paulbates

master valve or pump - how do I check that? there are 7 zones. Inspect the Ezflora unit, is there a wire connected to zone 8? If yes, then very likely that's it. Mastervalves were more of a trend in the late 80s and 90s, not so much for a newer systems. When it was factory reset, the existing mastervalve setting the prior owner had would be the factory default of "off". where exactly in the Admin Console should I look? Click on a valve in the admin console. In the center panel at the bottom, it will say options. One of the options is "Zone 8: Pump". That needs to be set if you have a master valve or pump as indicated by the wiring.

Thanks, good idea. I participated in testing a PLM over a year ago for about a month before it died, and I waited for the symptoms to catch up with me before I figured it out. I then reinstalled the current PLM. I should start looking for the signs now periodically rather than waiting. The diagnostic program sounds like a great feature request to me. Paul

I'm within T-30 days of that milestone.....

Hi and welcome to the forums! Let's start by understanding the irrigation system itself with these questions: Was the ezflora already installed, or did you install it new? Does the system use a master valve or pump? The previous owner should know. If its a pump or master valve based system, you need to set the option in the admin console to enable it, or you'll get the results you're seeing SInce the previous owner took the ISY, can they give you their last ISY backup? Restoring that should give a good working base to start with Paul

I'd say its best value is found in storing it and being ready to replace the current primary PLM if/when it dies. It could be treated like an access point and plugged in somewhere that it would help dual band bridging, but then it would be exposed to the same kind of electrical spikes, etc, that could kill the primary PLM. Also, if it used actively and programmed for other PLM duties, that would have to be "unprogrammed" before swapping out your primary if/when it dies, and then what happens to that functionality? I have a PLM on standby, sitting in its box for the day my several year old PLM dies or is destroyed by an electrical problem. Paul

Brian The station name for Munro is MID_CYHM. I plugged that directly in to Location, without searching, and this came back You'll want to compare with weather now and other sources. They all can vary Paul

So a word of caution. I went ahead an looked at Hamilton in the climate module, and went on to Cambridge and Brantford. This is the only WX station I could find, maybe someone else in Ontario knows of another. Munro has a number of stations, but the don't show up on the ISY

Here is the description of the climate module. Note that not all stations necessarily report all values Edit: The first graphic with the irrigation values is a function of the user making the screen capture. They had the irrigation module in addition to the climate module. I don't see that information on my screen. Paul

FWIW, I use the climate module. Here are the tradeoffs I see Climate module. Plusses: Easy, one time expense and installation. Tends to be good enough for my temperature needs, which include helping the HVAC system keep up with weather changes. I've also used it for sprinkler input prior to switching controllers. Minuses: Its based on a weather service. Local reliability of any service can be a concern. I have my programmed to an international airport that is 10 miles away so I get consistent results, as opposed to an individual station at another house near me.. Its off occasionally when storms blow through, but over all its been a good solution for temperature. Its not very good at rain. Sensor Plusses: Can be very accurate. Under your control. There's a "while we're at it" factor that could lead to a weather station. Minuses: Proper installation can be difficult so the sensor is not adversely/unrealistically affected by local conditions, for example, it could read too high in direct sun. If you have technical problems, battery out, etc, it will stop working.

To further document Brian's comment about dimmers, here is a snippet from a switchlinc dimmer manual: You have reduce the load installed on each dimmer per the directions if you gang them side by side. The warmth is one of the expected symptoms of this. One possible way to address this is by mounting the 2477 on/off in the center between the dimmers as Brian suggested. If that layout works functionally, it still needs to be evaluated for being excessively warm Paul

Congrats! Because rachio requires an oauth2 based token, the ISY is unable to talk to it directly. A "middle man" interface is needed to manage the token. I have the rainmachine and it has the same ISY challenge One common developer approach: Using ISY V5 firmware and a creating a nodeserver. The nodeserver is an interface that talks to your rachio on one end, and ISY devices it creates on the other. This is becoming the common approach for this exact type of technical requirement. The primary language for nodeservers is Python, and the ISY Python support framework is named Polyglot. If you are handy in linux/python, there are a number of examples and members in that part of the forum that would be happy to help out if you post there. Polyglot requires studying the link topics, but is one of the straightest paths to meet your requirement Note that ISY V5 Firmwares are considered alpha/beta depending which version you use. Paul

I have one on a stake under my deck as a "critter detector" (primarily skunks at night). It triggers photonic beam weaponry ...e.g. a landscape flood light. I thought about the sprinkler angle, but over time it triggers less and less. I think they've gotten the message Paul

The insteon motion sensor is sold as indoor/outdoor and can take cold and heat all day long. For me that's ~-20F to ~105F. However... heavy, continuous downpours knock them out...for good. I believe water comes through the lens seal as well as where the case and battery door pull apart. Mount it under the eves, or provide cover for the unit from above, out and over the front Paul

