paulbates

Larry, What are you looking for from the T8xxx? As Huddadudda points out, there are additional commercial operations features are added, but no core HVAC value over the T7xxxs. Its the T7900 if you want a humidistat or humidify/dehumidify control, ot the T7850 if you don't. Since they are so close in price, the T7900 (with venlink) gives you another point to read humidity even if you don't control it with the stat. HVAC Parts warehouse continues to stock all of the new series, if you want an T8900. Its $210 here. One of the reviews under T7900 says "free shipping in Canada", you may want to check that out. Paul

I like the Honeywell and know they are a solid HVAC player. I looked hard it last year when shopping for stats. However, I think there are 2 relevant cautions: If they didn't devote resources to create a dedicated local api, they are not supporting that capability. If something doesn't work right, they aren't going to help. Lack of responding to io_guy provides some evidence for this. They can change their web pages and are not managing to solutions that choose to scrape. They could change their pages for their own reasons and that could break the functionality built on it. This is the classic "screen scraping" problem that has flowed over into web scraping. To be candid, I would not build my hvac solution on this, solely because Honeywell is not showing commitment to the local lan requirements / audience. I followed io_guy's lead to the Venstar colortouch series, partially because of the dedicated local lan API and capabilities. They designed their product with local requirements in mind, and have been responsive when it had defects, and recently improved it by adding https: support. Paul

Joe You can set the MS to send "on" only and configure it to a scene so it comes on fast. So the MS turns it on, but not off. Have a program watch for the "on", and other conditions, to decide to wait the right amount of time and then switch off. Its not 100% clear to me, but the program's 'if' could look at if the othe KPL is on already on, or use variables to track its status if other programs are used. Paul

Tim Different devices plugged into the syncholinc have different on / off load behavior. The device needs to be calibrated to how the device you're watching behaves,. Page 5 of the manual describes how to do this. Paul

Michael Factory resetting my MS has become liturgy and is easy enough to try in this case. Pull battery, wait a minute, press set button while connecting battery, wait 10 seconds). and then restore (I don't delete the device from the ISY, just factory reset and restore) Mine exhibits flaky sensing behavior when the battery is dying. It now regular practice for me to factory reset it on battery change and then use the ISY to do a restore device. Paul

Correct, and also "test". The topic of smokebridge limitations was pontificated on the homeseer forum a few years back. One of the users tried pairing a separate smokebridge to each detector to try and know which detector raised the alarm. That part worked, but since there can only be one pairing per detector, the results were equally limiting... meaning that it removed the communication to the other onelinks, essentially negating the actual purpose of the product... that all detectors should raise all alarms even if its not theirs.. I am happy with my onelinks and that they work with each other. I can demonstrate that to the family and that provides relief to them. At the same time, I have to be honest and say the insteon integration with the smokebridge, as a function of its design, is thin and limiting. Paul

Sorry guys. I accidently deleted the post doing too much at once. That was my thought, that the battery alert is local to the sensor, and might not get transmitted. The design of the smoke bridge does not allow it to receive the unit specific messaging from the FA Onelinks, just broadcasts that affect all integrated units. From what I can observe, you will get an alert from the linked sensor not the rest. Paul

These are the steps Teken is referring to Follow the steps under Replace Modem (PLM)

Its advisable not to use the default service. There can be spells where messages can take a while to get through. Its very easy to set up a gmail account for the purposes of your house and use it. Paul

Nice report with examples. Thanks!

Yes. The climate module cost would probably be close to or less than a complete sensor solution, and as pointed out is a reasonably close enough measurement if you have an airport or other reliable wx nearby. A good reporting station is key, though most get temp right. I've used the climate module for AC anticipation like you're talking about. Its also helpful for sprinkler programs if you go that route for temp, wind and forecast. Paul

GFICs have a reputation for being noise blocks to Insteon signals. I have some that are fine, but one that had to be replaced because it made singal noise.

DTE does not. They offer an appliance to monitor your meter usage on an app, and offer a demand based pricing product, but automation is not a part of it. I may have not been clear in writing above... I believe I will eventually see OpenADR through DTE, but dubious about connecting my ISY to my meter.

Teken, there are 2 approaches. 1) Today, if I participated, I would get an email / text identifying that I am in 1 of 20 potential annual ADR Events. Its up to me to run around and remediate, turning things off. Since these events likely align with business hours, and people are likely working, it's not a compelling offering. This approach would send spouse approval factor into the ground at my house. So I will not opt into it in its current form. 2) Some internet appliances can login directly into cloud ADR. You log into your poco's ADR cloud from the device and then set what the ADR behavior should be. I could imagine my poco supporting this before a centralized, managed HA approach. Since we have interruptible air, this could be introduced to the family, ...when my poco provides the capability.. The venstar colortouch series is an example of this type of ADR, it can be configured for cloud ADR notifications from participating pocos. It seems that the new wave of HA is focusing on individual devices that talk to their own cloud service..in other words disintegrated HA. Manage each devices behavior separately with an app.. Tstats, sprinklers, alarm, ..., etc. The same is proving true at my poco. I think I will see my Venstars connected to a cloud ADR to my poco before them taking interest in an HA controller In a nutshell, that's why I'm giving up. The zigbee card is useless and I see no glimmer that a solution I can use is on the horizon. I will keep the zigbee card, with a potential that the poco changes its minde, and a newer ISY supports a mutlicard bus Paul

