mwester

MobilLinc is probably what you want for mobile. I find it quite usable on Android, I hear it's far better if you have one of those cult, er, I mean Apple phones!

I'm eager to see what someone (not necessarily UDI) might come up with as an alternative. Like shannong, I too hate Java. Not the language -- as a programming language it beats C++ hands down. Rather, I find the culture around Java applications to be very "hate-able" -- the assumption that memory is unlimited is pervasive with Java applications, and the general culture of "throw in every possible library that might be remotely applicable" make the apps a long, tedious download on anything other than those fortunate urbanites with FIOS. Combine that with a new release of the entire (huge) java run-time environment, each one claiming to be "critical" due to "security fixes", every month or so, and you can find that you're spending more time downloading and installing java and java apps than you actually spend running same. However, if you restrict the use of your ISY Java app to in-home only, then the security issues are less of a concern, so you skip a lot of the Java updates. And the UDI guys seem to have done a pretty reasonable job with the app (I've only had an out-of-memory crash once in a year now). So it's not so bad. Plus I limit ISY access to one machine (an older laptop), so I only have one Java install to deal with. Priority-wise, while I despise Java, and I'd love to see UDI dump it, I'd much rather see UDI offer bi-directional network operations in an upcoming release for the ISY.

I vaguely seem to recall that the LED is wired into the sense circuitry, not controlled by the micro in the I/OLinc -- which means that it is possible it may illuminate even though the micro in the device didn't sense the change. So, you cannot reliably use the LED's status as an indication of what the device actually reads. In other words, what I'm trying to say is that it's very possible that the LED is being lit by the voltage from the motion sensor, instead of lighting up because the input is seeing what the micro needs to see. Remove the motion sensor, and use a jumper wire on the inputs to the I/OLinc -- if you can see the jumper wire changes to state on the ISY, then clearly the problem is that your motion sensor is not providing what the I/OLinc requires -- as Lee G stated above.

If Insteon isn't dead, they're almost dead. They have a handful of products that everyone needs, and generally work pretty well -- switchlincs, keypadlincs, and perhaps the appliancelinc. And some of us on this forum have spend literally a thousands dollars or more on these devices. But lately they seem to be investing enormous effort and dollars in what seem to be "flash in the pan" or "grown-up toys" -- and while I too find it "neat" to be able to turn on lights from a cell phone, once someone gets over that novelty, it's hardly compelling anymore. The concept of the "hub" is a disaster waiting to happen - I just cannot understand how people think that placing control over their homes on some unknown third-party server in an unknown datacenter with no terms-of-service published anywhere would be a good idea! From a marketing point of view, I just don't see that those who would purchase these recent "toy" starter kits are going to be the ones that will spend upwards of 4 figures with Insteon. I think it's a good idea to expand into that market, but Insteon seems to be doing so at the cost of losing a lot of business from those who are willing to spend a lot more dollars with them -- that includes everyone on this forum, who ended up buying a device from UDI to manage their Insteon devices! Someone at Insteon needs to understand that almost every ISY sold represents money that Insteon *didn't* get. I'm reminded of the attitudes in Detroit when the Japanese automobiles started to eat into their sales -- and look how that ended for those Detroit automakers. Their abandonment of HouseLinc software is telling -- that bit of software should be a vital tool for everyone who owns Insteon gear, but they don't even support a device they introduced over a year ago! The only valid explanation for that is that they lack the staff and capital to update it. Finally, note the sales end of things -- the junk that Smarthome sells. All of this paints a picture that says that Insteon is going to be taking a huge fall relatively soon. I personally think the core technology is good enough that someone will buy the patents and designs and we'll see Insteon-compatible products in the future. So I'm delighted to see the focus on Z-Wave stuff -- it's future-proofed my home-automation to a great degree, by offering me an alternate to Insteon.

There's definitely a bug with the way the ISY handles keypadlincs - and I suspect the frustration felt by some of the posters on this thread is rooted in whatever this bug might be. Here's how you can tell if this is at the root of the problem -- select the keypadlinc in question, then in the diagnostics section, display the device links table. When that dialog box is completely populated (it will take a while), there's a compare button at the bottom -- click that. You've tripped this bug if the result of that comparison shows that there are differences between what the ISY thinks the links are, and what the device really has. If that happens, the only reliable way to fix it, and to restore your sanity, is to use the "restore" option to rewrite the entire link database to the keypadlinc. Then repeat the comparison above to confirm that this time the keypadlinc was updated completely and correctly. (And to those who would tell me I have "bad communications", you might be right - although I find that the numerous test scenarios I've used, which include a benchtop setup, make that unlikely. But even if it is "bad communications" the ISY should report that error and not leave a keypadlinc incompletely updated!) Try it - see if that is the root cause. I now compare each and every device affected when I make any changes to anything with the ISY - and my life has become a bit more tedious but a lot less frustrating as a result.

Pertinent topic Diesel tractors are particularly hard to start when the engine is frozen (diesel fuel actually turns into a gel below zero) -- I've a KPL button that turns on/off the tractor block heater, but I also have a weather station and it just never occurred to me to have that turn on/off automagically.

I agree - fix the problem, not the symptom! Try a filterlinc on the door opener(s).

Isn't that similar to what they said before Apple entered the cell phone market? Hmm... so I'd have to repaint my walls, because Apple will only be shipping devices in white?? And if they failed to turn on reliably, the fault would be mine for not "holding" my Apple switch correctly??