MikeB

Updated the review with a couple small screenshots demonstrating IR in the ISY's interface.

Please check out my review of the upcoming ISY-99i from UDI: http://www.techav.com/udi/isy99i.htm

I know where you're coming from, because when I first moved to the ISY it seemed kind of "unnatural" to create something called a "scene" just to link 2 switches. But, that's the correct way to do it, and there's nothing inefficient about it. It also makes things incredibly simple when you get into areas where you have 4 or 5 switches all cross-linked.

Definitely make sure you create your links on the ISY. If you link 2 devices together, but not to the PLM, they will only inform themselves of any status changes. The PLM will not know you've turned them on or off unless the devices are also linked to the PLM. Creating links within the ISY ensures that the proper links are created between both the switches AND the PLM.

IndyMike - Thanks for the reply! X10 or Insteon, reducing powerline traffic is important in my opinion. With your suggestion, I ditched my "fix" program and now have (like your examples) simply CONTROL, STATUS ON, and STATUS OFF programs. Seems good so far. Here is an example for my 1st floor, where I have 2 status lights (master bed & foyer): FLOOR 1 CONTROL If Control 'FoyerControls1G' is switched Off Or Control 'MasterBedControls1G' is switched Off Then Set Scene 'Floor1Off' Off Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action') FLOOR 1 STATUS ON If ( Status 'Bathroom1stLaundry1' is not Off Or Status 'Bathroom1stMirror1' is not Off Or Status 'Bathroom1stVent1' is not Off Or Status 'FoyerMain1' is not Off Or Status 'KitchenBar1' is not Off Or Status 'KitchenMain1' is not Off Or Status 'KitchenSink1' is not Off Or Status 'KitchenTable1' is not Off Or Status 'LivingRoomControls1A' is not Off Or Status 'LivingRoomMain1' is not Off Or Status 'PlayRoomMain1' is not Off ) And ( Status 'MasterBedControls1G' is Off Or Status 'FoyerControls1G' is Off ) Then Wait 1 second Set Scene 'Floor1StatusLight' On Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action') FLOOR 1 STATUS OFF If ( Status 'Bathroom1stLaundry1' is Off And Status 'Bathroom1stMirror1' is Off And Status 'Bathroom1stVent1' is Off And Status 'FoyerMain1' is Off And Status 'KitchenBar1' is Off And Status 'KitchenMain1' is Off And Status 'KitchenSink1' is Off And Status 'KitchenTable1' is Off And Status 'LivingRoomControls1A' is Off And Status 'LivingRoomMain1' is Off And Status 'PlayRoomMain1' is Off ) And ( Status 'MasterBedControls1G' is not Off Or Status 'FoyerControls1G' is not Off ) Then Wait 1 second Set Scene 'Floor1StatusLight' Off Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action')

Well-said. I'm also glad to be part of the fam!

Just an update to this. I decided to add an "off" trigger so that if my KPL secondary button is pressed OFF, it will also turn all lights associated with the scene off. Here's sample code from my kitchen. This trigger activates my scene when a KPL secondary is pressed. If Control 'KitchenControls1G' is switched On Then Set Scene 'KitchenBreakfast' On Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action') "KitchenControls1G is a KPL secondary button. "KitchenBreakfast" is a scene that sets my kitchen lights to the appropriate levels. Here is the trigger that turns everything in the scene off: If Control 'KitchenControls1G' is switched Off Then Set Scene 'KitchenBreakfast' Off Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action') Here is my "cleanup" code that will turn the KPL secondary button off if any light set by the scene changes in any way: If ( Status 'KitchenBar1' is not 90% Or Status 'KitchenMain1' is not 50% Or Status 'KitchenTable1' is not Off ) And Status 'KitchenControls1G' is not Off Then Wait 2 seconds Set Scene 'KitchenBreakfastStatus' Off Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action') The scene "KitchenBreakfastStatus" contains only the KPL secondary "KitchenControlsG". I go through all this trouble because I want my scene-controlling KPL secondaries to accurately depict if my scene is set. If it is not precisely set (someone dims a light slightly more, or changes anything else part of the scene), I want my KPL secondary to show 'off'. I'm curious what everyone else is doing with their 'scenes', so please chime in!

Cool - thanks guys!

OK, thanks guys.... I figured I could do the 2 program workaround, but I was trying to avoid it. I was just thrown off because you can have a relay turn OFF when a scene is turned ON from the ISY-26, so I figured the same could be done with a KPL secondary.

Awesome tips. Thanks guys!

Hey d_l - Two questions for you (or anyone else). 1 - Wouldn't that program continually send that X10 on command during those times? What would make it only send the command once? 2 - What if someone turned that lamp off? Would this program turn it right back on during those times? Thanks...

