xlurkr

Same

I had thought about this, but you guys are really smart, and I bet you can figure out how to do it. Given that many people (I'm one of them) would normally first experience this failure, should it happen again, as a failure of Alexa to work correctly, and that there are so many other reasons why Alexa can fail (and dare I say they're more probable, too), getting a proactive notification would be helpful. And after the restoration, we'd know to relink if it still failed to work, as you suggested above. If there's a third party that can provide the same service, which wouldn't surprise me, please consider that, too. And anyone who reads this, if you know of an existing service I can use to get a notification, please let me (us) know. -Tom

Maybe this is a dumb question, but could you guys set up a separate watchdog computer that pings your own portal (but doesn't depend in any way on it) and send us (if we've opted in to such a thing) an email that the service is down/up? -Tom

Happened to me too. Skill was removed somehow. Had to add it back. -Tom

btw, holiday lights are one place where Insteon (or even X10!) shines (pardon the pun). Plug in the modules, enable the programs you disabled in January, and away you go! No network to heal. Bliss. Unless you have powerline noise. Oh, and LED holiday lights never go entirely off. You need a dummy load. And... Anyway, Insteon rules. Again. -Tom

@macjeff Forgot the port! 8080 worked. Thanks! -Tom

I know the address. Putting it in manually isn't working. -Tom

I also now have the IoX Launcher. It was empty when I launched it. I can't load my old saved file. I was able to add my ISY back by IP address, but I can't get it to find my Polisy. I can get to my Polisy through the portal, by pinging it, and by ssh, but can't get to PG2 or PG3. Direct https access to the correct ports isn't working. I could use some advice. -Tom

A local Craigslister had one for sale for $120 recently. Better sell it soon... -Tom

We're going to assume you are referring to the Insteon situation. -Tom

Thanks for documenting your experience. Very helpful. I also have one of these Zen32 devices. It's controlled by an older ISY with a series 300 dongle, and that combination is badly lacking for scene button functionality, so I don't recommend it. Also, mine has a wonky relay (big) button that often gets stuck in the depressed state if you don't press on it in the very middle. It seems like letting one side get ahead of the others causes that side to bind with the frame. I guess I'd just say that, in general, another weakness of this device compared to the KPL is that button presses are not as "crisp" or "clicky", and I find the experience less satisfactory. -Tom

To be clear, I was referring to the PG2 NS. I have not updated to the PG3 version yet, though I have been following its development. I don't have any expectations for the PG2 version to be developed further, and I don't personally rely on it for anything important. I only chimed in to help Blackbird test PG2 NS functionality in case that would be helpful. I might be one of the few people still running it. -Tom

I should have added that I was at work last week and checked my personal email, saw that the ZMatter board upgrade was available, and instantly ordered one. If they have serial #s, mine will be in the single digits. -Tom

I gotta say, after sinking untold dollars into innumerable other home automation products that have given me zero ROI, I am now at the point that I preorder everything Michel has to offer. I'd probably send him cash for nothing if he asked for it. He's offering to credit you if you ordered the Zooz dongle from him? You have got to be kidding me! I bought mine from Amazon, so I'm not eligible, but I'm not angry or jealous, I'm just...impressed. There is no other company I can think of that respects their customers as much as this one does. -Tom

I've been caught by 8 vs B before, so check that. -Tom

Maybe I missed it, but has anyone documented how to upgrade to the point where the "Upgrade Packages" button shows up, if you don't have it already? -Tom

I'm still running the PG2 node server on Polisy. It's definitely functional and usable, but isn't 100% feature complete compared to the ELK module on the 994i. If you want me to look up or test something for you, I'd be happy to. But I'd just go straight to the PG3 version if I were you. -Tom

Louder than all get out though. -Tom

One is an accident. Two is a habit. Three is an obsession. -Tom

I actually thought about doing this. If you linked a remote directly to it, not through the ISY, it would be useful. I needed a solution my wife could do in my absence, and after trying "Install this app on your phone just so you can reboot the ISY with this WiFi relay, and that's all it's for" and hearing "I'm not going to do that", it occurred to me that she's comfortable using the Insteon remotes, so I'd have more luck dedicating one for this purpose. But that's expensive, and I'm lazy, so I never implemented such a reboot solution. or any other for that matter. Instead, I make her get on a ladder and power cycle it if I think that will fix whatever problem she's having. Which it never does, btw. It's always something else. -Tom

MMDV (My Mileage Does Vary?) My wife LOVES the voice commands. I prefer buttons, esp. when they do more than one thing (like pause DVR = turn light on dim, play = turn lights off). I think it's still hard to get the voice assistants to do multiple actions like this, but honestly I haven't looked into it a lot. And, like many, I prefer cloud independence. -Tom

No, I haven't, and I haven't made changes to the MSC programming in years. I still have the XP laptop and software, so I should be able to, but who knows when it will fail to run one day. I got lucky and was able to download and install the Total Control software before they locked it down, and I've been using those remotes and controllers ever since. I'm note sure whose fully programmable remotes and controllers a DIYer could start with or move to today. If RemoteCentral is still active, maybe you could find out over there. -Tom

I've used MX-980 remotes mostly, with some KP-900s. The KPs eat batteries fast, so I only have a few in key places to pause the DVR and mute and adjust the audio as needed, and leave the backlighting off. -Tom

I realize this might be a bit confusing. The MSC400 can be programmed to send any RS232 message you want, based on what remote key is pressed, to the serial port of the computer running CQC. It has been trained to listen for it, and issues whatever commands you define in response to receiving the right message. That can be by manipulating devices known to its ISY driver, or by REST commands to the ISY. The latter case is needed to invoke scenes on the ISY, if I remember correctly, because the driver is not scene-aware, only device-aware. Because this setup uses an RF remote, and a wired connection to CQC, it's directionless, relatively long-range, fast, and reliable. But CQC is somewhat obtuse. It's mostly mouse clicks and dialog boxes to configure it, but its vibe isn't super intuitive. -Tom

CQC = Charmed Quark Controller. Used to be pay, but is now free. It's a little like Home Assistant in its versatility, but only runs on Windows. It handles IR, serial, and IP inputs. You train it by repeating the input several times, and link the input to an action, which can be just about anything. There's an ISY driver, too, and I realized after posting that I use the driver rather than REST for ISY control for one of these routes, or both; I forget. But it's complicated. That's part of the "took me forever" story. Happy to help if you want to try it, though. -Tom