PittCaleb

Ill leave this as a lesson... I received an email from universaldevices telling me I needed to set up a preferred ISY... All good now!

http://wiki.universal-devices.com/index.php?title=ISY_Portal_Google_Home_Integration At step 19, where I log in to the website for authentication, I am dying. You can see in the attachment I have a single device set up "lamp" but when I enter my login credentials in step 19, I very briefly see "connected to universal devices" (or similar) but nothing to select and assign to a room. I know I have the proper password in that if I enter the wrong one, it fails with an error. Very interested in getting assistance in getting this working with GHome, esp since I now paid for it. Want to work on setting up the rest of the house, but testing with a single switched lamp first. When I moved, I did not re-set my home automation. This is the impetuous for me to do that now. Caleb

Bought a few hidden door sensors for the outdoor entries to my home. Physical install not a problem, however linking is. They won't show up performing an auto-find. When I manually add one with the 6-digit number, it fails with varrying error messages. Using the light-bulb icon, it appears to find the device, but then states "2845-222 Insteon Hidden Door Sensor v.43 - Cannot add Insteon Device. If I go through menu/link management/link a sensor/hidden door sensor, it seems to take a bit longer, but the error is then similar to above, but v.00, then "cannot determine Insteon Engine" FTR, I am performing this sync in my office mere feet from the hub/modem. Help greatly appreciated, PittCaleb

Is CFL "very bad" for Insteon? I actually have CFL bulbs hanging on the garage door opener itself, plus 4 in the ceiling. I have replacement LEDs on hand for the ceiling actually, could get 2 more for the opener itself if you think this is the problem. Run to HD today anyway. Would be nice if this solved this issue. PittCaleb

Just time for quick response... The Garage is 1 circuit - same as lights, which are on Insteon, and always seem to work. No idea if its on same phase as PLM honestly, and no specific bridge solutions in place. Is a bridge an inexpensive solve, or a $50 module of some sort? I have 12 devices (the counting the garage door opener/sensor as 1), only 11 working, my RF-only flood alert in basement isn't reaching the 2nd floor, nor being repeated by anything in between. I would surmise, with those 11 wired devices, I have something on each phase. I thought that was enough to help communications. PittCaleb

The last 2 replies are great - I will look into them later this evening. Thanks for the suggestions. You're absolutely right, I could put an in-wall module to control the lights, then run them from this switch. But then we're talking almost $100 to keep a single fixture on low at night to avoid waking someone up. Yeah, not worth it. This is why the kids bedrooms, with ceiling fans, probably will never be done - fanlink + 6-button keypad - just not worth dropping $100/room so I can stop yelling at my kids to turn the darned lights off in their rooms. I like the idea of setting the local level, then on would do that, and perhaps double-on would go full power. I'll fiddle around with it later tonight and see how it works. PittCaleb

Good ideas all. I must say, one of my bigger disappointments, perhaps my greatest, is the claimed signal is nowhere near advertised. My house's footprint is relatively small. It's 40x40. One would think an RF signal would easily be able to travel from one side to the other. I thought the benefit of Insteon was "dual band" - both RF & Powerline. My first issue was solved when someone said I could NOT plug in my PLM on the same circuit as my desktop computer. Right now, my PLM is in a hallway outside my office with a 50' CAT-5 cable running across the floor back inside it. This can not be the final solution. This brings me to #2 - is there a method to determine what might be causing interference? Perhaps I have one piece of electronics throwing out stray signal on the line I could filter or replace. Re #3 - my first test, the sensor failed to report open, thus an alarm never went off. Last night, it never reported closed, throwing an alert incorrectly. As my wife says, this doesn't solve my problem at all if I can't trust the position sensor up or down. I'm at a complete loss now wrt the garage door. As it's plugged into the ceiling, the sensor is literally 15' from he PLM. Could you provide an example of the code you mention in #4 please? I'm good now with programming buttons and alerts. Need to understand some housekeeping system code next I suppose. Thanks, PittCaleb

We have a large master bedroom suite. The master lights are one one dimmer. From the master is a 12' hallway to the bathroom. That's the hallway light I discuss. In the bathroom, the main lights are also on an insteon switch. The goal is if you want to go to the bathroom without disturbing your sleeping spouse, you could turn the hallway & bathroom lights on dim to see enough to do what needs to be done and return without waking anyone unnecessarily. What I was thinking was single tap on - hallway on, single tap off, hallway off; double-tap on - hallway & bathroom on 20%; double-tap off - hallway & bathroom off. Yes, I could purchase a 6-button KPL. Trying to avoid having one of those literally everywhere. There is already one in the bedroom at a different location. When I select the switch in program mode, aside from on/off and fast on/off, there is fade up/down and dim/bright - could I capture one of those settings - say we "hold the on button" for a half second, and our program sets both to 25%? Unless you have another solution, other than grabbing the scene from a phone or an Insteon remote kept at bedside (or putting in a 6-button KPL), this idea may have run its course unfortunately.

