MikeB

Thanks... I had a feeling that might be the case.

No problem. Please post back your experience!

I have a question. If the following program was running because, say, the thermostat had a temperature of 80 degrees: If Status 'Thermostat' > 78° (Temperature) Then Wait 5 minutes Set 'Thermostat' 75° (Cool Setpoint) Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action') And 2 minutes into the WAIT command the temperature went up to 81 degrees, would the program restart itself and the 5 minute wait period? Or would it continue to run through the original 5 minute WAIT? Thanks!

Below are some programs I'm using to automate my office thermostat - I thought others might benefit. Please keep in mind that the current Insteon thermostat does not automatically inform the ISY of it's current status. For the ISY to have a reasonable idea of the thermostat's current temp, setpoint, mode, etc. it will need to be polled periodically. Below is my poll program, which runs all day (and the ISY is set to 'RUN AT STARTUP'): OFFICE THERMOSTAT QUERY If From 12:00:00AM For 24 hours Then Repeat Every 15 minutes Set 'OfficeThermostat' Query Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action') To start, I wrote a few programs to get the overall status of my office. The first simply checks to see if the current day/time is within my normal work schedule. If it is, the program is true: OFFICE WORK HOURS If On Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri From 9:00:00AM To 5:00:00PM (same day) Then - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action') Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action') Unfortunately, I often need to put in late nights. To account for times I might be in the office outside of normal work hours, I also added this program to check the status of lights. If any of the lights in my office are on, this program is true: OFFICE LIGHT STATUS If Status 'OfficeLight1' is not Off Or Status 'OfficeLight2' is not Off Or Status 'OfficeLight3' is not Off Then - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action') Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action') Finally, I wrote a notification program to let me know if there are any extreme temperature situations that might indicate a heating/AC equipment failure. This will both email me and send a text message to my phone if either of the conditions is true. OFFICE SAFETY CHECK If Status 'OfficeThermostat' > 90° (Temperature) Or Status 'OfficeThermostat' < 60° (Temperature) Then Send Notification to All Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action') I'm up here in New England, so my thermostat controls both a furnace (for the cooler moths) and a wholehouse AC (for the warmer months). My ideal goal is to simply leave the thermostat in COOL mode in the summer, and manually switch it to HEAT mode when I want to start using the heater, then manually back to COOL mode when I want to start using the AC again. I prefer to make that switch manually, but would like to automate the rest as much as possible. All programs check to see if the thermostat is in COOL or HEAT mode, so if I'd like I can switch the thermostat to OFF or one of the PROGRAM modes to avoid the automation I've setup on the ISY. The next program checks to see if the office lights are off and if the thermostat is in COOL mode. If they are, and it's outside of normal work hours, the program will increase the setpoint of the thermostat to save energy. I don't base vacancy only on status of lights, because there are times during the day that we might run out for a quick bite to eat or simply not need the lights on. But if the lights are ON, even after hours, I don't adjust the setpoint because we're clearly in the office working. I also include a 2 minute wait before adjusting the thermostat in case I'm working late and simply turned off the lights briefly for some reason. OFFICE COOL VACANT If Status 'OfficeThermostat' is Mode Cool And Program 'Office Work Hours' is False And Program 'Office Light Status' is False And Status 'OfficeThermostat' < 85° (Setpoint) Then Wait 2 minutes Set 'OfficeThermostat' 85° (Cool Setpoint) Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action') For the cooler months when the thermostat is in HEAT mode, I have the following program: OFFICE HEAT VACANT If Status 'OfficeThermostat' is Mode Heat And Program 'Office Work Hours' is False And Program 'Office Light Status' is False And Status 'OfficeThermostat' > 65° (Setpoint) Then Wait 2 minutes Set 'OfficeThermostat' 65° (Heat Setpoint) Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action') For times I am IN the office, I want to make it a bit more comfortable. Notice that I'm only checking to see if the setpoint is at LEAST a certain value, so that in the winter I can manually set it a bit warmer if I want and in the summer maybe set it a bit cooler. But, these programs ensure that the temperature is at least reasonable: OFFICE COOL OCCUPIED If Status 'OfficeThermostat' is Mode Cool And ( Program 'Office Work Hours' is True Or Program 'Office Light Status' is True ) And Status 'OfficeThermostat' > 76° (Temperature) And Status 'OfficeThermostat' > 76° (Setpoint) Then Wait 2 minutes Set 'OfficeThermostat' 76° (Cool Setpoint) Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action') Here is the HEAT version for cooler months: OFFICE HEAT OCCUPIED If Status 'OfficeThermostat' is Mode Heat And ( Program 'Office Work Hours' is True Or Program 'Office Light Status' is True ) And Status 'OfficeThermostat' < 68° (Temperature) And Status 'OfficeThermostat' < 68° (Setpoint) Then Wait 2 minutes Set 'OfficeThermostat' 68° (Heat Setpoint) Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action') I'd love to hear what others are doing with their thermostats!

