paulbates

Hi Sandry The ISY can't receive data from an external source directly. It requires a "middleman" host and application: Write a program that parses the XML and pushes it into the the ISY using V4 or V5 variables via the rest API. Note that decimal data is not supported by V4 and data has to be multiplied (by a multiple of 10) before pushing into the ISY If you have V5, ask for help in the Polyglot and Nodelink section of the forum in having a nodeserver written for this. Its possible that a polyglot developer or io_guy (nodelink) will add this capability to the growing number of supported devices. Your application looks one way, device->isy, and fairly straight forward. V5 handles decimal numbers. Paul

My understanding is that its ISY only, but for reason. There is a staggeringly long thread here on the forums about it. I don't anyone has done a poll, but my interpretation is that some ISY Insteon users have seen it and its mostly associated with the ISY processing event from wireless devices like motion sensors that send their messages twice. Motion sensor sends a message> ISY receives that message and > ISy sends another insteon command like turning on lights.. at the exact moment that... > Motion sensor sends its second copy of the same On... collision. Michel has published specific directions about avoiding that and I've always followed it. My interpretation is also that a majority of ISY Insteon users, like me, have not had it happen. To me, what happened to you was directly attributable to the HomeSeer/ISY interface issue and was resolved. Is there a lingering risk, sure. But how long have you had your ISY before this even and no All On problems? Paul

Ben That topic has been kicked around here but I don't know that I saw anyone verify that there is a newer iolincs don't respond to the all-on message. They remain a single band device. The manual doesn't address the all on, but none of the manuals do for things like switchlincs where it has been addressed. My guess is that its probably addressed, but in reality I don't know. Many of my +50 devices are older ( 7 - 10 years old) and include 3 iolincs, but I've not had an all on so I've not addressed it. Here is a Smarthome thread about this topic. Paul

To add to Michael's spot on assessment.. Your PLM was transmitting 2 messages / sec. That's a broadcast storm that saturates the powerline with little room for anything else, all in with latency and acknowledgements. There were no acknowledgements back from the ISY scene messages. However, if other devices, especially wireless devices like motion sensors, door sensors or especially thermostats were transmitting messages (they double transmit in some cases); those find their way onto the powerline and the likelihood of an "all on" from colliding messages is about as high as it gets. And those devices typically send device-device messages or scenes that all do get acknowledgements, which would very likely get blocked and create 3 retries when the saturated powerline can't cope with the broadcast storm. That gets ugly pretty quickly Paul

I have 2 iolincs in my garage. About the same age, plugged in side by side, one for the garage door and one for a hydreon rain sensor. I had a similar problem with one of them, had to query etc. They are not dual band, just powerline only. As techman indicated, I had an extra access point and plugged it in the garage circuit with line-of-site to some dualband switches in the house. According to manual, the iolinc remains an rev 1 protocol device, meaning that an older access point can solve this problem if you have one in a spares box. Or, plug a lamplinc, range extender etc in instead. I did that probably 4 years ago and that was the end of it Paul

Sean I'd recommend putting a additional short post over in Nodelink with Nodelink, Generac and V5 as tags, and simply point a link back here. That way those looking through nodelink will find it. That's a likely place they'd start. The post does belong here, but its very well written and helpful to the Nodelink crowd as well Thank you for taking the time for a thorough "how to". Nice job! Paul

Not sure this one is written down however its straightforward logic. If the condition is fully true or fully false, the program folder is solid green for true and red for false. In some cases, the use of multiple conditions may make the folder true or false, but only partially. That's what the band means. Its associated with "Or" being in your conditions somewhere If your folder has multiple conditions with "Ors", double check the overall conditions. Mine are consistently red when they're false and green when true. See the example: The month is march, so its overall true, but its not the other months, so not all the conditions are true.. so a green stripe. Can you share an image of your folder conditions? That will help Here is an example I have: The blue line shows a folder conditions for allowing programs in the "Humidity Frost Control" folder to run protect my windows from internal frosting by controlling humidity and only run in winter months. Since its March and one of the allowed months, its a partial green... its currently one of those months (but it can't be all of them) The black lines show the status of programs. One or the other of the program sets needs to run, but not both at the same time. I'm either cycling the fans periodically, or they need to be full on ..only one can be fully true and running. They are coded to be one or the other.. so they are solid colored. (There are 2 thermostats shown, FR for family room and US for upstairs. They are different parts of the house and responding based on sensor input.)