Thanks. My recollection was that there was a non AMI zigbee card. I thought I saw that some zigbee devices like thermostats could be supported, but maybe that's commerical only. I don't need a thermostat, so I think this answers my original question, I'll start looking at zwave For the AMI meter, its the utility side. I was never told there is a policy specifically. I did run the traplines. I was sent an email by the group managing their internet appliance that said no. I did talk to Michel & Mike I. They were (as always) very supportive. They pointed me to someone who was not able to respond to my questions. After using to app to watch my power usage, I don't think the staggered demand pricing will help me that much. so the thought is to use what I have and move on. I've had interruptible air for more than 20 years, and that meter was swapped out with an AMI last year. The ISY can identify it too. I haven't decided yet on what to do yet, just want to make sure i understand the options. We've started some remodeling and there are 2 places where a simple 2 switch in one gang would fit the bill, I've talked through options with the family and a keypadlinc is not in the cards. Thank you both for the feedback Paul

Hi Teken I knew I was taking a risk of getting the meter connected when I started. The purpose for trying to connect with the ISY is that my utility has an off hours rate schedule. Under that program, the price spikes dramatically when they call a ADR event. If the ISY simply knew that an ADR event is being called, there are several power hungry devices and certain lights that the ISY could shut off during that time. I've had my ISY ZS for a little over a year, and have contacted the power company several times and been sent on several missions calling other departments.. I recognize the vendor that services the meters, I see them in the neighborhood and have approached them about what to do to join my ISY to the meter, but they sent me back to the metering department, who told me I should contact the vendor... I followed the ISY wiki directions, can see the meter, can generate an install code, but that's as far as I get. The utility did sign me up for a program to put a network appliance in my house that did join with the meter and provides whole house power and gas consumption stats, comparisons to previous periods, overlays vs outside temp, to a smartphone app. The iphone app can even estimate power usage of a device by holding the power cord up to it and sensing the magnetic field. When I hooked up the utilities appliance to my meter, I also tried again with the ISY at the same time thinking the meter would be administratively open and I could connect then. No joy. I contacted the group that provides the app / appliance, and told that I would not be able to connect my ISY. Since the internet meter appliance and app give me a good read on power use, I've accepted that's what I'm getting Paul

Long story, but I have lost faith in my power company to allow me to connect my ISY ZS to my Smart Meter. That gives an extra slot in my ISY. I see reasons why zwave would provide a lot of additional choices in sensors, switches and locks. Anybody here using zigbee with your ISY as your powerline, sensor and/or lock solution? If so, what do you think? What are plusses and minuses? Paul

Rob- Right, what you described is the way Insteon behaves: (building on what Lee said above) The ISY turning on a scene will turn on all participants that can respond (eg a switch can but not a motion sensor) A hard key press at a device with a scene assigned to it will turn on all devices in the scene Turning on a device from the ISY does not activate a scene assigned to it. The devices in the scene don't go on. I don't know of a way around this one. In general in lighting involving multiple switches, scenes are the way to go. They create virtual circuits and work together like one switch, and Insteon does the work. Paul

It looks like you'd need to be handy with electronics to tackle this inside the cover. Does the warning light only come on when its in the state you're looking for? If so, I wonder what its voltage is? Paul

Hi Can you provide a link to the manual/pdf and any tech specs? What you're suggesting is plausible, but its not possible to provide suggestions without technical specifications of some kind. Paul

I had this on my list to go back and implement checks for ezflora HW failure, here are some notes on how it really worked for me: When the Ezflora is working, 5 seconds is needed between the query and running the checking program (Program B ) to get a good confirmation back. Less than that, and the query isn't complete and it executes the 'then' in Program B falsely. No wait was needed between turning the zone on and querying. I was able to add the checks inline with my programs that do the sprinkling. If it finds a problem, it shuts down the sprinkling programs at the first use of that Exflora, turns off the valves and sends an alert. I have 2 Ezfloras, so I repeated this process and have a similar program to check at Zone 8, the first zone of controller 2. I use all of my zones, so it makes sense to test inline with sprinkling, its going to open a valve anyway. An alternative, As Stu pointed out above, if you have a zone you don't use, you could do this with a separate time of day program, turning on and checking a valve that isn't in use. Remember to disable your program B that takes action on failure As pointed out, there are other possible failure modes this might not catch, but its fairly fast and easy to do

I've come to this rationalization: As a traveler, having a UDI engineered and manufactured device = peace of mind, its worth the investment to me. When UDI is able to sell a PLM, I will buy and install it, whatever the state of my current PLM is.

The latest update is that its in "Licence Limbo". SmartLabs has to agree to licence use of their chips to UDI, so that UDI actually receive the chips, test their own prototypes, and spin up production. Michel / UDI have been waiting for an answer on this. A long way of saying I have watched this for some time, and don't have any info that SmartLabs has moved on this. Michel would be the first one to tell us. I would go with Teken's advice and get the latest smartlabs model PLM.

I have (3) 8 button keypads that control related devices. the top four buttons on each keypad control the exact same devices. In the case of the A button, all three control outside lights. They are all controllers (they are red when controller / responders, blue when responder only) I use method one. The advantages are that there is one scene that keeps the keypad buttons and outside light switches synced. The motion sensor also turns them all on. Also, use the ISY to create scenes to do the linking, on shown on my admin screen. Then there is nothing to do at the switches themselves ( you do have to press the set button for battery only devices like motion sensors, but not the keypads) Page 21 of the manual describes setting these up. Crosslinking is the same as the device being Red and a controller/responder. I Does this help answer what you're looking for? Paul

If you are getting correct on/off readings at every query, I would guess that the syncrolinc and PLM are not liked properly. I would suggest finding the device in the admin console, right clicking on it, and selecting "Restore device". Its fast and easy to try. If that doesn't work, than going through Larry's steps would be next.