upstatemike

Did something similiar in Homeseer except instead of the buttons controlling a fan they control a set of Hue bulbs and set them to a specific color. As a bonus I set the LED color for each button on the Zooz switch to match the color the lights will go to when that button is pressed.

I see that but I wonder if they are promising something they can't deliver. Matter might let you mix different voice assistants but if consumers have a vision of buying Zigbee and Thread and Z-Wave devices and having them all just work together without needing to worry about the underlying protocol then they may be in for a rude awakening. If they still have to buy enough devices in each protocol to make that mesh stable then they have to know something about each mesh and have to be more careful of what they choose regardless if it is all Matter compatible. Unless Matter will link devices such that the mesh of one protocol can route through the mesh of another to create a giant virtual mesh. If that is the vision they need to do a better job of conveying that.

Agree but looking ahead I'm having trouble seeing what it has to offer that is needed before even worrying if it actually succeeds in delivering it or getting anybody to care. I can't picture myself doing something when Matter becomes available that I can't do today.

Was thinking about what problems Matter is supposed to solve and one of the biggest ones is communication between different competing protocols. Does this mean that Matter will create a separate mesh so if you mix and match Zigbee and Z-Wave you don't have to build out both of those individual meshes to get reliable operation? Or do you really have to pick one or the other because it will still be too expensive to build out an entire house-wide mesh for each? Or is Matter really just about getting different voice assistants to work together with no real value at the protocol level since your HA controller handles that integration already?

Matter delayed AGAIN. https://www.theverge.com/2022/3/17/22982166/matter-smart-home-standard-postponed-fall-2022

All good points and I will add that I had a question about my order and got a prompt response from Debbie in customer service so that was encouraging. The phone support is gone though so email is the only contact option.

So after this sale they will pretty much be out of everything. Do you think they will close up shop until more invntory comes in next year?

Going to grab one anyway. At $25 it is cheap "last resort" insurance if my other PLMs go bad. Even if I just use it as a temporary solution while getting the others repaired it will be worth it.

Smarthome is having a sale and the USB interface is in stock. Does Polisy support this interfce option?

It would also be good to note that IoP is not exactly the same as ISY on a 994i especially if you use Elk integration. I am a heavy user of Elk connected motion sensors and use my ISY as the bridge to trigger Alexa routines with them. I also use Elk voice responses to Insteon actions quite a lot. I probably can replicate all of this with an Elk Node server but I don't know that for sure or what kind of time investment would be required to reconfigure everything if it is possible.

I got Weatherflow because I need the lightning sensor to alert me when I should avoid going out on the lake. Apart from some battery issues at low temperatures I have been happy with it. I use a verbal report of current conditions as my alarm clock and also have lightning and high wind alerts set up. Alexa will give me current readings any time I ask plus I have some tablets dedicated to displaying weather station data. I also have a Tempest unit but have not installed that yet so I don't know if I can reccommend it without some personal experience with it.

Direct association only works between two devices that are in range of each other to talk directly. The feature that you need to replicate Insteon functionality is "Assigned Association" which allows communication between two devices to be routed through the Z-Wave mesh without needing to be in direct range of each other and without needing to pass through a controller. Do Smartthings and Hubitat support that configuration?

Sorry to keep misunderstanding but still not clear. Ignoring interpreted vs compiled languages, are you saying that Lutron will release the API to UDI or not? If yes then why haven't they already done so as they have for C4 etc. ? I also don't know what a "ISY integrated module" is or how it could provide integration to RA3 without needing the the API info?

So that was my point. There will never be an RA3 Nodeserver unless it is based on reverse engineering. There probably won't be a Nokia Nodeserver at all. The shortcomings of Z-Wave continue to frustrate people and neither Matter nor Zigbee appear to be stepping up to address any of those frustrating characteristics within their repective protocols. I guess you could use multiple Caseta hubs (to scale past 50 devices) but that doesn't address the keypad issue so I really don't see any upcoming replacement for Insteon for perhaps many years.

I wasn't sure because some companies seem to already have access to RA3 integration while others do not.

So if Smartlabs decides not to share documentation with companies like UDI, Hubitat, and Homeseer and if Lutron also decides to withhold the RA3 API from those companies, what will the HA landscape look like going forward? Z-Wave has a long list of shortcomings and Matter does not look like it will fix many (if any) of them. Zigbee appears to have no interest in providing higher end switches with features like premium styling, direct associations, smooth group control, or customizable buttons and LEDs. Same question as all the other "what is the best option going forward" posts except not assuming any group or company is focusing on the things that DIY consumers care about. Are we in for a decade or so of depending on reverse engineered solutions because no company will share info outside of their walled garden? (Yes I am one of those people)

Half-Links. Sounds like something from "Lord of the Rings".

