fmk2

Yes, turning switches on and off from the Admin console works, and the status updates in the UI. And no, rebooting doesn't help.

Ah, good point... I should have included that info. The ISY and the UI are both on version 5.3.4. And for what it's worth, the ISY is model ISY-994i/IR PRO.

I am having an issue that is very similar to the one in this thread: The difference is that I am still on my ISY-994i, not IoP. But the ISY is not detecting any paddle clicks on any of my 2477D switches or Keypads. The ISY detects state changes for these devices when a program runs, but if you manually hit the On or Off paddle on a switch, the state change doesn't register on the ISY. I've tried right-clicking on a switch and selecting "Restore Device", but that has no effect. Any suggestions for how to fix this problem? Thanks.

Excellent! Thanks very much. Regards, Frank

I was able to successfully install the Hubitat node server on my Pi-based Polisy about 6 months ago, and it has worked well. However, a power outage on the Pi trashed the SD card, so I had to rebuild the Polisy. I have the rebuilt Polisy running, but I still see the old Hubitat (and other) Node Servers that were installed previously. They aren't connected of course, and the Dashboard view of them just shows a single button at the bottom labeled "No Details Available" (example image attached). How do I remove these? Do I need to delete them in the Admin Console on the ISY?

Well, I don't know how, but when I went into my account on the App Store and scrolled down to UD Mobile, it showed that it had updated to 0.6.5. When I opened the app directly earlier it was still version 0.5.8. To verify, I re-opened the app from within the App Store (clicked the "Open" button), and sure enough it is now version 0.6.5. Very strange. Thanks for the quick response.

I haven't had time to test the app lately, so I'm still on the original version I installed, Beta 0.5.8. How do I update to the latest version? I don't see anything in the app that lets me do that, and the iOS app store doesn't show an update available.

As you suspected, this was a connectivity issue. For some reason, the ISY had fallen off the network. I wasn't near a PC when I sent my earlier message, so couldn't try logging into the Admin screen. Once I tried accessing the ISY from my desktop using Launcher, I found I got no response from it. A quick reboot of the ISY fixed it. Sorry for the confusion. Frank

Thanks for all your work on the app, Javi I did make progress. Renaming the backup file did work, and I was able to get the config from my iPhone over to the iPad, including Favorites. But before I even tried that, I started seeing a new error every time I change screens in UD Mobile. I see the error on both the iPad and iPhone. This just started today. It appears to be some sort of html error, but I don’t see the whole message and don’t know where I might find a log that would have it. I did grab a screenshot of the error. It’s attached. Frank

Maybe I'm doing something wrong, but when I backup my UD Mobile app on my iPhone to iCloud, pull a copy of the file from iCloud down to my iPad and then try to Restore on the iPad, it doesn't work. I still see the same Favorites that the iPad already had on it, and the additional ones from the iPhone aren't there. I expected everything on the iPad to be replaced with whatever was on the iPhone. Did I miss a step or something? Or does this process not work between iPhones and iPads? Thanks, Frank

I've just started playing with UD Mobile for iOS, and I like it a lot. I'm still in the process of setting up Favorites, etc., but it's all fairly intuitive. I do already have one feature request though. Is there any plan to enable the transfer of Favorites between devices? For example, I have both an iPhone and an iPad, and would love to be able to create a Favorite on one and then be able to export it to the other. Setting Favorites isn't all that difficult, but I'm fundamentally lazy. Thanks, Frank

If anyone on this list has one of the post-January 2017 units, please crack that puppy open and let us know what's different. As a minimum, it would be nice to know what values they used for the capacitors we've all had to replace (C3, C7, C8, C11 and C13).

Never mind... The excessive heat really nagged at me, so I decided to do one more check of the connections on the main board to see if I could find the cause. Sure enough, there was the tiniest solder bridge -- a fraction of a hair's width -- across C8... which of course shorted the output of the 5V regulator. Ugh. I cleaned up that bridge, and the unit fired right up. I've been building and working on electronics since I built my first Heathkit in the late 70's so you'd think I could avoid something as simple as a solder bridge by now, but apparently not. I blame my aging eyes for not catching it sooner: I didn't need bright lighting and high powered magnifiers to see such things in those days! Thanks to all that have contributed to this thread, and especially to those that responded when I ran into what turned out to be self-inflicted problems.

Thanks for the quick reply. I did those voltage checks on the main board without the daughter board installed, but I had checked the daughter board's regulator earlier -- before finding you schematic and voltage measurements. It appears to be working as expected. Depending on how the 5V regulator on the main board failed, it could be responsible for the excessive heat. I'll see if I can find a replacement for it... hopefully that's what is needed.

