markens

Correct, all devices in the scene the button is controller for. No, not if it's sending an OFF command to the scene (assuming the "20%" devices are part of the scene). An OFF will turn off all devices in the scene. An ON will cause each device to go to the programmed on level for that scene (whether that is 100% or 20% or 0%), which I believe is what fitzpatri8 was talking about. --Mark

Most recent Insteon devices have the capability to remove X10 addresses without resorting to factory reset. Basically, put the device in Unlinking Mode and then send the X10 command three times. I've used this successfully on both OutletLincs and KPLs. Smarthome's info here: http://wiki.smarthome.com/index.php?title=Removing_the_X10_Primary_Address

It might be more precise to think of program status this way: The status simply reflects whether the program last ran its THEN part (status True) or ELSE part (status False). There are more details about how and when THEN and ELSE parts are run in the referenced user manual. --Mark

Here's what the default program is on my ISY: If Time is 3:00:00AM Then Set Scene 'My Lighting' Query Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action') --Mark

Some switchlincs have to be airgapped before new settings take effect. So this technique won't work with those switches since manual intervention is required. Here's another thread on this topic: http://forum.universal-devices.com/viewtopic.php?t=2958 --Mark

Now I'm confused. If the "and not switched off" is not there, how does the repeat in the THEN clause ever terminate? --Mark

Based on the program code you posted, your "Door Open" program will never terminate as indeed you're seeing. The key here is that conditions only evaluate when the events specifically listed occur. Therefore, your "Door Open" program's IF clause only evaluates (and interrupts the repeat) when your 'Door: Basement Door Open' control is switched ON. It does not evaluate (or interrupt the repeat) if it is switched OFF. Therefore, your program (in the absence of any other program intervention) will always be TRUE and will never terminate once triggered since its IF statement can never be anything but TRUE. Quick fix looks like to add this to the IF clause: "And Control 'Door: Basement Door Open' is not switched Off". This will evaluate when the switch is turned off, and will interrupt the THEN clause and make the program status FALSE (since the ELSE clause will run). The "Door Closed" program doesn't have this problem since there is nothing to be interrupted in its THEN clause. --Mark

See if this helps: A "control" event happens when the associated switch (control) is operated. The event exists only at the instant the control is activated and the associated message is received by the ISY. It does not create any lingering state which can be evaluated later in a condition. (Control conditions are always FALSE if the IF is evaluated any time the event was not what triggered evaluation of the conditions.) A "status" condition is the actual status of the device, no matter how it got that way. A program can evaluate a "status" condition at any time. Although it's useful to know that a change in status (as seen by the ISY) will cause a program with a condition on that status to stop (if running) and reevaluate the IF clause in its entirety. And this is a key to understanding ISY programming logic: a program's IF clause will run whenever any of the specific condition items in that IF change state (status) or are activated (control). It won't run any other time (unless called manually or there are other conditions such as time). So consider this commonly used construct, from your example: If Control 'Bathroom: Guest Light' is switched Fast On And Control 'Bathroom: Guest Light' is not switched Fast Off When does this IF execute? Whenever the 'Bathroom: Guest Light' switch is turned Fast On OR turned Fast Off. Either action causes it to run. The next step is to evaluate the logic once the program runs: - If the event is a FAST ON (which means that a FAST OFF could not have been received at the same time), then both conditions are TRUE and the fan turns on (THEN clause): (FAST ON) AND NOT (FAST OFF) = (TRUE) AND NOT (FALSE) = TRUE AND TRUE = TRUE - Similarly, if the event is a FAST OFF (which means that a FAST ON was not received) then the condition is FALSE and the fan turns off: (FAST ON) AND NOT (FAST OFF) = (FALSE) AND NOT (TRUE) = FALSE AND FALSE = FALSE The presence of the NOT OFF is why the ELSE turns off the fan. It's also why the program is interrupted if it's in the WAIT when the FAST OFF is received: the event causes the IF to reevaluate: it's now FALSE, and the fan turns off. Clearer, I hope! --Mark