Sorry, maybe I wasn't clear in my original post. I am adding the secondary button to a scene. But, what I'd like to do is turn that button OFF when the scene is turned ON. Just like we can do with a KPL load button.

In some instances, I want to make sure a light is OFF when I turn a scene ON through my ISY. In most cases, this works great - I can simply add the device to the scene, and set it to off within that scene. However, sometimes a light that I want to turn OFF is also controlled by a KPL secondary button. I want to make sure that KPL secondary button is also OFF when I turn that scene ON. Is there a reason why the ISY can't set a KPL secondary to be off when I activate a scene? Thanks!

Glad you got it going! That's why I posted this question above: With the past bug, accessing the GUI through the UDI web site link brought it back.

The fix when I have seen this has always been to close the browser and retry, or sometimes reboot the PC. You must be seeing a different problem than me.

I assume you've tried rebooting your PC? I get that on occasion with Vista/IE7 - along with many other IE issues (not at all related to the ISY). There seems to be some sort of memory leak with IE7 and/or one of its addins (Flash maybe?). I also see the problem on other systems, but typically only with heavy IE users (lots of tabs/windows throughout the day). Switching to FireFox has increased stability for me here quite a bit, so I'm sticking with it even though I prefer IE7 - at least until someone fixes this issue. You must be having a different problem if a reboot hasn't helped. Have you tried accessing the GUI via this link? http://www.universal-devices.com/beta/ Good luck!

Hey Joe - It's too bad that you purchased the ISY thinking it was something it was not, but I've never heard anyone from UDI ever say they would implement anything but the most basic X10 support. Their product description page doesn't even mention X10. Where exactly did you read about the ISY's X10 support? It sounds like you didn't do your research before purchasing. If you had read anything regarding the ISY-26 and X10, you would have understood that minimal X10 support was added only as an afterthought. I can understand how you would want additional X10 features, but the majority of ISY-26 users are Insteon users who maybe have a few X10 devices left kicking around (like me) - if they have any X10 at all. I would personally rather see UDI focus on adding forward-looking features rather than additional support for a technology most people are looking to replace anyway. That being said, make sure you fully understand how the ISY and its X10 features operate before giving up - it's very possible that you can do what you need.

When I ordered my ISY, SmartHome's web site showed out of stock - but Michel knew and told me that they had some there. It shipped promptly. If Michel says they're there, then I'd say they're there.

Hey Mike - I (and Mark apparently) have been having some oddball KPL programming issues, which might be related to your problem. Almost seems that links to KPLs are getting created/deleted when they shouldn't be, at least on my system. Here's a link to the topic I started: http://forum.universal-devices.com/view ... =3924#3924

Keep in mind that there are plenty of RF and hardwired IR extenders out there as well. You could use one of those products to get an IR receiver in every room of your house, all pointing back to your ISY-99.9 wherever you put it. That's my intention.

Maybe someone else can chime in, but I believe this is incorrect. I don't think there's an issue with the ISY knowing the status of a KPL load button (unless something is wrong). You cannot, however, control a secondary KPL button from within the ISY unless it is a member of a scene. You must make it a member of a scene, and control the scene instead. However, now that I'm creating more complex ISY programs that depend on the ISY knowing the status of many switches accurately, I have been having issues where I'm finding switches that are not correctly getting their status updated (plus other random KPL programming issues that I suspect are somehow related). In general, my solution has been to remove the device from the ISY, factory reset it, and re-add it. Not a good way to troubleshoot, but it seems to get the job done when I need a quick fix. My guess is that if you had removed the KPL from the ISY, re-added it and recreated your links it would have started reporting its status. All that being said, I don't have any KPL loads that aren't members of scenes, so someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

Sorry, there was a bug in my original message. The button is in TOGGLE mode. This code seems to be working well for me.

Hey Mike. Bigger monitor? The ISY has a "Floor Plan" feature which lets you create graphical "locations" and drag/drop your lights into it. This might help, but if I remember correctly Michel said they would be dropping that function in a future release because no one was using it. I was actually surprised to see it in the latest firmware, but it is still there. Maybe that function would help you. In the ISY-26, scenes = groups. You can turn a scene on or off, but the ISY-26 does not keep its current status. Some people create programs to keep it's status (eg. if light1=on & light2=on then the program is true).

Hey Mike - There is a page (My Lighting) that lists all devices, their status, their address, and the address type. It's not a graphical representation, but a list. There isn't a page to show the status of a scene, because the ISY-26 doesn't track the status of a scene. Though, you can create a program to do that.

Hey - My understanding is that this is now working. I have a long laundry list of stuff to work on over the next couple weeks, so I don't think I'd be able to test this for a while. I'm sure by then someone else will have already confirmed. But, again, my understanding is that this now works.