Move to v5 beta from 4.5.x stable? Does it hurt?

[Steven M Castano]

So I'm really interested and getting some stuff running with Polyglot, and potentially even developing some plugin/modules for it as well, but from what I can understand from reading, it only works on ISYs running v5.0.2 or higher, right?

 

Right now my entire home automation control basically revolves around my ISY controller. Proximity detection, heating/ac control, security, locks, even controlling thing polyglot already covers, most importantly philips hue lights... but like a lot of other folks here my network resources list has become HUGE and almost unmanageable and I'm having to make certain sacrifices in controlling things the way I want just to keep the list and the number of programs to a reasonable level.... hence my interest in moving to Polyglot to handle those things.

 

So, the question at hand is... how stable IS v5 of the firmware and is there anything I should know before upgrading? Will anything big be changing? Especially anything with the API since that's how I have HomeKit for my iOS devices and all my Amazon Echo's integrated. I'd hate to break that functionality.

[larryllix]

I wouldn't have missed an hour of V5.0.4 but I have no Z-wave and apparently that is a deal breaker for many.

[MWareman]

Get a second ISY...

[Steven M Castano]

Ok, so no Z-Wave isn't a problem for me either, I'm not using it either.

 

@MWareman, is it that rough? Will I really be creating problems for myself by switching?

[larryllix]

Ok, so no Z-Wave isn't a problem for me either, I'm not using it either.

 

@MWareman, is it that rough? Will I really be creating problems for myself by switching?

You won't even know you switched.

Unfortunately you won't appreciate not having decimal values and math, Repeat While constructs, comment lines, faster program processing, and many other advance features from v2-4

[Steven M Castano]

You won't even know you switched.

Unfortunately you won't appreciate not having decimal values and math, Repeat While constructs, comment lines, faster program processing, and many other advance features from v2-4

Well ok, that's good to know... maybe that will be tonight's project then. As long as my current integrations still work I'm all set.

 

As for the decimal values, match, while loops, etc... do you mean that stuff is NOT in v5, or it *IS* in v5?? Because I would LOVE all of those things!! My iCloud proximity script would get even that much more accurate, I'd be able to add light levels/variables together and control other devices, read temps better, etc...

 

Right now I basically filled all of that stuff in by writing a python app with a web interface/api of it's own... so I have a few network resources that do things like matching brightness on philips hue devices... for instance, I have one script that works like this:

 

In my living room, when I turn on a lamp connected to a keypad linc in an enclosure sitting on an end table, I have a program that watches the switch, anytime the switch is pressed on, off, fast on, fast off, dim, brightened, etc... it triggers a network resource that makes a call out to my "processing script" like http://myscript.athome.com/api/light/livingroom which triggers the script to then hit the ISY API and read the current brightness of that dimmer for the next 30 second, reading it 4 times a second, converting the math over to the right brightness value to match and hitting the Hue API to control a group a lights across the room.

 

If I had better math, loops, variables, etc... I might be able to do that in the ISY without the external calls. That would be awesome!

[larryllix]

V5 has the features.

 

Three things you should know.

- Backup

- Backup before

- Backup after

[Steven M Castano]

V5 has the features.

 

Three things you should know.

- Backup

- Backup before

- Backup after

That's awesome... in that case, i can't wait to try it!!!

 

As for the backup advice... noted and for sure it will be done. I'm super anal about it anyway. I take a backup every time I log in to change basially anything. I think I have my entire 3 - 4 years of ISY backup zip files sitting here all the way back to my first 4 devices and 2 scenes! hahaha

[larryllix]

Only takes about 5-10 minutes and will last you a lifetime,

 

...and for only pennies per day!

[arw01]

I thought we had to redo some node names etc in the programs, is that not the case anymore fellows making the leap to the high capabilities?

 

No zwave here either, someday get some zwave deadbolts, but those will require repeaters and a few other items to make it to where my isy994 lives.

[paulbates]

I wouldn't have missed an hour of V5.0.4 but I have no Z-wave and apparently that is a deal breaker for many.

 

Steven-

 

Agree with Larry. I'm an Insteon only user and have been on V5 since last November.  Go to 5.04 and plan on staying there until the upcoming zwave changes are made and "shaken out"... eg Do not upgrade to 5.05 when its released.

 

There are a few little bugs but they are livable.. You'll get some error messages starting the admin console. They can be ignored. Also, there are the Control, Status statements in programs.. and Control (old) and Status (old).. Some devices with multiple controllers in them like keypads and EZ Floras need to use the (Old) version.

 

Someday that will be fixed, for now use the (old) versions and move on.. No performance impact, and this kind of thing is expected in the beta. I would migrate to 5.04 and backup as Larry stated. Let programs stay the way they were, then start making changes slowly and make backups.

 

There are new features and nodeservers, these capabilities more than outweigh the few little things to be addressed.

 

Paul