jtara92101

I doubt the brand of LED (or driver - I presume these lights have a built-in driver) is going to make a difference in terms of "stepped dimming". If it takes a 0-10V analog input, I think it's unlikely it will have a ADC (if it even uses an ADC, brightness control may well be analog) with fewer steps than the 2475DA2. The Insteon 2475DA2 specs say it has 32 steps. It goes from 0-10 volts in steps of 0.3125 volts. Looking at 2447D, regular Insteon SwitchLinc dimmer, the spec says it has 32 steps "locally", but "increments of 1% with software". Seems a bit strange that 2475D would only have 32 steps, since it has no "local" means of control. (No physical switch.) Has anybody ever noticed that SwitchLincs are more smoothly controlled "with software" (whatever that means!) than they are using local control from the switch paddle? The tear-sheet for the lamp isn't very specific. Just says "0-10V dimming". https://www.1000bulbs.com/pdf/lithonia-2gtl2-lp835-brochure.pdf http://www.acuitybrandslighting.com/library/LL/documents/specsheets/LED%20TROFFERS.pdf Can you clarify just what you mean by that? I presume that, like any Insteon dimmer, you can program the ramp rate? No? maybe the default ramp is different?

I wonder if one reason for the push for TR sockets is that they couldn't get dongle makers to build their dongles upside-down? (So that outlets can be installed properly, with the ground pin UP. A dropped object then is likely to hit the ground pin first. But what about the neutral? It would be on the right then. I wonder if due to the spin of the earth... is there one of the remaining pins neutral/hot statistically more likely to be hit? If so, what about Australia? Mine are ground-pin-down now - I bought the ground-pin-up hook, line and sinker in old place, and... too many dongles I give in! Besides, ground-pin-down is more aesthetic. Either is permitted by code, at least in San Diego.) Anyway, it does help prevent accidents with half-plugged-in plugs. You still might have power with a plug a bit out of the socket. And then the occasional plug-that-was-made-with-too-short-prongs...

ALL of the outlets in the entire place were complete garbage, including 3 with open grounds and 1 with broken strap. The ones with the open grounds and broken strap were removed and capped at move-in. They are all being or have been replaced with commercial-grade TR outlets. The one for the tree sculpture is awaiting the OutletLinc dimmer, which will arrive whenever SmartHome's tin can phone lights-up with a call from American Express (still trying to get my lost shipment replaced, and SH needs confirmation that I removed the dispute.) The cover was off to vacuum out the inch of lint and to paint. I wasn't gonna stick the painted-on cover back on after fresh paint! Unrelated to electrical (unless The Three Stooges are doing the work...) had ALL of the angle stops replaced today, as they were a disaster-waiting-to-happen as well. (I LOVE that 3 Stooges episode where they get everything mixed up, and water shoots out of the stove burner, chandelier, and - the coupe de' gras - they turn on the TV and it shows a picture of Niagara Falls with predictable results.) And that's exactly why the one high on the wall behind the refrigerator and the one for the microwave got TRs as well, even though they are not required by code in those locations. I want to protect the BIG children as well! And of course under-sink. Not sure if that's required by code, but curious children do crawl under sinks. Any place where you might be fiddling with tools in a tight space needs TR. So, by inference, The Internet can kill you, because it is a series of tubes.

I don't know if this will work for you, but you could convert them to wired, as I have done. See attached photos. I have a metal "tree sculpture" that I commissioned. The artist made a few of them before mine, but only used battery-operated candles (which can be changed-out to real candles, if you want to live dangerously.) I got the idea to wire the LED candles, and he incorporated the wires. He's built several more now with the wires. Drill a hole in the base, push a wire through, and solder to the battery contacts. I used thermostat wire, as the stiffness was helpful for routing the wires through the sculpture and having them stay in place on their own without having to be tied-down much. I used connectors for each candle, so that they still can be swapped-out for real candles. I used a power dongle with switchable voltage from 1.5 to 12 volts that can be used to vary the brightness. But now I have them on a LampLinc and am able to dim them. I keep the switchable voltage at 9V to avoid burnout (though I have had no trouble with 12V, I just don't need it that bright...). I am awaiting shipment of an outletlinc to tidy-up the installation, whenever SmartHome realizes that American Express has removed the dispute over their lost package and has already notified them... (I am losing patience, though, and about to put it back on, along with a BBB complaint...) CAUTION: The lamplinc works great with THIS PARTICULAR POWER SUPPLY. It is apparently a linear supply, because it does dim nicely on the lamplinc, and to "architectural" levels. (That is, I can dim to very low levels.) It may just be that many/most of the switchable-voltage supplies like this will work. Otherwise, play it safe and use some on/off module! We've already had a discussion about this here, and I am sure others will chime-in with their own cautions. WFM but YMMV!

