paulbates

This is a testimonial about the ISY and energy management. My energy company provides analytic reports that compare my home's use of energy vs other homes in the immediate area. Not a perfect measuring stick, but it does eliminate factors like heating degree days... everybody's bill in the same area should be affected by a warmer spring for example. I replaced furnaces in 2014 and insulated in 2015 and that brought the score down. Last years work on fan cycle and humidity have helped it even more. Last year at this time I was close to a third of the way between "Efficient Homes" and "Similar Homes". This year I nudged up on the top 20 efficient homes. This change is related to ISY program tweaking for: HVAC fan calls - running the fans for both units 24x7 proved to be unnecessary and used too much electricity. But periodically cycling the fans keeps humidity and temps even through out the living spaces. It can push off a heat cycle or two per day depending on conditions. Humidity set point adjustments - Keeping the humidity set point higher makes us more comfortable and holds more heat in the air. However, when the temps drop, higher humidity sweats and frosts the windows. Tweaking the set point to drop with colder outside temps to just where sweating started allowed it to stay as high as possible. I use the climate module for the outside temp. A related factor is that heat and humidity fluctuate differently and at different times. Calling the humidifier and fan separately from heat makes a difference in the humidity being just high enough at all times without sweating the windows. Paul

In v4 of the isy, you can't mix Insteon and isy scenes. Your best bet is creating an isy program based on the node change Paul

Hi Michel, Yes, I understand that for sure. Paul

Hi Tom Its supported: Link management menu New Insteon Device Scroll down the device type list to 3.06 Add the address and it should install I think the irlincs are powerline only. One possible problem is that A/V gear is very noisy. Try locating the IRlinc elsewhere, near the PLM for initial install. If that works, its very likely noise from TV, DVR,... other electronics. If that's it, those need to be plugged in behind a filterlnc to quiet them down Paul

Got a confirmation email from Venstar, they said to watch for a press release Paul

Great, thanks for the follow up.. For Nest, I was referring to user comments to amazon's post a few days ago. I know that today it still doesn't work for Venstar. To clarify, you didn't need to delete the old skill, and/or load a new one? Paul

Amazon is trickling out improvements to the initial thin skillsets released with the echo. Amazon announced this week that it added thermostat query to their smarthome skill set. The individual smarthome skills need to be updated by their manufacturers to support it. A handful like Honeywell, seem to have made the update, Nest users are reporting that it does not work, neither does it work yet for Venstar. Here are the additional capabilities. Not earth-shattering, but it is progress. Time to bug your manufacturer if its not working for your thermostat. Paul

Is it not limited from an I2CS perspective? There may be support issues with newer devices? Paul

It sounds like a capacitor popped, and those are the weak link in PLMs. You can try a factory reset, but I wouldn't expect that to work Paul

Hi- Sounds like a dying/dead PLM. You can try Restore modem and it may buy you a little time. Here is a link to review http://forum.universal-devices.com/topic/19331-my-plm-died-and-i-bought-a-new-one-what-should-i-do-next/ Paul

Thanks Benoit, and Andy/Bumbershoot for forging ahead and trying it out. I'm trying to determine the application scope of nodeservers via the portal. Is the basic concept that nodeserver devices I can interact with today in my ISY programs will be exposed and controlled via the portal? Paul

Thats why I put the caveat in there . The old ones are single band only for sure, i would look at the manual for your model... At the risk of tempting fate, its amazing my old ones haven't died given the environment.. attic and detached garage. If you have a lamplic or something db, just plug it temporarily onn the circuit with the iolinc to test what happens. Paul

Stan- In a scene, the ISY configures the scene initially, but is not an active player in scene execution when one device is linked directly to another... eg the ISY is not a cause. What you listed indicates that the MS can be seen by the ISY, but not the iolinc. And keep in mind that the iolinc is single band powerline only, at least the older ones are. In my case, I have 2 iolincs in my garage. I would occasionally get messages that one could not be reached. I put an Access Point (in today;s world, Range Extenders are used instead... same idea) in my garage with line-of-site to dual band switches in the house. That was the end of it. I'm thinking the iolinc is at the end of a long circuit and not getting reach, and/or there is noise on the line wherever the iolinc is Paul

Hi Stan It's a scene and should work immediately. My back floodlights are triggered by an ms, plus 3 keypad keys... all work immediately. I also have a keypad key that operate an iolinc for my garage door.. again it's immediately. My guess is that the ms rf signal from the ms does not have a clear path to the iolinc and the pause is due to consuming hops and retransmission A range extender might be needed Paulo

Who on the forum is being helped with what at this point in this thread? We're all individually capable of reading and deciding for ourselves. Please either walk away, or continue the bashing in a pm - if there somehow is still value in this discussion for you. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

