allow more than one weather station definition

[502ss]

My thought was that to make the weather integration a bit more reliable it would be nice to be able to define a primary and secondary weather station. The ISY would only switch to the secondary if the last update time from the primary is more than a user set limit (lets say 6 hours)

 

The reasons I am asking for this:

 

In the area where I live most of the PWS stations that are close to my house are of course weather stations that the general public have installed and connected to the internet. Well sometimes these devices go offline for a day or two (for one reason or another). When this happens it of course breaks all programs relying on that data. If the ISY would fail over to the secondary station in the event that it hasn't received an update from the primary then that would double the reliability of any weather based program! A bonus would be that the ISY would tell you that it had to switch to the backup and even better is if it kept checking the primary for an update and once received it would switch back to the primary!

 

Thanks

Jim

 

 

 

 

[Teken]

+1

 

But if you're going to ask for the brass ring you might as well ask for the moon. I would humbly suggest the weather module have the ability to fail over to two separate weather stations. As you correctly noted many of the PWS will either show limited data to offering unreliable service.

 

What I suggest at a high level is using one of the Government sites as the primary. They have always proven to be very reliable in terms of up time for me like the air port. The secondary and tier-chary stations can be what ever PWS you deem the most reliable. Upon the user defined monitoring interval should the primary fail to report in it would fail over to the 2nd / 3rd.

 

I am a true believer in the adage: One is none - Two is one

 

Great idea 502ss . . . 

[Michel Kohanim]

Hello Jim,

 

Thanks so very much for the feedback. With 5.0.x and node servers, anyone can define any type of integration with any type of weather station (they can become nodes in ISY with properties, status, etc.).

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[502ss]

Hello Jim,Thanks so very much for the feedback. With 5.0.x and node servers, anyone can define any type of integration with any type of weather station (they can become nodes in ISY with properties, status, etc.).With kind regards,Michel

Thanks for the response Michel, so the question I know you have been asked a million times, when will 5.0.x be available. It seems to be the most talked about topic on this forum for a long while but my understanding is it's only beta. Any idea on general release? I rely far too much on my ISY and my overall HA to risk an unstable beta environment.

 

Thanks

Jim

[Teken]

Thanks for the response Michel, so the question I know you have been asked a million times, when will 5.0.x be available. It seems to be the most talked about topic on this forum for a long while but my understanding is it's only beta. Any idea on general release? I rely far too much on my ISY and my overall HA to risk an unstable beta environment.

 

Thanks

Jim

 

Hello Jim,

 

5.XX is still currently in Alpha release and the team is pushing hard to have a solid 5.XX Beta in the New Year. Like you, having a 5.XX RC or Official 5.XX firmware would be the ideal for everyone. Having said this, over the years the Beta releases offered by UDI has proven to be more stable then most other third party software vendors I've seen.

 

Given 2016 is near its end my hopes are a solid 5.XX Beta will be introduced in 2017. Which I and many others can finally take part and utilize those new found features.

 

Having said all of this on a quick tangent I would like to bring to your attention this fantastic IndiGoGo project: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/weatherflow-smart-weather-stations#/

 

Unlike many other start ups this is actually a fully operational company which has been in business for more than ten years. They actually sell and produce hardware & software which is used by Consumers, Enterprise, and Government. Their campaign is open ended so anyone can still join and receive the crowd funding discount.

 

I can tell you from personal experience having dealt with this company from middle management and top leadership. The Weather Flow company is direct, honest, talented, and extremely capable in all aspects of R&D. I bring this product to your attention because unlike many of *Me Too* crowd that insist upon cloud only solutions. This company is going to offer a open API with multiple sending methods to all of the top cloud hosted services.

 

Along with tight integration to some of the most popular services and hardware from Amazon Echo, IFTTT, etc. The most important aspect for me is at some point having the ability to use the 5.XX Node Server model to push hyper local weather data to the ISY Series Controller with out the constraints of other PWS etc.

 

MY long term goals are to utilize both the weather module that is native with the ISY Series Controller and prop up a PWS via Node Server to have the best of both worlds.

 

Thoughts? 

[Scottmichaelj]

Thanks for the response Michel, so the question I know you have been asked a million times, when will 5.0.x be available. It seems to be the most talked about topic on this forum for a long while but my understanding is it's only beta. Any idea on general release? I rely far too much on my ISY and my overall HA to risk an unstable beta environment.

