paulbates

The configurable flash briefing is nice. After my good morning group, I listen to it. I have Alexa give local weather, then NPR headlines and then BBC You configure the contents and order with the Amazon Alexa, Flash Briefing under settings

The venstar skill for skyport thermostats implements the current limited Smart Home api. Having said that it gets used the most after "turn Christmas lights on". Looking forward to mode, home/away and feed back response.

Does the 2441TH offer a configurable deadband? Setting the deadband in the Thermostat for 2 or 3 degrees would be a more reliable way to do it Paul

Ok thanks. The the IR solution is not (easily) possible for me as my ISY and PLM sit right by my electrical panel and not at the TV. I offered this as an additional method, if the requirements are simple. The OP asked if anything could be gained by the integration and also did not want an IR solution. Paul

This is not the case. After telling alexa to turn on the tv, dvd or netflix (provided by roku for me) via the Smarthome group, I pick up the Harmony remote and it knows where it is and adjusts my tv/roku/dvd for current state that alexa turned it on for. The Harmony Skill was called by the Smart Home group along with the ISY skill and is in sync. Voice turning alexa back off turns the tv off and adjusts the lights via the ISY skill. EDIT, 'TV' is the name of one of my activities. It doesn't just turn the tv on, it turns on the cable box, etc

Alexa can accomplish approximate Harmony to ISY communication. Here is an example for turning on the TV and turning off the lights Create an ISY program that turns TV room lights Off for Then and On for Else Alexa TV If - No Conditions - (To add one, press 'Schedule' or 'Condition') Then Set 'Family Room / Recessed' Off Else Set 'Family Room / Recessed' On Use the ISY Portal to publish this program to Alexa In the Amazon Alexa site, Perform a 'discover devices' Create a group under Smart Home with your TV Activity (or DVD, Roku Activities) Button and the program Tell Alexa to turn the group name on or off You can obviously do more elaborate things from the ISY like dimming, add shades, scenes.. etc The Harmony skill had limited functionality (don't they all) but if you are looking for simple integration, this will do Paul

Me too.

Teken Yes, it was. You could hear that faint hum with your ear up to it, however the diagnostic for me was from several feet away.. more specifically the family would report the noises, including the double beep that NakyNaw reported (I forgot about the double beep until now). It could be 'factory reset' away for a while, but would eventually return. Eventually one day a key is pressed, it will make an unusual high pitched beep, and that's it. Power line problems (eg brown outs / black outs) would sometime end it as well. For scene creation, I use New Scene, under the Link Management menu. I then use "drag and drop" from the device tree. You can click on multiple devices by holding down Control when clicking and drag them in to the new scence, that works fastest for me. A panel appears for all of them so you can leave them responders or make them controllers. You can pick them out of another scene too, it copies them. You can hit Shift and pick a range in a row... if 10 are in a row, click the first, press and hold shift, click the 10th, then drag them over

Hi If its buzzing, high pitched from a few feet away, especially related to keypresses, then the clock is counting down on its demise, in my experience. The factory reset may help, but I've had 3 of 3 die within a few weeks/ months of catching it doing it. For me, this problem was related to manufacturing flaws introduced around 2011/2012. The keypads I bought before and after that time have not exhibited this behavior, but 3 of 3 bought during that time did and died not long after the high pitched buzzing. FWIW, if this happened to me, I would order the replacement and have it ready or proactively replace it before it happens at a bad time. Some people that are handy with electronics can fix them. Paul

I think its the echo on Smart Home on their "cloud" side.. My thermostats stopped responding through the venstar skill... was wondering if it was ISY Portal, but pretty sure its not

Its a bug. DO NOT DISCOVER DEVICES RIGHT NOW.

