paulbates

There is this app from a newer ISY developer. I think local lan connectivity is still required to use it, but he supports apple watch. And mobilinc now supports it. Its probably worth experimenting to see what works. Per others' comments, you won't get far with actual automation with the insteon hub alone. Imagine the ISY with only the device tab; no programs (other than simple timers), and no modules. Just turn things on and off with your phone. There is no comparison in functionality between the two. It is possible to add a hub on to a network with an ISY, but it's a very slippery slope to maintain it. You could certainly try it out first. I tried it for a while and then stopped, its more difficult to maintain in my experience. From what I know, UDI is looking at more advanced functionality in V5 firmwares that will allow network to network connections to other devices and working to participate in the newer HA standards. Its not clear at this time what that means for the apple watch. A number of the big players like apple and google are wild cards, due to exclusivity and unreasonable restrictions in their contracting.

I've received this message on different ages and types of devices during and after upgrading to a newer PLM and also upgrading to a newer ISY firmware. Both during the upgrade, and with subsequent new device adds afterwards, specific devices returned the "cannot determine insteon engine". However I was able to add them. The fix was to add the devices by putting the ISY in 'linking mode' and pressing the set button on the affected devices for 3 seconds, and then returning to the ISY for the completion of adding them. All devices with the "cannot determine insteon engine" message added immediately and worked perfectly after being added this way. It won't take long to see if this is will work for you. I do not have an explanation on why this is. Paul

NP, glad you figured it out. I had thoughts about a manual key for skipping, but no one else would think about pressing it to skip and I travel. I use the hydreon rain sensor (~$60), an IOlinc and a couple of programs to skip days based on how much it tells me it did rain on my property. Its all automatic at this point, which is good as I travel. Our water is getting crazy expensive, and its payed a good chunk of itself and the iolinc off last fall. Paul

I'm always one for a good metaphor / simile, and definitely bow to this one. LOL!!!

have a program check for the request "down" If the door is requested to go down (key, switch, whatever) Wait (for reasonable door down time) Run if program "door down" "Door down" program If door sensor is (in wrong state) notify / whatever other steps This does not address using the opener's button in the garage.

Its fair to say that ROI from all HA related expenses vs hard cost savings is unlikely; if saved electricity is considered the primary cost driver. The initial cost of devices, counting all / every cost, the cost of mistakes, even the cost to run it. I've guessed that all my insteon devices, power supplies, rpis, etc, are burning more than 100 watts, 24x7. If you are losing that many devices, I would consider a whole house power conditioner, they cost around $75. Power surges can stress and damage capacitors, which are a common failure mode theme for insteon devices... and sounds in the ballpark for the ezfloras you described in another thread today. There have been some arrows for sure. And if it were possible to send messages back in time, a number of decisions I would have made differently. For me, the urge to "noodle" and problem solve is too strong, I like it. I don't actually "need" any of it, but I enjoy all of it. Probably the biggest thing I've had to learn to balance is the difference between "Can I automate it?" and "Should I automate it?" (With all deference to "If you ain't broke, Automate it! )

Hmmm, fair enough. That does sound like end of life. There have been a few posts in the last few months around the advantages of ezfloras. The benefits are the features like zone "dead man" switches, previous zones are turned off when the next one is. And because they are SmartenIT devices and use their own insteon command structure, they are immune to the "all on". I think it would be a lot of work, programming wise and mounting, to switch to something like the EZIO8SA. I know the short life of some of these insteon devices is annoying, and they are expensive. However my plan is two replace mine (I have 2 as well) if / when they die. I put mine in in 2011, they continue (knock on wood) to work ok. Just getting ready to start them up for this season.

Did they fail at the same time and the zone on ezflora 2 is out as well? That seems unusual. Can you describe what the ezflora does? LEDs on, off or flashing? Can you hear "clicking" from them when activate the zones from ISY? Its possible that maybe a master valve, transformer or some other sprinkler, component may have failed.

Something else that causes these delays is CFL light bulbs. Those can add a second or more and make different virtual circuits visibly look out of sync.

Hi- Key pad keys are a special case and need to be controlled by scenes. You'll need to create a scene with the key in it, and turn the scene on and off with programs: Set myscene off Paul

ES1400 Lee captured it perfectly. There always some risk involved. However, if you look at "the norm" here, people upgrade their devices regularly to get the latest and greatest, or to address particular problems. Part of "getting there" is to review the Software Releases & Updates section of the board as recommended by Stu and Xathros. Releases and the process are documented well in the posts. Here a couple of approaches for you to consider 1) Wait for a version of firmware on the Software Releases & Updates section of the board to become an Official Release,and plan an upgrade around that. Official Releases are indicated in the forum on the thread for each version. A message will appear along the top of your Admin console when there is a newer, official release than what you are running. Wait for that. This approach keeps you reasonably current, and makes sure that others have tried the mid releases along the way and identified known problems. If you are having no problems, and are not looking for new functionality that you've read about, this is a reasonable approach to keep you current. 2) Adopt an non official release. If you are having a specific problem and a non-official release fixes it, or, you need new functionality in a non-official release, manually upgrade to one of these. Only use this method of you really need it, and then, wait a week or so for others to try it and report in. I would recommend 1) as a normal practice. And as Lee indicates, no one can deliver a perfect upgrade scenario, It doesn't exist. However, having had my ISY for 8 months and upgraded maybe 4 times, I've not had any unrecoverable problems. UDI provides the proper level of change controls and versioning to my satisfaction, and they are always active on the board or available via support to help me out. You'll need to find your comfort level between these two scenarios. Also, backups have not failed me. when you make configuration, hw or ISY program changes, take a back up. Paul

Here are a couple of alternatives to consider There is isycontrol from automation shack / io_guy. Simple to set up and use. There is the Home Automation Dashboard from Benoit Mercier. Is a set of files that get copied to your ISY's root web server page. It makes nice looking webpages that will run on browsers. It can be customized if you are comfortable with ajax html.