 

Thanks

Jim

I too agree and am waiting to see how weatherflow turns out before investing my money. I think the response of node servers for weather nodes and having to wait for v5 to be stable is a bit of a pushoff knowing it won't happen anytime soon.

[Teken]

I too agree and am waiting to see how weatherflow turns out before investing my money. I think the response of node servers for weather nodes and having to wait for v5 to be stable is a bit of a pushoff knowing it won't happen anytime soon.

 

I gather no one will truly know until 2017 arrives and a stable 5.XX Beta is in the hands of the many. Having waited more than two years for this moment to come I am optimistic in what the future holds. Since I have never delved into the node server arena I expect to see some growing pains.

 

I feel at this juncture there are more choices on the table for all of us when compared to the past. Mid term goals are to work with the fantastic people (Ben & Paul) at Brultech to facilitate direct integration of the Weather Flow Air & Sky to the Dash Box (DB).

 

Doing so will offer once again a relay method to transpose and send *State Variables* from the DB to the ISY Series Controller. At some point the official API for REST / Web Sockets will be released where that native data can be sent directly to the ISY Series Controller with out the aid of middleware such as the DB.

 

2017 will surely bring many of us weather opportunities not available in the past.

 

Merry X-MAS Negative Nancy! 

[Scottmichaelj]

Merry X-MAS Negative Nancy!

Maybe Debbie Downer? Just being realistic. It took this long for v5 and is not out of Alpha yet. Even with v5a there no additional weather nodes out yet so it would still also depend on someone making and releasing one. Is UDI going to do that or is it up to an external dev? None of these questions have been answered, just floated out there as a half *** answer.

[Michel Kohanim]

Scott,

 

Perhaps I was not clear: you might be correct that a finished product (like our existing climate module) might not be imminent from UDI BUT, with 5.0.8, anyone with Polyglot knowledge can create Weather Station nodes right NOW. You really do not have to wait for us. In short, the beauty of 5.0.8 is that you can create nodes for anything you like without depending on updated firmware and/or testing, etc.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[Techman]

My thought was that to make the weather integration a bit more reliable it would be nice to be able to define a primary and secondary weather station. The ISY would only switch to the secondary if the last update time from the primary is more than a user set limit (lets say 6 hours)

 

The reasons I am asking for this:

 

In the area where I live most of the PWS stations that are close to my house are of course weather stations that the general public have installed and connected to the internet. Well sometimes these devices go offline for a day or two (for one reason or another). When this happens it of course breaks all programs relying on that data. If the ISY would fail over to the secondary station in the event that it hasn't received an update from the primary then that would double the reliability of any weather based program! A bonus would be that the ISY would tell you that it had to switch to the backup and even better is if it kept checking the primary for an update and once received it would switch back to the primary!

 

Thanks

Jim

 

Jim

 

You might want to try using the FAA weather station at Manchester Airport which shouldn't be that far away from you and much more reliable than a PWS.

I haven't checked it out in detail but it should be sending detailed data 24/7

[502ss]

Thank you all for the replies. I have done a bit of digging and think I get use weather underground's API on my pi to collect current weather conditions from the 3-4 closest PWS stations and then consolidate the data and pass some variables to the ISY. This should get me the accuracy I am looking for! I look forward to a stable 5.x with polyglot integration as it sounds to bring a ton of flexibility and functionality. I will admit, I have seen a lot of discussions about polyglot but haven't really dug into its level of involvement (guess I better!)

 

Question for all, when will a stable version of 5x with polyglot functionality be available? Maybe it's already out?

 

Thanks

Jim

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi Jim,

 

Polyglot is quite stable and 5.0.8 with Polyglot is also OK (but still alpha). I have been using 5.0.x/Polyglot to communicate with our Outback inverter for over 6 months now. The only issue was Polyglot running out of log space which was fixed. In short, if you are comfortable with use Pi and Python (or Node.JS), I strongly recommend using Polyglot instead of using and updating variables.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[Scottmichaelj]

Scott,

 

Perhaps I was not clear: you might be correct that a finished product (like our existing climate module) might not be imminent from UDI BUT, with 5.0.8, anyone with Polyglot knowledge can create Weather Station nodes right NOW. You really do not have to wait for us. In short, the beauty of 5.0.8 is that you can create nodes for anything you like without depending on updated firmware and/or testing, etc.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

Michel that's all fine but some of us don't want to play around with another Node, learn Polygot and dev. We just want a backup weather station so if the first one goes down we have a backup. I don't want to deal with Polygot or add a RPi to my system.