To finish off what I did: Alternating fans 10 mins on and off - keeps temps even across the living spaces without 24x7 operation If the fan is run right after an AC cycle completes, it forces the moisture from the condenser back into the living space. Give it time to drain before fan cycling (22 minutes) HVAC Cycle US Fan - [ID 0030][Parent 0017] If 'HVAC / Upstairs' Heat/Cool State is Idle And 'HVAC / Upstairs' Humidity Active is False And 'Attic / Attic-Damper Control' Status is Off And 'Kitchen / Doorwall Sensor-Opened' Status is Off Then Wait 22 minutes Repeat While $True is $True Set 'HVAC / Upstairs' Fan Mode On $V_US_Fan_Cycle_Sequence += 1 Wait 10 minutes Set 'HVAC / Upstairs' Fan Mode Auto Wait 10 minutes Else Set 'HVAC / Upstairs' Fan Mode Auto $V_US_Fan_Cycle_Sequence = 0

The subtleties are helpful in determining if the occupants have "revolted" against automation and have take matters into their own hands at the stat

Assuming there is a router in front of the remote/destination device; the firewall on the destination side is doing its job: blocking unsolicited traffic. You'll need to set up a firewall rule on the destination to allow that port in, and then supply the internal NAT'd IP address (192.x.x.x) so that the destination router routes the packet correctly

Glad you're working, thanks for reporting back Paul

I think there are cases of here of similar sized and # of device setups that this can be accomplished without adding hops. I would add a signalinc bridge to each sub panel. Dualband will most likely be needed to move traffic between each separate subpanels wiring. To the best of your ability, have dual band devices and or Insteon Range extenders from each system on a circuit near each other. Here is what I mean Panel A Panel B Signalinc bridge Signal Linc Bridge Leg A Leg B Leg A Leg B Dual Band device --line of sight -- Dual band device It doesn't matter which leg you use one either panel, just be sure you know that there is a dual band device from one of Panel A's legs near to a dual band device on one of Panel B's legs. Knowing that electrical system mapping can be tricky or take time to do by turning breakers off. Repeat the process for sub panel C Also, the closer the blue item are, in terms of wire feet, to each respective panel, the better. Do the best you can with that. As mentioned above, the crossing the signal linc bridge is 0 hops.. you can potentially get a lot of benefits there Paul

That is one way. I personally get a lot of value out of the passive coupler: Its dumb so it never has to be rebooted or reset It's a bridge, and as such costs 0 hops to cross. There are Insteon signal and hop diagnostics in the Homeseer Insteon Plugin from Mark Sandler. I logged 'before' and after the signal linc and the results were significant. Dual band transitions cost a hop. I also have some access points and dual band devices. Some circuits have noise at the edges and dual band helps that, where needed. In addition, I put the PLM in an outlet right off my main panel so that its in the center of the electrical system for a better reach. In your case try to put the PLM at a location that is the fewest wire feet from there, as best as possible. Given the size of your home and complexity of the electrical system, I would have couplers on every panel, and also dual band. The dual band is a no brainer these days because almost everything is. Use access points or range extenders in conjunction with single band devices like io linc where no dual band exists. For instance, I have one in my detached garage that it line of site to dual band switches in the house Paul

The hub and PLM are not that different from a circuitry point of view. I used the first gen hub too, and it is very similar to the plm. We should expect some differences, but not great differences, and at this point I think the test proves that there are great differences. Which seems to point back to something being different about where the PLM is versus the hub. Since the hub is on a cord, it can be moved around and placed such that its RF gets a better view. The PLM normally has to be plugged down lower and right into the wall by wires, etc and its rf blocked. Can you put the PLM on a 6' extension cord, plug it into the exact same outlet as the hub and set it nearby the hub, then repeat the tests? Paul

Hard to say, its better to diagnose. The 4 tap sets up dual band devices an internal diagnostic mode to see if they are on opposing legs. Here is the basic procedure and how to read it. That 4 button press needs to be really fast Use PowerLinc Modem as a Phase Bridge Install additional dual-band INSTEON devices if they are not already installed Start Phase Detection Mode by tapping the Set button on PowerLinc Modem four times quickly PowerLinc Modem will begin beeping and status LED will turn on solid green Check the LED behavior of the other dual-band devices to see if they are on the opposite phase If at least one of the dual-band device LEDs is blinking green or is bright solid white or blue, the device is on the opposite phase. Continue on to step 4. If none of the dual-band devices exhibit the behavior above, they are on the same electrical phase. Try the following: • Follow steps 2 and 3 with the other dual-band devices to see if they are exhibiting the desired LED behavior • Move a dual-band device to another location until it exhibits the desired LED behavior Tap PowerLinc Modem Set button PowerLinc Modem will stop beeping

The ISY only works with the Serial PLM. But that shouldn't be an issue, Paul

Another question, how did you bridge all legs of your existing electrical system when you set up houselinc? Signallinc passive bridges? Dual band devices verified with the "4 tap test" It would be worth "4 tap testing" the devices your are trying to add if they are dual band Paul