larryllix

Use the old cable installers trick. Coat the splice point with silicone grease or caulking and slip heat shrink over it. Now apply heat and the silicone oozes out for a hermetic seal that is good underground for...well they haven't failed yet. Many of the phone companies splices come that way. they crimp, snap together and bury it.

IP 67 rated RGBWW LED strips are completely sealed in a rectangular crosssectional silicone tube. Run them into a sealed wiring box with some hole sealant and run the cord out of the box with a cord sealing grommet. Many of these controllers are WiFi now and that would give you some festive options from a cell phone app or your ISY NR module. RGBW strip (5m) $12 Controller $12 Connectors $3 Power Supply 12v 3-5A $12 Electrical box $25 Grommet $1 Prices are aproximate.

Yes, I agree it is a very cool project. A little envious, as I did many projects like that in my past, and have a lot of respect for what he did.But these things are changing very fast and you can end up re-inventing the wheel. Been there done that too. Ramping and other features would be cool but, as I have found in the 5 channel units the little CPUs don't have the horsepower to do too many fancy things. The 5 channel units have a slight ramp built in, but when it is happening, the controller CPU does not answer the http: call and your supervising software now has little delays in it. This really destroys the smoothness of animations going on. Better hardware inside the controllers (like timer interrupts) would be nice to accommodate these drools. I am doing some ramping in my software for throbbing effects but with my test 10 units and Ethernet WiFi I see some strobing going on, where they get out of sync. Not a bad effect, in itself, but it demonstrates the delays can add up. Inside each controller is definitely the place to do it = distributed intelligence, if it can be done. The 5 channel units have built in effects...about 22 of them. Strobing with about 5 single colours, seven colour strobing, fading, and some fades between the major colours. You can see the jags in the ramp, somewhat. In the end, after thinking I was going to do all these eefcts in my house I realised I do none for HA. It's annoying. But I have another 18 of them I am creating animations with, not for my house though. Cripes! I don't even mix colours after replacing all my MiLight controllers fof not being capable of mixing pastels. As you develop you question yourself and sometimes it become clearer you are wasting your time... but having fun.

That's really cools stuff but no IoT is required. Most HA people are trying to avoid that option. Programming microcontrollers is not required. ISY is already all that and then some. When my garage door is open one RGBW flashes red and returns to whatever it was once the garage door is closed. I have five other bulbs across the wall behind my television that flash red in a wave across the front wall at midnight each night, if we are home, as a reminder to go to bed. When I ask my Alexa boxes for Movie Lights multicolours all appear around the room as well as some white overhead ones, very dimly. These are all http: protocol items driven by ISY programs sending http: protocols via ISY NRs. This is what ISY can already do. @Scott. NRs send http, https, TCP, UDP and a few other protocols with option variations for each. NR is the firmware module that can do all these. You are already sending http: packets to your UFO RGBW strips controllers from your ISY as well as your other system and the handheld remote? and mobile phone app.

Oh I agree we have a lot of fun challenging ourselves with programming, but http: is the protocol the UFO and 5 channel LEDenet units use already. For somebody that doesn't have anything yet, and wants general lighting with White. I love these controllers. They blast WW (3000K) in my room like a hospital operating theatre, and yet dim down to 1% (barely visible) in any colour I could want and very rich colours, not like my first $200 worth of Hue bulbs.

Nice project but.... This seem like an awful lot of work to save about $2-3 for a 4 channel unit instead of a 5 channel unit that already accepts http: commands directly. Not that anybody would use the 5th channel for RGBWW. http://www.ebay.com/itm/4A-5CH-5CH-RGB-WW-CW-LED-WIFI-Controller-IOS-Android-Smart-Link-Timer-DC-12-24V-/232301057166?hash=item361638d48e:g:ZSgAAOSwls5Y7x0L I bought many of mine for $11 Canadian, about $8 USD.

Just send whatever R/G/B/WW/CW bytes you want it to be. There are effects and a speed control for them but mostly useless. I have discovered the brightness levels work well with the squares of 0-10 for a nice small stepped ramp. I am using python3 so don't try this at Home ISY. In view of the constrants you shouldn't need more than off, dim, med, bright anyway.

That's exactly what I described and almost every effect / action can fall into. Program Water.initiater If ...trigger conditions (could be a list of daily times) Then ....Wait a while to be sure ....run program water cycler (if) ....disable self (optional with same below) Else .... Program water cycler (disabled) If ....lots of water needed (based on brightness and/or wind/temperature conditions etc. ............................. Outside humidity maybe best) Then ....disable Water.initiate ....turn on water ....wait 5 minutes ....turn off water ....wait 55 minutes ....enable Water.initiate Else ....disable Water.initiater ....turn on water ....wait 1 minute ....turn off water ....wait 4 hours ....enable Water.initiater

What connection method and software are you using to flash the eprom inside? This unit appears to be the same unit Scott (Mr. Cool White) has been playing with lately. His supports WiFi and iR input and was really cheap.