I don't know why a failing device would cause the firmware in the ISY to write when you ask it to read! Maybe there is a quantum link. A wormhole from the failing device that makes the ISY firmware act differently than it was programmed.

As well, why does it write when you Query Insteon Engine?

I wanted to see the device links table for a KPL. I got "Failed writing device link". (followed by "Failed reading device link") when doing Query Device Links Table for the device. Why would the ISY be writing device links when wanting to READ device links? There were no "unwritten" icons prior to doing this.

Look for videos on how to drop the can. You do not remove the entire fixture. You are thinking about it wrong. There are (typically) 3 screws inside the housing, on the sides. Remove these, and then the can part should come free from the rest of the fixture. They will typically be attached to a sort of stiff wire frame, or in any case some kind of attachment points to the overall fixture. At least if they are 6" cans. If they are 4" cans, you will need a VERY short screwdriver! (Or an offset one and a lot of patience.) It will not just fall out easily, it will take a lot of fiddling. Maybe a little drywall repair when you are done. For 6" cans, at least, you can then almost certainly access the little electrical box. The cover is just on the "box" with a springy-tab arrangement. No screwdriver needed. With a screw-base can, the base will typically be on an L-bracket attached to one of those screws. It will probably have a thumbscrew on it. There's another good use of that thumbscrew! I put in LED conversions on my 4" screw-base cans. I didn't have to disassemble these as I did my 6" kitchen fixtures that had the fluorescents. The conversion comes pre-wired to one of those pigtails I mentioned above. (It's how I got the idea! I went to the electrical supply with one of the pigtails from a conversion kit. "Do you have this?" Well, they didn't have it with the orange connector attached, but they had it with just wire pigtails! Anyway, the conversions got mechanical interference from the screw-base, and wouldn't push in all the way. But the socket height in the can is adjustable, and so you can loosen the thumbscrew and push it up a bit. I don't recall if those 4" cans also had one or two additional screw that might be used to drop the can from the fixture. I do think this is probably overkill. Easier to just ring it out with the screw-base pigtails.

If the cans are Halo, they will be fairly easy to drop. If they are not, they might not be. (Ask me how I know...) And I don't know how easy 4" cans would be - I've only done 6" (for an LED conversion of fluorescent ones - had to drop the can to bypass the ballast.) There should be many YouTube videos for this! But you may not need to. Go to an electrical supply, and they might have a screw-in base with pigtails. Get at least a couple of them. (My electrical supply has them.) With the power off (verify with a bulb!) screw in the base with pigtails. Really - for safety - it is best if you cut power to the entire house. Now you can wirenut a long wire to one of the leads, bring the other end of the long wire back to one of your switches, and check for continuity with an ohmmeter. You should be able to eventually figure out your wiring. Of course, then you will not be able to test hidden connections in the can's electrical box. (e.g. if the box is used to make some other wire connections unrelated to the can). I'd imagine electricians use some device to put a signal on the wire that can be easily detected without having to bring a wire to the other test point to check with an ohmmeter. You can probably get a basic one pretty inexpensively. I've used an ohmmeter. (Actually, I use it with a buzzer functionality.) This is called "ringing-out" a circuit. (I suppose because of the buzzer feature on meters.) This will either allow you to figure out your wiring, or drive you to drink. When you do, stop playing around with wires!

Haven't looked, but I wonder how many implementations of Colossal Cave Adventure have be released already as iMessage plugins?

And as I am an app developer, and thought it might be interesting to do an iMessage plugin, open to ideas related to ISY! I write apps for big companies to use internally. But always looking for ideas for The Next Big Thing to do "in my spare time". But then, before I find that spare time, a big company wants something in a rush. And of course, this does open up a world of possibilities for Big Company Apps.

