upstatemike

What is the source of your concern? Do you have some statistics to share that shows it is fading away?

The reason it is an issue is because the convection cooling that bulbs depend on does not work efficiently if the bulb is not oriented in the upright position. I don't recall all of the places i have read this but here is one I was able to pull up after a quick search. https://answers.angieslist.com/LED-lights-philips-hue-lifx-bulbs-enclosed-light-fixture-q233631.aspx I also found this on the Lifx site that seems to contradict what I had read previously: Does the light bulb position matter? Yes. Light bulbs positioned straight up or straight down will generally run cooler than sideways. The hot convection air flow flows past more of the bulb length, so it cools a bit more effectively. Sideways is still acceptable though and tested to be within normal operating temperature ranges. In testing, the heat sink on a sideways mounted LIFX A21 bulb in a ceiling mounted semi-enclosed fitting was around 85°C (185°F), but more importantly, the power supply electronics temperature measured 75°C (167°F), and the driver control electronics was kept at 53°C (127°F), a good advantage. Room temperature was 28°C (82°F) for this and the CFL heat comparison. For comparison, a similar lumen output CFL lamp in the same test was running a glass temperature of 120°C (248°F) and electronics temperature of 85°C (185°F).32°C higher than the LED based system. So I guess inverted is OK after all.

Some random thoughts: Hue are only 800 lumens while Lifx are available at 1100 lumens. Hue are available in candelabra base which is required for many chandelier fixtures. Lifx does not have this option. If you power on a bunch of Lifx bulbs at once they will all hit your wireless access point and DHCP server for authentication at the same time. This can cause one or more to not show up in the app because they failed to authenticate successfully on boot. With Hue you can use their accessories to set up dead simple automation scenarios that just work. With Lifx you have to use something (like Polyglot) to bridge protocols and write programs even for very basic switch and motion actions. Hue has a limit of 50 bulbs per hub which can get chewed up quickly. I have single light fixtures that contain 10 bulbs each. So how scalable is Hue lighting really? Lifx can chew up LAN addresses quickly. I currently have 190 reserved addresses in my router before I start counting smart bulbs and switches so how scalable is Wi-Fi based automation really? Neither Hue nor Lifx should be used in enclosed fixtures or fixtures where the bulbs are horizontal or hanging upside down In other words 90% of the light fixtures in most homes. Hue bulbs also cannot be used outside or in damp locations.

Pretty sure any Wi-Fi device I would control would be through the nearest Access Point and not directly to the Polisys radio. I think I'll risk it and just go with what I know I will use.

I see the Pro is outselling the regular version and I am curious what the logic is that is driving folks that way? I don't see using Wi-Fi for this (or any server type appliance) so not finding any value in that. Likewise even if I could think of a use for having Bluetooth I don't see putting a server appliance in a location where direct Bluetooth connectivity is any way practical (basement server rack for example). So before i commit and place my order I need to understand what is the big driver to get the Pro model?

I am thinking of pre-ordering a Polisys but have never used Polyglot so I want to be sure it will address my need. I'm looking to use Insteon KeypadLincs to control Hue or Lifx lighting in a given room such that each Keypad Link button directly sets a specific scene (color, brightness, etc.) for the room without any reliance on Internet connectivity. Am I correct in my understanding that a Polisys will let me set that up in simple ISY programs (no complex scripting or programming)?

Yes the firmware and UI match.

I enrolled it by selecting the New Insteon Device icon and entering the address with "Remove existing links" checked. It created 2 devices, Closed and Opened. No Heartbeat. Have not updated from 4.5.4 because I haven't seen anything in the change log that really applies to me. I'll try a hard reset to see if that affects anything.

Sorry if this is already answered someplace but I couldn't find it. I just installed an On/Off sensor REV 1.6 into my 4.5.4 system but I can't get it to work. Both Closed and Opened devices always show as on and do not change status. I can see in the event viewer that ISY is getting the signal for each on and off but no status change on the devices. Do I have something configured wrong? (There is nothing on the external sensor terminals and the little jumper inside is in place.) If I hit the reset button the status of the Opened device will go to off until the next time I cycle it with the magnet then it stays locked on again after that.

I had to first enable it and then disable it again... don't know why it was working if it wasn't enabled but in any case everything went smoothly after that.

I just tried to follow the update instructions for V3 and am stuck on the first step. I cannot disable any older version of the ISY skill because none are included in my list of skills. The devices exist, and they respond fine when I ask Alexa to control them but the skill is nowhere to be found. The Alexa App (PC version) says I have 20 active skills and that matches the count in the list presented. None of them are ISY yet the ISY commands function fine. What do I do now?