You're right that its there, and it is supported via the ISY Rest Interface https://wiki.universal-devices.com/index.php?title=ISY_Developers:API:REST_Interface#Thermostat_Commands Its either finding an app the uses this information, or creating something , maybe through HAD that uses it. Paul

Eliminating the load is step one. Also, sometimes Insteon switches need to be factory reset. I would probably do the load investigation first, if that yields nothing, factory reset (followed by a restore device) If neither of those helps, I would call it defective Paul

Yeh, got Mike. I get that zoning is more involved and a great opportunity for the ISY to manage comfort. My thermostats use 3 optional remote sensors and added one of those shared for outside, and one each on opposing floor living space for each the two thermostats. I set the associated interior remote for "averaging" with each thermostats onboard sensor, let the thermostats handle it and that got me relatively close to even temp distribution across the house. Did you look at ekeypad? It supports elk as well, but not sure if it solves this particular sensor reporting requirement Paul

I get notifications several times a day that include HVAC activity and temps. I use pushover notifications and the pushover app to get notifications on my phone of key events. Pushover doesn't let me see what the temperature is at any one moment, but I do get notified that key ISY programs are taking action and associated values (indoor temp, outdoor temp, humidity, etc) and alerts when key events or if key thresholds are crossed.. if HVAC is on and indoor temp>74 or indoor temp<60. I can review those messages any time I want. And If I didn't get the messages several times a day I would know that something happened to the ISY or its internet connected. If you are trying to catch temperatures out of range, this is a good "event driven" way to do it, vs checking all of the time. Paul

What is the load being controlled? Based on what you listed, the path heads that way. If you remove or unhook the load, or use some other load, what happens? Paul

It’s a limited interface. To fill in a little more, the communication is effectively one way from the linked first alert to the bridge. Also good to know is that the battery alert works only for the unit linked to, not the others... and it’s not possible to know which smoke/co detector triggered, just that one did. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You can certainly unplug them and see. I still get use out of one in my garage to extend to 2 iolincs I have out there. It works ok without it, it works perfect with it based on level three diagnostics. Paul

The ISY is extremely powerful for integration with the programs tab. The next closest is probably homeseer. But after 10 years and 3 versions of HS, the ISY is better/easier for me in that regard. My preference is to have published integration points (Nodeservers= Nodelink, polyglot) and not custom coding to maintain for my house. Having moved to V5, I've gotten away with exactly that on the ISY. I do have a pi, but all I did was set it up out of the box, install mono & nodelink and configure... I don't think about it and upgrade it once a year (or every major vulnerability). Both of my kids have graduated and I'm closer to thinking of selling, and keeping the integration at that higher-level will let me sell the integrated active automation (HVAC, Sprinklers, Lighting controls, Attic fan, etc) as a feature that can be turned over to either a techie buyer, or find a support contact for them. Removing coding off of the tech support responsibilities list will make that plausible (eg.. not having to know specifically .net, python, etc..). Things related AV will most likely come with me, and are in their own integration bubble.. eg Harmony-alexa.. a new owner will have their own. Paul

I've had Simplisafe for 2 years. It gets an 8 from me as an integrated alarm system and a 3 for iot integration. The good Easy to install System - works Monitoring - works App - works (pin authentication) Integrated smoke/co Has cameras, I don't use them The bad Bespoke Simplisafe monitoring (COPS).. No Alarm.com, etc Very low level iot. They have tons of requests and long threads asking for iot (IFTTT, Stringify, etc) integration, and 3 years of "we'll ask the team"... I gave up I have a Rube Goldberg machine in gmail to parse their email and IFTTT using maker. I can have my ISY know the state of the system, but can not control it from the ISY. Paul

If your primary requirement is the support of that diversity of devices and you aren't willing to use V5 in alpha and don't want to wait (all understandable) it sounds like smarthings is the way to go. If you can integrate the ISY as at some level it would probably make sense to keep your investment in $ and learning curve and consider other duties for it in the future. Paul

If you can make that circuit an outlet hung on the appropriate fixture on your panel, that works the best in my experience. It gets it the closest to all of the houses circuits.s

The smoke bridge is specifically for First Alert smoke detectors labeled "Onelink". It doesn't work with anything else. Its also "one way" messages only from the First Alert to the Smokebridge: First Alert Onelink -> Insteon -> ISY. The Smokebridge does not transmit user messages to the Onelink (only internal setup & acknowledgement messages), it cannot set them off Onelinks are not wifi or TCP/IP based, so network resources would not help. Paul

Ben Sometimes its an "additive" problem. Meaning the stereo receiver created some noise, but the signal got through. Now, something else has been plugged in on the circuit and the and combination is enough to kill it, and removing the receiver lowers it back down enough to work Paul

Right click on the switch and pick restore device. If that doesn’t do it, do a factory reset followed by restore device. If neither one of those does it, it’s most likely dead. Paul Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hi Konrad, and welcome to the UDI forums. The advantage of the ISY is integrating both Insteon and zwave. The keypad with labeled buttons is a big thing for us & wife approval factor. We use them daily and I've yet to see any equivalent in a zwave product. There are plenty of people using Insteon here. Neither technology is "wart free". There is the danger of falling into the Mac vs Windows, Ford truck vs Chevy truck type of thing. Paul