Can't ANY program be run manually, even if disabled (itself, or its containing folder)? [i just tried an experiment with a test folder, and it does allow contained programs to be run manually even when the folder is disabled by virtue of condition of program status within that folder.] --Mark

A program can be totally empty (no conditions and no actions) and still be very useful as kind of a variable to remember state. With no conditions, it will generally be run manually or under control of another program. With no actions, the program simply exits, and the program's status will be TRUE if it ran the 'Then' part, or FALSE if it ran the 'Else' part. Even with no actions. So another program could run this empty program via 'Run Then' to make it TRUE, or 'Run Else' to make it FALSE. Other programs can use this status as part of their conditions. --Mark

I found myself wondering about this a few days ago as well, and this question motivated me to check it out. The answer: Disabling a program causes it to terminate if it is running. So a program can't disable itself and expect to continue running. Here's the test program I used, called LR Lamp 4: If X10 'H4/On (3)' is Received And X10 'H4/Off (11)' is not Received Then Set Scene 'LR Lamp' On Disable Program 'LR Lamp 4' Wait 10 seconds Enable Program 'LR Lamp 4' Else Set Scene 'LR Lamp' Off It was pretty obvious watching in the Program Summary pane of the admin console that the program stopped running immediately after the Scene turned on, at the same time it was disabled. --Mark

I have an old X10 RF remote and TM751 transceiver unit, and the ISY works flawlessly in receiving the X10 signals from the powerline. As Michel said above, you use ISY programs to easily detect and act on the X10 commands. The ISY can send X10 commands to the powerline as well, also easily via program control. --Mark

Yes: 31 = backlight level 1 (hex 10, decimal 16) + "ON" level 15 (hex 0F, decimal 15) Sorry for the geek-speak; the referenced post was intended for the UDI programmers. Here's the English translation: The decimal value written by ISY sets both backlight (button off) brightness, and ON (button on) brightness levels. There are eight backlight brightness levels (0-7) as indicated by the following chart. For each of these levels, there are 15 or 16 associated "button ON" brightness levels. The ranges are decimal, and all values within a range yield the SAME backlight as follows: 1-15 = backlight value = 0 (off) 16-31 = backlight value = 1 (dimmest) 32-47 = backlight value = 2 48-63 = backlight value = 3 64-79 = backlight value = 4 80-95 = backlight value = 5 96-111 = backlight value = 6 112-127 = backlight value = 7 (brightest) Within each backlight range, the "button ON" brightness goes from dimmer (lowest value) to brighter (highest value). Again, this info is from my trials and does not reflect any official documentation. I hope it helps clear things up. --Mark

I researched this by trial and error a few weeks ago and posted the results here: http://forum.universal-devices.com/viewtopic.php?t=2685#20227 --Mark

I picked one of these up today. One more question: No indication on the ISY whether it should be tip-pos or tip-neg. Which? Thanks, --Mark

Great, thanks for the confirmation. --Mark

I've been thinking of getting an external supply to plug into a UPS. Question: Since power is already coming from the PLM, what happens when an external supply is plugged in to the ISY? Is there internal circuitry which makes this work ok? Any special cable required so power from the PLM is disconnected? I want to make sure I don't fry anything in the PLM or ISY if I do this. Thanks, --Mark

You're right that this situation is more difficult. With power being fed to the fixture (and no neutral in eaither switch location), you need three wires from the fixture to the first switch and most likely only have two. You can easily put an inlineLinc at the fixture since you have hot, neutral, and load all located there. But this also frees up your wiring so you can now use your toggleLincs at the original switch locations. Since the switches control the light virtually now (via the inlineLinc at the fixture), the red "load" wire is not needed on the toggleLincs. This frees up the white wire from fixture to switch1, and switch1 to switch2, which can now be used as neutral. Black wire is still hot. Red wire between switches is also unneeded (similar to diagram in toggleLinc manual). Viola, virtual 3-way switches which control your fixture as desired. Might help to sketch this out. But it should work fine if you're able/willing to put the extra inlinelinc at the fixture. --Mark

Oops. I see I forgot a condition in the OFF program I posted above, to turn the lights off at 10pm. The conditions above should be ORed with the following, similar to the 60% program: Time is 10:00:00PM There is still a problem with the light being on less than one minute if motion is detected in the minute prior to 10pm.

