Permanent Christmas Lights

[wayneph]

Howdy all...  I'm looking at having some permanent Christmas Lights installed and was curious if anyone has tied some into ISY for control.  Most of them come with their own Android/iPhone apps, but I'd like to be able to tie it in with a switch and other ISY scenes.  I've talked to Jellyfish Lighting and he said they had an API I could connect into.  Trimlights and Everlights are the other two that install near me.  Just curious if anyone else has gone down this route, or if I'm staring from scratch.

All 3 products are relatively similar, so I'm leaning towards the API at this point, but if there is an ISY integration started with one of the others, I'd consider it as well.

Thanks,
Wayne

[ase]

You could use a Z-wave controller with RGBW type LEDs. I don't know how well they would work as I have never tried it myself. I would search Amazon and see. If you have a Z-wave module in your ISY994i you do have some options. 

[MrBill]

45 minutes ago, wayneph said:

API

If there's an API then a node server can be created.... the problem is with little demand its unlikely one of the indviduals that develop most of the nodeservers will create one.

That said... there are blank nodeserver templates available in the store for both python and nodejs.   If you understand API's then it's likely something you can do for yourself, then if you think others might be interested you could also offer the nodeserver via the store.

There's also paying someone to create the nodeserver for you... Depending on how advanced the api is (how many points or methods of control) For example,  Simple On/Off for the whole permanent display it might not be too bad to pay someone to make a nodeserver with a single node.  On the other hand if there are needs to be many nodes with RGBW control... that could get dicey... and expensive....

[arw01]

SERIOUS Christmas light guy here.  There are stand alone controllers out there you could run from a Rasberry PI and have total control of your lights from.

 

Are you on Facebook, ping me there and I can direct you to some groups and some other options for trim, light type, etc.  Thinking of upgrading mine to something that matches the trim now, but the PEX tubing with strip lead in them have held up for 8 years now.

A lot of folks lights DO NOT hold up outside in that application.

Edited December 21, 2021 by arw01

[lilyoyo1]

52 minutes ago, wayneph said:

Howdy all...  I'm looking at having some permanent Christmas Lights installed and was curious if anyone has tied some into ISY for control.  Most of them come with their own Android/iPhone apps, but I'd like to be able to tie it in with a switch and other ISY scenes.  I've talked to Jellyfish Lighting and he said they had an API I could connect into.  Trimlights and Everlights are the other two that install near me.  Just curious if anyone else has gone down this route, or if I'm staring from scratch.

All 3 products are relatively similar, so I'm leaning towards the API at this point, but if there is an ISY integration started with one of the others, I'd consider it as well.

Thanks,
Wayne

That depends on what you're trying to accomplish with your lights. If it's just on/off control then yes, the Isy can handle it. If you want something dynamic such as dancing lights, then the answer would be no as the amount of traffic that would cause would bog down the system. 

Since they have an API, you could go with that one and use network resources to trigger them since the commands would be be handled by their controller. Another option would be to see if a developer could write a nodeserver. Both network resources and the nodeserver capabilities would be limited to what the API allows

[wayneph]

33 minutes ago, ase said:

If you have a Z-wave module in your ISY994i you do have some options. 

Don't have any Z-wave at this point.  Everything is still INSTEON.

7 minutes ago, MrBill said:

That said... there are blank nodeserver templates available in the store for both python and nodejs.   If you understand API's then it's likely something you can do for yourself, then if you think others might be interested you could also offer the nodeserver via the store.

I do c++ programming for a living, so the APIs don't scare me.  I've done some python and am getting more and more familiar with it.  If there is a template out there, I should be able to do what I need.  I was just hoping to find one to help with and/or modify if someone had already started down the path so I wasn't necessarily starting "from scratch".

7 minutes ago, arw01 said:

SERIOUS Christmas light guy here.  There are stand alone controllers out there you could run from a Rasberry PI and have total control of your lights from.

My main problem is that I don't want to spend the time on the ladder to get everything installed, so I'm leaning toward an existing solution that I can integrate.  The companies I'm looking at all have trim matching tracks and can run the main wiring in the attic in a day or two.  It would take me significantly more time to get it all set up.

4 minutes ago, lilyoyo1 said:

That depends on what you're trying to accomplish with your lights. If it's just on/off control then yes, the Isy can handle it. If you want something dynamic such as dancing lights, then the answer would be no as the amount of traffic that would cause would bog down the system.

I'm not planning on having the ISY control the individual lights.  I more just want to tie them into KPL switches and a handful of programs on the ISY for scheduling, etc...  The one I'm looking at can control individual bulbs, so I may set up some accent and/or security lighting the rest of the year when I'm running holiday lights.

[apostolakisl]

I would agree with @lilyoyo1  If they have an API and all you want is to send an on/off command, then a node server is perhaps overkill.  ISY can send network commands directly without needing a node server.  You would just need one for on and one for off.  The only downside is that network commands are one way.  You can't integrate a response or do queries to keep track of on/off status.  But again, a simple on/off situation isn't likely to need it.

 

EDIT:  Here is a network resource I use to send a variable value from one ISY to another.  I have mostly deleted my network resources since nodeservers, but still need a few.

 

Edited December 22, 2021 by apostolakisl

[lilyoyo1]

7 minutes ago, wayneph said:

I'm not planning on having the ISY control the individual lights.  I more just want to tie them into KPL switches and a handful of programs on the ISY for scheduling, etc...  The one I'm looking at can control individual bulbs, so I may set up some accent and/or security lighting the rest of the year when I'm running holiday lights.

Nodeserver or Network resources would be the way to go then. Id go the nodeserver route as that would give you 2 way communication which expands your capabilities programmatically long term.

[wayneph]

Excellent.  Up front, I'll probably try using the Network Resource as that will let me get something working pretty quickly.  I haven't used any before, but the example above looks pretty self explanatory.  I may still investigate setting up my own Python node server afterwards, but it will likely depend on free time.

Thanks all.

[MrBill]

20 hours ago, wayneph said:

If there is a template out there,

The templates are linked in my post above.  click the underlined words...