Put that on ideascale. I'll vote for it.

Hi Chris - Yes. Per Brian's comments and diagnostic info, your PLM shows signs of failure. The point will come when restores will no longer work and the ISY and Insteon network will be unable to communicate. I suggest ordering a new PLM while you limp along on this one. As a look ahead, read over this link, it has the steps for replacement Paul

Hi Any chance that this key or keypadlinc had another purpose in the past, and that key is part of a scene, like with that any of the devices on the list in the log? The timing of those log entries and the email seems more than coincidental.. I repurposed a switch recently that I had disabled, uninstalled and stored, but forgot to remove from a scene. I reinstalled it for a different purpose, and lights on the other side of the house went on and off when I tested it, lights that were part of its old scene. Paul

Insteon wireless devices can not be changed at any time like wired devices can. To get this done today, I would pull the Motion Sensor down to change its settings. To address your goal with 3), I would: Pull the motion sensor back down. Open the battery door Open the admin console and open the options settings for the motion sensor. Enter the following changes, but do not click done yet. Time out = .5 LED brightness = doesn't matter unless you want the led in the motion sensor to blink Darkness sensitivity = 105, for me around 105 equals dusk. Start there. Sensing mode = checked, so your 30 second counter is reset with every detection LED On = unchecked (I don't want to see the motion sensor's led, maybe you do, check it if so) On Commands only = unchecked, so that the motions sensor turns the lights back off Night mode only = checked. Check this so it only senses motion when it thinks its dark, based on the darkness value. Press the black set button under the Motion Sensor's battery door until the LED starts regular blinking Hit the done button on the device options box from the admin console. Wait 30 seconds or so, the admin console will pop up a few messages as it configures the Motion sensor Seal it back up and hang the motion sensor back up. 105 for darkness may not do it for you. If you want it to work when its lighter out, increase this setting a little. If you want it darker before it works, decrease the value a little. You'll have to follow the above lists again to do so. This should get you working. Paul

There are three ways to do it that I've seen recommended, each gets you there, each has advantages and disadvantages: Similar to Michel's recommendation: Start your program on an odd day, and have a variable that you initially set to 1. Have an "if" in your sprinkler program to only run when the variable = 1. when the variable =1, run the program (in addition to the time it should run). Set the variable to "0" at the end of the sprinkler run. Have an "else" clause that adds 1 to the variable. Your program will switch back and forth each time it runs and skip a day. The problem with this method is on months that end with 31. You have to manually intervene as the logic of assuming every other day is even/odd will break. The date programs in the wiki. There is a specific iOdd.Even.Day variable that you could use in your programs. Read the wiki link, load the programs, add the variables, follow the directions and use it. Its an elegant but does take a little work to set it up. However, it provides tons of other date capabilities for your ISY programs. If I remember correctly, some key state variables need to be reset if your ISY loses power or reboots. The isylink program from io_guy. This external application automatically updates isy variables with a number of date related information, including an even/odd day of month variable. Its relatively easy to set up and use the variables in your programs. Its driven by the date on a battery backed up clock, so its less vulnerable to power outages. However, because its an external program, there needs to be a desktop or server for it to run on. Its very small and can run on a computer used as a desktop. Its configured with web pages like a router is. (isylink does a lot more than just provide date information). You were probably looking for something simpler, but I believe this summarizes that options I was given when I investigated this last year. My observation is that more people probably use 2). I use 3). I believe V5 of ISY firmware provides some relief, but in the meantime, consider the options above. Paul

If you replaced an old school 3 way switch setup with those 2 switches, my guess would be a wire nut on the hot (or neutral) feeding them came loose.

It was working before, a non-dual band device was replaced, and then the problems started. It seems like the OP would have had problems all along if the electrical infrastructure were a problem?

Stu's point makes sense. Your answers to my question pretty much eliminates the plm, if other insteon devices continue working as normal. The size of your space is fairly contained for an insteon network. There was a period of time where there were manufacturing problems with kepad lincs, I think the 2011 timeframe? I think that was also accompanied by buzzing and noises coming from the keypad itself. Paul

It sounds like noise or maybe a plm problem that coincidentally showed up at the same time as the switch problem. Did you have a power outage or spikes around the time the keypad went bad? Are the manually linked devices all near their keypads? This would explain why they worked. Is the PLM relatively far from the keypads in question? Is the PLM near anything noisy like low voltage lights, a TV, a motor of some kind? Is there any chance that something happened to your PLM, did you replace it recently? Paul

Teken- The item in the help menu only shows when there is an official release greater then what you're running. Like you, I upgrade into a lot of the unofficial releases, so I don't see that option very often often. There will be some time lag before the release posts on the forum and it going official from the notification perspective; you probably have had the official releases in your ISY before the notification was published. Paul

If it's the Insteon motion sensor, you can configure its settings to trigger only when it's dark. I would start there Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The filter is the answer as tech man points out. What you are seeing is noise from the TV traveling down the line for a short distance...the outlet that does not work is probably only a few wire feet from the switch and closest to it. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Ok. Hmmm. It seems that if the wiring changed, and this problem showed up at the same time, that those 2 things are related. Are any of the items out there dual band? If not, do you have an access point or plugin dual band device you could move out there to test signal reach?