This is an interesting problem to me. I've programmed my motion detector to do some different things depending on state, so I'll take a stab at this. Several assumptions: 1) Motion detector set for default operation (insteon ON when triggered, OFF after default timeout of 1 minute) 2) Scene "outside-lights" has ON level of each light set at 100%, and scene "outside-lights-60" has ON levels set to 60% This approach uses three programs, one for each light level. The motion detector is not linked to anything other than the ISY: 60% If Time is Sunset Or ( From Sunset To 10:00:00PM (same day) And Control 'motion-Sensor' is switched Off ) Then Set Scene 'outside-lights-60' On Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action') ON If From Sunset To Sunrise (next day) And Control 'motion-Sensor' is switched On Then Set Scene 'outside-lights' On Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action') OFF If From 10:00:00PM To Sunset (next day) And Control 'motion-Sensor' is switched Off Then Set Scene 'outside-lights' Off Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action') I hope this helps triggers more ideas.

Thanks! That explains it nicely.

I have been playing around with sending a url, and found a possible error in the ISY which might explain this. I configured a simple GET url (to test.php on the server), and it is received ok on the server. When I added an argument following a '?' (as you did), the server returns a 404 error. In my case, the ISY turns the '?' into an escaped '%3F' sequence. My apache server does not turn this back into a '?' and therefore thinks it's part of the file instead of an argument sequence. I've never seen '?' escaped like this. If apache doesn't recognize it, then it must be wrong. Perhaps the ISY should not escape this character. --Mark

I am also seeing this behavior (time gains about 2 minutes per week); manual NTP time sync corrects. I look forward to seeing the fix in 2.7.3.

It's not in my log file, either, just event viewer. I left it open all afternoon, and here is what accumulated. NTP is set to sync every 24 hours to pool.ntp.org, although I manually clicked the "Synchronize Now" button right after opening the event viewer window. Note the Time entry happens every ten minutes exactly, and that any Insteon activity resets the interval. [open event viewer] [manually sync NTP time] 2009/03/31 11:01:32 : Setting Time From NTP 2009/03/31 11:09:57 : [ Time] 11:09:50 4(0) 2009/03/31 11:19:57 : [ Time] 11:19:51 4(0) 2009/03/31 11:29:57 : [ Time] 11:29:51 4(0) 2009/03/31 11:39:57 : [ Time] 11:39:50 4(0) 2009/03/31 11:49:57 : [ Time] 11:49:50 4(0) 2009/03/31 11:59:57 : [ Time] 11:59:51 4(0) 2009/03/31 12:09:57 : [ Time] 12:09:51 4(0) 2009/03/31 12:19:57 : [ Time] 12:19:50 4(0) 2009/03/31 12:29:57 : [ Time] 12:29:50 4(0) 2009/03/31 12:39:57 : [ Time] 12:39:51 4(0) 2009/03/31 12:48:38 : [insteon activity start] 2009/03/31 12:53:39 : [insteon activity end] 2009/03/31 13:03:39 : [ Time] 13:03:33 4(0) 2009/03/31 13:13:39 : [ Time] 13:13:32 4(0) 2009/03/31 13:23:39 : [ Time] 13:23:34 4(0) 2009/03/31 13:26:47 : [insteon activity] 2009/03/31 13:36:47 : [ Time] 13:36:42 4(0) 2009/03/31 13:46:47 : [ Time] 13:46:41 4(0) 2009/03/31 13:50:24 : [insteon activity] 2009/03/31 14:00:24 : [ Time] 14:00:19 4(0) 2009/03/31 14:10:24 : [ Time] 14:10:19 4(0) 2009/03/31 14:20:24 : [ Time] 14:20:19 4(0) [etc...] Most likely not NTP sync since it's every ten minutes. Very curious. Any other ideas? Thanks, --Mark

What does this entry mean in the event viewer? 2009/03/31 09:52:37 : [ Time] 09:53:10 4(0) I've seen it several times (v 2.7.0). Thanks! --Mark