larryllix

Yeah, operating your thermostat remotely seems pretty cool but for what? While building my current home about 200 km from my existing (at that time) home I used the setback thermostat to an advantage to save $energy$. I would set my thermostat to about 55 degrees F and then on late Friday set it up to about 68 degrees so that when I got home from building my home would be semi-heated and I could manually take over the control for the weekend if I was staying there. This all seemed to work well for that winter but there can be a big down side to this. When you raise the temperature of a home without any bathing, showering, cooking, sweating and other methods of raising the humidity, it dries out the framework eventually, as the humidity drops too low. This 20 year old house that had all the floors glued and screwed and never had hardly a squeak or pop turned into a mess. Walking across almost any floor I could hear popping and snapping where the floor sheeting was separating from the twisting floor joists. This never comes back once wood twists and glue and screws break. As the grandstand event, toward the end of that winter, I noticed a piece of expensive urethane (was the new high tech at the time)flooring had lifted and torn away from a door frame. Investigating I noticed that an interior door frame, 20 years old, had twisted and caught the flooring vinyl, tearing it. Repairing this I glued the flooring back down, attempting to hide the tear and got some long screws to fasten the door frame back to the 2x6 framing. As I tightened the long screws in, pulling the pine jamm back into place, it broke from end to end with an angular break right across the 6 inch width. More repairs and painting in a panic. The place was listed for sale at the time. In the end, I have learned that setting your thermostat back too much can be detrimental to your home, and furniture too. I have learned not to take your thermostat off deep setback without a humidifier running to keep the humidity levels up. I had this house built and personally insured good construction techniques for a quiet squeakless house. I ruined it by not paying attention to temperature change side effects. Somebody else owns it now.

HA people want to adapt devices into their 'controlled' world, that were not created for HA. Most of these thermostats were created to capture a niche market with hopes of remote control and better home comfort only. The twain weren't suppose to meet. The HA market is very small and we are trying to control products from companies that don't want to be absorbed. I have some very high-tech guests and none of them would install HA even when given to them free. When staying here, they will unplug any lamp that comes on when they didn't switch it. Most people just roll their eyes when things happen automatically. These are the same people that never select a restaurant or home delivery pizza place unless they have an online menu or online reservation system they can access on their mobile device.

Thanks Lee! When I read your post I had something else in mind and missed the point I was getting at. So this could be dangerous If Control '33.95.41.1' is switched Off And Status '33.95.41.1' is Off Then variable -=1 more lines Else variable += 1 more lines If processing gets past the first arithmetic line and a second trigger hits and restarts it we could see a double dec/increment. Even though we think we are dealing with one device we need to treat it like two devices, a controller that can send control signals, and a responder that can send status signals, that can do the same things in ISY. I don't think ISY is going to maintain two statuses. "Where I think it is" and "Where it says it is", statuses. Interesting stuff dissecting UDI's early brain.

I don't seem to have problems with that the last while. I usually just factory reset the device and do a restore Originally I would delete the device, factory reset, and then relink the device. frequently things would go two different ways. - Programs using the device would display some unknown device message <device unknown>or similar. or -Programs would display the name of the device but in the root folder and not the folder it resided in. In this case selecting the program line and then clicking the line update at the bottom changed the device name to the proper full path name. I don't know what has changed in process or ISY but I haven't seen this for some time now.

Yeah I typically use a variable or other mechanism to know the state is already in that state being sent ('slow double tap off') but I think I failed to pick up on the actual subject of the matter here...the sequence of ISY processing signals vs status changes. If people are using this technique, testing status of a point, triggered by the control signal that changes the status and sometime down the road UDI changes the internal processing order all these programs may stop working. This also brings me to wonder that devices send out status updates when their status changes. Since a SwitchLinc is really two devices, do we not get a control signal from the switch, when tapped,,as a trigger, and then a second status change signal from the light control device circuitry? If so ISY does seem to ignore the status changes sent but can manually invoke one with a Query. Proof of that is operating a device that does not send confirmation ie. 2441ZTH. After a setpoint change or mode change ISY pauses(may be admin console update time) and then displays the requested setpoint number or mode. After a query ISY changes setpoint and mode indicators back to the originally displayed settings, proving that current status was assumed at that point. If ISY was displaying actual status the admin console displayed setting would have never changed, LeeG may know more about this. Is it possible some of the [message ignored] lines from the devices updating the latest status change and ISY doesn't use them?

You need the status change condition protected from triggering the program whatsoever with a second program that is disabled. if control x is switched off then run (if) program2 else -- Program2 (disabled) if status x is off <-------cannot trigger program lines then do anything to status X device else do anything to status x device.

Smarthome does produce three native Insteon units that talk to ISY directly.

This depends on the level of the home. Top end ritzy homes are purchased by ones with the big bucks that want everything done for them. Lower income people would like HA in some cases but want todo it themselves. I have seen a few people buy homes with pools and fill them in. I have also known a few people that would never buy a home with a pool and yet added one after moving in. Alternative energy in homes is a similar situation. They can lower the market value of your home. Most people don't want complicated. People that do, usually don't want somebody else's mess, and want to do it themselves, if at all. Wouldn't your house be happier with an ISY994i ?

IIRC in the last few years rotational usage of sectors on eeprom memory algorithms have been incorporated. Sectors are constantly moved to different locations in the background to avoid bit burns from constant wear and tear on the same sectors.