Thanks Chris. Is this just a cosmetic issue, or will the programs actually run as displayed? Thanks!

For security, some people might want the ISY to notify you via email and/or text message if something unexpected happens while in 'vacation' mode. For example, a garage door opening. If your garage door is Insteon-enabled, you can use the ISY to notify you if it opens. For example: VACATION GARAGE NOTIFICATION If Status 'GarageInput1' is On Or Status 'GarageInput2' is On Then Send Notification to All Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action') If your garage door is not Insteon-enabled, see this post for a solution: http://forum.universal-devices.com/view ... arage+door

I have some programs in a folder that disallows them from running unless a KPL button is ON. Even though the KPL button is OFF, these programs show a 'next scheduled run' in the Program Summary tab. Is this intended?

Makes perfect sense. The only thing I didn't like about my original program was that the amount of time between sunset and 10pm changes dramatically around here. I prefer fixing the time range with a FROM/TO instead. Thanks for the clarification!

Doh! I don't know what I was thinking, I've used the FROM/TO in that manner before. Thanks for the tip Chris! Based on Chris' FROM/TO tip, it might be cleaner to change the bathroom program to something like this: VACATION BATHROOM If From Sunset + 20 minutes To 10:00:00PM (same day) Then Repeat Every 1 hour Wait 45 minutes (Random) Set 'Bathroom' On Wait 10 minutes (Random) Set 'Bathroom' Off Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action')

Thought I'd try to jump start this topic. I'd be interested to hear what others are using for 'vacation programs'. I'm thinking there would be at least 3 types of programs: - conserve energy (lower thermostats, etc.) - simulate occupancy (lights going on at random times, etc.) - security notifications (email based on unexpected activity, such as motion, door openings, etc.) For this post, I'll concentrate on randomizing some commonly used lights to simulate someone being home. Here is a program we might want to use for a young child's bedroom that typically goes to bed around 8pm: VACATION YOUNG CHILD BEDROOM If Time is 8:00:00PM Then Wait 10 minutes (Random) Set Scene 'ChildBedroomLamp' On Wait 10 minutes Wait 10 minutes (Random) Set Scene 'ChildBedroomLamp' Off Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action') This would turn on the bedroom lamp between 8:00pm and 8:10pm, and turn it back off 10-20 minutes later. For an older child's bedroom or master bedroom, you might want to adjust the times and/or increase the wait time to simulate typical use. For a more lived-in room, such as a kitchen or living room, I'm using 2 separate programs since 'turn on' time is more related to sunset, but 'turn off' time is typically still related to time of day: VACATION KITCHEN ON If Time is Sunset + 20 minutes Then Wait 20 minutes (Random) Set Scene 'Kitchen' On Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action') VACATION KITCHEN OFF If Time is 10:00:00PM Then Wait 20 minutes (Random) Set Scene 'Kitchen' Off Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action') This would turn on the kitchen light between 20 and 40 minutes after sunset, and turn it back off between 10:00pm and 10:20pm. For a bathroom, you might want shorter duration spurts, like this: VACATION BATHROOM If Time is Sunset + 20 minutes Then Repeat 5 times (Random) Wait 1 hour (Random) Set 'BathroomLight' On Wait 10 minutes (Random) Set 'BathroomLight' Off Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action') This would turn on the bathroom light between 20 and 80 minutes after sunset for between 1 and 10 minutes, then repeat up to 5 times randomly every 1-60 minutes. I'd love to hear what others are doing!

