ISY994iZW - Now or Wait

[cowinger]

Hello, almost newbie here. I have been reading this forum for a while now and I am wondering if it is the right time to buy this unit. I see the things that people post and almost always there are solutions but I am wondering how many of the z-wave devices are actually covered by the latest (current) software. I see where coverage of devices like the multisensors are still in the works so I am hesitant. I use a lot of z-wave devices and I have a box full of Insteon I would like to use also.

 

If anyone can shed some light on just how z-wave compatible this unit is I would appreciate all opinions I can get. thanks

[PurdueGuy]

Which Z-Wave devices?

 

Note: I am running 5.0.7

- Switches work

- Dimmers work

- Multisensors (such as Aeotec MultiSensor, HSM200) work

- Aeotec siren works

- Z-Wave thermostats work

- scene controllers do not work (yet)

 

Note: There are a few issues in 5.0.7 people have experienced.  Luckily, the only one I have experienced is the HSM200 color indicator stopped working (no big deal for me).

[G W]

If you're going to buy, why wait. Buy it now and get started.

 

I'm Gary Funk and I wrote this message.

[cowinger]

Thanks for the replies. I have most of the devices that PurdueGuy mentioned except I haven't tried the door locks and scene controllers yet. I have a bunch of Insteon I can use also. Hopefully soon they will cover the rest.

 

You are right Gary why wait. Why not grow with it.

[G W]

An issue with Z-Wave is there are so many makers and so many half-standards. UDI does its best to make everything work together. And so many devices do not report status.

 

Gary Funk

Merry Christmas

[cowinger]

Yes instant status for z-wave has been an ongoing problem for most. I like the dedication that I see with UDI. They do respond faster than others. Looks like they are willing to implement what ever is necessary to get things to work. Since I am not familiar with UDI yet I assume they have regular and frequent updates? I guess I will never know how well ISY works unless I try it. thanks

[larryllix]

Yes instant status for z-wave has been an ongoing problem for most. I like the dedication that I see with UDI. They do respond faster than others. Looks like they are willing to implement what ever is necessary to get things to work. Since I am not familiar with UDI yet I assume they have regular and frequent updates? I guess I will never know how well ISY works unless I try it. thanks

Yes. v5.0.7 is in alpha state (dirty as it gets)  but so many of us trust UDI's firmware more than most manufacturer's finished software.

 

V5.0.8 was promised before Christmas (with a bow on it, IIRC ) and it won't be adding a lot of features, but rather focusing on clean-up of reported problems. My guess is this version will be a Beta version, to allow lots of feedback, before releasing an "official" version.

 

Welcome to the forum!!

[cowinger]

thanks larryllix, I appreciate the welcome and the reply. Being that you and others have been here a long time and you all trust UDI then I see no reason not to make the move.

[stusviews]

I strongly suggest that you not update to version 5 until you are familiar with the ISY. That's because version 5 is in Alpha testing.

[G W]

I trust UDI fully.

 

Gary Funk

Merry Christmas

[oberkc]

thanks larryllix, I appreciate the welcome and the reply. Being that you and others have been here a long time and you all trust UDI then I see no reason not to make the move.

Good decision.  I have never had a z-wave device not link to the ISY, but have not tried the multi-sensor type devices...all switches and on/off modules.

[cowinger]

thanks stusviews and oberkc. I definitely need to do a lot of trial and error and start with the easier stuff to get the hang of it. This will be quite different after using stand alone software for both z-wave and insteon.

[jtara92101]

Z-Wave is a riser board. You can add it at any time.

 

UDI has a history of generous trade-in offers. It is quite likely they will offer one if they update the Z-wave hardware and you have bought a Z-Wave board or Z-Wave equipped ISY recently. And they are usually generous about what they call "recently". No promises, just my experience.

 

The only thing worth waiting for is the rumored (wink, wink, nudge, nudge!) much-more-powerful ISY that is coming some day, with a much more capable processor. But there is no release date for that, so not something I would wait for right now.

 

And since they have offered trade-in deals for ISY boxes in the past, it is likely they will do so again.

[cowinger]

thanks jtara92101. I will watch for the trade offers. I'm sure that both ISY and the z-wave plug-in module will grow into something quite impressive in the near future. Looking forward to all the things it can do.

[stusviews]

The only thing worth waiting for is the rumored (wink, wink, nudge, nudge!) much-more-powerful ISY that is coming some day, with a much more capable processor. But there is no release date for that, so not something I would wait for right now.

 

Any links to the rumors?

[larryllix]

Any links to the rumors?

I thought you, of all people would have been on the testing send out from the ISY2001, putting the multiple cores to the test with blinds going both directions at the same time.

 

Maybe that wasn't supposed to know in the public yet?

 

 

C.J. rumuoured it about 4 months back.

[G W]

It's more speculation than rumor. Michel and Chris have not said anything specific.

 

I'm Gary Funk and I wrote this message.

[jtara92101]

Any links to the rumors?

 

Search for "wink, wink, nudge, nudge".

 

Wink, wink, nudge, nudge!

 

Yes, it is really more speculation, with Michael nodding his head. Allegedly.

[stusviews]

I'm nodding mine--in the tsk, tsk direction

[larryllix]

Here was some discussion of development happening in the background.

 

http://forum.universal-devices.com/topic/19807-polyglot-docker-image/?p=188146

 

In another thread there was hardware discussion of possibilities they had considered, but I can't find it.

[stusviews]

Seems more to be a future firmware upgrade rather than hardware. There's not much more to guess about.

[jtara92101]

IMO, this takes more than a firmware upgrade. The current hardware is insufficient for what Michael outlined:

 

Michel Kohanim, on 13 Sept 2016 - 07:44 AM, said:

Hello everyone,

Thanks for the feedback. First of all, I do hope that this is not going to end up being yet another heated and passionate discussion about OSs and languages! Well, I take it back. I hope it's heated and passionate as long as it does not end up being ad hominem.

At very high level:
1. Definitely UNIX based and from the BSD family
2. We have already developed and tested a C/C++ layer on top of the OS to ease development, configuration, and communications with hardware resources. Things such as WiFi, Ethernet, Serial, USB, GPIO, I2C, Timers, etc. We have also developed a C++ abstraction layer and management for threads, queues, mutexes, semaphores, condition variables, mail boxes, etc.
3. Polyglot on Python will run as is and "may" use some of the services provided by C/C++ layer
4. Other language bindings will be the same as Python

Last comment: I have no ETA!!!

With kind regards,
Michel

[jtara92101]

As well, in an earlier comment on the same post as above, Michael specifically mentioned that "Sitara processors definitely high on the list". That's an ARM Cortex implementation:

 

http://www.ti.com/lsds/ti/processors/sitara/overview.page

 

The current processor is a pipsqueak in comparison. 

 

Really, there's been much more than wink, wink, nudge, nudge, but some quite specific details, such as potential processors and OS (BSD-based). Of course anything/everything might change between now and then.