I understand what you are saying but sometimes I'm not trying to force a particular state... I just want to know what is going on (or what ISY thinks is going on if I suspect the answer will be different from reality). Is the reason there is no way to check due to a limitation of the Amazon API?

I am also looking for the ability to query status via Alexa. (Alexa, what is the status of the basement lights?). I am not having any comms issues, I just want to verify if a light has been left on in a given area. Is the lack of status due to a limitation in the Amazon API? If not, is this a feature that could be added?

Working great but I wish I could ask the current setting of a thermostat before deciding what to change it to. At least if you say "raise the kitchen furnace 1 degree" Alexa will respond with the new set point so you know where you are.

I don't like the tone. If I talk to a voice interface I expect it to talk back.

Due to power line interference I ended up placing my PLM on a dedicated outlet about 75 feet from my ISY. I used Cat5e from Home Depot to do the run. It has been working fine with absolutely no issues at all... probably because I didn't know it wasn't supposed to.

I couldn't find a way to retrigger the timer to keep the light on as long as there is motion when the logic was in the Elk so I did it all in ISY. Response time was the same in both configurations when I was testing which way to go.

Sorry I have to disagree with you on that. My family is tired of general purpose devices that do a little of everything but none of them well and are especially tired of app based interfaces that require them to wake up a device and launch an app to do something that should only require a simple button push or voice command. The Nucleus hardware is a lot cheaper than iPads so you can afford to put them throughout the house and is also powered by POE which makes better sense for an intercom devices than iPad style chargers. Also an iPad is really designed to be carried around to different locations which is kind of the opposite of how you use a whole-house intercom system.

I've asked Emily to see if she can get some clarification from the Nucleus CTO.

FYI I got the following reply from Emily at Nucleus: "...I conferred with our CTO about your Universal Devices question: we are integrating with Amazon Alexa AVS and will be able to support the Universal Devices integration via that compatibility. There is a caveat: the current Alexa AVS does yet include the Universal Devices capability but should at some point in the very near future. So Nucleus will be able to be a dashboard for your Universal Devices hub perhaps not in the first iteration of our software but hopefully in the second or third."

Maybe the recent Echo Connected Home integration will help highlight the value of a collaboration with UD.

Now that Echo integration is working so well how about an integration with the Nucleus Smart Home Intercom system? They claim they already work with Insteon (I assume via Smarthome hub) so an ISY integration would make good sense. http://nucleuslife.com/

Solved it. Your point about wireless motion sensors only sending on helped me find the problem. Since alarm motion sensors will transition back to off or secure before the wait statement completes the second program was switching to False before the off command for the lights was executed. Switching the trigger on the second program solved it: If Status '1stMid / FrontHall:Sensor' is ON And Status '1stMid / LivRm:KpdD' is Off Then Wait 30 seconds Set Scene '1stMid / Scene:FHallMotion' Off Else -No Actions- (motion on/off logic is still reversed when using IOLincs) It also works fine now with Elk inputs: If Elk Zone 'Front Hall Mot' is Violated Then Set Scene '1stMid / Scene:FHallMotion' On Else -No Actions- If Elk Zone 'Front Hall Mot' is Normal And Status '1stMid / LivRm:KpdD' is Off Then Wait 30 seconds Set Scene '1stMid / Scene:FHallMotion' Off Else -No Actions- I don't know why it worked before but I probably had it right and then changed it at some point.

I have a pair of simple programs I use to control the lights in my front hall and this has worked great for years but now suddenly they won't time out and shut off. The programs are very simple where the first one turns the light on when motion is detected: If Status '1stMid / FrontHall:Sensor' is Off Then Set Scene '1stMid / Scene:FHallMotion' On Else -No Actions- And the second one waits for the timeout period and shuts the light off unless I have turned on a keypad button that I use to lock the lights on: If Status '1stMid / FrontHall:Sensor' is Off And Status '1stMid / LivRm:KpdD' is Off Then Wait 30 seconds Set Scene '1stMid / Scene:FHallMotion' Off Else -No Actions- Suddenly the off command never executes and I can't figure out why. I verified that all of the links are right in each device and the communications is good because the status is accurate in the admin console. I have two different locations with the exact same problem but I also have several locations using the same program with wireless motion sensors instead of IOLincs and they are still working fine. I did just update to 4.3.26 but I haven't seen any report of a bug that would account for this behavior so I'm not just blaming the firmware. I also tried connecting the motion sensors to Elk zones instead of IOLincs to trigger the programs but I got the exact same issue... the lights go on but never go off. Sometimes I can shut the lights off from the admin console and the programs will cycle correctly exactly one time on and off but the second time the motion is triggered they just stay on. Can anybody see a problem in the programs or something else obvious that I'm just overlooking?