The ISY-26 requires an AC adapter to provide power to the unit. The ISY-99 still has the jack for an AC adapter, but power is typically provided to it by the PLM. Basically, plug the PLM into a wall outlet, and plug the ISY into the PLM using a standard Cat5 cable. That's it - no AC adapter needed.

WLAN would indicate Wireless Local Area Network, or the wireless portion of your router. WAN would indicate Wide Area Network, or the internet portion of the router.

Looks good here on an ISY-99.

Thanks Chris! Glad to learn something new. I went ahead and updated my initial post.

UPDATE: I have updated the configuation and programs used for my garage doors. For up-to-date info, see my post in this thread dated 5/24/11. A few people have asked about using the NK8 touch panel to control garage doors. We plan on supporting the GarageHawk product once released, but we also support garage door status and control using the Simplehomenet EZIO2x4. So, I wanted to put together a short article on controlling/monitoring your garage door using the Simplehomenet EZIO2x4 module, how to integrate it with the ISY, and finally how to integrate it with our NK8 touch panel application (and NK8-PC). The following is for informational purposes only. Great consideration should be given to controlling something as critical as your garage door with any home automation product. An unintentional opening of your garage door could increase the likelyhood of an intruder gaining access to your home. On the other hand, the ability to monitor and control your garage door from a remote location can clearly improve security. Please consider all possibilities carefully before moving forward with a project of this type. This information is not meant to be a complete guide to implementing a project like this. It is only meant to relay some of my own personal experiences, in hopes that it will help someone else already considering a similar project. Please be aware that by proceeding, you are doing so COMPLETELY at your own risk. WIRING TO THE EZIO The Simplehomenet EZIO2x4 module includes relays and inputs that make it fairly easy to control and monitor a pair of garage doors. The instructions included with the EZIO contain some basic information on how to do this. Please check their web site if you need to download a copy of the documentation in PDF format. In short, your garage door opener should have a pair of terminals that your current controls are wired to. Simply connect the R1_A and R1_B terminals on the EZIO to the control terminals on your garage door opener. Once you do this, sending an ON command to the EZIO Relay 1 should cause your garage door to operate - if it is currently closed it will open, if it is currently open it will close. Please keep in mind that you only want to send a momentary ON command to Relay 1 - go ahead and turn Relay 1 back off once the door starts to move. Most manufacturers have a separate set of terminals for the safety beam sensors included with your garage door opener, so using the EZIO module to control your door should not affect their operation. If you'd like, test their operation by placing an object to block the safety sensor beams. If the beam is blocked, the door opener should not be able to close the door. Now that we have control of the garage door through the EZIO module, we need a way to determine if the door is opened or closed. I have personally used the following contact switch from Smarthome with good luck: http://www.smarthome.com/7455b.html It's important to go with this particular model instead of the less expensive "normally closed" model. You'll probably want the EZIO's input to indicate an ON status when the door is open, and an OFF status when the door is closed. To obtain this, you'll need to use the above contact switch in "normally opened" mode by using the red and black wires. The green wire will go unused. On the EZIO module, connect the I1+ terminal to the +5V terminal, then connect the I1- terminal to one wire of the garage door contact switch. Go ahead and connect the remaining garage door contact switch wire to the GND terminal on the EZIO. Now, if the garage door is closed (the 2 pieces of the contact switch are together), the EZIO Input 1 should read OFF. When the garage door is open (and the 2 pieces of the