larryllix

No cloud required for Polyglot or Network Resources controls. The power ratings on bulbs for RGBWW is the white light power equiv. RGB LEDs inside are much dimmer. RGBWW strips give off good light levels. I have RGBWW strips on top of kitchen cabinets but not under counter. The WW LEDs give off about 3000K white light but has a nicer look than any bulb I have ever seen. I spent much bucks trying to get colour I could mix with white. It's a waste of time and money. Get the proper white for the location and when you want colours you want them rich and defined. Many cold white is done by mixing RGB and doesn't have the brightness level and looks cheap and thin. Strips are dimmable down to barely lit but not very linear, as your eye perceives it so you end up with about 6 useful levels. 100%, 50%, 25%, 12%, 6% and maybe 1%

A cheap mechanical stat in parallel as a backup set at a frost prevention, might rest your mind.

Yes, The ecobee server has gone down a lot for upgrades and probs but... my ecobee 3 and 4 always reconnect to my WiFi. OTOH My two Venstar ColorTouch T7900 stats have gone down and had to be power cycled over 30 times each in the last 3-4 years, and AFAICT almost every time my router has been reset or had a power blink. Neither T7900 will heal the WiFi connection with the slightest router hiccough. I have almost worn the contacts out lifting the electronics out of the socket and punching them down again. One has finally been retired now and replaced with another ecobee. This has transpired over two different AC1900 routers, three different router firmware suppliers, and a dozen different router firmware upgrades as well as two different router locations, one about 12 feet away just above the Venstar stat still in usage as a monitor.

If WiFi isn't already available an older mobile phone set to provide HotSpot service and a cheaper data only plan could give you a very reliable connection. You would have some battery backup built in to the phone. Ecobee stats heal their WiFi very well after outages. Mine have never missed but other brands need to be power cycled almost every time.

Short cycling can often be due to Electircal grid reclosers on the high voltage lines doing a line protection short outage. This is done to alleviate lightning strikes on the line after they arc to ground so that the system supply doesn't continue to arc in the same carbonised air path. What the user experiences is a short completely dead line and then usually an immediate live line again. If the fault does not clear it will do it again, increasing the outage time to say.....1 second, and then maybe 15 seconds the next time, and then finally give up the third of fourth try. This is real hard on your A/C compressor and will likely damage it usually. Decent thermostats are designed to not allow this. When the power is cycled the stat should lock out the A/C compressor for the minimum on delay time. They all label the setting differently.

A huge dead band on the setpoints is not short cycling prevention and is not related to compressor protection. As I have found with most thermostat support, they have no idea what they are talking about and don't understand the terms, even when you use their exact lingo used in their manuals. Short cycling prevention takes a timer, that survives everything, including power outages, if possible, that prevents the compressor from turning back on after it last shut off. Here's an example. You have setpoints with a 5 degree deadband. The stat just shut off the A/C compressor as you walk across the floor and turn the stat to a lower setpoint because you feel it is too warm in the room. 10 seconds after the compressor shut off you demand A/C again and the compressor turns back on. The pressure of the gases are still high inside the compressor and the compressor motor is slowly turning backwards, as the pressure equalises. Most AC motors will start any which way they turn first, and have windings to ensure they only start the correct rotation. But the motor is still turning backwards and will start backwards rotation direction!! You hear banging and clattering and the fuses finally blow to the compressor. The service man arrives, inspects the system and determines your compressor/motor unit is pooched! Open your wallet for another $2-3K and survive the heat until it arrives and gets installed during peak season. I have my compressor and thermostat on a different circuit breaker. Don't do that either. I had my compressor running from stage 2 cooling on a Venstar Colortouch stat. Don't do that either. Second stage has no compressor delay protection, only the first stage. Get an ecobee.

Glad to help!! I only exemplified what oberkc was trying express above and also fixes apostolakisl's concerns.

Program1 [enabled] If $Geofence-Home is 1 Then run (if) Program2 Else ----- Program2 [disabled] If Status 'Outside / Outside - Garage Light' is Off <---- this will also activate it in an enabled program And From 11:00:00PM <---this will also activate it in an enabled program To Sunrise (next day) Then Disable Program1 Set 'Outside / Outside - Garage Light' On Wait 5 minutes Set 'Outside / Outside - Garage Light' Off Enable Program1 Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action')

How many buttons do you want to use? I can see 1 for rotation through all scene levels including off. 2 buttons, one for brighter scenes, and one for dimmer scenes including off X+1 buttons. One for each scene level and also off. X+2 buttons. One for each brightness level scene as well as one for Off and one to resume last setting before Off. X+3 as above plus one for favourite level scene

Ohh. Yeah that. I requested a thermal sensor cut-off for my A/C. When the cold coils get below 38F? the compressor cuts out. I noticed it did cut out a few times at the beginning. I had the fan speed turned down a bit due to ducts howling and rumbling. Since then, I have added plenum insulation, and built a 5" duct muffler, where it was worst. Now the fan is on it's highest speed. The temperature cut-out covered my a$$ in those situations. They are simple to install and cheap. My guess it about $10 and it just clipped into the cold coil fins. It has a built in temperature differential to avoid fast cycling of the compressor should it ever cut-out.

