jtara92101

I have a little program that turns off my master bathroom lights when I turn off my master bedroom lights: If Control 'Master Bedroom / Master Bedroom Keypad' is switched Off Or Control 'Remote / Remote A MBR' is switched Off Then Wait 1 second Set Scene 'Master Bath / Master Bath Default' Off Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action') This didn't work at all until I added the Wait statement. Actually, it works unreliably with the 1-second wait - I haven't determined yet just how much delay is needed, but it seems to work reliably with a 5-second wait, and it seems OK right now with a 2-second delay. It is completely reliable if I set the individual dimmers in the bathroom, rather than setting the scene. But, then, the lights go out in sequence, rather than all at the same time, which is annoying. (Aside: is there a way to avoid the "sequencing" if I turn them off individually? Maybe make a program for each one, and run the programs? When a program runs another program, it doesn't wait for completion, before continuing, right?) Also, I guess I should really be testing for the status of all of the dimmers in the MBR, rather than control actions, right? As it is, it won't turn the bathroom lights off on a fast-off or a fade-down to 0. (By habit, I normally fade-down the RemoteLinc.) Why do I need the wait? Is there a better way to do this? I discovered the "fix" of using the wait quite by accident. I'd thoroughly convinced myself that "set scene" simply didn't work at all, until I tried sticking in a Wait. This post seems somehow relevant: http://forum.universal-devices.com/view ... cene+delay[/code]

Turns out I didn't. Sorry, I hadn't checked the manual. Though I've found the manual fairly worthless, there's actually a clear description of this there. It certainly isn't obvious. Select any button on a SwitchLinc, then press the Mutually Exclusive button. A list of buttons (the main button and the smaller buttons) will pop-up along with Mutually Exclusive Buttons 1 and Mutually Exclusive Buttons 2. The latter are apparently some special kind of "scene" but won't appear in the main list of scenes. These scenes only apply to this specific SwitchLinc. You have to drag the names of the buttons you want mutually exclusive into the 1 or 2 scene. (I assume for an 8-button SwitchLinc there would be 1, 2, and 3?)

I set the buttons on a KeypadLinc to mutually-exclusive. How do I undo this?! "Reset" does not change it. It seems to have automatically included the main switch on the KeypadLinc, as well as created two scenes called "Mutually Exclusive Buttons 1" and "Mutually Exclusive Buttons 2". However, these scenes don't appear in the tree - just when you click on the "mutually exclusive buttons" button.

As is the case with most firmware-based products. 99% of the time, updates go smoothly. How you handle the other 1% can make the difference between an excellent product and a so-so one. I suppose a home hobbyist is considered a non-critical customer, and an installer would have spares on-hand. I'm used to dealing with equipment used in more critical applications. I've noticed that. I came here before I purchased the product, and was impressed with the apparent responsiveness of the company. That just added to my frustration when I received the produced and it was not what I expected. As far as Insteon goes, I've gotten excellent support from them. Maybe my experience with them is as atypical as it has been with Universal Devices. My last post where I made what I thought were some excellent suggestions was deleted with no notice to me. Perhaps this was the wrong board for it, but the appropriate response would have been to move the post or delete it with a request that I re-post on an appropriate board topic. (FWIW, although I didn't address it directly in that post, I think the biggest limitation is the lack of variables and arithmetic computation. You really have to stand on your head to do things that ought to be simple. OK, I can see ways of having "kinda" variables, but how do you add 2 + 2? You don't.) In the same post, I also acknowledged that some of my initial assumptions were wrong. But, with the post deleted, I am left looking like a jerk. I really think it's pretty low to accuse a customer of spreading mis-information, and then clip-out their response correcting previous statements. Surprise me, and let this post stand. I'll shut up on the subject.

