremely well. Check it out on GH.

It's not right or wrong. Its a grey area you have in your hair. I guess we are going to be the beta testers for the ISY move big or little endian. LOL

This is dependant where you want the change to take place. Insteon SwitchLincs have local control presets, program controls and 2-300 scene presets. This one control the local switch tap response.

LOL! OK...let me backpaddle here! @asbril They were correct about PolISY not likely coming with ISY installed immediately. I found this on the UDI website. @uffy I concede! Get the Zwave plug-in card. PolISY may be a while and the card is only $40ish.

This is not known for sure, at this time, but eventually you will dump your 8088, 8bit computer with MSDos, and use a multicore 64 bit CPU with Windows 10. Sure your 8 bit machine will do what it did before, but you will want more. My point was, why spend more money on a Zwave card when it likely have a limited time for support? PolISY is not a pipe dream anymore. It is on the books to be delivered soon. Did ISY994 replace ISY26? Yes and no. You have to decide if ISY994 will support all the new Zwave gadgets you will want to add because you were not happy with just your current Insteon devices. ISY994 will likely support you door locks but it will cost you money that could go toward future support coming. I don't see many people very happy, left behind using ISY26, and I see ISY994 being replaced in the same style, in about 2-3 years.

Sure. Create a program that will send you an email. Don't need or want anything in the "If" section. Format the email under the notification Tab. Enable the program to "Run at Startup". You will find this option in the program Summary listing chart. Right click on the program in the list and you should see the option to enable it.

The PolISY is a newer box with a CPU and memory about 20-50 times the processing power. People are currently expanding the reach of ISY into many Ethernet/Internet and other protocols using PolyGlot, typically running on a RPi micro computer. This will be all incorporated into one box along with the ISY firmware. I believe Zwave will be using a plug-in USB dongle and will not accommodate hardware from the older ISY boxes. ISY boxes may fall into obsolescence in a few years as support wanes. Since you already have a running ISY, I would wait before jumping into the same hardware you already have, when a huge upgrade is right under our noses. Your wallet. If you have use for two machines or just don't want to spend the extra (without presale discounts), that presents a different argument.. Your plug-in firmware licenses and PLM will be transferred to the new hardware but that will likely discontinue it's permission on the original ISY.

Wait! Soon to be shipped is the PolISY with built in Polyglot server. Get in on the discounts prerelease. Sent using Tapatalk

A MiLight hub can address four bulb addresses. You can address any quantity of bulbs or devices to each MLight group address. To address more MiLight devices, you need a second hub with a new IP address that ISY can talk to. I believe there is a new Hub that can address eight groups of bulbs now. You can use NRs but if you share a NR for multiple bulbs you require a Wait 1 second between each bulb command because ISY only does variable substitution at sending time and your variables may have changed. Using Hue with NRs has the same problem. Polyglot may alleviate some of these problems. My own software does it better without the delays. I have created pre assigned groups and it spreads the command to all bulbs in each list addressed. None of this is seen until using multiple devices. Sent using Tapatalk

MagicHome and most WiFi units do NOT use the cloud. Mine don't. They like to encourage their cloud services but I don't use them. I have 15 bulbs outside and I can animate them with rotating colours at almost any speed. My WiFi talks at almost 1Gbit/second. There are no delays, except if you use PolyGlot. MiLights require a hub every four bulb addresses. Hue bulbs require a hub also. I was about to buy a third MiLight hub when I decided other bulbs were cheaper than a new hub. When I bought my MiLight bulbs they ran about $10 each. That is changing! The MiLight bulbs have better brightness and colour than the Hue bulbs, even the newer ones. I have a Hue Bloom that does all the colours if you like a 2Watt equiv. I spent about $300 on Hue things. Two have been replaced under warranty already. Better interface but all bulbs ramp somewhat...just at one speed. It is overrated as long as they don't jump instantaneously. That is annoying but available on all bulbs for animation apps.

MiLights take a hub for every four groups of bulbs and I see no RGBWW strips for that protocol. By Groups, I mean addresses. So you can have as many bulbs as you want but only ever four different colours or levels at one time. Colours are the best I have seen and very good power output on all colours. Prices were good. I have many in my junk box now. Hue put out many bulbs that cannot do green. Philips tried to create a bulb with only three LEDs inside and without a real blue LED green isn't possible. As a matter of fact, the bulbs cannot do blue either but only an indigo/violet version of blue. They can never match any other brands , giving different colours around the room. I have a about 6 in a junk box now. They require a Hue hub. Easy protocol to work with. Newer versions of Hue may produce all the colours but I don't trust them to be capable until after purchase and returns are not likely. MagicHome bulbs can produce all the colours without any hub. I have 25 Chinese knockoffs, and 10 RGBWW strips, all mostly compatible and very close colouring match. Bulbs were under $10 each. I use custom software on a RPi 3, co-existing with Polyglot. Colours are weak compared to white. Ratings are always for the white LED and colours are whatever power level they feel like. My RGBWW strip controllers can mix white and colours, for pastels, but my cheaper bulbs cannot. The MagicHome protocol has many variations and not all knockoffs may be completely compatible. Some require an On signal to address them before setting colours. Some can do it opposite, avoiding the initial full on flash. With WiFi lighting you end up with an IP address for every bulb. You need a capable router. Unless your software does a keepalive pulse every minute or so, the bulbs will be slow to respond from their sleeping state. This gets annoying when turning on banks of them and may crowd your WiFi airwaves with a lot of units. I thought that mixing colours and white was important. After using many brands I have discovered you just need a good white, suitable for the area (working surface vs. TV watching) and good deep colours. When you turn on colours you want them very deep and intense. Pastels are a waste of effort. Also colours do not show unless they shine against a wall or object. Pots lights in the ceiling are barely noticeable when coloured, unless you looks directly at the bulbs. Above/below cabinet RBWW strips look very good.

IIRC the Alexa commands via ISY Portal bypass the If section. You may have to create programs, invoked by Alexa, that call other programs If sections containing the conditions. You could also make Alexa operate a variable and just watch the variable in your program(s) oooops. one more @oberkc method LOL Use Alexa to control a dummy program and allow the main programs to watch the state of the dummy program. No variables required. I would find this obscure and would not be my preference.

I wasn't referring to this case in particular, with my comment, but was based on general comments I keep hearing from the forum. In view of your simpler, no variable needed logic, that would be the one I would prefer. As I posted, I don't like to use variables for this type of logic but the program logic I posted, was way too twisted and did need to be simplified by more thought. You have demonstrated that well. The last occurrence challenge was a good one.

In the electrical distribution field we have experienced that copper conductors can be taken to a low red hot glow on the pole lines and yet still perform to deliver energy to customers, when occasional crisis situations occur.. With aluminum conductors the resistance to temperature coefficient is exponential and it will evaporate suddenly if abused with overloads. Each metal or alloy type has it's own thermal co-efficient. This makes metal evaporation specs with high currents very hard to predict exactly. Conductor damage curves are not linear and overcurrent protection is calibrated or sized to match these curves.