contact switch are apart), the EZIO Input 1 should read ON. If you have 2 garage doors, duplicate the above instructions to wire the 2nd garage door opener to the EZIO Relay 2, and the 2nd door to the EZIO Input 2. ISY INTEGRATION Now that we have control and status information from the garage door, it's time to integrate with the ISY. For this portion of the article, I'm going to assume that we have 2 garage doors wired to the EZIO module. I'm also going to assume that we want a single KeypadLinc button (maybe in the master bedroom) to illuminate if EITHER ONE of the garage doors was left open. Finally, I'm going to assume that we want the ability to CLOSE the garage doors from this KeypadLinc, but not open them. Once I added my EZIO module to my ISY, I found that inputs 3 and 4 were constantly floating between ON and OFF. To eliminate this, I used the Simplehomenet utility to disable the analog inputs. To force inputs 3 and 4 to an OFF state (since they are unused in this project), I wired both inputs 3 and 4 to the EZIO's +5V terminal using an 10K Ohm Resistor, such as this one from Radio Shack: http://www.radioshack.com/product/index ... age=search With this done, the ISY's Administrative console should show inputs 3 and 4 as OFF. To start, I have a program that checks the status of both garage doors. If either door is open, this program will turn my "Garage Door" KeypadLinc button ON. If both doors are closed, this program will ensure that this same KeypadLinc button is turned OFF. The WAIT command is included in this program to give the door opener time to fully open or close the door before changing the status of the KeypadLinc button. "GarageDoorStatus" is a scene containing the KeypadLinc button I am using to monitor and control my garage doors. GARAGE DOOR STATUS If Status 'GarageInput1' is On Or Status 'GarageInput2' is On Then Wait 10 seconds Set Scene 'GarageDoorStatus' On Else Set Scene 'GarageDoorStatus' Off At this point, the KeypadLinc button should illuminate if EITHER door is open, and turn off if both doors are closed. Like I mentioned earlier, we only need a momentary ON sent to the relay to operate a door. After the door starts to operate, we want the relay to return to an OFF state. To accomplish this, I use a pair of programs to turn the relays back off any time they are turned on: GARAGE RELAY 1 AUTO OFF If Status 'GarageRelay1' is On Then Wait 3 seconds Set 'GarageRelay1' Off Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action') GARAGE RELAY 2 AUTO OFF If Status 'GarageRelay2' is On Then Wait 3 seconds Set 'GarageRelay2' Off Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action') Finally, I have a pair of programs used to close a door that might be open if the KeypadLinc button is pressed. The "Garage Door" KeypadLinc button should be set to NON-TOGGLE OFF mode - see the instructions included with your KeypadLinc for information on how to accomplish this. If the Garage Door KeypadLinc button is pressed, and either one of the doors is open, it will close the appropriate door. GARAGE DOOR CONTROL 1 If Control 'MasterBedControls1F' is switched Off And Program 'Garage Door Status' is True And Status 'GarageInput1' is On Then Set 'GarageRelay1' On Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action') GARAGE DOOR CONTROL 2 If Control 'MasterBedControls1F' is switched Off And Program 'Garage Door Status' is True And Status 'GarageInput2' is On Then Set 'GarageRelay2' On Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action') That's it! Test your system well, but at this point your KeypadLinc button should be ON if either doors is open, and pressing that button should close the appropriate door. To integrate garage door control with our NK8 touch panel application (and NK8-PC application), please see the following forum post: http://forums.interfacego.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=20

Yes. Think of the ISY as another controller, equal to your KPL button. You can apply different on-levels and ramp rates to the scene for EACH controller, including the ISY itself. Or, you can make them all the same - it's up to you.

Glad you found it. Yes, you can set different on levels and ramp ratest for the scene itself (when triggered from the ISY), and also for EACH controller within the scene.