Have you tried clearing your Java cache after the update? Yes, I did. That is, assuming that "clearing your Java cache" means "go to the Java Control Panel and delete the temporary files". (Yet another documentation issue...) As well as power-cycled the device and rebooted from the telnet console. None of this worked. It eventually did work in Firefox. No clear reason why. I noticed that I wasn't being prompted for a password in Firefox, but I was in IE, so I thought a cookie might be keeping me logged in, and it might be a good idea to delete the cookie. But no cookie found in Firefox for the device. Don't see a stored password, either, so dunno what the isy is doing to keep me authenticated between sessions. The really weird thing is it reporting the wrong version of the firmware (wrong model) with Firefox, and correct with IE. Please, guys. Double the flash if you have to, and add "go back to previous version". This is firmware 101. Should be one of the first bits of firmware developed for any downloadable firmware device. (i.e. even before user functionality) I am appalled that a mature product doesn't have it. Sorry for the rant. At work right now, I'm unraveling somebody else's configuration management mess - a lovely legacy dropped at my feet. And then I get this unpleasant reminder of the consequences of CM gone bad (or lacking at all). So, I'm a bit sensitive about these sorts of issues right now. I do agree, it's the best device on the market for the purpose. That doesn't make it good. Just the least bad of a bad set of choices. It's not very satisfying either from the standpoint of a non-technical consumer nor a techie. It's possible to design products that work for both, but this one works well for neither.

