larryllix

I don't have an Elk but usually for most ISY devices there are two different styles of triggers in the pulldown menu. "status" and "control". One triggers events on every signal sent to the device and one only triggers events on the initial signal that changes the device state.

Do you have any dark/light sensors?

I don't know if this has been overlooked, misstated as Smarthome often does, or just misread, but the 2441ZTH manual states this. http://www.smarthome.com/manuals/2441zth.pdf#page=18 I have two of them with different firmware revisions but I have no remote probe to prove this works. This may not be supported in ISY as other features, such as humidity output contacts, are not supported.

Perhaps your ISP has changed their requirements affecting your setup. Rogers.com, in Canada, changed their port from 25 and every time I used it they sent me an email with some violation of security title and a link to their advertising page. duh! I read rumours they won't even pass data on port 25 to anywhere now. My new ISP demands a null password or the SMTP server just ignores the request. That one threw me for a loop in this day and age.

Even if UDI would allow the system information they current support in notifications to be written to variables, or just generally used in programs in place of direct values, it would resolve lots of these painful workarounds.

Mine was my ISP's server wouldn't take a password. A password not blank refused to be handled at all.

-Reverse the plug in the receptacle for the amp? -Test and/or tighten all ground and neutral connections for the amp and the dimmer circuit back to the distribution panel and possibly electrical system neutral to ground connections? (think to water meter). Make sure some plumber hasn't removed ground wires bridging or connecting near your water meter. -If you have a clamp-on ammeter check for current in your copper water pipe going to the street supply. Current there would indicate a poor neutral feed back to your utility supply transformer. This can also be measured by clamping around your plastic service stack or incoming pipe to your meter base. (reads differential current returning through the ground and not proper through conductors)

Yeah, we didn't get suckered by the media hype of the front load and stuck with our 25 year old suds saver model. We watch with amazement our son's monster sized machine do it's multiple wash cycles taking over an hour or the clothes still aren't cleaned properly. Our washing machine beats the dryer with it's 26 minute cycle including spins and rinses. We didn't find the wrinkle reducer on our dryer functioned well enough. We have different parameters to work with. BTW:It took us several years to figure out why the clothes smell. With the right fabric softener that doesn't happen, even after days of sitting wet. If Control 'Mudroom / Dryer' is switched On And Control 'Mudroom / Dryer' is not switched Off Then Run Program 'Dryer Finished.Alert' (Else Path) Wait 10 minutes Enable Program 'Dryer Finished.Alert' Wait 1 hour Send Notification to 'Text SWMO' content 'Dryer Didn't Stop' Send Notification to 'eMail SWMBO' content 'Dryer Didn't Stop' Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action') Negative condition in "If" aborts "Dryer Didn't Stop" notifications. Program 'Dryer Finished.Alert' If Control 'Mudroom / Dryer' is switched Off And Control 'Mudroom / Motion.Mud Rm' is not switched On Then Run Program 'Dryer Running' (Else Path) Wait 15 seconds Set 'Foyer / Doorbell Button / Back Doorbell' On Wait 3 seconds Set 'Foyer / Doorbell Button / Back Doorbell' Off Set 'Foyer / Chime' On Wait 5 minutes Send Notification to 'Text SWMBO' content 'Dryer Finished' Run Program 'Dryer Finished.Alert' (Else Path) Else Wait 2 seconds Set 'Foyer / Doorbell Button / Back Doorbell' Off Set 'Foyer / Chime' Off Wait 2 seconds Disable Program 'Dryer Finished.Alert' Negative motion sensor condition before wait finishes can cancel the notification. We get a few sound maker notices and then she gets a text message after 5 minutes if the room doesn't see motion in there. That's our wrinkle prevention. The 1 hr. wait is in case the dryer door was left open or the timer got stuck. That happened once when the dryer was new. Edit: Corrected logic

I monitor the dryer. NG dryers only use 120v electrics. I can detect when the dryer door is open. This is important in the winter due to cold weather blowing in through the dryer. -The clothes forgotten clothes urine smell is from the wrong fabric softener. We went back to brand names years ago. - Clothes left in the dryer need to be ironed. In the washer isn't a problem for us. -Our dryer always has loads waiting to go in as it takes longer than the washer. Along with Apostolaskisl's recommendations just mount an external receptacle box on the back side of the dryer or the wall (use some BX) with a motor plug cord through a grommet out the back where the hole won't be seen. The SynchroLinc can be unplugged for maintenance on the bench and the RF signals should reach it outside of a metal shielding case.

