madcodger

Ah - Makes sense - Thank You! I keep hoping for some way to read remote temp / humidity sensors (like those from Oregon Scientific) into the ISY or the Elk. It's the last thing I need to eliminate a PC from my system.

Xanthros' program should work beautifully (and thanks for sharing) but my question is, How are you reading the wireless thermostat / humidistat values via ISY? That's exactly what I've been hoping to do, but didn't know was possible. I formerly used HomeSeer with Oregon Scientific sensors and an RFXCom, and temp / humidity is my last frontier in terms of replacing it with ISY and my Elk. Thanks for any info you can share.

All, Since the PLM is going to lose power (and thus reboot anyway, I think) wouldn't it make sense to just put a simple Elk-controlled relay in the circuit just before the outlet that has the PLM, and have the Elk (which knows power is off) activate the relay when power is off for, say, 2 seconds less than the time it takes the generator to kick in? Then when street power is restored for about 5 minutes it could reactivate the circuit. I don't know the specific relay, but I'm fairly certain Elk or someone offers one. You could even have a variable for ISY programs (part of the IF condition) that suspends the program when street power is out due to the Elk sensing power is out (because PLM will be off). I have similar system and situation to cmidgely, except manual start generator. Most electronics are fine (except two small, cheap UPS's that I'm getting rid of) but Insteon goes crazy. I don't have the flickering lights but no programs work over powerline. So, if PLM is the problem and will reboot anyway when power restored, is it OK to have ISY just try to send signal but find a temporarily "dead" PLM?

Good to know. Brultech keeps a customer... Thanks for replying, Joe

Good point. But still want to understand what ISY / UDI can / can't, will / won't support. Thanks.

UDI Team - I just got an email from Smarthome advertising the Powerhouse Dynamics energy monitoring system, which allows for monitoring of up to 44 circuits. Are there any plans to have this work with ISY, similar to Brultech? Am planning to purchase an energy monitoring system in next several weeks and had decided on the Brultech GEM, but this puts a new wrinkle in it. Any info appreciated, please. All - Any comments on INDIVIDUAL CIRCUIT monitoring systems would be appreciated. Systems such as the TED don't interest me b/c they do generally whole house monitoring and require cluttering of the powerline, which I fear will harm my Insteon performance. But monitoring individual circuits is high on my list (See, Teken, you've inspired me!). Thanks, Joe

I agree that having an open API and not requiring a customer to use a company's cloud service is better for us, as hobbyists. But to create a business, I think they're making the right choice. The level of required support is just much lower, and support takes resources. In balance, I'll take a fully functioning, easy to use and reliable tstat that requires a company's cloud server (especially when its free, but even with a nominal charge) over one that requires constant / frequent attention to keep it functioning properly or that lacks features I need.

I am on my 2nd ISY in about 5 years (the first continues to function beautifully with the people who purchased that home from us), and will upgrade to a 994 (order it) later today, just for the increased functionality.. Of all the companies I use in any capacity, UDI has the best support of any I've seen. An amazing group of hard working, talented and honest folks with an extreme dedication to their customers. Thank you, UDI, for the much-appreciated support and exceptional customer service.

Thanks, Michel, and I completely understand. I will check on Cocoontech about integrating the Elk and W800 (I think I did it once before, but can't remember how). If anyone knows of a good wireless temp / humidity sensor that integrates with the ISY, I'm all ears and would appreciate knowing about them. Joe

I respectfully beg to differ. I am a very loyal ISY enthusiast, and was considering an Insteon Tstat or another serial Tstat connected to my Elk (had used one in previous home) when I read about the Nest (in an HA forum as I recall, although possibly not this one). Upon much further exploration and investigation I ultimately went with a Nest, and could not be happier. Paid for itself in the first winter due to FAR superior control of the backup heat on our heat pump, and remember that this is compared to a programmed tstat, not "set and forget". I do hope they open up their API one day, but even with a lack of integration with my ISY, it has been an excellent purchase. The other poster was being helpful to the OP and others with his comment.

All, Bringing up an old topic, but as I move almost complete out of HomeSeer in favor of ISY I'm trying to figure out how to replicate two functions that were very useful to me: The W800 X10 receiver, to make use of the inexpensive motion sensors and DS10A devices, and the RFCOM to support my many Oregon Scientific temp and humidity sensors. If I could bring temp and humidity back into my monitoring and reporting, and then make use of the DA10A's and old X10 sensors (even if via my ELK, as I think I MIGHT be able to connect the W800 with a serial expander there) it would give me almost everything I had with HS (and presumably much more reliability). There was an old thread I found here: viewtopic.php?f=27&t=1754&start=15 that said back in '07 - '08 that a serial expander was being developed, but I never heard any more. Any update on this? If not available via UDI, does anyone have any alternative ideas? Thanks, Joe

Thanks, Michel. No desire for Z wave given the number of Insteon devices I have, so Z series for future energy monitoring it is. Will be VERY eager to test the weather station integration whenever you folks are ready. Just let me know! Thanks, Joe

Sorry to be a bit thick on this, but I'm getting ready to upgrade from my 99iIR Pro to a 994 and want to "future proof" as much as possible. I currently use my 99 to control my Insteon network and also have it tied into my Elk with that module. Most manual control is via eKeypad on an iPhone. I don't use the IR function today, but likely will in the future. The biggest add-on I'm considering is a Brultech or similar device to measure our electricity consumption on an individual circuit basis. For that, I'm considering the Brultech GEM but may hold off on the purchase until they advance it a bit more (the 1240 measures only 7 circuits, which isn't enough for me). I may also fire up HomeSeer again if v3 proves stable, but may also go to Indigo or another Mac platform instead. I WISH that 1) I could get my Davis weather station to integrate with the ISY and 2) that the ISY allowed me to more easily graph certain parameters like "on time" of certain devices as those are the main reasons I would need a computer-based program in addition to the ISY and Elk, but can live without those functions. So... I THINK the ISY device I now need is the ISY994i Z/IR PRO. Is that correct? Any other thoughts or suggestions before I pull the trigger? Thanks, Joe

