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It's a software solution, Security Spy, it runs on a Mac mini server I have. I've also been running Zoneminder in a virtual Linux server on my iMac lately. My ultimate goal is to move away from Security Spy and run Zoneminder on a Raspberry Pi, or rather on an expandable group of Pis. And it's not that I don't like Security Spy, it's great if you're on OS X. But it's pricy, whereas ZM is free. I have a 4-camera license for SS, and it's cost $125 so far. If I need a fifth camera, it's another $125 for the 8 camera license. And if you want or need to run it on a second computer, you need another license. I like the software solution a lot because I want to be able to have my software run scripts on alerts, and so the software can respond to automation system commands, such as disabling cameras if I'm home. Looking through consumer-grade hardware NVRs, I was not confident I could do everything I wanted.

Absolutely, this is not an industrial-quality product. For attics or ovens or what have you, there are better (and costlier) solutions. I am curious because $50 and a nail to hang it on is a good price, and because you don't often see these three sensors packaged together outside of high-end gear. I'm leaning towards the Davis myself. My thought was that I would get the basic fan-aspirated sensor suite, then add the light intensity sensors later. As you note, those add ~$400-$500 to the cost of the unit. Ideally I have a Davis unit on the property, likely away from the house and up on a pole, and something like the Eve unit that I can place somewhere on each face of the house.

I'm actually working on some of this now, although not with Foscams. I use the ISY's network module to access my surveillance software and make changes there. My exterior cameras record continuously, but my interior cameras are set to 'inactive' when I'm home (unless there's an alarm state) so they don't even show up in the NVR software for viewing. When I leave, they are activated and set to record motion events and alert me. Added benefit is that only the NVR is exposed to the Internet, not individual cameras.

Not sure why you'd need to know if the weather outside is above 100 C. Seems like reliable data is the least of your concerns at that point. Eve does -18 to 55 C though. https://www.elgato.com/en/eve/eve-weather

Cost and quality do often go hand-in-hand, but not always. The $1 1-wire temperature sensors are quite accurate. I have no reason to doubt the quality or accuracy of the Eve devices, they just don't seem very open for tinkerers.

Curious if anyone has gotten the Eve sensors integrated with the ISY. For $50, an exterior temperature, humidity, and barometric pressure device is cheap, but the documentation doesn't say anything about using something other than their apps to access/view your data.

Depends where you buy it. But the Pi Foundation cut the price of the 2 when the 3 was released, which is what I was referring to. The Pi 3 board should be about $35, with the Pi 2 available at about $25, although most places add ~$5 in shipping costs. Plus the standard disclaimer that you'll also need a microSD card, and power supply if you do not have spares laying around. A case is also highly recommended. All told, it's a $60 computer. Plus you'll need a mouse, keyboard, hdmi cable, and hdmi monitor during setup.

Get the 3. It's snappier than the 2, and only like a $10 difference.

I made the move from Indigo to the ISY a couple of years ago, so I might be able to offer some observations that will be of assistance: I wouldn't consider the Nest plugin (which I still use, by the way) to be a native integration with Indigo. It's a plugin, written by a member of the community. There are many fine Indigo plug-ins available, but they are subject to the development whims of people who may or may not have an interest in maintaining them long-term. Originally I was using a different Nest plugin, but Nest made some change to their API and it broke, and the original developer never published an updated version. Eventually another community member wrote Yet Another Nest Thermostat Plugin in it's place. Another consideration is that the next version of Indigo will be a subscription service. I still get their promotional material, and a recent email spelled out their pricing plan for version 7, which should be coming sometime this year. You will now be buying the license on a yearly basis, after which you will no longer receive "major and minor updates" without renewing your annual subscription. There is a lot to like about Indigo, however. The user interface is what I wish the ISY was like. Because you're on OS X, you can use Indigo to run AppleScripts to do all kinds of crazy stuff with relative ease. All the stuff that you use a Raspberry Pi for with the ISY happens on the same machine as your automation software. The plugins are super easy for a novice to install and run. In fact, the whole thing is easy to use. It can handle digest authentication. And under normal circumstances, there is more computing horsepower available to the software than an automation system could possibly need. Running it on a Mini, as I do, means it's power consumption is incredibly low, for what it can do. Ultimately a couple things swayed me to move to the ISY. First, the always-on nature of the device. If power is supplied to the wall wart, the ISY is on. If the power went out on the Mac, it took a button press to turn it on, which meant that things could be out until someone arrived home, despite the power coming back on. Another thing was that as the home automation system became a critical piece of infrastructure around the home, the thought of the cost of equipment failure arose. With so much now dependent upon this central hub, if it fails, it needs to be replaced immediately, and a new Mini is a lot more than a new ISY. And finally, the ISY has more depth of control available. For instance, Indigo can do if-then, but not if-then-else, like the ISY. Indigo's ease of use and clarity of UI is, in part, achieved though streamlining and simplicity. It's a balancing act. The ISY is less friendly to the novice, but to power users there's no substitute. These days, I'm still running both. The ISY handles the bulk of my automation tasks, including managing the Insteon network. I'm still using Indigo for presence detection (the Smartphone Radar plugin is the most reliable presence detection system I've used yet, although not as flexible as I'd like) and for my Nest integration. That may change now that the new Nest node for Polyglot is out. And I don't see myself continuing to use Indigo once the version I'm running now ceases to be supported. I can't speak to the alarm panel portion, since I don't have one of those yet, but I'd just say that if you want native integration, the ISY / Elk pair is about as close as you're going to get in this market segment. The alarm plugins to Indigo are just that, plugins. They are not officially supported by Indigo any more than the original Nest plugin was. Not saying it won't work fine, just noting the difference, since that was one of your criteria. And I have to admit to some trepidation at the thought of giving control over an alarm system to a plugin that may (or may not) have been written be someone without much in the way of security chops. Anyway, hope that helps. Indigo is a fine piece of software, but personally, I like the ISY a bit better.