I found a few links for you Lots of installation photos and info. http://cocoontech.com/forums/page/articles/_/tutorials/home-automation-tutorials/how-to-monitor-the-status-of-your-appliances-using-current-sensors-r58?start=1 Not sure if these guys deal them or not http://canada.newark.com/general-tools/ct800/10-wire-low-volt-test-leads-5/dp/59P4261?mckv=sXnaBkGDk|pcrid|23945925353|plid|&CMP=KNC-G-SKU-OTH-GENERALTOOLS Order from the source. http://www.mamacsys.com/distributors.htm

Current has to flow through the device not detect voltage. It detects current so a single connection to a voltage would not work. An electric dryer usually has about a 4800w element so the current would be too high for the SynchroLinc rating. If you are installing it inside the dryer cabinet, perhaps install a receptacle on the motor line and put a plug on the motor, making sure it is 120vac and you use proper heat rated wiring. There are discussions about using a CT device for this in another recent thread.

I guess I worded it wrong slightly. I meant that the PLM is more than just a modem. It must have some smarts to handle basic protocol handshaking and things.

Thanks! That was I was thinking. It seems the Insteon modules actually only talk to the PLM and not the ISY? I guess I could do this remotely online after the hardware was swapped.

I have discovered one thing regarding this so far: Notifications without any body text do NOT get sent! Since the event viewer (level 3) does not indicate any notification activity it cannot be concluded who isn't processing the blank notifications. Neither emails or SMS messages get processed. Here is the event without body text. Here is the event with a single period for body text Note: Regardless of how many lines of SMS and/or email notifications are sent the event viewer indicates the same [ time] line only.

This worries me somewhat. I may be away from the house for an extended time next year. If I purchased a spare 2413S PLM, and something went awry, would an electrician neighbour be able to swap it in easily? Is there any ISY process required to do this other than the obvious plug swapping?

Thanks for your ideas. I will have to investigate further before I get too rowdy changing all my programs to a folder disabling method. I do not prefer that method. I did run a few tests to see what was happening and two other programs ran fine and the one that sends notices didn't. This happened on 75% of the trials I tested. Thus my conclusion there may be a trigger table limit for each device or some other limitation in the software engine. I shall have to set up a side set of programs to experiment more thoroughly with this. SWMBO gets a little irate when the lights keep going on and off. It shows I have control.

Thanks for the briefing! Q1: I take it there is no way to get data from these devices directly into the ISY ie. without cloud services? Q2: Are most of these weather sensor devices capable of porting the information elsewhere? I find this very obscure in all the advertising.

I have many motion sensors reporting to my ISY. About 9 - X10 units and two Insteon units, so far. Originally when I required a MS trigger to accomplish multiple tasks I would jump around programs in different folders but the code got very hard to keep track of who was calling what when editing a downstream program used as a subroutine. Later I began to use the triggers multiple times in various folders for different styles of applications but now I am noticing that some of the applications don't seem to run even with multiple manual stimulations of MS units. This may be only the X10 units doing this. I am not sure if this happens on the Insteon units. I have typically used an entrance "Wait 1-2 seconds" on programs with MS triggers that do not require a quick lamp on response etc.. in order to theoretically avoid some CPU cycle hogging of the event processing engine. I am not sure whether that is a valid logic or not but I find some events triggered by shared MS signals just don't ever get processed or get processed what seems like 2-5 seconds later. Is there some consideration of just bogging the ISY CPU down? Since the ISY Pro version can handle 1000 programs and I only have about 50-70 programs so far I didn't think I would be bogging down the real time engine yet.

I can't seem to find much information on this. It sounds like a cute tools that could be useful and I see talk about support for it in v4.2.4. Could somebody with some knowledge post information on this? This may be a good spot for some discussion that newbies can reference. What does ISY have to have (modules?) to access it? Where does the data come from? What data is available? Are there lists of locations available? Screen captures would be nice and worth 1000 bytes. Hardware to create your own, if possible. Thanks!