Not a good initial experience with my new isy-99i. I downloaded and installed the 2.6.7 beta update. It bricked my device. Apparently, either the link or the zip file are wrong - apparently, I managed to install an isy-26 update on my isy-99i. Now, when I start-up the administrative console, I get an error popup saying: "Invalid Request" (wow, incredibly informative...) Help, About says: My lighting: uuid:00:21:b9:00:3b:bc null v.null Product: ISY26 (1010) My URL: http://10.0.1.5 Internet Access: Disabled Accessed the telnet console (despite the fact that the documentation says Telnet is disabled by default...) and got this from VE (and what's up with commands having to be UPPER CASE?!): http://10.0.1.5>VE Product: (1020) ISY 99i 256 App: Insteon_UD99 Platform: ISY-C-99 Version: 2.6.7 Build Date: 2008-09-09-00:43:10 Other Services: - Programs Enabled LS gets me this: http://10.0.1.5>LS /TESTFILE.TXT 75 [LOG] [.] [..] /LOG/LOG.UD 60928 [WEB] [.] [..] /WEB/DRIVER.XML 6328 /WEB/LATLONG.XML 11061 /WEB/MAILTO.XML 31820 /WEB/TTYSET.DAT 80 /WEB/UPNPALG.XML 261 /WEB/UPNPSVC.XML 19709 /WEB/CE.JAR 105284 /WEB/CHART.JAR 912631 /WEB/CLOSE.HTM 233 /WEB/FAVICON.ICO 1406 /WEB/FP.JAR 729470 /WEB/INSTEON.JAR 679409 /WEB/UD.DCF 1218 /WEB/UDLOGO.JPG 34639 /WEB/UDIWS10.WS 77601 [.] [..] /CODE/INSTEON.IMG 365580 /CODE/ROMMON.UD 16280 [CONF] [.] [..] [D2D] [.] [..] /D2D/0001.PGM -1 /D2D/0002.PGM -1 /CONF/0.UCF 640 /CONF/DEVCNF.XML 6582 /CONF/0.NCF 136 /CONF/0.UND 600 /CONF/PLMID.BIN 128 /CONF/CJ.UCF 468 /CONF/MIGRATED.D2D 18 /CONF/E0B04.REC 172 /CONF/D8607.REC 116 /CONF/D8AF9.REC 116 /CONF/D71C3.REC 116 /CONF/D87C8.REC 116 /CONF/1.UND 600 /CONF/2.UND 600 /CONF/3.UND 600 /CONF/4.UND 600 /CONF/5.UND 600 /CONF/6.UND 600 /CONF/7.UND 600 /CONF/8.UND 600 /CONF/9.UND 600 /CONF/10.UND 600 /CONF/E08DF.REC 164 /CONF/DC94C.REC 164 /CONF/11.UND 600 /CONF/12.UND 600 /CONF/13.UND 600 /CONF/14.UND 600 /CONF/15.UND 600 /CONF/16.UND 600 /CONF/17.UND 600 /CONF/18.UND 600 /CONF/19.UND 600 /CONF/20.UND 600 /CONF/D7BFA.REC 116 /CONF/21.UND 600 /CONF/DA3E9.REC 116 /CONF/22.UND 600 /CONF/D7542.REC 116 /CONF/23.UND 600 /CONF/D80A6.REC 116 /CONF/24.UND 600 /CONF/E7C42.REC 116 /CONF/D8965.REC 116 /CONF/25.UND 600 /CONF/26.UND 600 /CONF/A22F0.REC 84 /CONF/27.UND 600 /CONF/UDFLPL.XML 14698 /CONF/28.UND 600 Oh, yea, the logger shows this on the Telnet console (at any debug level) when the "Invalid Request" message comes up. http://10.0.1.5> H_ERROR:-10011 : LOGGER:-10011 : n=[null] c=[null] a=[null] I re-downloaded and saved with a different name, just to make sure that I'd downloaded the correct link. The files are the same size, though I didn't do a comparison. However, I did subsequently also download the purported isy-26 download, which IS a different size (1 byte shorter) than the isy-99i download, so clearly I downloaded from the correct link. As a software engineer, I am appalled by the lack of good configuration management practices. BTW, I have specific experience with these kind of issues, as I've written the boot-loader and update support for firmware devices. - Incorrect image (either incorrect link or incorrect content at the link) - The fact that the device was even able to install an image for the wrong device. How hard is it to embed a model # in the image, and refuse to install if it doesn't match? - Apparently no QA to insure that the right images are at the right links. - No obvious way to recover - I'm unable to perform another update ("Upgrade Failed: Invalid or inconpatible upgrade file") Checked the Advanced Configuration Guide, and there's nothing in the Administrative Shell to download or restore an image. I will have to return the device. I will be returning it for a refund, not a replacement. (There's a little hole in the front that looks like it might be for a reset button - but no mention in the documentation. It seems unlikely, though, that this would restore a previous image, since there's no mention anywhere of retention of a previous image) - Horrible user documentation on the update process: it implies a user ID/password are required (but, actually, only for betas, and they are posted here in the forum). I was wondering when/how I would receive a password (was assuming I would get an email, but still waiting for it (I only got a UDI Receipt Confirmation confirming that I'd registered) but then it never said that I'd receive on - No backup image stored! It is common practice to provide flash storage for at least two system images, so that the previous image can be restored in case of an update failure. There are MANY reasons for doing this, including: customer error, interrupted download, configuration-management screw-ups by the vendor... Frankly, I'm severely disappointed with the device anyway. I would have returned it in any case. It is incredibly slow and impractical to program (perhaps though this is just an Insteon limitation), inflexible (ridiculous, extremely limited dumbed-down drop-down programming), counter-intuitive user interface, etc. etc. etc. No way is this junk worth $300. The RIGHT way to do it: - embedded Linux device - general-purpose programming language (say, Ruby) with a friendly front-end (yea, maybe even "drop-down programming" for non-programmers, yet still allowing the flexibility of a real programming language when necessary - at least the bare minimum of decent configuration management, make SOME effort to prevent update errors and provide for recovery, etc. - It is always a bad idea to cheap-out on flash memory and RAM. Whatever you think you will need, double it, and double it again. It never ceases to amaze me the devices that become obsolete simply because the firmware has grown, and the device has run out of memory... ----- Now, after all that - it works. Wish I know why. I decided to try it with IE (was using Firefox) and now it just works, and even reports the right version: My Lighting: uuid:00:21:b9:00:3b:bc Insteon_UD99 v.2.6.7 Product: ISY 99i (1020) Still doesn't work in Firefox - still getting Invalid Request and wrong version information.