Squirrel cage type blowers cannot be damaged by blocking the air flow. If you block the air flow to this type of blower the air load is removed, the electrical load drops, as there is no air flowing. Most blowers come with a shutter to close off excess airflow so that the motor is sized properly for smaller applications than the blower capability. This is why all vents can be closed with this type of fan. This does not apply to turbine style fan blade types, which are opposite. I had my A/C compressor start backwards once, due to fast cycling. Luckily I was about 15 feet across the yard from it and heard this awful growling sound and it started banging inside the case. I ran over and shut off the safety breaker on the wall beside it. The thermostat had no second stage compressor protection and I had it wired to that stage, with simple fan circulation to bring up cool air from the cold well water I run through my basement floor. Be very careful with this compressor protection. It is important to the health of your system and could cost you big bucks!!

The mats will be 120 or 240vac usually. Smart thermostats that can control high voltage are rare but I think there are a few. I would get the simple stat made for the job and put an Insteon wire in module ahead of it. Then you have full control and the safety the designed for it stat provides so you don't end up charcialing your wood ply underneath. Sent using Tapatalk

I used the motion sensor option. I had trouble with the contact sensor and when I tried the MS it worked so I stuck with it. I created a group of state variables with names like. $sSayGarageDoorsClosed $sSayGarageDoor1Oopen $sSayDryerHasStopped I stuff a 1 in them and then a 0 a few seconds later. Sent using Tapatalk

I found a delay timers likes to find it's way into the settings when building app routines. I think it was trying to be smart and do lamp controlling smarts a favour. Check your routine triggers for creeping delays added.

If you look in the Alexa app under routines and try to create one it will become clearer. Routines allow you to create a Routine trigger from many different stumuli, and cause resultant actions of many different types, including speaking custom phrases. To get an ISY program action into an Alexa Routine, the ISY Portal has a conversion table entry that can convert a STATE variable into a pseudo-Motion Detector or pseudo-contact status. This is backwards to the usual direction of control and the vocal phrase is what shows up inside the Alexa app as a device name. Don't forget to "discover". The fake contact can then be used as a trigger in Alexa Routines.

Well, I was absolutely wrong on this one!! It does work. I confess, I had to test it for myself before realising how it works. Each trigger line depend on the other line to be True during either trigger event. Trouble is the logic is convoluted using all negative states and it makes it hard to understand but.... ….It is ingenious and it works with "Enable run at startup" ! If device is switched On OR device is switched Off a simpler logic, works as well, but will not self start with the "Enable run on startup" option. Thanks for your persistence and patience! I learned something new today!!!! Well done!

Your program has no triggers that run Then. "Not switched" only runs Else. Checked the icon status of this program to see if Then is actually running.

I also use ecobee thermostats and for the most part they do everything very well. I do not control temperatures from ISY, however I do control their "climate schedule" somewhat. I pre-empt the night time climate schedule change early, when needed. IOW I implement Adaptive Intelligent Setback, which no thermostat I have ever heard of has. Many have Adaptive Intelligent Recovery. Eg: Today it was about 32 degrees C and my A/C is schedules to setback at 10:30 PM. My ISY detects the outside effects upon the HVAC system and sets the ecobee stat to "Sleep" climate about 8:30 PM so that the house is getting somewhat cooler by the time I get into bed. If I changed the climate schedule on the stats to 8:30 PM I would be watching TV with a blanket on cooler days outside. I do the same thing with heating by letting the temperature "drift" down to the desired temperature for bedtime based on how fast the house will cool down. I also assist cooling with my HRV ventilation system. You need some fresh air in a well sealed home and you may as well get it when it is efficient to use. For my external house effects I incorporate windspeed as well as air temperature. Soon I will add solar heat gain to my calculations. So my HA plays with climate schedules but never setpoints. I tried it for a while and it is too dangerous, as you can cause setpoint runaways, and I did a few times. ecobee stats do have security options so that stats can never be adjusted remotely outside of a locally programmed range allowance.

I forgot the follow up information. To detect a heartbeat that only ever sends "On" a status based trigger cannot work. You would require "switched" to detect the signal, since the status would not change after the first time. Also, since some heartbeats may send alternating On/Off signals, we typically include both so we don't care what it sends. If XXXXX is switched ON OR XXXX is switched OFF Then Wait heartbeat period less about 10% Do heartbeat failed things Else ------

Until the device tells ISY something there will be no status shown. Leak detectors only send a heartbeat once every 24 hours and then it is only On each time so they never register Off status.

You will require ISY Portal to make the connection easily.

In the ISY Portal you have to specify what analogue value is considered an MS 'On' for the Alexa app. Values of 0, 2 and 4 should not trigger the On status of the pseudo-MS. BTW: Only State variables will work for this. Most like to mark their State Variables with an "s" prefix to avoid confusion. eg: $sVariable or $s.variable.

Get the 3-prong to 2-prong adapter with the little green ground wire on it. Connect the ground wire to the receptacle ground screw. Make sure it is a clean metal to metal contact. If this is a device outside, within reach, with a metal shock hazard metal case, I wouldn't do it though. Get a PVC receptacle box, with a micro Insteon module and a short 3-prong plug & cord, with a rubber sealing grommet, and plug the device into the short extension cord you just made.

He has his ISY IP address locked down and his router may not even allow access to out-of-range addresses inside his LAN.

I can think of a few ways to get connected and control of your ISY. Modify your router temporarily to the old IP address block range, edit ISY to DHCP option and then switch your router back to 192.168.x.y Direct connect a cable between a laptop and ISY but you will need to set the IP address in the laptop to 10.x.y.z subnet address to match ISY's locked subnet address. Factory reset you ISY and use Password/Password admin/admin for security. You will require a good backup to restore or you will lose. Call support at UDI for remote access.