Another interesting factor, just to complicate things, is that most of those Grundfos pumps can be dimmed down and reduce speeds of the impellers. I was told by a few that the frequency was varied from the controllers but my fancy (read expensive) Tekmar pump controller just reduces the voltage to the pump via a triac circuit. The pumps do not have a big range before it may just stall. My pumps are three speed units using internal series capacitors to drop voltage and consequently speed plus the Tekmar outdoor reset control panel triac circuit to vary the injection pump voltage. A slow speed recirc may be a fun factor in your design using a LampLinc module instead of turning the pump on and off. If this pump is the same design as my hydronic heat circulating pumps there isn't much you can do to hurt those things. There is no starting circuit or switches and they can run stalled without any damage (although they do get fairly hot without circulating coolant) , being water lubricated and cooled. Those tiny recirc pumps could be a slightly different design. The only algorithm I could think of at this time would be - on detecting life in a room, give the pump a 100% shot for 2-3 minutes. After that drop pump speed to minimal speed. Shut off with no life, away mode on, etc.. The hot water tank could be turned off on extended away times, but unless you installed another recirc pump feeding back before the tankless, you would pay the whole electric bill to reheat the water each time, and that may take awhile depending on how large and the power rating of recirc heater tank. Ok... gallonage and wattage. Then the Legionella bacteria problem can come into play under lukewarm water conditions in electric DHW tanks, depending on construction and water source.

If we knew what these sensing devices throw out once habitation of those areas has ceased we could design a stop programme to arrest a cyclic pump pipe heating loop. I think I like your 2 program idea but prefer it using a variable to state "I am already in a cycle". The small recirculating Grundfos pump comes with programmable timer to eliminate wasted heat in off times but it has no smarts for Not_home or I'm_up_in_the_middle_of_the_night etc... It's starting to look like a holding tank so we don't wear out the switching on the tankless. Unfortunately, this thread has got me enthused to do this in my own home. I thought I was smart and installed manifolds on both cold and hot but the hot one was a mistake. My kitchen is the farthest away and with the stupid water saver taps we have been known to wait... sometimes we think the water heater has failed. Seems about 60-90 seconds. The dishwasher seems to pull up the hot water very quickly so we know it's the water saver faucets. My idea (when I get time) is to put my air handler loop at the end of the long run to the kitchen so in the winter the hot, or some level of warm, water should be there immediately. Volumes and pressure drop will be learned by trial and error. recovery will be a small PEX crimp back the way it was. The recirc pump gives me more ideas! Love PEX! - The cliplead of plumbing!

Stepping back and thinking about the whole logic... Why consider the armed away status at all? Are we afraid we will prewarm hot water taps for burglars? Simplify by triggering the pump from by occupancy detectors already in place. Turn off in 2-5 minutes. If the pump timers get retriggered repeatedly...so what? As long as we are in the bathroom we want the water hot and ready anyway. It still will a lot cheaper than running 6 am - 10 pm and will trigger in the middle of the night if visiting the bathroom for a hand wash. If status bath is on or status kitchen is on or status motion sensor is on then turn pump on wait 3 minutes turn pump off else -

After installing two tankless water heaters in my house I am not impressed with them for operation. I am surprised to see somebody attempting a circ pump with a tankless heater. I believe the holding tank is a necessity. I have seen domestic schemes to do this but the tankless has a separate loop and logic built-in for it to work properly. After the hot water makes the loop the tankless will shut off as the BTU demand will be lower than it's lowest capability burner (assuming NG or LPG). You will still get a cold water sandwich during initial usage when the cold incoming water first gets drawn through the heater. This typically happens just after getting my eyes full of shampoo when I can't see how far I can jump to the side of the shower to avoid the cold water.

The locked on condition is always a problem contingency with disabling programs. Also, if I am using a motion sensor to turn on lights I like to put a delay in the non-priority program in an attempt to keep the priority lights response program faster. I am not sure how valid this is but it makes sense to me. Adding the Elk status into the conditions shouldn't be needed as the short pump cycle could just time off or the else could be used for cleanup from any condition to terminate the in progress cycle immediately. This would also prevent your burglars from getting any preheated water convenience. IF ( status guest bath light is on or master bath motion is turned on or status kitchen light is on ) And Elk armed away is false Then wait 2 seconds repeat 4 times . turn pump on . wait 2 minutes . turn pump off . wait 15 minutes Else turn pump off

I don't see the difference. Do you see the difference? There goes the neighbourhood!