Hi- In the admin console, click on the iolinc, and then click options on the bottom center of the panel. If "relay follows input" is checked, uncheck it. This is the likely culprit. Test operation of the door from all controllers, GDO remotes to make sure it works Paul

It comes down to: every thermostat model has benefits and warts. You have to decide what you can live with. Its not uncommon for people to try a couple out. If there are any you can return after trying for a few weeks, it would probably be worth trying them and see what you like. Paul

Hi John, welcome to the forums! On the Link Management menu there is a option for New Insteon Device. You can use the Device Type drop down and pick the 4.0 EzRain/EzFlora specifically. Give that a try. Paul

@larryllix, somewhere in the forums you did an exhaustive comparison of TSTATs that covers a number of the ones discussed here and their trade offs. Can you post a link to that? Paul

Dan Node device status can be copied to variables, and variables can displayed in had. That's how I kept my HAD status pages working when transitioning from venlink to Nodelink. Paul

Hi Blake Welcome to the forums! The ISY Portal product supports IFTTT. And, IFTTT supports the Harmony hub. The amazon echo can be connected as well. It probably depends what kind of integration you're interested in... For instance, push an insteon keypad button, and have the hub turn on the tv, etc? Paul

To put one more option on the table, is io_guy's ISY Logger. I think it does exactly what you want and can ship the results to syslog if you'd like. You id the variables you want to track by checking a box next to their name. You do need a separate windows or Raspberry Pi type system to run it on your network Here is a sample of the csv output.. header row definition, followed by values: Time,Day,Month,Month_compare,Day_compare,V_FR_Fan_Cycle_Sequence,V_US_Fan_Cycle_Sequence 03/10/2016 00:12:40,9,3,3,9,29,52 03/10/2016 00:17:43,9,3,3,9,29,53 03/10/2016 00:32:41,9,3,3,9,30,53 03/10/2016 00:37:44,9,3,3,9,30,54 03/10/2016 00:52:41,9,3,3,9,31,54 03/10/2016 00:57:44,9,3,3,9,31,55 03/10/2016 00:59:58,10,3,3,10,31,55 03/10/2016 01:12:43,10,3,3,10,32,55 03/10/2016 01:17:46,10,3,3,10,32,56 03/10/2016 01:32:43,10,3,3,10,33,56 03/10/2016 01:37:48,10,3,3,10,33,57 03/10/2016 01:52:45,10,3,3,10,34,57 03/10/2016 01:57:48,10,3,3,10,34,58 03/10/2016 02:12:46,10,3,3,10,35,58 03/10/2016 02:17:49,10,3,3,10,35,59 03/10/2016 02:32:46,10,3,3,10,36,59 03/10/2016 02:37:50,10,3,3,10,36,60 03/10/2016 02:52:47,10,3,3,10,37,60 03/10/2016 02:57:51,10,3,3,10,37,61 ..... Paul

Thanks Michel!

There is now an alexa skill for the ventstar T5xxx through T7xxx series thermostats. These can aslo be controlled by the ISY using Nodelink/Venstar. ISY programs can be aware of changes and make them. http://venstar.com/smart/alexa/

GT I disabled notifications some time ago. Folks have been catching interesting opportunities from SH on amazon... recently got a plm delivered for $35, and just recently 2 motion sensors for about the same price. To your point, they have been becoming x10.com a little more in the marketing/spam dept, each year that goes buy. Paul

I'm going to have maintenance done to my sprinkler system and will likely be out of town when it happens. My project is to create a simple web page to turn my 14 sprinkler zones on and off, and serve access to it through the portal. I've shut all port redirection off on my router and don't want a solution that requires back tracking on that. I've kinda painted myself in the corner with options and the simplest, safest way to proceed Access / security: I think I should create a separate guest portal account with a separate key for accessing devices. This creates a separate key, so I don't give away the key that allows access to things I've created on my main account. I'll change the password for the guest account after the work is done....(?) Web page: Create a simple single page with a set of on/off links for each zone. Option 1: place that page on the ISY and provide a link through the portal (albeit ugly long link) to the contractor, via the guest account, to use from their phone. I've used this method for my sprinkler work in the past. Option 2: host the simple webpage on the internet somewhere at an address that's a little easier to remember. I could make an easier link for the contractor to access. Though that link wouldn't give away the guest key, the zone on/off links would and the page would remain "out there" on the internet. Any alternatives, other suggestions? I don't want to get in to figuring out apps for contractors phones, and would love to avoid giving them a tablet, etc to use. Web keeps the delivery model simpler, I believe. Paul

if you have on/off buttons controlling a light via a scene, you should be able to "press and hold" the on button for the light to brighten, and "press and hold" off to dim. It will be in finer increments than 25/50/75/100 edit.. If its a CFL load it will be hard to impossible to know if what I suggested works Paul