MikeB

I believe the PS3 has an inexpensive add-on that allows for IR control. If I decide to get a Blue Ray player, I will seriously consider a PS3. It has the best potential for future updates to keep it compatible with new features as they are added to the format.

Just tried this last night one my '1st Floor Off' KPL secondary button. Works well, except for 1 thing - I'm finding that I need to wait a solid 3-4 seconds before pressing another button on the KPL, otherwise that 2nd button press will go unrecognized. I believe this is due to the cleanup messages coming from all the responders in the scene. I didn't see this when using a program to trigger the scene in the ISY, and I believe this is because the ISY triggers the scene in a different way. Can anyone confirm seeing a difference like this?

Hey Matt - I just did my first one last night with a v1.65 KPL, so it should work with a new one. Older KPLs, however, were limited in that a secondary button could not control a scene containing the load button with a different ramp rate/on level. Try right-clicking the device you want to add the the scene, and choose 'Add Device To Scene' instead.

Just an update related to the newer KPLs - now that v1.5+ (I've tested with v1.65) KPLs allow secondary buttons to set different on-levels for the load, and the ISY 2.6.1 beta firmware supports this, I've been able to eliminate the 'control' part of this program. I simply create a lighting scene and make the KPL secondary a controller of that scene. To keep the KPL status 'accurate', I still keep my status programs. For example, my Living Room Reading scene status program: If Status 'LivingRoomControls1G' is not Off And ( Status 'LivingRoomControls1A' is not 90% Or Status 'LivingRoomMain1' is not 30% ) Then Set Scene 'LivingRoomReadStatus' Off Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action') The program first checks if the KPL secondary is already OFF. If it's not OFF, it checks the status of the lights. If they're not set at my scene levels, the program turns the KPL secondary LED off. Doing this has also allowed me to remove the WAITs I needed before setting the status LED. Feels like a much cleaner solution, and KPL use is much much snappier.

Hey Mark - Besides issues related to KPL v1.6 that Michel mentioned, I've had problems when removing/replacing or making major changes to my KPLs. Other KPLs in the house seem to get misconfigured. KPL secondary buttons that worked fine before no longer seemed to send status updates to the ISY, links no longer worked, etc. In the past I had tried Restore Device on the problematic KPL, which rarely worked. I ended up removing the whole KPL from the ISY and re-adding and re-configuring. Recently, along with a Restore Device, I went ahead and did a Restore PLM as a test per Michel's suggestion - and it fixed my issue. I'm not sure what the exact cause of the problem is, but you might want to try a Restore Device and Restore PLM next time you have this issue to see if it helps.

Anyone try accessing their ISY from a Treo mobile device? On my Treo 750 running Windows Mobile 5 I can get the login screen, login which brings me to the Devices list, then when I click a device it brings me back to the login. Tried updating to Windows Mobile 6, same issue. This is via HTTP or HTTPS. Tried a buddy's Treo 750, same thing, I'm curious if anyone else is successfully using a Treo?

Ahh, makes sense. You can't set the on-level for a KPL secondary to 0, correct? But, if you don't need an 'All On' button, but are just looking for an 'All Off', it should work fine.

Hey Michel - I was moving around between links every couple seconds, so I must be having a different issue.

Running a Palm Treo 750 with Internet Explorer on Windows Mobile 5. I can connect to the HTTPS page, confirm the certificate warning, which brings me to the login screen. Login information, however, does not seem to stick. I can get it to sometimes display the list of devices and/or scenes, however trying to do anything further (control a device/scene, switch to a different page) brings me back to the login prompt. I hope to upgrade to Windows Mobile 6 sometime soon and will re-test.

Oooooh.. I like this. Your a smart cookie. Can't wait to try this out!

Jeff - I think I just realized why you're doing this with a program. If you make your KPL secondary "All On" button a controller of the scene you want it to turn on, it needs to be in non-toggle ON mode for it to work. If you want to keypad button to be off all the time, I guess you would need a program to trigger your scene on when pressed. However, you should still be able to do the "All Off" button without a program to reduce the delay and eliminate dependence on the ISY/PLM.

