paulbates

So plugging the access point right in the inlinelinc didn't do it. I would say moving the access point causing a behavior change says that there is a noise problem on your powerline. Make sure the PLM is close to the panel and not near noise sources like motors or UPS. Unplug the access points and find the closest outlet you can close to the panel and on the opposite phase. Use linking mode as described in the document link below and make sure you have a good connection across phases. Then experiment with the location for other access point. Metal furnaces, ducts, pipes, breaker panels, etc will block the rf signal. It will take some trial and error to get the signal right on your powerline. If you have a spare lamplinc, use it to go around your house and test signal as you try locations for your access points. Its a slow, not fun process, but eventually you figure it out Kids with walkie talkies make this a lot easier if you have both. Mine thought this was fun. http://www.insteon.com/pdf/2443.pdf Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Hi RD Yes, try pulling the 24 volt transformer and testing too. Streetlights, depending what they are, can be pretty noisy too. Depending what you find, some XPNRs can probably wiggle in there. They need to right to the feed of whatever it is, on load side of the switch and switches red wire. If possible put them in the streetlight housing, etc. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Hi Teken This was all a while ago, no pictures and this stuff is kinda hard to get to. Its best that it be next to the actual device. In the case of the furnaces, i took the covers off, attached the XPNR to the main power terminals and tiewrapped the XPNR inside of a service box with other electrical connections. In the case of low voltage lighting, the standard box was there. I tucked an inlinelinc and one of these in the box. It was "comfy", but fit without force and they had room to breath. It never would have happened if it had to share the space with a switchlinc. I'm thinking for things like pool heaters and pumps there would be room in the chassises, if not, attach an electrical box to it . If its a light fixture, you should be able to put the XPNR on top where the fixture wires to the house. What are you trying to silence? Paul Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

I was just talking to Orchestrated Home. They have 2 EZIOs in stock. Unless I really needed the features of the EZIO8sa, I think this would be a simpler solution. I got my ISY from them and have been very happy with them.

Based on what you have I would guess that the EZIO is more sensitive to some noise source than the other devices. You have a number of suspects on your list. I would suggest some testing. Come up with a baseline of failures as it sits right now. Start with the EZIO itself: The EZIOsa connects to the PLM with a a Cat 5 patch to the PLM, Can a longer cable be tried and move the PLM to other locations? See if that helps, if its possible at all. You will want to try it with all of the stuff running, pumps, dimmers, lights, etc. Whatever might be noisy. If nothing comes of that, it's find the noise and filter it. Start with everything off and work your way up to turning on everything that makes noise (motors, yard lights and other transformers). See if its chronic, or if it happens only in the presence of certain things being on. It would be good to know what the dimmers are dimming... good old incandescent? LEDs? If it ends up being something noisy, use a plugin filter if you can, or an XPNR. If it were me, I would find the noise and filter it. I know from experience that PLMs don't like noise. I have my own version of this quest. Its not fun, but this is the only way I know how to kill it

The ISY is an integration point where you weave these things together. It will treat each sensor and switch at separate devices; insteon or or zwave. So yes, they do operate the same internally and you can write programs on the ISY to include both. One subtlety, insteon and zwave as individual technologies have "scene" capability. Send one Scene command to a bunch of insteon devices and they all come on. Same is true for zwave. Automated lighting has a slight delay as its signal is sent. Scenes make this a short a time a possible. The issue becomes these are exclusive technologies.... Insteon scenes won't turn on zwave devices directly and vice versa. While an ISY program can make it cross technology events happen, you might see a delay as it does one, and then the other. The suggestion is grouping lighting technologies with a particular function. Let's say you were going to automate 3 lights with one switch. I would make the switch and lights all one technology- zwave or insteon.. don't mix and match. If you have another unrelated function, use whatever technology is best / lowest cost One other concept is SAF (spouse approval factor). If things are too different for simple things like different types of light switches, they can give a lower approval rating

Hi Does the door ever move, or you just get that message? It sounds like the garage door opener motor is creating noise that is preventing the acknowledgement from the ISY completing. Or the signal is not reaching the IOLinc connected to the door. Here is an idea, plug one of the access points in behind the IOLinc. My guess is that will make it work. This is not a long term solution, but give it a try to see if that helps. If it does, we can go from there (you are not supposed to "stack" Insteon devices, but you can try it to see if it solves the problem) You'll want to look at the directions for the access points and see how to verify you have them set to bridge the two power phases of your house.