I agree that any HA technology that requires special knowledge to use is a non-starter. I am not particularly network savvy and I would not begin to know how to use multiple routers to divide up WiFi bulb loads especially since any device on my network could at some point need to control or respond to pretty much any other device on the network. The only devices I can safely isloate are those on the guest Wi-Fi. I'm not sure I agree that nobody wants to use reserved address for everything. I have approximately 180 reserved addresses and can't imagine what a pain it would be if every time I had to troubleshoot something I had to search through a list of MAC addresses to figure out what IP address I'm looking for. I always use reserved addresses and I won't use any router or WAP that doesn't display devices by the name I've assigned in the DHCP reservation table rather than by IP or MAC address.

Old amplifiers were sometimes wired to share left and right speaker negative. Many newer amps do not share any common reference between speaker channels and will not survive if connected to that type of wiring. Old in-wall volume controls can sometimes be the point where speaker negatives are linked. I always use an impedance bridge across the two speaker negatives to make sure they are not linked someplace.

Sounds like Leviton is going to push Wi-Fi as their premium smart home strategy. I wonder how they address scalability? Do they have a an upper limit to Decora Smart Wi-Fi devices in the app? How much support are they going to provide when an integrator fills a house with 70+ switches and a couple of dozen Amazon Echos, and a whole house Sonos system, and motion sensors, thermostats, leak detctors, and door sensors? They can easily bump up against default 253 address limits and consumer router CPU capacity constraints. Will they get deep into helping to manage huge blocks of DHCP reserved addresses and deploying multiple Wireless Access Points to make it all work reliably?

I know you are mainly talking about Z-Wave here but the link also includes some interesting information about Levition Gen2 Wi-Fi. The thing that caught my eye is that Levition has Wi-Fi scene controllers/keypads (that can be engraved) as well as companion switches that do not need traveller wires... both uncommon in Wi-Fi based products. It looks like they have a cloud service to make this work (sort of a US based Tuya?) but I wonder how well it works? Do local associations between companions or keypads and their linked switches stop working if your Internet connection is down? How reliable is the cloud service? Is there an API to link into ISY or Hue to control other things from the keypads? The "Decora Smart" label is used as an umbrella for Wi-Fi, Z-Wave, and Zigbee based automation products, does that mean their app is providing a bridge across the technologies so you can mix them?

The fact that I am skeptical of Wi-Fi as a Home Automtion protocol doesn't mean I am endorsing Z-Wave. I have a small Z-Wave test setup (basically a single room with about 20 Z-Wave devices) and I am having my share of concerns there as well. There is no perfect answer so you have to understand the faults of each protocal and decide if you can live with them or not. If your switch count is low the Wi-Fi switches might be a better option because: No mesh infrastructure to build out Instant integration with Alexa or other voice assistants Instant integration with IFTTT and/or Tuya Low cost so low risk... you can always swap it all out in 3 or 4 years if a better option comes on the market Low time commitment. You can pop them in and get on with your life without spending more time researching stuff or learning a new protocol or building out a mesh. Lots of cheap compatible devices available. Easy to migrate at whatever pace you want using ISY to keep old and new stuff working together as you go. Sorry to give mixed signals but if there was a clear cut obvious answer most of the threads on this forum would only be 1 or 2 posts long.

Wi-Fi has a number of points where scalability can affect the system: As you point out there is the concern about capacity of each Access Point both in the number of devices and the load they represent. For example how many wireless security cameras are on the same AP? Also things like Amazon Echos, PCs doing Zoom calls etc. Next is the capacity of the router (or initial maesh point that is acting as the router). I recently had to upgrade my router not because I exceeded any device count limits but because the CPU just wasn't up to handling 70+ wireless devices plus the same number of wired ones. Next concern is the capacity limits Wi-Fi manufacturers place on their own products. Lifx for example recommends you stay below 25 bulbs or something. I assume that limit relates to how they communicate to a controller or the cloud but whatever the reason I have seen issues when I go beyond that number so I pay attention to what limits a manufacturer publishes. Finally, at least for me, is just the number of devices that would be added if I moved over 100 Insteon devices to Wi-Fi. If I am already struggling with IP address space or DHCP reservation limits then I can't see where it is practical to put too much more on the LAN. I don't want to become a full time netwok administrator getting clever with subnetting, VLans, and broadcast domains just to keep my light switches working reliably. Everybody's situation is different and none of this may apply to you but now is the time to think it through rather than after it is all installed.

I wonder if the mythical Nokia switches will have this feature? It would be a logical thing to add if you were doing a modern product redesign.

Personally I'm not a fan of push on/push off toggle switches. I think normal top on/bottom off rockers (like Insteon) look nicer, are more intuitive to use, and offer more programming options because they can support things like "multi-tap", "hold to dim/brighten", etc. I would also think about scalability before selecting Wi-Fi based switches. Everybody has different priorities so make sure these tick all the boxes for yours before you decide which way to go.