[Teken]

On a high level:

 

My belief is part of the conversation should focus upon how to make some of the advanced features more user friendly. I've probably discussed and blogged about this specific topic at length for what seems like forever. The primary reason we see such a fast adoption rate in controllers like Smartthings, Wink, Insteon HUB (Insert any cloud based brand) is the ease of doing so.

 

Again, for the purpose of this discussion the following reply does not pertain to the basic capabilities of the ISY Series Controller. Whether it be for adding, deleting, scene creation, because we know this but that isn't why the bulk of the user(s) purchased the ISY Series Controller.

 

It was for the extremely powerful conditional logic engine . . .

 

It goes with out saying with the addition of the Network Module / ISY Web Portal this has extended the ISY's reach, control, and integration. Whether that be to services like IFTTT, Amazon Echo, Smart Energy Group, what ever. UDI over the years has offered much of the frame work to allow many of us to take advantage of other third party integration whether that be node servers for energy, voice, TSTAT, Audio / Visual, etc.

 

But as many have said in the past the company must invest the time to make some of these advanced features more user friendly where it requires only a few attributes to be set up and populated.

 

I know personally this community has an extremely vast and varied population in terms of technical knowledge, capability, to education.

 

Its safe to say there is also a large percentage of the population which really want to see prepackaged offerings from UDI. I've discussed this in the past as not only a means of marketing but a direct selling point which helps increase sales of the product. That is including all the packages for basic node servers for energy, TSTAT, Audio / Visual, etc.

 

Some of the most popular ones are for Sonos . . .

 

Simply offering this prepackage module allows those who don't want yet another *Time Suck* can just populate the required resources from IP address, Password, User Name, what ever. Others would be for popular TSTAT's the community has gravitated to such as EcoBee, Honeywell, Venstar, Nest, etc.

 

Having these smaller modules preconfigured would yet again offer the company another revenue stream.

 

Let's be honest once you purchase the ISY Series Controller and what ever module(s) the company makes absolutely no follow through sales or steady income. I know Michel struggled with creating the ISY Web Portal because inherently he too isn't a fan of subscription based services.

 

But everyone has to agree that creating a cloud hosted service to connect to other cloud based *Things* has paid off in spades.

 

It has allowed the company to integrate with two of the most popular services in the free world: Amazon Echo, IFTTT

 

In the past Z-Wave was very much not on the table or even going to be entertained for integration. Fast forward 2016 Z-Wave is one of the major pillars in the ISY Series Controller. This again has done what for the company and the community as a whole?

 

It has open the door to tens of millions of customers who simply crossed the ISY Series Controller from their HA list.

 

Not supporting one of the most used Home Automation protocols such as Z-Wave completely eliminated the ISY Series Controller from tens of millions of potential buyers. Taking on Z-Wave development also protects the company from single vendor model of Insteon.

 

So how do I tie all of the above together?

 

The company has slowly begun to include support for *Things* which are popular, market adopted, and very much a revenue makers so long as its properly supported and easy to implement for the end user(s). Speaking for myself only I love to learn and believe many of us on this forum and many others share the same. But there are many times I truly don't want to learn yet another *Thing* just to connect to a *Thing*.

 

I've stated this many times and often times what I have stated is taken out of context but what I have said is really the facts. There are a large percentage of people who have zero ambition, skill, or the knowledge to complete any of the tasks for integrating nodes, polyglot, what ever.

 

Part is being lazy, part is being too busy, part is I don't care to learn yet another *Thing*.

 

So my humble suggestion is offer either a complete module and ask something in the range if $10-35.XX similar to any other module. Or have a software package that can be downloaded and requires a minimal amount of user configuration. Doing so not only speeds adoption but ensures revenue streams you were never going to get otherwise.

 

With respect to the OP's request to have the ability to connect 1-2 more weather stations this is yet another money maker. Yes, lets be frank and honest here businesses are created to make money while offering the end user something they see value in. I would encourage the entire UDI team to sit down in 2017 and discuss what can be done to accomplish what the OP and many others on the side lines would love to see happen.

 

I truly believe companies like UDI should be rewarded financially for the never ending development of the ISY Series Controller which has continued to offer me and tens of thousands of others return on their investment.