Yeah, I never even knew it was a thing until I worked with a few electricians who set me straight. Now I can't help noticing everywhere I go. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

My inner electrician wants to give all your screws a quarter turn.

Yeah, that was definitely not my experience, switching from Indigo. Linking worked just fine.

If you have the pro version of Indigo, there is an old ISY Helper plugin you can get that allows limited back-and-forth between Indigo and ISY. I still haven't found a more reliable wifi presence detection system than the SmartPhoneRadar plugin. I also have the ISY trigger Apple Scripts for certain things too, there is much more robust Indigo control available this way.

You can import your devices to the ISY without stripping their links, but I wouldn't recommend it. When I moved from Indigo to ISY, I deleted all the links and rebuilt everything. Kind of a pain, but I think it'll help prevent problems later on. You'll also want to turn the Insteon interface in Indigo off. Only one system should control the Insteon devices. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I don't have any three-way lights here, but as I recall, you want to keep the wire pathway connected straight through from the panel until you hit the last switch before the load. That's where you interrupt it physically with a switch. Any other Insteon switches connected upstream of that location will tap into the hot and neutral lines, but have their load wire capped. Traveler wires get capped and abandoned (I'd label them too, while I was at it, just to be a nice guy). Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

It's digital crack, I tell ya... Once you start down that path, there's no telling where you'll end up! But yes, this is exactly why I chose Insteon, way back when I knew nothing about home automation and I was trying to decide what protocol to pick. I could start with two devices for an investment of $130, and scale all the way up to a full-blown system as time and money allowed, and every bit of it could be DIY. I've got 40 or so devices now, and still growing. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Ouch! At that scale, have you considered having an electrician come in and re-wire the entries to simplify things? (Or doing it yourself, if you're so inclined.) I would assume you could ditch all other switches besides the one dimmer one, wire the rest together and abandon the traveler wires. Put blank plates on the other locations. Then if you do decide to add more switches back in over time, it shouldn't be difficult. Of course, I have no idea if that fits your usage needs, so I'm just throwing it out there, but I'd be loath to leave working dumb switches on an Insteon-controlled circuit. IMHO, the whole point of Insteon is to centralize control of the circuits. My personal goal is that I like things to pass "the babysitter test", wherein a person totally unfamiliar with my house specifically, and smart electronics in general, can walk in and operate anything they need to intuitively, while also not messing up any of my control schemes. Having a switch that can kill a circuit I'm expecting to control remotely is a violation of that rule for me.

Micro module plus 1 switch is still a hundred bucks. I'd say just bite the bullet and spend the extra hundred to do it right. Or wait till there's a sale on a 4-pack of dimmer switches, and you'll only spend $150.

This works great, I do something similar with my Hue lights. On turns them on, fast on sets a favorite scene, fast off triggers the color loop effect, and dim up / dim down increase and decrease the brightness by several steps. Repeated dim presses will dim the lights, although it's not totally intuitive. Still, better than nothing.

Someday I'll buy a 3D printer and make my own buttons. I'd love to make the top and bottom buttons on my 6-button keypads proud of the surface by a few 1/16s for tactile operation (or better yet, shaped like the upper and lower portions of the wedge shaped paddle on the normal switch links). And custom tactility for the center four buttons would be nice too. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Depends a lot on your goals for the cameras, and how paranoid you are. Will you ultimately want a lot of cameras (say, more than ? If so, you'll need some horsepower for recording. What kind of image quality are you after? Cheaper cameras have cheaper image sensors, which makes them less than ideal if you need to prove something in court. It sounds like you're looking to go wireless, but consider wired also. If you choose PoE cameras, you can power them from a PoE switch over a single wire, which is the same number of wires you'd need to provide to a "wireless" camera (gotta power it somehow). Will you want access from outside your network? Will you manage this yourself, or will you need a plug-and-play solution? Are you going to use your ISY to make cameras do things? (Active/passive, change PTZ settings, take stills). Will you take precautions to ensure an intruder can't access the recording device? I would stick with motion detectors for motion sensing. The wind and shadows will play havoc with outdoor motion sensing. PIR motion sensors are more reliable. Software like Sighthound can help with this, but it requires significant computing power to do the analysis. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

If you have a Mac, use the Terminal app to issue those commands. On Windows you'll have to download something like CigWin. I don't think you can use Putty for this. Maybe PuttyKeygen? I do most of this on a Mac, myself. I'd suggest running a web search on the commands before you do anything. Using PKI isn't too terribly complicated, but there's a real steep initial learning curve.

Using a Remote Desktop app to a computer that can access the ISY is the only way I know of.

I wonder if the controller would be better to look at then. These sensors are tied to a controller that I believe sends a digital signal to the control boards in the lights. Or maybe hack the ballast controls at the lights? I'm not an EE, so it takes me a while to figure this stuff out. The really slick thing about this system is that all the line voltage stuff is above the ceiling. The switches, which have some similarity to Insteon switches in terms of programming, are low voltage. All you have to do is run cat5 cable to the switch. No conduit or mc needed. Makes remodels cheaper.

I've spec'd a couple of systems with these guys lately, for automatic dimming of lighting systems in classroom spaces. The users have been quite happy with it. I've been meaning to see if there was any way to tap into this for home purposes, but I just haven't had the means, motive, and opportunity all at the same time yet. I'll throw it out there and see if maybe someone else can figure out if it's possible. (PDF warning) http://www.wattstopper.com/~/media/WattStopper/Documents/PDF/LightSaver-LS-301-Dimming-Photosensor-Cut-Sheet.ashx