oberkc

Thank you. I was looking for a simple answer to a simple question. I was hoping that there was a trick I was missing that would allow a virtual switch to be controller in a scene.

May I take this as your position that the virtual button cannot be a scene controller?

The way to do this with Insteon does not require a program. I cannot say about whether RatGDO would work the same. (Does RatGDO plug in have relay and sensor nodes?). With Insteon, create two scenes. One with the keypad button as controller and relay as responder. The second scene would have the sensor as controller and same keypad button as responder (set up so that the sensor is ON when the door is open). Configure the keypad button as non-toggle (on) mode. Configure the IOLinc to accept ON commands to trigger a momentary closure of the contact. Hopefully, RatGDO will work the same.

I am currently (may change) not using any programs. I am simply trying to use the virtual switch in a scene, as controller. I have tried controlling the virtual switch directly from the admin panel, and in response to an Alexa echo device. The virtual switch changes status, but the scene in which it is added as a controller device remains untriggered. I hope that there is some step that I am missing, but suspect this is not possible.

I assume that you have the light powered by a single insteon switch, and a second insteon switch that you want to control, and be controlled by, the first switch. Correct? Did you create a scene that included both switches, and both as controllers?

I have created a few virtual switches to experiment around, seeing if they can be part of a solution to a problem with my use of an echo hub. I wante to use a virtual switch as a scene controller, but scenes to not activate in response to a change in status of the virtual switch. Am I missing something or is this not possible?

No. There is nothing hiding in there. As others have pointed out, green is an indication that this program last ran as TRUE and will stay green until (if ever) it runs false. Did you program run FALSE at 4:01? If not, you should not expect it to be back to red.

I am not sure how authoritative this is, but I understand that some z-wave devices may not broadcast status. I understand that different companies implement the z-wave standard differently, with varying capabilities and commands. But some DO send status messages and, for those, you can use status as a trigger.

Yes, to some degree. Unfortunately, at my house, program "control" is not triggered by z-wave devices...only "status". And sometimes not even status. It seems to depend on the make and model of the z-wave device. I, therefore, do not use z-wave devices in places other than as scene responders. YMMV.

I have a couple and they work fine, though I still have trouble creating z-wave scenes and using z-wave as scene controllers through the ISY. If, however, all you need to do is turn the device on or off or use it as an ISY scene responder, they work great.

I have the same issue and wondered also whether this was an indicator of some problem, but did not feel like trying to investigate any further. It is nice to know that I am not alone.

Theoretically, both, but this depends on whether your Insteon devices include power line, wireless, or both. If you only have power line devices, it is possible that you may be having communication problems between the legs of your electrical system. Do you have any phase couplers from your X-10 system?

Clarification: As far as I know, X-10 capability is still fully resident in the EISY. The basic EISY software does not pre-populate X-10 devices. No linking is needed nor possible and X-10 devices would not be part of your device list. X-10 devices were not part of scenes and one could not create X-10 scenes. X-10 addresses were (and still are) simply used in programs. One could, for example, create a program such as (syntax not exact): if Sunset then send A1 on At one point, and even possibly still, one could purchase (small fee) an update to the EISY software which would allow one to give names to specific X-10 addresses and have those names show up in the device list and be used by programs. It made creating the programs a bit more intuitive and made managing your system a little easier, but did not really add anything to the core capability.

I would look for two things. First, did you save all your program changes? (go back and save changes.). Second, do any of your programs have references to obsolete devices or programs? (Open the programs in question and see if there is some type of error embedded in any of the clauses.)

firther clarification….whether or not such a program would or could be true would be dependent upon the logical operator (and? Or?) and also upon whether there are other conditions within the IF statement.

We get these problems every spring and fall, it seems like. It has always fixed itself for me and I just learn to accept this and not to get too excited when thing are not quite right the first day.

I had a z-wave switch (line powered) that I could never eliminate the green IOIO icon. None of the many "write changes" appeared to work. I ended up replacing the z-wave switch and attributed it to growing pains with z-wave. I hope you find a better experience.

If all you want is for the center fixture to go on and off with the virtual 3-WAY (but not control the 3-WAY), then add the center fixture to the 3-WAY scene as a responder.

As far as I know, all the instructuions are online. There is a user manual, a wiki, and other documents. I think most are available here: https://wiki.universal-devices.com/Eisy:User_Guide and https://wiki.universal-devices.com/Main_Page I suspect most here would recommend a fresh start: a foctory reset of all your insteon devices then adding them to the eisy. This could be done in small increments, first removing a small number (or one) of devices from the hub, resetting them, then adding to the eisy. Then experiment with scenes and programs until you are comortable with the process. Bring the others over after that. yes, there is a learning curve. Unfortunately, this will probably be true with most hubs or software capable of working with insteon devices. The simpler options such as alexa and nest require the i ternet and cloud to work and do not natively support insteon. You might consider posting your location. Perhaps you will get lucky and find someone nearby willing to help. Most here are also willing to help out answering questions, but will also suggest helping yourself by familiarizing yourself with the resources on the wiki.

Well, if sunrise in your case (or at least if ISY thinks it so) were bfore 4am, you might get this combination of values. Have yo checked to see that your sunrise and sunset times are accurte in the ISY?

My approach would be to create a variable, to have states either equal to zero or one. Once created, you could add the variable to alexa, as a “sensor” device. In alexa, use the newly-added sensor as a trigger for a routine. Create or modify your ISY programs to change the value of the variable at the desired times. I believe alexa interprets a sensor as ON when the variable equals one, and OFF when zero. (This is all from memory. Details may be off, but I believe the concept is accurate.)

I have sometimes thought about the opposite approach: using the ISY schedules and programs to kick off alexa routines (for those actions not available directly via ISY). Unfortunately, my desire to have an automation system independent fromthe cloud is dying.

Have you looked through the program summary to see which programs, if any, ran when the lights came on or other unexpected times?

FWIW, I have a couple of the Govee flood lights. They continue to work fine at my house. (Though certain control options were limited.)

Just tried and the authorization app on the azure server and it continues to not work as I expected from the instructions (no response, no userid).