 

BULLET POINTS:

 

- Offer a premium weather module which allows a person to connect to three separate weather stations as a means of fail over and more accuracy. The person should have the ability to define the fail over threshold. The fail over weather stations should include PWS stations and not just known cloud hosted services.

 

- Offer value add module integration for Sonos, Venstar, Honeywell, Nest, Name who ever. These mini modules should be offered either as a add on via the *Purchase Modules* which range from $10-35.XX. To offering prepackaged solution that can be downloaded into a RPi. This option simply requires the image to be ported and loaded to the hardware and basic parameters set. This downloadable package should range in price from $5-25.XX.

 

- Market: A concerted effort must be made to highlight the ISY Series Controllers ability to integrate to popular hardware  / services: Amazon Echo, IFTTT, Nest, Sonos, Venstar, Honeywell, Push Bullet, who ever. Consumers have an attention span of a squirrel and thus look for key phrases *Works With / Connects With / Integrates With / Supported With etc.

 

Lets market the ISY Series Controller to masses as the cross sale and revenue stream will help the company hire and retask resources for more development and complete the endless *To Do List.

 

CLOSING REMARKS:

 

UDI has taken measured risks over the last 24 months which I truly believe has increased awareness, adoption, sales, and increased revenue. I ask the company to do the very same in 2017 and consider what can happen (IF) any of the above suggestions were to be implemented. 

 

I highly suspect taking the time to develop mini modules or down loadable images for the RPi will push the ISY Series Controller from the few die hard to the mass adopted public.

 

Nobody wants or expects the ISY Series Controller to be the *Jack of all trades - Master of none* but a concerted effort needs to be placed to accept *Popular Sells* and continues to saturate the market like head lice.

 

Please consider all of the above as nothing great ever happen with out Risk(s). 

[502ss]

On a high level:

 

My belief is part of the conversation should focus upon how to make some of the advanced features more user friendly. I've probably discussed and blogged about this specific topic at length for what seems like forever. The primary reason we see such a fast adoption rate in controllers like Smartthings, Wink, Insteon HUB (Insert any cloud based brand) is the ease of doing so.

 

Again, for the purpose of this discussion the following reply does not pertain to the basic capabilities of the ISY Series Controller. Whether it be for adding, deleting, scene creation, because we know this but that isn't why the bulk of the user(s) purchased the ISY Series Controller.

 

It was for the extremely powerful conditional logic engine . . .

 

It goes with out saying with the addition of the Network Module / ISY Web Portal this has extended the ISY's reach, control, and integration. Whether that be to services like IFTTT, Amazon Echo, Smart Energy Group, what ever. UDI over the years has offered much of the frame work to allow many of us to take advantage of other third party integration whether that be node servers for energy, voice, TSTAT, Audio / Visual, etc.

 

But as many have said in the past the company must invest the time to make some of these advanced features more user friendly where it requires only a few attributes to be set up and populated.

 

I know personally this community has an extremely vast and varied population in terms of technical knowledge, capability, to education.

 

Its safe to say there is also a large percentage of the population which really want to see prepackaged offerings from UDI. I've discussed this in the past as not only a means of marketing but a direct selling point which helps increase sales of the product. That is including all the packages for basic node servers for energy, TSTAT, Audio / Visual, etc.

 

Some of the most popular ones are for Sonos . . .

 

Simply offering this prepackage module allows those who don't want yet another *Time Suck* can just populate the required resources from IP address, Password, User Name, what ever. Others would be for popular TSTAT's the community has gravitated to such as EcoBee, Honeywell, Venstar, Nest, etc.

 

Having these smaller modules preconfigured would yet again offer the company another revenue stream.

 

Let's be honest once you purchase the ISY Series Controller and what ever module(s) the company makes absolutely no follow through sales or steady income. I know Michel struggled with creating the ISY Web Portal because inherently he too isn't a fan of subscription based services.

 

But everyone has to agree that creating a cloud hosted service to connect to other cloud based *Things* has paid off in spades.

 

It has allowed the company to integrate with two of the most popular services in the free world: Amazon Echo, IFTTT

 

In the past Z-Wave was very much not on the table or even going to be entertained for integration. Fast forward 2016 Z-Wave is one of the major pillars in the ISY Series Controller. This again has done what for the company and the community as a whole?

 

It has open the door to tens of millions of customers who simply crossed the ISY Series Controller from their HA list.

 

Not supporting one of the most used Home Automation protocols such as Z-Wave completely eliminated the ISY Series Controller from tens of millions of potential buyers. Taking on Z-Wave development also protects the company from single vendor model of Insteon.

