Program Restore ability

[JP]

I’d like to request the ability to programmically “restore†a device. I, like some others, have numerous communication problems and it would be nice to be able to “restore†devices during the wee hours of the morning. While I’m not sure why, it does seem that restoring devices sometimes cures communication problems (I’d love to resolve the original problem but…)

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi JP,

 

The main issue with this function is that while it's running, no other programs could run. And, if you have a problem which has communication issues, then this might potentially take hours during which time nothing else would work such as notifications, garage door, etc.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[bbuzzone]

Michel, I understand your response to this topic but I also have challenges with restoring devises. I have nearly 70 devices and have experienced many power failures this year which end up requiring me to restore devises several times. In the end, it takes me several weeks to get through all of my devises as the restore all devises has failed every time I have run it (no wonder with all the diveses in a large house!).

 

It would be a significant benefit if I could 1) schedule the restore(s) to occure when they are convient or 2) have the ISY compare devise tables to it's tables and correct bad links.

 

Any help here would be appriciated, understand this is an SH issue with the devises but it is the biggest frustration my wife and I have with the system as a whole.

 

Thanks,

Bob

[MikeB]

Hi Bob -

 

My opinion on the matter....

 

While this might sound like a good idea in theory, I can't imagine it helping in the real world. If you are having issues with devices losing their programming, whether due to the devices being defective or power issues in your home, I can't imagine what additional problems might be caused by the ISY trying to read in link tables and reprogram devices on a nightly basis.

 

Considering your current problems, I can only imagine a nightly read/compare/restore making it worse...

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi Bob,

 

Firstly, I totally empathize with you; this must be quite frustrating and a pure waste of time.

 

I tend to agree with Mike. For us, we have to balance the following things when adding features:

1. Function

2. ROI

3. Support

 

I think this would be a great functionality to add to ISY. On the other hand, the ROI is not high and furthermore, and most importantly, the support issues will be huge especially since we have never attempted to run this scenario: making too many restores might basically impair your devices.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[bbuzzone]

Mike and Michel,

 

Fully understand on the compare devises to tables, although I would have envisioned a pc based utility to compare the tables then schedule or kick off restores. Agree, the volume would need to be limited and they would need to run in series.

 

Michel has it right about the pure waist of time... on my third round of this this year! Although I sure could use a utility that allowed me choose X number restores and schedule them to run in series beginning at 1 am!

 

Agree, ROI is the name of the game here.... thanks anyways!

 

Bob

[MikeB]

Hi Bob -

 

I'm curious, do you think it's an extreme power event that is causing your issues, or do you think the devices are defective?

 

Were all the INSTEON devices having the issue purchased at around the same time?

[bbuzzone]

It's a power event, we're in a semi-rural area and this year has seen a number of power failures and after each is when I've had the issue with the devices becoming cross linked erroneously. The prior year, we had no major power failures and there were rare - if any - issues with devices becoming cross linked. When I do the restores you can see the message regarding extra links being deleted.

 

This year I had a friend who is a commercial electrician come in and review some of the wiring in the house and recommended that I go through and double check all the outlet boxes - it's a new home, but there were 2 different electricians and one of them wasn't as diligent as the other. Since doing that my communication issues have been reduced dramatically.

 

We've purchased these in batches over a the past 2 1/2 years, (actually counted them all, up to 108 now with about another 15 to add before the house is complete) I can't tie the specific purchases to the cross link's I'm seeing. I do have a few devises that are on my watch list for being potentially bad, but those usually don't have issues with the links changing.

 

After the last event, I did a factory restore on all devices then restored from the ISY. Not an exercise I choose to repeat.... Oh well, nearly done with the limited group I'm going to restore this time!

[JP]

I agree with Bob that the problem is with the electrical system but may also be the ability of INSTEON to deal with certain events on the line (call it quality, call it design).

 

I have used X10 since its creation and my parent’s house has always been a problem area. At my old apartment, X10 worked great. At my townhouse it worked OK but INSTEON worked much, much better. But at my parent’s house, X10 never worked. After I bought the house, I upgraded to INSTEON (last 12 months) and things worked much better but I still have problems. All the X10 diagnostic tools that I have acquired over the years have indicated that I have nosey lines. At night, it looks like an Iraq war zone with all the INSTEON led’s flashing continuously. The ISY log shows all kinds of "null" events occurring.

 

I have looked at installing whole house phase couplers/filters and it can not be done without replacing the 100A meter (big problem/expense due to building code and a very old house). I have isolated out all the major appliances, TVs, and PCs. I have installed numerous APs which has helped to some degree (though controversial in its own right). But in the end, what I find myself doing, as Bob does, is restoring devices selectively (based on error messages) and doing manual restores when the ISY can not successfully complete its restore.

 

I understand that both X10 and INSTEON are at the lower end of the automation family (sorry Smartlabs), aimed at DYI’ers and I can accept a certain amount of problems. In fact, that is why I am so glad to have a device like the ISY-99i that allows me to program around a great number of these problems. The ISY-99i has given me the ability to do so much more these days than I was ever able to do the past (though my wife thinks I’m nuts for having a line of ApplianceLincs under the holiday village display this year). OK, so I like the box.

 

The bottom line is that I may have an unusual problem, an environment that is unfriendly to PLC devices. I was just looking for an automation method that I am already doing manually with the ISY. If the ROI is not there, I can understand it. I can also understand the support fear but I’m not sure if it is sustainable (I run them during the day with other traffic and if they fail, they fail).

 

Anyway, if there are any other suggestions, I’d be happy to hear them.

 

JP

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi JP,

 

Thanks so very much. Frankly, I would've quit anything to do with home automation had I have to go through what you are dealing with at your parent's house.

 

I think, perhaps, if there's a brave person out there to use our JSDK/WSDK to write a program that does restores/compares based on time of day then we would have a compromise solution:

1. It can be automated (though you have to have the computer on to start it)

2. It is not a function within ISY

 

Now, if all agree, we just have to find that brave person!

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[JP]

Running something in a PC instead of the ISY is not a problem as I have servers on 7/24 that perform other automation type functions (non-HA).

 

If someone could write a command-line level utility that could do a restore with a provided address, then the scheduling can be handled outside the utility. This is not something I want to do on a regular basis but rather periodically like once a quarter for a handful of problem devices.

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi JP,

 

Thanks so very much. This makes sense. Now we just have to find someone who's willing to write this application (it's really not that difficult ... but waiting for us to implement it might take a LONG time). Perhaps you might want to submit a post in our developer section.

 

With kind regards,

Michel