Hey Jeff - Great write up. However, unless I'm missing something, I don't believe you need a program to do this. Why not make the KPL secondary button that controls your scene a CONTROLLER of the scene? Still set it to non-toggle (off or on, whatever your intent), but when you join it to the scene add it as a controller instead. All the other lights and slave devices would still be responders. This has a couple advantages: 1 - Not dependent on the ISY/PLM. If your ISY/PLM goes down or gets disrupted for some reason, this button will still function. 2 - Quicker response. Since the above method would not be executing a program, the lights would go on or off almost instantly. I personally use programs to run my 'all off' KPL secondary buttons, but that's because I don't keep the buttons in non-toggle mode - I want them to be lit if a light is left on, and off if all the lights are off. I use these to turn entire floors off in my house when exiting, going to bed, etc.. Here's an example of my programs. I have a scene called 'Floor2Off' that contains all the devices (both load bearing or slave devices/buttons) that are on my 2nd floor - all responders. Here is my control program: If Control 'MasterBedroomControls1H' is switched Off Then Set Scene 'Floor2Off' Off Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action') This program turns all my 2nd floor lights off if I press the my KPL secondary "Floor 2 Off" button (called MasterBedroomControls1H). Since it runs via a program, there is a second or so delay - but not too bad. Here is my Status Off program: If Status 'MasterBedroomControls1H' is not Off And ( Status 'AndyBedroomCloset1' is Off And Status 'AndyBedroomLamp1' is Off And Status 'Bathroom2ndMain1' is Off And Status 'Bathroom2ndMirror1' is Off And Status 'Bathroom2ndVent1' is Off And Status 'MikeyBedroomCloset1' is Off And Status 'MikeyBedroomLamp1' is Off And Status 'SpareBedroomCloset1' is Off And Status 'SpareBedroomLamp1' is Off And Status 'Stairway1' is Off And Status 'AndyBedroomControls1C' is Off And Status 'AndyBedroomControls1D' is Off ) Then Wait 1 second Set Scene 'Floor2StatusLight' Off Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action') Because you can't control a KPL secondary button directly, it must controlled by making it a member of a scene. The scene called "Floor2StatusLight" contains ONLY my KPL secondary button. The above code ensures that if all my 2nd floor lights are off, that my "Floor2Status" button is also off. Here is my Status On program: If Status 'MasterBedroomControls1H' is Off And ( Status 'AndyBedroomCloset1' is not Off Or Status 'AndyBedroomLamp1' is not Off Or Status 'Bathroom2ndMain1' is not Off Or Status 'Bathroom2ndMirror1' is not Off Or Status 'Bathroom2ndVent1' is not Off Or Status 'MikeyBedroomCloset1' is not Off Or Status 'MikeyBedroomLamp1' is not Off Or Status 'SpareBedroomCloset1' is not Off Or Status 'SpareBedroomLamp1' is not Off Or Status 'Stairway1' is not Off Or Status 'AndyBedroomControls1C' is not Off Or Status 'AndyBedroomControls1D' is not Off ) Then Wait 1 second Set Scene 'Floor2StatusLight' On Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action') This code checks to see if ANY of my 2nd floor lights are on. If they are, it lights up my "Floor 2 Status" button so I'll know to turn it off before bed.

Well, that's an odd one Mike.... you'd think that if your entire group is coming on that it must be SOMETHING coming from the ISY... Is there a RemoteLinc or ControlLinc that's part of this group that could be flaking out? Maybe a switch with a physical paddle issue that randomly clicks on?

This might be a long shot, but do you have an Elk integrated with your ISY? I've seen reports of Insteon lights going on randomly from Elk users in the past...

This is the method I would go with. I have a ISY-99i/IR Pro as well, and telnet works fine here. From a command prompt, type: TELNET (your ISY IP address) 126 ..without the parentheses of course. This should bring you to a login prompt. Type your username and password, and you should be in. If you're doing that, but getting the error message you quoted above, maybe something else is wrong...

Jeff - Unfortunately, I don't believe there's a way to use the RemoteLinc All On/All Off buttons for anything else (I don't own a ControlLinc). That's one of my biggest gripes with the RemoteLinc - I have no use for those buttons at all, and wish they would be user-definable. You'll love the IR integration, works extremely well for me. Also, if you haven't noticed, you joined in on the cusp of a new firmware release (beta) - get ready for even more features!

