xlurkr

Is there any chance that your 994i was using a 2412S PLM? When I switched to a 2413S in my main house years ago I noticed that its receive sensitivity was way lower. I had experiences just like yours. But I didn't care too much because I didn't rely on X10 at the time; I was just experimenting. I just checked with my 2413U connected to my Polisy here in my apartment (different location and setup) and I can turn A1 on and off with my Elk, and see the status correctly reflected on the Polisy. My Elk is using an XTB-IIR as the interface. I can look at the logs if you want, but I can't imagine there isn't an entry for each X10 event. -Tom

Don't shoot the messenger if I'm wrong, but C's and 0's look alike, as do 3's and 5's if you're in a hurry, tired, or frustrated. None are as bad as B's and 8's or D's and 0's. Hopefully some will respond soon with something more useful. -Tom

History repeats itself. The pioneers used to do this on Stargate, HAI, Elk... The Stargate could make announcements over Panasonic business phones that were once commonly installed in high-end homes. Even (or especially) in bathrooms. -Tom

Put another way, UDI has done a great job of abstracting the links database design of Insteon, which I think is the protocol's greatest strength. Drag 'n drop, set controller/responder, level, etc., and it's all very graphical. Insteon's protocol is what allows scenes to function in the absence of any separate controller, and completely avoids the popcorn effect. Programming on the ISY is good, but probably not better than other solutions. Support of other protocols like Z-Wave is OK, but they don't fit into the link-centric paradigm of the ISY, and UDI is too small to add them all natively, so you end up relying on nodeservers if you have a lot of different protocols. As I'm diversifying, I'm looking to HA to tie multiple protocols together, but I think I'll always use ISY to manage Insteon, no matter what the "uber" controller is. To me it's worth the extra expense over the PLM alone. I'm doing a similar thing with Hubitat and Lutron. Nobody manages Lutron better. -Tom

Thanks, but I'm not looking to do anything I can't do already; I'm just trying to contribute. Since you've used Insteon on an ISY, I think you know what I'm talking about. I have a switch at the top of my stairs that I can double-click off and it turns off all the lights downstairs. I set it up on the ISY, which was really easy to do, and since it created all the controller and responder links in the devices, it still works if the ISY is unreachable for whatever reason. I have a lot of Insteon devices in my home that do these sorts of things, and I've reused the scenes with multiple controller devices after creating them. Again, the ISY made setting this up easy. I'm not sure how one would set it all up with HA and Insteon with just the PLM. Maybe it's easy; I just don't know. I'm also not too surprised you found it easier to get your Z-Wave fob working in HA. I haven't found the ISY to be the best solution for Z-Wave, but for Insteon, I think it's unbeatable. -Tom

Do any of these allow you to easily set up scenes like the ISY can? That's what I can't figure out. If I want to make a double-click off on a switch turn off all the lights in a room, or in the house, can I easily set that up? I'm sure it can be done by programming, but in HA can I easily create a scene so all the lights change at once, and it works even if HA isn't responding? This is the part I don't understand. -Tom

Not an expert, but from what I can see HA expects you to use something (like the Insteon Hub) to manage links. There's nothing better at link management than ISY. Definitely worth the pain of Java, in my opinion. -Tom

I’m currently using both - Alexa at home and Google in my remote job apartment. I agree with @bmercier. You can read about one of my Google frustrations in the Google forum. That forum only gets about one post a month on average, and not a lot of responses. Not stated in there is that I get relatively frequent (maybe 1 out of 10 or 20 times) responses of “Something went wrong. Try again in a few seconds”, or no response at all. -Tom

Revisiting in a rare moment of spare time. I currently have an Insteon open/close sensor on the entryway closet door triggering an Insteon Appliancelinc with nothing plugged into it, and its state triggers a Google Home routine that turns on/off the entryway light that is controlled by the SmartRent app via Z-Wave. It's working about as well as you'd expect - like dog poo. Has anyone found a good, cheap sensor for triggering open/close events for use in Google Home routines, or even better, found a way to trigger Google Home routines with Insteon sensors? -Tom

Last night I finished the training for RA3 and downloaded the Designer software. Sure enough, it still lacks sophisticated logic programming. -Tom