Yes, absolutely. That should be working by default - there's nothing special you should have to do. I'm not 100% certain about the FAST ON/FAST OFF, but I'm pretty sure that's supported with the RemoteLinc. Did you put the RemoteLinc into programming mode as instructed by the ISY? I know I've seen this problem posted before, but I don't recall what the solution is. You might want to simply remove the RemoteLinc button from the scene and try again, or maybe someone else who has seen this issue will chime in. Good luck!

Simply drag the KeypadLinc button into the scene, and make sure to set it as a "Controller".

Like Rand said. When you have an ISY, you no longer need to run around tap-linking everything - you program your devices through the ISY. To start simple, let's use your example of a KeypadLinc controlling a LampLinc. Normally you'd press the KeypadLinc button for 10 seconds then the LampLinc button for 3 like you said. To duplicate this through the ISY, you would simply create a scene called "Lamp" (or whatever) and drag both the KeypadLinc and LampLinc into the scene. In this example, we might only save a few seconds by using the ISY, but with more complex scenes you can save hours of time. For example, say we need to cross-link 3 SwitchLincs together. To keep them all in sync, by hand, you'd have to use the 10/3 method to link: switch 1 to switch 2 switch 1 to switch 3 switch 2 to switch 1 switch 2 to switch 3 switch 3 to switch 1 switch 3 to switch 2 Imagine if you wanted to cross-link 4 or more devices? It's a major pain. With the ISY you simply create a scene and drag all the devices into the scene and the ISY does the rest. Anything programmed in this method is saved directly to the devices. You could unplug your ISY and these scenes would still operate. When you own an ISY, it's important to link EVERYTHING through the ISY and not manually. Otherwise, the ISY will not be aware of everything in your system. Do you own an IRLinc, or are you using the IR interface in the ISY? If you own an IRLinc, you would create a scene, drag the IRLinc button, drag the RemoteLinc button, drag the KPL button, and drag all the lighting devices all into the scene. The IRLinc, RemoteLinc, and KeypadLinc buttons would all be controllers, and the lighting devices would all be responders. Like I mentioned above, once programmed, this would all operate independently of the ISY. If you are using the IR interface on the ISY, you'd program a scene like I mentioned above (but without the IRLinc device). You'd then create a program on the ISY saying to activate this scene once a specific IR command is received. The scene would still operate independently of the ISY, except of course for the IR part since you are using the IR interface on the ISY itself. Yes, it absolutely should be, and one of the reasons you bought the ISY was so you don't have to run around tap-linking everything. Only programs that you've written would fail to run. Any 'scenes' you have created would still operate.

I get about a 2 second delay the first time I switch off the 'Main' tab and onto one of the other tabs, but from that point forward it's very quick switching between tabs on my office PC. I haven't had that happen before. Yes, unfortunately it does take some time to program Insteon devices over the powerline, especially when you start programming more complex scenes containing many devices. That's an Insteon issue, I haven't found the ISY any slower than any other methods I've used to program the devices. Sure does beat running around and manually tap-linking everything, though!

Hey Jay - If you haven't, please try closing all your browsers, clearing your Java cache (through your Windows Control Panel), and then trying again. I have a feeling that will clear up your issue. As for sluggishness, could you describe it in more detail? What about it seems sluggish, or what are you trying to do that seems sluggish? Good luck, and please let me know how you make out.

That looks fine. I would take the button out of non-toggle mode, hit it a bunch of times on/off, and make sure the Administrative Console recognizes your button presses. You may have a communication issue between the KPL and your ISY.

Are you trying to launch the Administrative Console? I don't believe that will run on mobile devices. If you are running the latest ISY firmware, you'll have an HTML interface that you can use to control your devices & scenes. That should run fine on Windows Mobile 6.

Yes. The current Thermostat Adapter does not automatically send out status changes, so the ISY must periodically query it to know its current status. It is listed under Devices in the HTML interface.