The usual and safe way to circumvent triggers (the we need to star a process) from stopping the process is to creat two programs. -Use one (enabled) to see all the triggers and call the second program from it. -Use a second program with any further wanted conditions (maybe twoo different timers or processes) and a timer that ensures the job will complete. -Disable program Two from any trigger influence.

The logic is being continuously evaluated. If it ever become False Then stops running and Ese starts running. You could set a variable true/false and test that with Repeat While $sVariable = $cTrue You could use one program to initiate on a cyclic basis the other with conditions. You cannot have more than one condition is a Repeat While, though. BTW: The Repeat Every is a bt of misnomer. Your loop will happen every 2 hours and 10 minutes. 10 minutes is a lot of water once the ground gets wet! I did this years ago with an X10 system and used 3, 2 or 1 minutes, depending on the brightness in the house. Then I didn't cycle at all at nights. Grass grew so fast that a neighbour commented on the speed.

ewwwww. That does break the trigger concept for programs. Now we would have to write ISY code to compare parameters with a known/old value in a variable to detect a change. This doesn't sound like a workable solution for ISY logic. Does that mean every program based on a node will notify the user on Query All every night? In my case the value was triggering programs from REST input to those variables. Without a value change programs were running every time a REST value was inserted. That means with every usage of a REST/VAR/ command a series of programs in ISY will evaluate and run Then or Else, and no change is detected. EDIT:Read Michel'sl logic very carefully. (I didn't at first). This is actually a good testing feature. We can initiate programs manually right from the horse's mouth.

I found the same problem with State variables updating to the same value, back about v5.0.2, UDI reported to be fixing that one. What firmware version are you finding the status false trigger with?

OK. One thing I have found about these LEDenet controllers you should know up front. They take TCP protocol and that is not good with real time. That means that your router and/or driver software may do things like, - let packets passed each other so they get out of order, (this seems to be OK at higher speeds) - clump packets together to increase the throughput, (destroys smoothness of animation) - disconnect sockets, based on a timeout, and they take a part second (0.1-0.7) to reconnect again. They have to be constantly poked to remain fast responding (connected). I have found high speed animations look smooth and really slow animations are OK but medium speed animations can get out of order and sporadic. I suspect these controller tiny CPUs are busy doing some ramping etc. and they don't respond to the TCP requests fast enough. They should have been UDP protocol. I doubt these controllers will satisfy what you have done with DMX.

PDP-11? No PDP-8? Just a newbie!

Sorry for the confusion. I did a search on amazon.com for "Ledenet" and t comes back with all the parts you need, and I probably have ever had. They list the MiLight controllers as Ledenet devices, which I am fairly sure they are not, and the rest of the negatives are in my previous post. I have about 6 of them, as well as four bulbs and that takes two hubs. I switched over to the 5 channel LEDenet controllers now. Scott has the 4 channel (UFO) and now testing a 3 Channel unit from them. The MagicHouse UFO app does them all...but not the MiLights as they at NOT Ethernet WiFi. This one https://www.amazon.com/LEDENET-Wireless-Controller-Changing-Brightness/dp/B00MGTVOSA/ref=sr_1_34?ie=UTF8&qid=1493951950&sr=8-34&keywords=LEDENET

Thanks for showing up Scott. We thought that new car swallowed your HA intellect I was looking for NRs to operate the LEDenet devices to show this drooling N8huntsman, and I don't use them directly anymore and couldn't remember the parameters. Maybe a screenshot? @n8huntman. The MiLight units sold under LEDenet, by amazon.com, were never LEDenet AFAIK. They require a hub and despite what they say are not WiFi. The hub is a bridge to convert WiFi their proprietary 2.4Ghz signals but any resemblance of WiFi is false. They will not mix white with RGB. Different protocol and the hub is limited to four groups/addresses/controllers.

The communication is all one way...out of ISY.I was going to do a screen dump of a NR for you but I don't use any NR directly into the controllers anymore. My NR are aimed my RPi software and they do it. This allows me all on commands and a few others more easily from 4 NR, using variables. There is some discussion of the codes to do whatever colours your want in the other threads, We'll have to see if somebody else is using them directly still. I know Scott was. My fear is that with a binary NR you cannot use variable substitution and would need one NR for each colour as well a a few levels of white, high, med, dim, Off.. Not a big deal but it becomes about 10 NR for each controller. More clumsy than I like. The comm protocol is TCP. Do you have a RPi or programming experience?