I think you figured it out. Insteon manufacturing comes down to 2 players, Insteon or Smartenit.... of those, mostly Insteon. There are problems with it but they are known problems. Zwave has some great quality devices, but its a multivendor world and a spread of prices and quality. Some research to do, as you point out. You can leverage your insteon investment and integrate zwave and insteon together on Homeseer or ISY. On Homeseer, you get get Mark Sandler's plugin and keep your Hub and insteon devices. That works very well. The zwave interface comes with HomeSeer. If you go with ISY, you'll need to get a Serial PLM. You do need to know, in both cases, you'll need for HomeSeer or ISY to "rediscover" your Insteon world. I went from HomeSeer / Hub to ISY / PLM recently and it took 3 to 4 hours to discover my 31 devices, reprogram groups, etc. I expected that and I got great support from UD. For the tablet interfaces, there are a lot of them. You'll want to check Homeseer's board to see how people are doing with it on HS3. I remember a number of stories. I think a new user going on to HS3, its better than someone who used it long term like I did.

Its going to be less about number of panels, and more about signal, distance and noise. Signal: In general, the main panel to the house is the center of the wiring network, all roads lead there. The phases being bridged right there is a key concept. It can be with a signalinc phase coupler, or 2 rf bridging devices. Also locate your PLM very close to there to distribute the signal evenly across your powergrid. If the plm is on a further out outlet, its signal has to make it to the panel and then to more remote destinations. Noise and distance:. The signal recommendation above covers good communications to the majority of devices. and insteon devices repeat through the powerline so that helps. Having said that, distance or noise, or both will be a problem in specific spots. This where best practices end and field engineering takes over. I would guess that pool equipment is further away and noisy at the same time. Even if you could put a dual band device there, it may not be a silver bullet to the hop count. I would find a way to address the noise. There are a variety of filters. I can report very good results with this device. It wires between the hot and neutral and dampens the noise at the source. I have 2 success stories with this device: 1) 2 older, noisier furnace units near my panel that were literally PLM killers. Since installing these inside the furnace unit at its power source, I've had the same PLM since about this time 2011 2) low voltage lighting that I wanted to control with keypadlincs. The transformers overwhelmed the circuits with noise when they were turned on. Installing these filters at the culprit transformers got it working. Its not perfect. Every once in a long while one of two lights in an insteon group will take a second longer to turn off, but they always turn off. Since load doesn't pass through the XPNR, there is not load rating so pumps, motors, transformers are all good to address with it. You can get them cheaper on amazon, etc.

Hey Jack I have been gifted with a week+ between engagements and have a bunch of queued HA projects planned. I got a hydreon sensor and plan on putting it in and start monitoring its behavior and compare to local observed rainfall. We've had a wild summer of weather here this year, it should be interesting. Configuration Question: What were your Hydreon wiring and IOLinc settings for your routines / Tipping bucket mode? I was guessing: Hydreon wired to Normal Open IOLinc wired to Momentary C, and no other settings, eg Trigger Reversed Unchecked General Question Tipping bucket mode claims it can "under read" observed rainfall. What's your experience been? Thanks Paul

Nice! As I've gotten experience with my ISY I've been looking forward to some kind of dashboard for my house. I'm interested in reporting sprinkler routines, use of particular lights and devices, and furnaces/AC run time. I can use this as a template to arrive at a similar destination. I like the top to bottom approach you used. Also all of the little things like hosting images, etc. Thank you Xathros

ISY Programs have "Run at Startup Feature".as Teken pointed out. Write a program with no condition that simply turns the device on Go to to program summary tab and right click on the program name to set each of these Disable (so the logic won't run, but it can still be run directly by Run at Startup) Turn on "run at startup" (to do what you want) Here is my program (Its called New Program) If - No Conditions - (To add one, press 'Schedule' or 'Condition') Then Set 'Family Room / Doorwall Lamp' On Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action') The Attached picture shows how the Program should look in the Summary tab

All of your feedback is great and very much appreciated. It helps me to understand different ways of looking at this. Thank you I started with an ideal world of one program for a particular function. However the ISY's folder structure lets things be organized and filed discretely which keeps it organized for management. Multiple programs should be fine if I organize my HA life well in the ISY Admin Console. I'm guessing I am not losing a lot of memory, resources or performance from my ISY by having multiple programs for a function vs one program for a function with an 'else'. Programming logic is programming logic. I will start with 2 programs as proposed by Lee, get some experience and practice, and move forward carefully. The reasoning is that my HA system has gone from 'hobby' to 'production' over the years, and I owe it to those at home to be able count on it. Which counts on me knowing what I am doing Moving functions to the ISY is proving to be very straightforward. Again, thanks for sharing your knowledge on how if-then-else functions in my ISY. Regards, Paul