 

So how do I tie all of the above together?

 

The company has slowly begun to include support for *Things* which are popular, market adopted, and very much a revenue makers so long as its properly supported and easy to implement for the end user(s). Speaking for myself only I love to learn and believe many of us on this forum and many others share the same. But there are many times I truly don't want to learn yet another *Thing* just to connect to a *Thing*.

 

I've stated this many times and often times what I have stated is taken out of context but what I have said is really the facts. There are a large percentage of people who have zero ambition, skill, or the knowledge to complete any of the tasks for integrating nodes, polyglot, what ever.

 

Part is being lazy, part is being too busy, part is I don't care to learn yet another *Thing*.

 

So my humble suggestion is offer either a complete module and ask something in the range if $10-35.XX similar to any other module. Or have a software package that can be downloaded and requires a minimal amount of user configuration. Doing so not only speeds adoption but ensures revenue streams you were never going to get otherwise.

 

With respect to the OP's request to have the ability to connect 1-2 more weather stations this is yet another money maker. Yes, lets be frank and honest here businesses are created to make money while offering the end user something they see value in. I would encourage the entire UDI team to sit down in 2017 and discuss what can be done to accomplish what the OP and many others on the side lines would love to see happen.

 

I truly believe companies like UDI should be rewarded financially for the never ending development of the ISY Series Controller which has continued to offer me and tens of thousands of others return on their investment.

 

BULLET POINTS:

 

- Offer a premium weather module which allows a person to connect to three separate weather stations as a means of fail over and more accuracy. The person should have the ability to define the fail over threshold. The fail over weather stations should include PWS stations and not just known cloud hosted services.

 

- Offer value add module integration for Sonos, Venstar, Honeywell, Nest, Name who ever. These mini modules should be offered either as a add on via the *Purchase Modules* which range from $10-35.XX. To offering prepackaged solution that can be downloaded into a RPi. This option simply requires the image to be ported and loaded to the hardware and basic parameters set. This downloadable package should range in price from $5-25.XX.

 

- Market: A concerted effort must be made to highlight the ISY Series Controllers ability to integrate to popular hardware  / services: Amazon Echo, IFTTT, Nest, Sonos, Venstar, Honeywell, Push Bullet, who ever. Consumers have an attention span of a squirrel and thus look for key phrases *Works With / Connects With / Integrates With / Supported With etc.

 

Lets market the ISY Series Controller to masses as the cross sale and revenue stream will help the company hire and retask resources for more development and complete the endless *To Do List.

 

CLOSING REMARKS:

 

UDI has taken measured risks over the last 24 months which I truly believe has increased awareness, adoption, sales, and increased revenue. I ask the company to do the very same in 2017 and consider what can happen (IF) any of the above suggestions were to be implemented. 

 

I highly suspect taking the time to develop mini modules or down loadable images for the RPi will push the ISY Series Controller from the few die hard to the mass adopted public.

 

Nobody wants or expects the ISY Series Controller to be the *Jack of all trades - Master of none* but a concerted effort needs to be placed to accept *Popular Sells* and continues to saturate the market like head lice.

 

Please consider all of the above as nothing great ever happen with out Risk(s).

 

Well said man! I love the idea of having mini modules that you pay for if you want the advanced functionality. I can't imagine I am the only one that thinks this way? I would not expect these advanced features to be free especially if they replace me from having to go out and buy some other device to perform the same functionality without as tight of an integration (ex: Raspberry Pi)

 

With that said (and Michel, please don't take offense) UDI needs to find a way to turn some of this functionality around quicker. I won't pretend to try and understand the amount of effort that has been going into 5.x and I am sure they don't want to release something that is full of bugs but along the same lines this technology arena is moving at such a fast pace that anything that takes more than a year to be released runs the risk of being outdated before it even hits mainstream. I am sure this isn't anything that UDI isn't already aware of and I appreciate the product(s) they produce but wanted to share my perspective!

 

With regards to my OP. I almost have what I need running on my pi and it's all in bash (which I know). Due to the urgency of my need I had to go the easy route and will need to spend some time to learn polygot at a later date. Once my bash script is done I will share it if anyone wants to do something similar, I will be performing all the logic on the pi as far as determining that the weather data is current and then passing a couple simple variables to the ISY. It should be pretty clean!