The controller is the correct one. When you hook up the cable to the RGBWW terminals you may find R-G reversed. The last batch I got had those terminal reversed...or OTOH the firmware inside reversed. It's very easy to swap two wires on the cable when you wire them. Due to the delicacy of the wires, I stripped them longer, tinned them, and terminated them. then I folded the power and RGBWW cable back past the controller and white vinyl taped it to the case. The wall panel looks like it would do the trick and dual purpose for DMX serial connections also. More study would be required on that one. I just use the MagicHouse app on my Android phone for setup. The only time I really used the app is, after a factory rest on the devices they throw out their own SSID. You connect to that, run the app and set your house SSID and password into it, Then the SSID goes away and the app connects via your house SSID. I run my house RGBWW strips (I have 4 partials and 1 whole 5m over/under cabinets) from one Insteon SwichLinc dimmer via ISY. Mostly white 100%, bright, medium, dim. The colours get used for parties and mode setting for occasions and movies late at nights. Right now I have 10 reels of RGBWW on those controllers on a board for a furture pinwheel animation. I have written most of the code for them on a RPi3. Started on my RPi1 but that functions as a Node Server for ISY and I kept bugging it. I have most of my animations written and working and now just making mood lists to supervise the animation sequences. It runs from a 4 key mini-remote and also a duplicate screen from Tasker on any android machine. My suggestion. Order one from amazon, at their high price, and see if you can do anything with it using NR and then order a bunch on ebay for a much cheaper price. You have to really look around. Once they became ppopular the price went from $9 to $40 for some vendors. You should be able to see a list of parts in another thread I posted. What part of the world are you in?

It was an attempt at a pundle. I thought you would be right on top of V5. Have a look as this usage for the repeat while.... http://forum.universal-devices.com/topic/18921-v5-averaging-using-only-the-best-values/

Oh yeah. I am buried knee deep in lights and controllers here. Building a 23 strip animation controller for a tent ceiling. There are a few threads on this but the MagicHouse UFO = 4 channel, Scott is expereimenting with a 3 channel version right now. The ones I have found the best is the LEDenet 5 channel, (look for music controller). This is the same company as the ones above. They have RGBWW/CW outputs and can mix white with colours. Most can't like MiLights. I have bunch of them too. I woud avoid them. The Network Module inside ISY can control them without any other hardware. I have written python3 software for my RPi 1 I call NR bridge that can act as a bridge to do more things but it still takes the NR module to command it. The best part is the LEDenet (MagicHouse) brand is WiFi and no hub is required. MiLights demand a hub that can only control four "groups" FYI: The RGBWW 5050 strips run about $15, controllers $11-35 , then you need a PS 12v @ 3-5A $10, barrel plug adapter cable $1.50, 5 pin adapter cable to wire into the controllers = 10/$5. Oh yeah. Don't try to sticky a run of lights upside down. They just fall off every time. get the silicone clamps and tiny screws every 12" or less. 100/$5 All prices are Canadian and aproximate. NR, software and help all available here on the forum. This summer and fall I will have a surplus of these things I may want to get rid of.

Sure, but I am waiting for logic line enable trigger options first, well at least for a repeating while

Add an "end" to the pulldown menu list of times was suggested before. Repeat X times ...do something Repeat End Like any other language you have to learn the syntax and then use it.

Just your old fashioned "repeat until" loop that's been around for many years. Fairly standard, only with a few different words. The until is just repeat 1 (once). Totally intuitive, but intuitive is only relative to your experience. We weren't born programming via a keyboard. QWERTY? Really? I have used many different styles of languages. There is no "intuitive". There is no standard style of repeat. The admin console even indents the contents for you so you now where it begins and ends (even without those words Mr. Pascal). That is way past where I started programming. Now for the syntax quirk. You should love this one. ..."Repeat 1 times" doesn't repeat the loop at all. It only executes it once. Have a good one!

So if I read you correctly, the hardware at each end ie. PLM / ISY is wired differently to accomodate a cable, with identical pin numbers wired together. Is that not what you are calling "straight-through"? This is the way the original Ethernet hubs and switches were wired, but the cables would never be able to connect two hubs together, or two computers together. That was the "other" cable required with Tx wired to Rx. It was a mess for a while, and I think this has been since straightened out, similar to RS232 cables. Tx and Rx are always crossed or all connectors have auto crossover capabilities. As much as I have wired a few thousand RJ45 connectors, by hand for a fibre WAN system, I really have never studied the connection purposes of the pinouts.