Carealtor makes a good point - it might be best to remove HA eqpt before showing the house. As for my two years of tech support... Two houses ago we sold to a couple moving to PA from across the country. We ended up inviting them to Christmas eve dinner PRIOR to closing but after settling on the terms, which our realtors thought was insane. That was almost 10 years ago, and they are now/still very close friends (and the wife works part-time for my wife now). We're back at our old house fairly often... For the more recent automated house, it was a younger couple who were also very nice. I'd handle the question via phone, email or text or stop by and solve something then have a beer on my old back porch (maybe twice in two years for that). We've even had them to parties we've hosted. I can see how it could be a nightmare, but we've had good luck selling houses, automated or not.

When we sold about 2.5 years ago we left it, but I don't know whether it really added much to the sales price or not. However, the Insteon lighting, keypads, whole house audio, etc., had become so much a part of the house "experience" it would have been hard to say that it wouldn't stay. So, I left the Elk, Insteon, WH audio, etc., and just started over with everything. only problem (which wasn't really that bad) was that I had to walk new owner through things when there was a question, for about two years. Took a call about once every 4 months.

Michel, Well, I think you sort of answered it... I've been monitoring the state via the ISY plugin for Homeseer. FWIW, it seems a scenes status would be a useful thing for the ISY. Thanks for the help, though.

I'm stumped re: the status of scenes based on the On / Off button on a KPL, and wondered if someone could set me straight. Example: I have a KPL in our master bedroom that uses buttons A - D to control four different Switchlincs (one button for each). The On / Off button on the KPL turns all these devices on or off, and the devices themselves all work fine (i.e., the lights come on / off). I have each of these five scenes set up in the ISY and when I turn on any of buttons A - D, I see both the state of the device change AND the state of the scene using the web interface and in Homeseer. But when I use the on / off button on the KPL, I can see the status of each device change but the status of the "all lights" scene does nothing. Is there something special about the KPL on / off switch that I've missed?

Very similar problem, AND not showing status correctly most of the time. Have sent log file and info to support at universal-devices.com. Thanks. Joe

Sorry to jump ahead of Gary in answering, but here's the link to Ambient Weather's "contact us" page. They publish Virtual Weather Station. I also use VWS, and it's a great program. Joe http://www.ambientweather.com/amcoin.html

Michel, I bet it can. I'll check into it this week and report back. No worries on not adding this soon. Not a problem. Joe

Michel, et al, I would be very interested in an ISY feature that allows us to use our personal weather stations with the ISY. As others noted, support for the Davis Vantage 2 Pro line seems like a great idea. I have one, and it's pretty close to flawless in reporting. I've also found that having "very" local weather is helpful, particularly for wind and, in the summer, rain. Wind gusts can vary dramatically and a good cloudburst can provide a lot of water, but may deliver it to only a small area. I sometimes see our house is soaked while the location of the official "reporting station" only a few miles away, stays dry, for example. As for software mentioned, I have at least one and usually three computers on all the time, so it's not that big of a deal if I must use that method. My station reports to the Weather Underground and National Weather Service networks using the Virtual Weather Station software package, which works great and might be another thing to consider if PC-based software is found necessary. Then again, if the ISY could do this it would be one step closer to turning those PCs off when not in use... Finally, I'm wondering if anyone knows of an Insteon-based zone controller that can handle large numbers of zones? We have 42 irrigation zones on their own well that can take 14 total hours to run, so we stagger them across 2 - 3 days and water deeply instead of small amounts each day, except when I'm starting new grass seed. It would be great to tie these into the rest of the home automation system, perhaps when the current controllers (Rain Birds) go bad one day.

Well, I'm now pretty sure you're right... And of course Smarthome wasn't so smart in their forethought about ways to improve earlier switch versions with a firmware update... I'm stuck with KPL nightlights, but at least the off switch is not blaring anymore. Thanks for your help, Joe

Michel, Thanks! This is a Rev 1.4 KPL, and I couldn't get the ISY to update it, but the manual procedure worked on the 3rd try. BTW, I can't get the LED brightness setting to work, even if I enter a "7" (read the threads on using only range 7 - 63). Is this b/c it's a Rev 1.4 KPL? Appreciate the help and great support. Joe

When I initially programmed all my KPLs, I did it with Powerhome (pre ISY). There was a simple feature in that program that allowed me to turn off the LEDs on my keypad Lincs, which is what I want (Note that they're not really "off", but rather just dim - but it's much less bright than when a button is on, at least). I was messing with the wiring on this KPL as part of a small renovation project in the house, and managed to get it into a state where I had to reset it manually. Now, it works fine EXCEPT the All Off button glows brightly unless I press the All On button, in which case it glows brightly. How do I return things to a state where NEITHER glows brightly when everything on that KPL is off? I thought it had to do with the toggle modes, but that didn't seem to help. Thanks, Joe

Michael, Don't know if you got my message re: turning of the "All Lights (My Lighting) option when connected an Elk, but in alpha 2.6.8 it worked perfectly, with no known "side effects". Joe