Not related to ISY, but O M G... iOS10 + iMessage plugins + the other dot I don't know if they've actually implemented "Dot post-it notes", but that's how you'd do it for iOS10. (Yes, I'd guess this has been possible on Android for some time. Hold the "I told you so" snickers!) I haven't explored iMessage plugins (actually, have not installed iOS10 yet - not prudent!). But I get messages on a group with friends where they are using all these silly iMessage plugins. Some actually show something (like an animated GIF) on iOS9. Some, (thankfully!) do the best they can on iOS9 by saying things like "Laughed at Digital Touch message". Now this is something actually USEFUL.

Wait, I think maybe Insteon has a product just for this. I seem to recall a product announcement a while back. A good name for such a product would be "Is This Thing On?" My way above will not work if you plug more than one lamp into the outlet. (I tested it. I have two lamps in my bedroom plugged into one LmapLinc.) Yes. Here it is! SynchroLinc. It's a big ugly box. But it will be hidden under the bed. http://www.smarthome.com/synchrolinc-insteon-2423a5-power-synching-controller.html?src=Froogle&gclid=Cj0KEQjwjem-BRC_isGJlJ-0h-MBEiQAbCimWGBtcrbFHuGMFqEIs56Ptax1wTMnn4i1YS-Fj0NovkEaAlCM8P8HAQ I don't like the name SynchroLinc. They should change it to "Is This Thing On?" Check to make sure ISY supports it. I see review comments that it's not supported by Insteon Hub II, but they might be old comments.

I can think of a round-about way. But you need to explain more fully the Sleep Number remote. Do they have some dongle you plug into an outlet, and then the Sleep Number remote will turn an outlet on the dongle on and off? If so, does the dongle do dimming also? If it does dimming, my work-around will not work. If it is just on/off, it should work. Insteon inline dimmers have a "sense" feature. They send a small current through the lamp, and can sense when you flip the switch on the lamp. (I think I have seen comments here that this works only for incandescent buibs. However, with Phillips LED bulbs "works for me". It shouldn't matter if it is the switch on the lamp, or the relay in the Sleep Number dongle. (But if the Sleep Number dongle is off, of course the switch on the lamp will do no good.) But it probably needs to be a true relay, rather than a triac. To be more clear: I have a floor lamp in my office. It is plugged into a LampLinc 2457D2. It has a Phillips LED in it, and the floor lamp has a switch. I normally leave the switch "on". I switch it remotely from a KeypadLinc. But if the switch is "off", and the KPL is also "off", if I flip the lamp switch off then back on, the lamp will light. And then the status of the LampLinc is also "on". But you won't be able to turn the light on from Insteon if the Sleep Number relay is off... ---- Tangental, but might give you some OTHER ideas. Since you have a Sleep Number bed, have you considered using one or more Insteon magnetic door open/close detectors? Might be cool to have reading light on when in reading position! You might be able to rig it up with double-sided sticky tape. (I HATE double-sided sticky tape, though. You have no idea how long it took to get rid of all the remnants in my new apartment!) When I was in college, I worked as a student assistant writing code for the mainframe operating system. (Michigan Terminal System). There was for a time a persistent problem where the mainframe would halt periodically and the system would have to be rebooted. One of the full time employees at the school (who is now retired from Apple) is an innovative thinker. He rigged-up a sensor to detect the halt light on the console, and a solenoid to press the reboot button.

Both line-of-site and echoed (bounces off of interior surfaces) sound waves will arrive at each device at different times and at different volumes. it shouldn't be difficult to distinguish which device was closest to the sound source. This can be determined by some mathematical analysis of each sound signal captured at each device.

I think it would be unreasonable to expect otherwise. They would have to buffer (which assume they already do), sync the buffers using some PLL technique (maybe tight control of time sync using e.g. ntpd), AND compensate for the differences in arrival time between the different speakers and your ears. And so it will need to know just where your ears are!

^ Yes, I fixed that.

Oh, great. A walkie-talkie app that you can control your lights with. Nothing worse than the IT guy standing outside your cubicle shouting into an iPhone pretending the Blackberry is back!

I wouldn't expect high-quality wireless audio for $49. If you want to play music, play it through an AV system, with wired or wireless zone and proper audiophile golden-ears hardware. Don't forget the alkaline oxygenated cables. Your ISY can command your sound system.