Me too! Its a Bug. DO NOT DISCOVER DEVICES RIGHT NOW

Hi Mario The ISY, if used with the optional Zigbee ZS card and modules, provides the client side zigbee connection to the meter. I'm not sure how this device fits in with the ISY. And from my experience Make sure your power company will allow you connection to the meter before you buy.. Mine would not The ISY can only connect to one at a time. Paul

Links in devices are the physical expression of scenes, that's how they work. Since the ISY manages links in the device tree, it is the "source of truth" of how the network should look. Devices can lose link info sometimes, and the link compare exposes any differences. (Just last night I had to restore device to fix an issue for something that has worked for many years) 'Restore device' reprograms the links that compose the scenes. Yes, if there is a wireless device in the scene you have pull them and put them in linking mode, one at a time, unfortunately. After you do a 'restore device', the 0101 icon will appear next to devices that the ISY could not update... in this scenario, the wireless devices in the scene that haven't been put into linking mode to accept their reprogramming will show a green 0101 icon. If the "Restore Devices" is difficult, post the compare report you have so we can look at it. Paul

I would start by right clicking on that device in the device tree and performing a "Restore Device"... be aware that if wireless devices are part of the scene, each one must be visited and put in linking mode, one at a time until the 0101 icons are gone. Repeat the compare. If its not addressed, post the output of the compare here Paul

Hi If you want to access to your devices via a mobile phone app, you'll need to look at getting a third party application like mobilinc, which is ios and android, or agave which is android only. There's a windows phone app as well You do not have to get the portal, and the portal is not a direct mobile phone solution on its own. Paul

Its really more about planning and doesn't take long. Scenes are a very powerful feature of Insteon that the ISY makes easy to manage. I have a number of lighting and fan/damper controls that are primarily insteon virtual circuits with only minor timeout and monitoring roles for ISY programs. The devices are all over the house, from the living spaces to remote places in the attic. With scenes, I can manage it sitting in front of the admin console. You can also have the same scene turn some keys on and other keys off if that's needed.. combining multiple scene activities into one cuts down on traffic and visually looks better. Paul

Wait... all we have to do is request something?...

Hi Shan, welcome to the forums! Alex may not recognize something coming through the ISY skill as a lock, but as an insteon On/Off device. Did you try "Alex turn Front Door On"? Paul

Larry I could see that, its more of a peer to the Echo, Nest and Ecobee from that perspective...device provides data to a service that does processing, crunching and storing.... Do as much coding as practical on the server side so that the device requires fewer resources and fewer FW updates. You had to open a port in your router from the tag manager to get it to work? What port does it use? Paul

Yes. To add to Larry's answer, port forwarding is based on sending internet access for a specific port to a specific local client's IP address on your LAN. If that client gets address via DHCP, the address can/will change, making the rule invalid. Paul

Shannon I've used the XPNR in several different high noise situations. Easier to install IMO, and has worked perfectly for me against HVAC motor noise (especially when I had older PSC) and transformer line noise. It doesn't carry the load, so no fuses or limits. Its for 120 /240. Yes, its 120khz vs 131.65 KHz, but I've not found that to be an issue. I found that x10 and insteon plug filters were interchangeable with no differences. Paul

It sounds like noise problems. Insteon devices will try several times to turn a device on and that can create a delay. I would suggest using the admin console to turn on the 'LED on TX' option on a swtichlinc that you can see, possibly the one in question.... that will make that switches LED a traffic indicator. Repeat the the action that runs the program. If the the LED flashes through out the 4 - 5 second delay, that means the the switch is retrying communications and it would mean following the procedure for diagnosing noise... run logs, look for noise producing devices. Also, is there another program that is triggered by this action or on this device at the same time, it could be collisions from that program issuing direct insteon commands Paul

Not at this time. The built in Thermostat API is limited. Click on 'Temperature control messages'. https://developer.amazon.com/public/solutions/alexa/alexa-skills-kit/docs/smart-home-skill-api-reference The API will improve over time, and hopefully expand to allow control of Mode and Fan at a minimum Paul

Larry, FYI the native Venstar Alexa skill works very well for the Colortouch series, setting the temp or requesting higher / lower. Paul