[Teken]

To add to what 502ss noted up above let me throw something out there and see if it sticks!

 

I would very much like to see Benoit given some time to further develop the HAD interface for the ISY Series Controller.

 

This interface is just crying and begging to be developed and used by the end users here. The fact custom templates can be created for the ISY and those attached devices truly makes that a huge plus.

 

But again it require someone to learn yet another skill set many don't have or (is) willing to invest the time to do the same.

 

I would encourage the powers that be to take advantage of this amazing interface and explore its possibilities.

 

I would like this possible HAD interface to have basic to advanced custom templates which a person can quickly edit and add what ever they wish.

 

 

 

 

=========================

 

The highest calling in life is to serve ones country faithfully - Teach others what can be. Do what is right and not what is popular.

[Scottmichaelj]

On a high level:

 

My belief is part of the conversation should focus upon how to make some of the advanced features more user friendly. I've probably discussed and blogged about this specific topic at length for what seems like forever. The primary reason we see such a fast adoption rate in controllers like Smartthings, Wink, Insteon HUB (Insert any cloud based brand) is the ease of doing so.

 

Again, for the purpose of this discussion the following reply does not pertain to the basic capabilities of the ISY Series Controller. Whether it be for adding, deleting, scene creation, because we know this but that isn't why the bulk of the user(s) purchased the ISY Series Controller.

 

It was for the extremely powerful conditional logic engine . . .

 

It goes with out saying with the addition of the Network Module / ISY Web Portal this has extended the ISY's reach, control, and integration. Whether that be to services like IFTTT, Amazon Echo, Smart Energy Group, what ever. UDI over the years has offered much of the frame work to allow many of us to take advantage of other third party integration whether that be node servers for energy, voice, TSTAT, Audio / Visual, etc.

 

But as many have said in the past the company must invest the time to make some of these advanced features more user friendly where it requires only a few attributes to be set up and populated.

 

I know personally this community has an extremely vast and varied population in terms of technical knowledge, capability, to education.

 

Its safe to say there is also a large percentage of the population which really want to see prepackaged offerings from UDI. I've discussed this in the past as not only a means of marketing but a direct selling point which helps increase sales of the product. That is including all the packages for basic node servers for energy, TSTAT, Audio / Visual, etc.

 

Some of the most popular ones are for Sonos . . .

 

Simply offering this prepackage module allows those who don't want yet another *Time Suck* can just populate the required resources from IP address, Password, User Name, what ever. Others would be for popular TSTAT's the community has gravitated to such as EcoBee, Honeywell, Venstar, Nest, etc.

 

Having these smaller modules preconfigured would yet again offer the company another revenue stream.

 

Let's be honest once you purchase the ISY Series Controller and what ever module(s) the company makes absolutely no follow through sales or steady income. I know Michel struggled with creating the ISY Web Portal because inherently he too isn't a fan of subscription based services.

 

But everyone has to agree that creating a cloud hosted service to connect to other cloud based *Things* has paid off in spades.

 

It has allowed the company to integrate with two of the most popular services in the free world: Amazon Echo, IFTTT

 

In the past Z-Wave was very much not on the table or even going to be entertained for integration. Fast forward 2016 Z-Wave is one of the major pillars in the ISY Series Controller. This again has done what for the company and the community as a whole?

 

It has open the door to tens of millions of customers who simply crossed the ISY Series Controller from their HA list.

 

Not supporting one of the most used Home Automation protocols such as Z-Wave completely eliminated the ISY Series Controller from tens of millions of potential buyers. Taking on Z-Wave development also protects the company from single vendor model of Insteon.

 

So how do I tie all of the above together?

 

The company has slowly begun to include support for *Things* which are popular, market adopted, and very much a revenue makers so long as its properly supported and easy to implement for the end user(s). Speaking for myself only I love to learn and believe many of us on this forum and many others share the same. But there are many times I truly don't want to learn yet another *Thing* just to connect to a *Thing*.

 

I've stated this many times and often times what I have stated is taken out of context but what I have said is really the facts. There are a large percentage of people who have zero ambition, skill, or the knowledge to complete any of the tasks for integrating nodes, polyglot, what ever.

 

Part is being lazy, part is being too busy, part is I don't care to learn yet another *Thing*.

 

So my humble suggestion is offer either a complete module and ask something in the range if $10-35.XX similar to any other module. Or have a software package that can be downloaded and requires a minimal amount of user configuration. Doing so not only speeds adoption but ensures revenue streams you were never going to get otherwise.