None of them support Insteon. ISY may talk to some via the Network Resource module but responses will not be seen as ISY doesn't understand the language. Much work has been done with Venstar T7900 by some here and the Network Resource module can control it directly, somewhat, but this requires a RPi as a bridge to read or get responses. Search for threads about this in this forum.

Here is a program example setting lights to a brightness level. Porch Lights.auto - [ID 0043][Parent 0062] If From Sunset + 30 minutes To 2:00:00AM (next day) And $sOccupied is $cFALSE And $sOccupied is not $cTRUE Then Set 'Foyer / Front Porch Lights' 25% Set 'Foyer / Side Deck Lights' 25% Wait 8 hours Run Program 'Porch Lights.auto' (Else Path) Else Wait 2 minutes Set 'Foyer / Front Porch Lights' Off Set 'Foyer / Side Deck Lights' Off . . Here is a scene example created by dragging Insteon devices onto the scene name created by you. Note the level and ramp speed adjustments for the scene. You must have the scene selected with your cursor, not the devices included in the scene listed below the scene in the device tree.

Welcome! Not to throw too much at you at once but... Here are some quirks for newbies that caught most of us and still does occasionally. If Control 'MotionSensor2-Sensor' is switched On <---will only trigger the Then section = no Off trigger with 'Control' And From 10:00:00AM To 11:00:00AM (same day) <--- will trigger the Else section = turn the light off Then Set 'SwitchLinc Relay' On Wait 20 minutes Set 'SwitchLinc Relay' Off Else <--- be very careful using the 'Else' section with bracketed time frames (from-to), or status triggers Set 'SwitchLinc Relay' Off

Thanks Lee, but where does the XML come from? Is it from an unzipped backup file?

Oh shoot! I should not have included YOUR text in my question. Sorry for the confusion. I was referring to what looks like XML code as per Jerlands above also.

If you have a backup heat source, as you would in a colder climate the 2441TH doesn't have the proper logic for a heat pump. Heat pumps usually have a second heat source that cuts in after the heat pump cannot keep up with the temperature in the house. Most dual stage thermostats like to cut in the second stage (backup and expensive heat) after the first stage runs for a bit and doesn't resolve the heat call. Your backup would cycle frequently and cost you more bucks. Typically a heat pump stat would cut off the heat pump once the backup heat cuts in to avoid excessive wear and tear and/or inefficient running of the heat pump compressor in deep cold temperatures. Dual stage stats run both together. From the online manual. CAUTIONS AND WARNINGS Read and understand these instructions before installing and retain them for future reference. IMPORTANT: HOW DO I KNOW THIS WILL WORK WITH MY SYSTEM? 1) Your existing HVAC can operate 2 stages of Heat and Cool. 2) Your existing thermostat operates on 24V. 3) Your system is not a heat pump. 4) Your system is not a 120/240V electric radiant heater. 5) Your existing thermostat is not millivolt controlled. 6) Your existing thermostat has 5 or more wires connected. Insteon Thermostat is designed to operate on a minimum 5-­wire, 24V HVAC unit. If you have only 4 wires you can purchase the “Add-­A-­Wire” adapter item #304AAW from www.smarthome.com. Note: Installation should be performed only by a qualified HVAC Technician or a homeowner who is familiar and comfortable with electrical circuitry. If you have any questions regarding installation, consult an HVAC Technician or call the Insteon Support Line at 800-­762-­7845.

Ouch! Thanks for jumping in there LeeG! I confess I have never seen that before. Where does that code chart come from?

Each scene defines the level of brightness and ramp speed for each device. They don't interact. Set up each scene for the brightness you desire. Make sure you are adjusting the scene levels and not the device local levels found for each device inside the scene "folder". Program lines can also set each device to any level independantly. For full on, regardless of dimming, use a fast on command.

Have you checked each device's links and compared them with ISYs links for accuracy? This is available by right-clicking on each device in the device tree in the Admin Console.

As others have noted, two controllers don't play well together. If the Hub turns a device on or off, ISY won't know about it and any logic used may not work correctly and vice versa. It can be done but most are not willing to do the homework to support this complexity and complications that arise from it. It's pretty easy. Just ... unplug device, hold down the linking button, plug back in, wait for the beeping to stop, let go of the linking button, right click on the device in admin console, select restore.

I am afraid you are going to have to visit each device anyway. Without a factory reset you are bound to have weird problems later with half links in your hub and some modules. Then you will wonder why your programs are working the way you think they should. This gets nasty, very time wasting, frustrating, and blamed on ISY usually.

There may be a no-spam filter stopping you from posting attachments for the first few dozen posts. I owned two hubs and sent them back for refunds. After using the ISY you will be quite happy with it having much more than just remote control over your devices and real HA. You will get lots of help from people here in the forum as questions arise. Programming can get as complicated as you want it to,

Use the full editor button at the bottom of the regular editor. You will find a button "Choose Files" at the bottom to post photos and pictures. They must under about 100K. Stress on the "Factory Reset" each device. You may also need to unlink them from the hub or disable the hub so it doesn't interfere.

Thanks Stu! IOW these are dual modules with sensing inputs as well as load controllers and get wired as passthrough modules to get both features. I never realised they could do this and thought they were responders only.

Thanks, but I do not see any inputs on these micro-modules. Edit: OK I didn't see the 'sense' wires and they are not marked on the SH wiring demo diagrams. New Q: Why the two sense wires? Are these wire ORed?

How does ISY know the status of the motion sensor?