Also check the 'On Level' of the device. I had a similar problem the other day, which was caused because the switch somehow had an 'On Level' of 0. (!!) A normal 'On' command uses the current ramp rate and on level of the device, a 'Fast On' command turns it to 100% immediately.

If you have questions/complaints about the PLM, and want to post on UDI's forums, why don't you consider posting about it to the Everything Insteon group which I believe Steve Lee from Smarthome monitors? I'm not trying to 'start a fight' with you, Digger, I'm simply stating that I think frequent queries are a mistake. I stand by my statement that less powerline activity = a better, more reliable Insteon system. In respect of the original poster, and UDI, this is my last post on this thread.

Good question. I was actually thinking about something similar a while back when people were discussing ways to have different on-levels for different times of the day. If SwitchLinc Dimmers didn't require a soft-reset to apply on-level changes, I was thinking a good way to accomplish this would be to have a way in the ISY to program new on-levels into devices a couple times per day. This wouldn't work, however, because of the needed soft-reset. Even if it did work, I wonder if this would potentially decrease the life of the switch...

Hey Andrew - If you check this thread: http://forum.universal-devices.com/viewtopic.php?t=769 ..you'll see it's a listed feature for the upcoming v2.7 firmware. A beta for this firmware should be released soon. It's awfully quiet on these forums, which usually means they are hard at work!

I'm not really sure what you're referring to, but my best guess is these threads? http://forum.universal-devices.com/view ... highlight= http://forum.universal-devices.com/view ... highlight= There are no queries at all in those programs. For example, with the 'entire floor status LED' program the only extra powerline activity is actually turning the status LED on or off, which happens only when: - All lights are off, and the first light is turned on. - All lights are off except for one, and that final light is turned off. One of the major features of the ISY, in my opinion, is that it always KNOWS (in a good working Insteon system) what the status of every device is. There really should be no need to query, except for the occasional missed command (caused by simultaneous button presses, etc.), which is why they have their 3am query - just in case. If I depended on even 10 minute queries to know the status of my lights, those programs would be useless to me. That's why it's recommended to fix the source of your comm issues rather than run queries. Now if you think that Smarthome needs to release an improved PLM to fix your particular issues, that's fine - and the topic of another thread. My point is that frequent queries is not a substitute for a good working ISY/Insteon system. If you have a substantial Insteon system, and run queries every 10 minutes, button presses during those queries may be slow to respond, and commands may be more likely missed. If it's working for you, then run with it - but it's not good advice for the majority of ISY users.

Could you possibly have a speed issue at home? Michel or Chris could tell us exactly what happens, but I'm assuming the remote PC simply downloads and runs a Java app when you connect to the ISY. As a test, I just opened my ISY from a remote connection running on a 3Mbps/768Kbps DSL line. My home connection is a 6Mbps/768Kbps cable connection. The ISY has never been opened from this remote connection (so the Java app wasn't cached), but it only about 5 seconds before I got my logon screen. I can't imagine anything wrong with the ISY would cause only remote connections to be slow.

Faster internet connection? Mine takes a few seconds longer than connecting locally, but not much.

Digger - I replied to your post because I don't think scheduling My Lighting queries to run constantly throughout the day is a good idea. If you are having communications problems, that will simply multiply it and possibly interfere with normally working functions. If a user is having problems with the ISY recognizing status changes on their devices, they're far better off fixing the issue (reducing noise, relocating AccessPoints, fixing broken links, replacing bad devices, etc.) than trying to mask it unsuccessfully with 2 queries every hour. If the PLM does have a lower signal output / sensitivity than the PLC, I'm 100% behind efforts to try and get that rectified. However, that doesn't mean people need to live with comm issues in the meantime. Many people (most people?) on here that I know of have good communications to and from their PLM, so it can be done.

Excessive queries of all your lighting, especially on large setups, creates excessive powerline traffic which can cause actual button presses or scheduled events or triggers to not work properly. If you want reliable communications, your goal should be to reduce noise and eliminate excess powerline traffic - not create more. Also, if you have poor powerline communications in your home, I can't see how extra queries are going to help - it'll only make your problems worse. You could have devices whose statuses are accurate, but then you run a query, communications fail, and the ISY no longer knows the correct status. If you're having communication issues, solve it - don't try to mask it with extra queries that are only going to make things worse.