It looks like the switcher is ok. I can see a bit over 21V across C13, which -- according to the post by Breezyken in post 282 -- is about right. But there's no voltage coming out of the 5V regulator, so it is likely toast. I've also noticed that the unit gets quite hot in the area of the switcher IC. I know it's having to dissipate power to get the voltage down to 21V, but it's hotter than I would have expected. Is that normal, or is that possibly an indication that I have more than one issue to deal with?

Followed the instructions on this thread to replace the capacitors in my 2413S today, but no joy. The LED doesn't light up at all. I now suspect that there was more than just a power supply failure. If it is indeed a catastrophic failure, it's probably the result of our latest power failure. A nearby transformer failed and took out all the power for several blocks, but the worst part came when they turned the power back on; it didn't immediately come up to 117V, but instead ramped up slowly. That can be very hard on electronics, not to mention things like refrigerators and freezers. Fortunately, the 2413S appears to be the only thing in the house that failed. I'll poke around a bit to see if I can verify that the 5V regulator is working, but beyond that I'm not sure what I can do without a schematic as a reference. It may be time for a new unit. (sigh)

I use Alexa to control fans, but I kind of cheat. I set the spoken name such that there's a separate number for each speed. For example, "Alexa, turn Living Room Fan One On" (sets the living room fan to Low speed), or, "Alexa, turn Master Fan Two On" (sets the master bedroom fan to Medium speed). Saying "Alexa, turn Living Room Fan Zero On" will turn the living room fan off. Not very elegant, but it works. Frank

I figured it out... Two of my 4 Fan Speed scenes had a setup problem. If you clicked on the name of the scene, it showed all the responder levels to be correctly set (0). But if you clicked on the controller switch within that scene, the responder levels showed a setting of 100! I'm not sure how/why that could happen, but setting the responders to 0 at the switch fixed the problem. Thanks for the help, all. Frank

I'm sure this question must have been answered before, but I've searched the forum and can't find it -- maybe I'm just not using the right search terms -- so if anyone can help, I would appreciate it. I just installed a new 2486D 5-button KPL with a Fanlinc. This is the second one I've installed, and the first one works perfectly. This one works fine too in that the top and bottom switches control the fan light and switches A - D control the fan speed (usual configuration; A = medium, B = High, C = Low, D = Off). But I can't get the LED backlights of switches A - D to work independently. When I push any of the A - D buttons, the LED backlight for all 4 switches toggles. They are always all on or all off, regardless of the state of the fan. I have created the scenes necessary to control the fan with the switch. The scenes I created match my other fanlinc and 2486D exactly. Likewise, the Button Toggle Mode matches my other switch. What am I missing? Frank

Wow, Teken, you are definitely up to speed on all the latest and greatest with home insulation. Thanks for the info! I've never heard of the PCM material before, but we did use QuietRock sound deadening drywall on interior walls (between the living area and the master bedroom, for example) when we did our remodel. I have QuietRock drywall in my music studio / ham shack as well... it reduces sound well enough that I can practice without driving the wife or the neighbors crazy. I am familiar with the blown-in cellulose for outside walls. Haven't heard of using it on inside walls, but that makes sense. There's one installer in the area that I know of that uses the cellulose insulation... I guess I'll start by giving them a call. I've been a ham for over 40 years. It's pretty much my second favorite hobby (playing music being the first, and then there's a long list after ham radio). The Icom radios are great -- I'm a big fan. In fact, I'm listening to a couple Australians chatting back and forth on my Icom IC-7600 right now (I'm in California and it's 12:30 AM). The new IC-7300 is a really slick radio, too -- it utilizes a Software Defined Receiver (SDR), which is basically the state of the art in receiver design, and it's not very expensive. I got to play with one on Field Day a few weeks ago (if you don't know what Field Day is, just Google ARRL Field Day... it'll pop right up). It was impressive. Good luck on getting your ticket. I'm sure you'll have a lot of fun with it. Let me know when you get it and maybe we can set up a "sked", as they say, to chat on the air. And thanks again for the details on the insulation options. Frank

Hi Teken; Yes, the house walls are exactly as you described -- stucco on the outside, with chicken wire, a vapor barrier, the wood frame and then drywall. We have mostly windows on the west wall (double-pane energy efficient), and part of that wall was insulated during a remodel we did 8 years ago, but there is still some uninsulated area. The remaining walls are virtually uninsulated. The South wall is on the short side of the rectangular house, but is probably the worst problem because of the sun exposure it gets. The front is again largely windows plus the garage, so perhaps not as much impact there. The north sees little or no direct sun, of course. We not only live in an oven, we also live in a Faraday cage. Between the metal roof and the chicken wire behind the stucco, getting a cell signal in the house can be a challenge -- you have to know where to stand. I'm also a ham radio operator, and using a handheld radio ("walkie-talkie") from inside the house is impossible. But yeah, insulation is our next energy saving move. It seems to be the one thing that could have a significant impact on our energy bill. Frank