 

With respect to the OP's request to have the ability to connect 1-2 more weather stations this is yet another money maker. Yes, lets be frank and honest here businesses are created to make money while offering the end user something they see value in. I would encourage the entire UDI team to sit down in 2017 and discuss what can be done to accomplish what the OP and many others on the side lines would love to see happen.

 

I truly believe companies like UDI should be rewarded financially for the never ending development of the ISY Series Controller which has continued to offer me and tens of thousands of others return on their investment.

 

BULLET POINTS:

 

- Offer a premium weather module which allows a person to connect to three separate weather stations as a means of fail over and more accuracy. The person should have the ability to define the fail over threshold. The fail over weather stations should include PWS stations and not just known cloud hosted services.

 

- Offer value add module integration for Sonos, Venstar, Honeywell, Nest, Name who ever. These mini modules should be offered either as a add on via the *Purchase Modules* which range from $10-35.XX. To offering prepackaged solution that can be downloaded into a RPi. This option simply requires the image to be ported and loaded to the hardware and basic parameters set. This downloadable package should range in price from $5-25.XX.

 

- Market: A concerted effort must be made to highlight the ISY Series Controllers ability to integrate to popular hardware / services: Amazon Echo, IFTTT, Nest, Sonos, Venstar, Honeywell, Push Bullet, who ever. Consumers have an attention span of a squirrel and thus look for key phrases *Works With / Connects With / Integrates With / Supported With etc.

 

Lets market the ISY Series Controller to masses as the cross sale and revenue stream will help the company hire and retask resources for more development and complete the endless *To Do List.

 

CLOSING REMARKS:

 

UDI has taken measured risks over the last 24 months which I truly believe has increased awareness, adoption, sales, and increased revenue. I ask the company to do the very same in 2017 and consider what can happen (IF) any of the above suggestions were to be implemented.

 

I highly suspect taking the time to develop mini modules or down loadable images for the RPi will push the ISY Series Controller from the few die hard to the mass adopted public.

 

Nobody wants or expects the ISY Series Controller to be the *Jack of all trades - Master of none* but a concerted effort needs to be placed to accept *Popular Sells* and continues to saturate the market like head lice.

 

Please consider all of the above as nothing great ever happen with out Risk(s).

I proposed the similar over a year ago when looking at the Vera and plugins (you can probably search and find the thread). I was told then UDIs future is in Nodes. Fine, I'm not going to argue. I do believe UDI should still have add on modules, like you suggest.

 

One point if anything, is the weather module is already in existence. We are not talking about a making a new module, so adding a backup or two additional locations should not be an issue. This should be considered a support request and been in the initial release. The generic "polygot/node" replies are tiresome. I am not lazy, I just don't want to code, put in the time or whatever. I have better things to do but I'll gladly pay though.

[Michel Kohanim]

Teken,

 

Thank you for the details and I totally agree. The only comment is that what you are suggesting with "mini-modules" are Nodes based and we have big plans for Polyglot and nodes/modules that can be purchased and fully supported.

 

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[Teken]

Hello Michel,

 

That is most excellent to hear and knowing this was already discussed and on the road map. Everyone can safely ignore what I just wrote up above because 2017 is going to be a fantastic year nodes  / polyglot!

 

Thank You!

[Scottmichaelj]

Hello Michel,

 

That is most excellent to hear and knowing this was already discussed and on the road map. Everyone can safely ignore what I just wrote up above because 2017 is going to be a fantastic year nodes / polyglot!

 

Thank You!

Kissass

[502ss]

for those interested, I finished my BASH program and posted it at the link below. For my needs (and until UDI can offer this capability natively) it will do what I want. Enjoy!

 

http://forum.universal-devices.com/topic/20755-bash-program-to-determine-snow-or-rain-using-more-than-one-weather-station/

[Teken]

for those interested, I finished my BASH program and posted it at the link below. For my needs (and until UDI can offer this capability natively) it will do what I want. Enjoy!

 

http://forum.universal-devices.com/topic/20755-bash-program-to-determine-snow-or-rain-using-more-than-one-weather-station/

 

502ss,

 

You're one of my 2016 Super Hero's - Thank You, Sir!

[502ss]

502ss,

 

You're one of my 2016 Super Hero's - Thank You, Sir!

 

Made it just in the nick of time, only 3 more days of 2016 left! 

 

Thanks Man!