What I meant is, up til now, Dot needed Echo, right? Or maybe it was just that you could only ORDER Dot through Echo? So, you could use a Dot without Echo, but you would have to find a friend with Echo to order one for you? Can Tap be used for things other than ordering more Tide or crackers?

Is it true this can be used without Echo? If so, then can it then be used to command ISY? The ISY connection is just through the cloud, right? I would not spend nearly $200 to fiddle with Alexa. But I would spend $49. And no big plastic thing that looks like Master Cylinder, either.

Don't need no stinkin' AP Style Guide!

edit: removed my dumb question "do you own an ISY", because it is answered in your first post! But I will ask some less dumb questions.... You say you have an "ISY system, with many switches installed", left by the previous owner. Specifically which model of ISY? It is likely ISY99 or ISY994. You don't really have an "ISY system". Those switches aren't ISY. They are *probably* Insteon, but might be Z-wave or even X-10. The Insteon switches can do most of what they do without an ISY. The ISY is handy for setup (saves a lot of running-around punching buttons). And it can use programs to do some things that aren't possible with scenes. Just want you (and us) to understand what you have.

If you do not want to do it yourself, find a company that installs and services Elk. I'm sure you will find one. Start there, rather than contacting random security companies who may or may not prefer to use Elk. These companies are just trying to sell you a complete new system that you do not need. Do these companies propose to re-used existing hard-wired sensors, or replace them with wireless? Since you have the bulk of what you need already installed, it would be foolish IMO to start over. You have a great system that is just missing a few things that you want. Have the things you want installed. Ah, I see my answer above in your latest post. I would reject out of hand any of the companies that propose to replace everything. And then reject the rest as well. What are the "key pieces" that you are missing? ELK does have wireless products if that is your choice for the additional components. OF COURSE you can get cell-phone backup, and OF COURSE you can set it up with a monitoring service. FWIW, a friend is preparing a 30,000 sq ft warehouse he owns that has recently come off-lease with Iron Mountain. They left a 200-zone security system. He told them nooooo prooooooblem, you can leave that behind! Follow his lead. I'd wager the most expensive part of any (wired) security system is the cost of installation. I'm a software developer and use a Mac. Sometimes I have to do some things with Windows or Linux. When i do, I just load-up a VM on the Mac. (I use VMWare, I prefer it to Parallels - for one, it is available for OSX, Windows, and Linux hosts, and if I do install a Linux box (as I have had in the past) I could actually move VMs between systems. I could run a Windows VM on my mac this week. And run it on a Linux box the next. You may not even need the Elk software that runs on Windows (see others comments). But if you need it or want it, my experience is that Windows running on VMWare will not bog-down your machine, etc. (unless running some intense task, which this is not!). It is helpful, though, to add as much RAM as you can. Do that, and you will not really even notice it is running. (And anyway, is this something just need for configuration and test?) While there is some software that won't run in a VM, most do. Sounds like there are those here who run the Elk support software in a VM with no trouble.

After reading Teken's comments, I rethought my plan for modifying my Espresso machine with a micro on/off. While the micro on/off does not seem to have the problem of the flawed SwitchLincs, it got me thinking that the PURPOSE of my modification is safety. So, while the micro on/off does not SEEM to have the problem, who knows if it has an unknown failure mode? My purpose is to help insure the machine is powered-off if I am not home. I have no interest in warming it up when I drive home. Do you know that there are GE ranges that have a network connection and can do this? What could possibly go wrong?! I've always been uncomfortable with the "delay" feature of ranges and microwaves. I shudder at suggestions in instruction manuals about leaving a turkey in the oven and then having it start cooking at a certain time! What were they thinking? Food safety, anyone? (Yes, if you leave a frozen turkey in the oven, for less time than it takes to reach The Danger Zone...) I don't like running the self-clean and then leaving the house either! So, no wiring the machine's on/off switch to the sense input. I will just wire the micro on/off in front of the machine's switch. It can disable the machine, but it can't turn it on. A lamp would be a different story. BTW, a few years ago, I came home, and all the lights were alternately flashing on and off. I hate to think how long they had been doing that and wonder what the neighbors thought? I forget what the problem was, I think it was a bad Insteon device. Thanks, Teken, for focusing on safety and making me think!