How to get help with some ISY concepts and programming

[whywork]

Hi,

 

I am new to the ISY and this forum. I just purchased an ISY994i with network and weather modules, to use with my Insteon devices (in a weekend cabin) and look forward to the power and flexibility of ISY. In preparation of my move to ISY, I lurked in this forum and am impressed by both ISY support and member contributions. I wish I had gotten an ISY sooner.

 

Some background: I have a 1200 sq ft cabin used on the weekends with devices including a 220 V load controller for the electric hot water heater, Insteon Wireless thermostat, morninglinc door locks, togglelinc for lights, an iolinc for garage door and some appliancelincs for lights and “other†control , plus some indoor and outdoor Insteon motion sensors. I have purchased Mobilinc Pro for my android phone.

 

Now that my ISY994i is up and running, and talking to my ISY devices, I want to put it to work. I did some programming 30 years ago, but would appreciate some pointers, examples/cookbooks or tutorials for ISY. I have reviewed the forum and wiki and there is lots of information, but I have not been able to understand some concepts that seem useful.

 

Examples of what I want to do (this home is mostly used on weekends):

 

• Home and Away Modes

o “Know†when someone is home, Motion Detection, Change in device (turned on or off

Time out - No changes for eight hours – go to away

 

• Home mode

o Friday evening , Turn on hot water heater, Turn on appliancelinc for a few items, Timeout if no-one arrives in eight hours (Change to Away)

 

• Email me

o If the garage door is open for more than an hour after sunset

o If the outside temp, or inside temp go below their own “trigger†temperatures

 

• Be able to query and control a Digital Logger Web Power Switch via HTML

o Turn on an outlet, Know the status of an outlet

o Turn an outlet on/off in accordance with AWAY/HOME status and schedule

 

Here is where I am having problems, I have some basic programs running but before I spend time with programs and scenes I want to know the most efficient way to proceed:

 

• How are the concepts of folders and/or scenes best implemented as related to Home Away?

• What are flags used for, how are they defined in the above scenario?

• Does Control vs Status query matter with wireless motion sensors?

• Should I learn about and understand REST now or can it wait? What does REST stand for?

 

Again, I think ISY is great. However, I find moving from simple concepts/programs to more complex system programming scattered in the forum and wiki.

 

I have read some good examples and how to’s like “bathroom lights with motion sensors†but where are some examples and ideas for home and away?

 

Thanks for your thoughts.

[oberkc]

How are the concepts of folders and/or scenes best implemented as related to Home Away?

 

There are folders for organizing devices, and there are folder for programs. Which are you questioning?

 

Regardless, I like the idea of program folders when you have multiple programs that you want to run under certain conditions. For example, you might have several programs that you would want to run only when home, and several other programs that you would want to run only when away. Programs that you may want only to run when away could include: random lighting, garage door opened notification, front door opened notification, HVAC at reduced levels. Programs that you may want running only when at the cabin are a different set of lighting scenes, garage notification only after one hour after sunset, HVAC at increased levels).

 

I like using scenes (rather than programs) to cause response to local control of Insteon controllers. They are faster and, generally, more reliable. I also like creating multiple scenes for different conditions such as a HOME scene, AWAY scene, GUEST scenes, MOVIE scenes.

 

What are flags used for, how are they defined in the above scenario?

 

Am unfamiliar with the concept of flags in the ISY-994.

 

Does Control vs Status query matter with wireless motion sensors?

 

Control v Status matters for all devices, I dare say. It is important to understand the difference. It affects when programs are triggered, and the results of the evaluation. This is, possibly, the single-most point of confusion with ISY-994 programming.

 

Should I learn about and understand REST now or can it wait? What does REST stand for?

 

I don't know it, so I am pretty confident to say it can wait. I found it interesting that you purchased the network module...why did you do so?

[Xathros]

Oberkc-

 

The network module will be required to control the Digital Loggers Web switch.

 

whywork-

 

The Rest interface is useful for connecting other networked devices and having them query or set variables, scenes, programs and device states in the ISY. For outbound control from the ISY, the network module is what you need.

 

I would recommend that you skip rest for the first month or so then read over the documentation on rest in the developers docs. It will make much more sense after you understand the basics of the ISY first. Rest is very powerful but also quite simple.

 

Flags: I assume you are referring to variables here. I have a few used in my system that are exactly what you are asking about.

 

HomeAway - A state variable. 1=Away, 0=Home

Occpancy - Another state variable. 1=Ocupied, 0=Vacant.

 

HomeAway is manually controlled by via Admin console or Mobilinc. Occupancy is system managed with overrides via admin console or Mobilinc. Occupancy is set to 1 anytime motion is detected, a device is manually operated or when various phones are detected on my wireless network. There is a 15 minute countdown timer that is restarted on any such event. When the timer expires, occupancy is set to 0 and various things happen (set back thermostat, shutdown various appliances, turn off all lights etc.)

 

I generally organize scenes, devices and programs into folders but only rarely use folder conditions as described by oberkc above. Instead, most of my programs that care about home/away/occupied/vacant all refer to the above variables in their IF sections. I do see value in the ability to use folder conditions and I likely will use them more when I get into the irrigation phase of my implementation.

 

Integer Variables vs. State variables: All ISY mvars can contain signed integer values. The only difference between Integer and State is that a state mvar can trigger th evaluation of a program's if section when it's value changes while an integer variable will not trigger an evaluation.

 

Status vs Control: When Status is used in a programs IF section, evaluation will be triggered any time the status of the referenced device changes for whatever reason (Manually controlled, activated by a scene, activated by Mobilinc or the admin console). When Control is used, the program will only be trigged when the specific manual control event occurs. For example:

If Status BedroomLight is On

Will be evaluated whenever the status of BedroomLight changes. If it is changed to 100% on, this IF will evaluate true and run the then section. If it is switched Off or dimmed to anything less than 100%, the program will evaluate false and run the else clause.

If Control BedroomLight is Switched On

Will Trigger only when the Bedroom light switch is manually turned On by the paddle. It will trigger if the light is already on and the switch is pressed On again. It will NOT trigger when the switch if switched off or dimmed or brightened unless you test for those control events too. It will not trigger if the light is turned on from another controller, scene, admin console or Mobilinc.

If Control BedroomLight is Switched On
  or Control BedroomLight is switched Off
  or Control BedroomLight is switched FadeUp

In the above example, the program would run the then clause anytime the Bedroom light switch is turned on, off for held up to brighten. Like above, only manual control at this switch's paddle will be considered control events.

 

If Control BedroomLight is switched On
  and Control BedroomLight is NOT switched Off

Will run the then clause when the the light is switched on and the else clause when the light is switched off - again, only by the local paddle.

 

Hope this helps.

 

-Xathros

[whywork]

Hi,

 

Thanks for the replies.

 

OK now I am beginning to get what folders are good for.

 

Yes, control vs status is tricky, or at least when implemented sloppily cause problems.

 

To answer, network module is for digital logger web switch html control and potential use with global cache ir device.

 

Thanks again.