Abusyhouse

thanks for all of your responses, and in particular oberkc for the above suggestion, It works quite well, especially with the mobilinc app, as I can quickly see and change the state from the same one button that I push (I still have to go down one screen level, but is quite workable). I will await the update!

very interesting; I will give that a try

thanks for your timely responses! I really don't want to use a physical KPL, because although I gave one such above example, I have many such "switches" planned for my overall workflow, the majority of which will be accessed on occasion from a mobile screen. it would not make sense to dedicate a few dozen kpl's for that. In our specific case, the plan is that we have an overall weekly light schedule, but when planning a weekend or other holiday, there are many variables that we want to set on the fly like "are kids sleeping in on Saturday", "are people coming over for dinner", "we have a guest staying over in the guest bedroom" or even something as simple as "temporarily remove our son's light from programs". Each of these need to be a quick on/off toggle for my wife to access easily from a mobile screen, and see the current status of that condition. I am very excited to hear that the virtual switch is on it's way, since from reading this forum, this has been brought up as an issue for a while, so I consider it lucky that I am starting at the right time. Any idea timewise when we might expect it?

I am trying to do the same thing. I find that the program route is cumbersome, requires 2 program buttons vs. the one for a toggle switch, but also is not intuitive for the front end user (like my wife). A virtual switch looks cleaner and is much easier to use intuitively. how can someone create a virtual x10 device? I don't have the module, but would be happy to get it. Currently, when I try to create a fake insteon device, the ISY looks for it, and when it doesn't find it, does not allow me to add it to the device screen.

I am just starting my foray into the world of home automation. I was playing with the homeseer, but found the lack of "else" statements and lack of scenes frustrating, so I am giving the ISY a go. I am using Insteon devices. In Homeseer, I was able to create virtual devices. the advantage is that they look exactly like a regular switch can be accessed nicely from a basic user screen, and they allow for changing settings easily. Question: is there any way to create or trick isy into thinking I have a switch when I don't really have one? I have tried entering random address and picking a device type, but it doesn't find the device and thus it is not created. I could use a program instead, but I find the interface for running the program much more cumbersome, and figuring out the status of the program or variable difficult from any of the mobile interfaces. In this particular example, I'd like to have a virtual button that toggles "are we home for dinner - yes/no". this way, my wife could easily toggle this option from her phone, and it would then drive various variables and programs to then change our house lighting settings. right now I'd have to create two programs, one called "we are home for dinner" and another called "we are not home"; regardless, it would be hard to quickly run, and then I would not know the current status from the basic mobile screen as to whether it is a night home or not. Interestingly, I did notice that even if I turned off my 8 button remote, I could still modify and use the buttons. it would be great if I could somehow trick the system and change it's address to a virtual device and then still use the 8 button remote as a real switch. any insights would be great.