New, working on my programming, thinking I am getting it and quite proud of some of the stuff I've written. I have 2 programs which are frustrating me quite a bit. Both are very similar, so I will explain 1. Confident the solution will be the same for the other. Master Hallway - Insteon Dimmable switch Master Bath - Insteon Dimmable switch Both switches work fine solo. Creates a Scene which sets both switches to 20% Wrote program: If Control 'Master Hallway' is switched Fast On Then Set Scene 'Master Hall-Bath' On Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action') When I press the switch, the Master Hallway light initially turns on to 100%, then it drops it to 20% at the same time as it raises the Bathroom light to 20%. Have I done something wrong? I have a similar issue downstairs for a scene setting to dim lights for a movie. It first turns the lights on, then drops them. Thanks in advance for the pointers to solving this issue. PittCaleb

Just wanted to say "thanks" to those who participated in this thread, especially @KMan When I started down the path of Home Automation - from research a year ago to first switch purchase 2 months ago - monitoring my garage door was my #1 priority. I went at HA slowly, didn't realize my HouseLinc step for learning didn't provide the functionality I needed for this door check. With my ISY up and running, my garage is now monitored. My wife & I both get an email if the door has been open for > 15 minutes. Could be working out back, so don't want an auto-close. I can't tell you the number of times I drive around the block wondering if I in fact shut the door. I do have one fear however - I tested it with "2 minutes" and all was good. I set the timer up to 15, kicked it off - and it didn't work. The garage lights never turned on (set to auto-on upon opening), the sensor was still in the "on" position - even after multiple re-polls. So sometimes, that sensor just doesn't work. Looking at the ISY through my phone through 4G, which I would do from the car or hotel, it showed the door closed (sensor=on). So this solution is far from the perfect solution, however, it is better than what I had before. Interesting note - without a 'camera' - I did a door open, saw it stayed "on" then door open again, and saw it go to off. I suppose I could cycle the door if I was very unsure, but going this from a distant location, not knowing its actual state could be introducting more potential problems than it might solve. Any thoughts on how to force a good poll on the sensor? From the phone view, I hit refresh, and it stayed as "on" even though it was "off" It did right itself when the state did 'change' to on though.

Just a quick update - I did start some programming and they're mostly working, but I haven't tried the "pathway" one yet. The "off" now does turn off multiple different lights. I will google, but "fast off" is what I learned as the double-tap off then? Nice to know. Regarding factory resetting - great point. As I switched over from the HouseLinc to ISY Controller, I did perform a factory reset on all devices. Glad I was on top of one thing in this mess that I've created for myself Caleb

I am new to Home Automation. I bought a handful of switches and a PLM which I used with HouseLinc for a few weeks to learn what I can and can not do. Late last week, I finally got an ISY 994i. As of now, I have all my switches seen and have started to do some programming. But it's not working the way I expect. I am sure a quick pointer will sort this out for me. Thanks in advance for your help: Issue #1: 6-button controller - the "on" button is set to turn on 3 different devices. That works fine. In Houselinc, I was able to program the "off" button separately. When I press the off button, I want it to turn off more than these 3 lights. I want it to also turn off the dining room light. Don't see how to set a different set for the 'off' button specifically. Issue #2: I have 2 scenes - "movie" and "pathway". Movie should turn off the kitchen & dining room, and set the family room to 10%; Pathway should set all lights (5 different ones) to 10% (a pathway from the family room to my master bedroom). This is what the Pathway scene looks like: http://screencast.com/t/79T5LoVoUPuC When the Pathway Button is pressed, all the lights turn on to 100%. Should I be selecting each individual light in the scene and be setting it individually? If so, what is the purpose then of the screen shot I attached? Issue #3: In Houselink, I could set up scenes (programs perhaps) to be activated when a button is double-tapped. I don't see how I can do that right quick on the ISY. I am sure it's possible, just haven't seen it yet. I had been using that as an "all off" when leaving the house - double-tap off and every Insteon light in the house is turned off. Pointers? Have other issues, hopefully I'll figure them out in short enough time. Thanks in advance for help with the above. Caleb