YW. We have long periods in the spring and summer where temps and humidity are mild. The house came with dampers into the attic and a gable fan. I replaced the flimsy dampers with Tamco 9000s (silicone seals - every edge, foam core blades) and a Belimo actuator when we re-insulated the house. Keypad keys can turn that on and off... dampers open and fan goes on. We use that a lot, and all of the humidity and fan cycling automation "goes to sleep" if key doors are open, the dampers are open and the fan is on. Keeps it comfortable with lower costs. Paul

Its really a factor of how you can/want to manage it. Why would you want to control humidity? Comfort and health for people and animals. Ideally it should be near the middle... 40% to 50%. It proven to me in the last 3 winters... we are healthier when keeping the humidity up above 34% when possible. Sounds simple? There are complications for maintaining that level, based on what type of building construction, windows and insulation/sealing- Heating: =>40% can mean the humidifier will run around the clock (based on construction). That can use electricity and in my case hot water.. my pads are plumbed to hot. Humidity can collect in places like the attic, so actively venting it may be necessary Window frosting. Again, depending on construction, windows will heavily frost when the temps drop... the windows can be damaged especially if they are wood. I have anderson wood framed windows sliding on plastic tracks. Newer window technology X pane, fiberglass, etc allow the level to be higher with less frosting. Humidity needs to be lowered as outdoor temps drop. Cooling Our climate can be humid in the summer. Even if the temp is a setpoint, it "feels" uncomfortable > 60%. There is an "overcooling" concept that will cause cooling to be called up to X degrees below setpoint to lower the humidity and make it "feel" comfortable. Dehumidifiers can be installed in the HVAC unit and called to lower humidity. Fan cycling needs to be controlled... After a Cool cycle completes, the fan needs to not run for 10-15 minutes so the condenser drains. Otherwise, the fan will blow that moisture right back in the living spaces making it uncomfortable and starting the cycle all over again. I watched this happen on my systems Options Control with the thermostat. I have the Venstar Colorrtouch T7900. The 9 digit (versus 8 ) means it has a humidistat and control features for configuring the status humidity behavior (both humidify and dehumidify) A 24vac wire from the humidifier is pulled to the thermostat location exposes to the API that humidity mode is running and what the humidity is exposes set point fields via api for setting what you want the humidity to be Just like the desired setpoint for heat may be different than for cool; the setpoint for dehumidify level may want to be different than humidify The ISY (via nodelink) can establish humidify % / dehumidify % I have a simple series of ISY programs that step humidity down based on outdoor temp to prevent frosting My humidfy highest set point is 38%, but everybody including pets stops complaining / scratching=> 34% I use the Venstar T7900's overcool feature to take the edge off in the summer. More cycles, less total runtime, better comfort. "Occupants" less frequently lower the temp on their own. The advantage of this method is that, if the stat supports it, most of the control and contacting, etc, is handled by the stat. Use your own humidistat and "roll your own" version of the above Use zwave and/or tag humidistats. Place them around and average, etc Use an iolinc to contact the humidifier and/or dehumidifier. (I think you need a relay that can read iolinc contact closure on one side and close 24vac on the other) Also have your program turn on the HVAC fan at the same time if its a humidifier on your hvac system so that moist air is distributed into the living spaces The advantage of this method is potentially better measurement as the stat may not catch all areas... again in my experience heat and humidity live different lives Hybrid / additional Support either of the above methods with local humidifiers / dehumidifiers. Have ISY programs turn on on/off modules in individual spaces by following when its being called for elsewhere My goal was to make this 100% automated, and it is. There is no user control of humidity. I get pushover messages as the programs make changes so I can tweak... (eg its too dry doing it this way, or the windows are frosting if I do it that way). I do get comments when its really cold out and the humidity was lowered to <25%... but nothing to be done about that and I don't want the family manually turning it up. Ease of use / what to do? To be candid, the Venstar colortouches are pretty technical looking. There is a "simple thermostat" mode but it supersedes the scheduling feature. So no. My wife has been using the Venstar app for the last few years for temp adjustments, or taps the up or down button on the stat and that does. Again, no manual humidity adjustments, all automated You could keep the nest and use option 2 above for ultimate fine grained control. If you did, I would configure the nest to not control humidity and control all on your own so you know what's what. There's the upper model ecobee which is popular and controls humidity on its own... but that's as much as I know. Larry or io_guy could chime in on it vs Venstar. I know this was a lot, but after chipping away at it for a few years, its all related and what you choose to install needs to cover all of the areas Paul

Our LED Christmas tree lights do this. Plug in an old unused phone charger along with the lights. It takes 3 - 5 seconds, but the bulbs will stop glowing after turned off. You might have to try a couple to find one that works right. I also use one with detachable cable so there is no cable to deal with. Paul