Hi Stu I picked control because that made sense to me.. Why does status work with one program and control requires 2? I like 1 program better, but I don't fully get it. Regards Paul

Thanks for that clarification Lee, that gives me what I need Regards Paul

I'm a new ISY user and trying to work out some basic logic. I'm writing a following program to replace similar logic in my previous HA system. What I want is for Fan Temp Sensor, to turn on the attic fan when its triggered. When it turns back off, I want to wait 20 minutes, and then turn the fan off. If the Fan Temp Sensor turns back on again in that time, I want things to start all over again and wait for Fan Temp Sensor to turn off again. This functionality is time tested in my house, I don't want the fan cycling on and off, the 20 minute wait makes sure that the attic is really cooled down enough for the fan to go off. Here is the sample program: If Control 'Attic / Fan Temp Sensor-Sensor' is switched On Then Set 'Attic / Fan Low Speed' On Else Wait 20 minutes Set 'Attic / Fan Low Speed' Off Here is my question: How literal the 'Else' ? Is it literally the opposite of the If statement, meaning If that sensor turns off instead of on, the 'else' becomes true? Or will any other conditions besides that IOlinc switching on are will trigger the else? Thanks Paul

Thanks io_guy I have some ductboosters to control based on mode and other local changes. The local api was a big factor for me for that reason. I've also had a cool air recirculator on the house project list and will cut costs here in Michigan's bipolar (literally) weather. The T5900's ability to directly control that is a big plus. Its a very advanced, well engineered device. I also love the functionality and the social media reviews of the Skyport mobile apps. I am looking forward to some WAF points on that feature. The HVAC setup in my house can involve walking around at night. Letting her adjust one stat, and then auto-bumping the other stat with the ISY will be very well received.

telljcl Thank you for conducting your experiments and sharing your results. I have my first T5900 and planning for my second. Your reviews and stories have been helpful (along with io_guy's). The automated thermostat space is changing rapidly and 'compare and contrast' summaries make a difference. For the T5900, have you used the skyport mobile apps, if so what is your \view of them? Regards Paul

I fully agree that the stat itself should be located in a normal room environment. However it does support an external sensor, and that can be located in more extreme temperatures. The ZTH displays that value in a special spot on the thermostat's screen. The question is, can the ISY read that special external temperature value.

There is this remote sensor accessory for the ZTH, its range might be ok depending how cold your freezer is: -13° to 185°F (-25° to 85°C). I don't know if the ISY can see the temperature for it though, someone else here might be able to say for sure.

Michel That 'straight answer' is greatly appreciated (as always). The reality is that the interruptible service is under the power company's control, and I its more important to manage my house off the main meter via the ISY. I can look on line to the power company's site to read my interruptible AC costs. This helps me plan my implementation, thank you. Regards Paul

I'm discussing smart meter installation with my power company. I currently have interruptible power for my AC system and it has a separate meter. My power company says when I switch to smart meters, I will keep interruptible AC and have 2 smart meters, one for the house and one for interruptible AC. Can the ISY talk to multiple meters? In the installation pdf under My Electricity and Provision the Meter , it shows the opportunity to select from multiple PANs. Without configuring the meter, it’s tough to tell if I can talk to more than one. Any experience or thoughts on this?

I've used both. I got a measurable improvement when I added the insteon coupler.Fair to say that both work, but the insteon coupler works better for me. I have it and the insteon coupler plugged into the same box at the panel

Hi MIchel Ok, ticket submitted, thanks Paul

I am new ISY user coming from another HA package. I was able to get all my devices added to the ISY by adding devices with "add devices found in links and keep existing links". My network has a lot of lighting controlled from the switch controller to the lighting controller, deleting those links would disable existing functionality When I did this, I ended up with 48 scenes, numbered 4 through 136, with some duplicate scene numbers. The duplicate scenes have links to different devices in them. I need to both rename the scenes to make sense to my set up, and resolve duplicate scenes and delete them. I believe i can figure this out by walking through the devices rename scenes logically. The problem I have is where there are multiple scenes with the same number and different scene contents. I think this is what I should do to resolve this Write all the scene numbers down and note duplicates Go through my ISY list by device/controller. Look at the associated "is a controller for" Look at the associated "is a responder for" validate that the scene contents make sense and/or fix rename "is a controller for" scenes and cross each off the list as I resolve them assume I can delete the remaining duplicate scene numbers left over at the end verify the final links for devices that are affected by duplicate scene numbers Does this sound like the right approach, any recommendations? Paul