I can imagine an installer would typically propose this, if most or all of the gear in place is compatible with the RA3 processor. But you could probably also insist on the installer only adding new ClearConnect Type X devices (if any) to the RA3 processor. I'm not sure that would buy you anything, though, if you want to automate it all with a single solution. btw, I don't have any experience with the RA3 processor or the software to program on it, so everything I'm saying with any certainty pertains to RA2, its repeater, and Inclusive software. -Tom

Lutron's software offers few options for automation. They have timeclocks and vacation/holiday modes and motion sensors and garage opener controllers, but that's about it. That's why everybody controls it with another hub or software solution, or at least voice assistants, which increasingly have their own automation. -Tom

I'd bet that Home Assistant can also support multiple Lutron repeaters, just like Hubitat can. If so, you could support your existing RA2 (even beyond 200; that limit is for two (max) repeaters in the Lutron software) and add everything new as RA3. -Tom

I'm not a pro, but I do have a suggestion. If you want a good DIY solution for controlling your Lutron lighting, I can heartily recommend adding a Hubitat hub. It's only about $150, has no mandatory recurring fees, and can be 100% local after setup if you want. A couple of its developers have DIY Lutron RA2 lighting in their own houses, so they've added a lot of great functionality for it. And there's a nodeserver for Hubitat that will allow you to bring everything into ISY as nodes, so you can automate things the way you're used to. The Hubitat can also support multiple hubs and can therefore mix and match RA2 and Caseta devices. The only caveat is that Hubitat, like most smaller players, doesn't have access to the LEAP security in the new RA3 hub. Some others do, like Home Assistant, but I think it's based on a reverse-engineering of LEAP that could break at some point? Not sure. -Tom

I have a really old dimmer and a really old thermostat and neither work. Just letting you know you're not alone. I would bet most newer devices do work, but I don't own any. -Tom

This is my observation, too. ElkRP blocks, but multiple simultaneous connections from other apps are possible. I've got the NS and HA connected atm. -Tom

vbPhil showed the safest way (which I did not know about. Thanks!) The way I do it is to ssh in and run uname -a My Polisy Pro is still at 13.1 Which is another not great thing that I documented earlier. When I attempted the update for the second and third times I got a message informing me that it was going to update FreeBSD from 13.1 to 13.2, which Michel had earlier stated had been backed out of the update for the Polisy. That both confused and scared me. All is OK now though. -Tom

Last night. And someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but you shouldn't need to clear the cache before upgrading. You need to do so afterwards and load the latest AC, which has been well documented before. I did that, but still had lots of problems. I think the second power cycle is what made the difference for me, but we'll never know for sure. -Tom

Just got home. Cleared the Java cache, downloaded and launched start, launched the AC, and all is good on my Polisy Pro 5.7.0 -Tom

Do you mean do it again? I did it once, at the beginning of this saga. The AC I launch now says it's 5.70, as does my firmware. -Tom

I hope I'm not out of line for posting this, but I'd advise Polisy owners to wait. The first time I tried it yesterday I got something similar to what's described above: it said the version was still 5.64. And after the Jave cache clearing it dished up an AC that wouldn't connect, because it was newer than the firmware version - a first for me. I tried again, and this time it told me it was going to update FreeBSD, and it would take a long time - which probably wasn't really going to happen, based on Michel's earlier post. But what it did do was return with an infinitely repeating "Initializing" gauge (I forget the exact wording). All devices were still present, but none would respond - nor would NS's - and all my programs were missing. I power cycled and kept getting the same behavior. I let it run overnight and saw the same behavior this morning. So I power cycled again this morning, and when I left for work, it appeared to have recovered somewhat based on some programs working and UD Mobile working. I was afraid to launch the AC, but I will when I get home. First time I've ever had a problem this bad with anything UDI. -Tom

I know one that doesn't work: GE/Jasco 45852. I'd report this in a thread for non-working Zigbee devices, but I don't think there is one. If I cared enough about making it work, I'd log a ticket. -Tom

Rebooting did it. Thanks @Geddy! Doesn't recognize my GE Zigbee plugin dimmer, though. More troubleshooting ahead. -Tom

OK, I'll try the power cycle. I forgot to mention that Z-Wave is still working, and I've never had a problem with it. -Tom

Anyone know how to fix this? Polisy with an internal ZMatter board. -Tom