Sorry for not responding sooner to some of the questions that were asked of me. The day job has been running me ragged lately, so I haven't had any time to play. Michel, thanks for the explanation of the messages I've been seeing. That makes sense. Regarding our rate plan, I selected this "SmartRate" plan that PG&E has because it was cheaper than the standard tiered plan that we were on. All of the PG&E plans are expensive -- that's just a fact of life if you live in Northern California, and especially so if you're a geek like me with lots of electronic toys. But the "SmartRate" plan at least gives us some modest level of control over our own destiny in that there are designated Peak, Partial Peak and Off Peak hours each day, and the cost per kWh varies by those periods. If you keep your usage to a minimum during the Peak hours, your overall bill is substantially lower. We've been able to do that to a reasonable extent, and we are seeing lower bills than in the past. As for the very high rate that I mentioned earlier, it is in effect for no more than 15 designated "SmartRate" days per summer. On those days, the rate goes to $0.60/kWh between 2:00 and 7:00 PM. PG&E announces these days in advance, so you can be extra careful of your electric usage during those periods. This has been fine for us; our charges during the 4 "SmartRate" periods we've had so far this year have been insignificant because we've used very little electricity during those times. All that said, we're looking at what "macro" changes we can make to lower the overall electric usage. For example, our house attic is insulated, but only with about 6-8 inches of spay-in insulation. We have a sheet metal roof (formed and textured to look like Spanish tile), so the attic gets very hot on summer afternoons, and in turn keeps the house warm well into the evening. I don't know exactly how to quantify it ahead of time, but I suspect we would be able to run the air conditioner less during evening hours if we doubled the attic insulation. Our walls (stucco) are not insulated at all, so that's an area worth investigating as well. The bottom line is that California has some of the highest electric rates in the country, and it's just one more "feature" of living here. [sigh] Frank

Hi Michel; Thanks for the response. Here are the answers to your questions: 1. The ISY firmware, according to the Dashboard, is "Insteon_UD994_OADR | v.4.4.6 | 2016-03-24-09:28:28". 2. As for the log, I see thousands of messages, one every few minutes. I guess that must be why I'm continuing to see them pop up. Here's an example of one of them from a couple days ago, selected at random: A 2016/06/02 4:53:52 AM Log M 923281 Running Unconfirmed 2016/06/02 4:30:00 AM 5400 Low false N/A 06/01: Estimated Electric Bill to Date: $207.81, Forecasted Electric Bill: $216.24. Any idea why those are being generated continuously? 3. The Dashboard info seems to be accurate, and I don't get popup messages at all there. The only question I would have about that information would be why the current Price is blinking yellow. Is that just to highlight the current rate, or is there some other meaning? Thanks again. Frank

We're on a special rate plan that has lower than average kWh rates except for 10-15 days a year during the summer months when we are charged $0.60 kWh for up to 6 hours during peak demand on that day. We're notified in advance, and the expectation is that you keep your usage low during those hours. The rest of the time, our rates are much lower than they were before we went onto this plan. The screenshot I sent included the notice for one of those special high-rate periods. The date and times it specified were correct, so that much is working.

Since PG&E's last update to their SmartRate plans, I'm seeing more and more information in both the ISY Dashboard and Admin Console. That's a good thing. But I'm also getting some rather bizarre notifications from the ISY and MobileLinc. The notifications I get are whenever I change Tiers in my energy plan, and that's a good thing. But the info isn't correct. Here's what I'm seeing: The popup messages in the Admin Console (like the one I've attached) continue to pop up every few minutes. I dismiss them, but they pop back up again and again. The information in those popups isn't accurate. For example, the "Duration" in the attached image says the current rate will last for 2016 minutes -- or just over 33-1/2 hours -- but I'm pretty sure that's not correct. (The "SmartDay" notification at the bottom of the window is correct -- we are scheduled to have a "SmartDay Event" tomorrow afternoon.) Finally, I now see rate notifications in the MobileLinc Pro app, but they are also wrong. They contain information like, "Price has changed to $0.53 USD/kWh. This price is active for 360 minutes." That's almost accurate, except that the temporary rate increase was to $0.60 USD/kWh for 5 hours (600 Minutes), and it was yesterday. I'm seeing this popup in the app repeatedly today. Anyone else seeing behavior like this? Any suggestions for getting a handle on it? Thanks, Frank