Please provide some insights on my Home automation options

[C Martin]

First off I want to say hello to Michel. Hi Michel this is Clarence Martin. I know that it's been a while since talked but I've been busy concentrating on other software development and other things. Since the Insteon debackle and some remodeling that I am doing at home, I am looking at upgrading my Home automation scheme. I have been an Insteon adopter since day one and have generally been very satisfied with the system. But i believe it tis time to lookinto other options. I have been looking at the Lutron Caseta devices and the possibility of using them along with some Feit Can lights. I have been watching over the past few years your Policy device options and I wonder if this or just the ISy will be a good interfacefor my use.I also know that your Policy Device interfaces with the Sonos devices, as does the Lutron. is the Policy device the best option for me to start exploring? I find the Lutron has some intersting options available and on some of my preliminary testing, the devices seem to work well although their Mobile apps are a bit shallow. I now use Alexa for my current uses, but ALEXA has some limitations that Universal devices exceeds at. I am assuming that the Policy device has all of the capabilities that ISY has and beyond.

SO give me your thought on this subject if you can and then a guide how I need to get started with Policy if that is the preferred way to go.

Thanks in advance and one day we need to have aother face-to-face talk again. I enjoyed your insights and look forward to more.

[Dub]

Good morning @C MartinMichel and the UDI are about to release their latest iteration of their hardware.  See the link to thread about it below.  If you could wait on this it might be worth considering.  If not I don't think you can go wrong with UDI and my Polisy is great.  With your background as a software developer you could make Polisy or eisy do anything you want if there is an api you can connect to with a node server.

I may have my terminology wrong and any input to the actual architecture would be much appreciated.  To me the Polisy and seems the eisy is a like a virtual host.  isy runs as a "virtualized server" as do the node servers.  The technical term may be more micro services architecture, but Polisy box is the hardware that runs the software known as ISY and Polyglot the underlying dependency for deploying and running node servers.  Some past hardware options have moved to node servers.  One thing that I remember reading was a weather module in ISY that is now done with choices of Node Servers.

I haven't seen any post recently where anyone thought they lost something ISY offered that Polisy could do.

If you have Insteon devices installed, no need to rip them all and replace them all at once.  Polisy/ISY would give you options to move gradually to other technologies.

If I understand the comments correctly about esiy, not only is it the path to connect to Matter devices with UDI hardware, it will also have the ability to update Z-Wave devices firmware over the air.*

Also Michel mentioned in the Insteon Mega thread that he has a call with the new Insteon regime next week and that information may help with your decision as well.

I look forward to the communities input, Im sure there will be lots of good insights.

 

*I have since learned Polisy has a soon to be released module that will bring the Matter and Z-Wave firmware update OTA functionality to Polisy.

Edited September 19, 2022 by Dub
Info added/correction about Polisy/Z-Wave/Matter

[lilyoyo1]

5 hours ago, C Martin said:

First off I want to say hello to Michel. Hi Michel this is Clarence Martin. I know that it's been a while since talked but I've been busy concentrating on other software development and other things. Since the Insteon debackle and some remodeling that I am doing at home, I am looking at upgrading my Home automation scheme. I have been an Insteon adopter since day one and have generally been very satisfied with the system. But i believe it tis time to lookinto other options. I have been looking at the Lutron Caseta devices and the possibility of using them along with some Feit Can lights. I have been watching over the past few years your Policy device options and I wonder if this or just the ISy will be a good interfacefor my use.I also know that your Policy Device interfaces with the Sonos devices, as does the Lutron. is the Policy device the best option for me to start exploring? I find the Lutron has some intersting options available and on some of my preliminary testing, the devices seem to work well although their Mobile apps are a bit shallow. I now use Alexa for my current uses, but ALEXA has some limitations that Universal devices exceeds at. I am assuming that the Policy device has all of the capabilities that ISY has and beyond.

SO give me your thought on this subject if you can and then a guide how I need to get started with Policy if that is the preferred way to go.

Thanks in advance and one day we need to have aother face-to-face talk again. I enjoyed your insights and look forward to more.

You'll have to decide the best option for yourself going forward as all current offerings fall short of insteon in some manner. It would be best to try out a couple of devices in a room to see if the Pros and cons of each one are something you want to deal with. 

There are people here switching to zwave, wifi, Lutron, and hybrid systems. Insteon was purchased and the new owners are looking to get products to the market (no timeframe announced) so some will probably stay with insteon. 

Since the 994 is no longer receiving new features, it doesn't make any sense to start with that system. I would go with Polisy or wait for the new eisy system coming out. Since you seem to have a personal relationship with Michel, I would speak to him offline about that one. That way you're not asking him to divulge what can be potential privileged information on an open forum. 

Before getting started with polisy, I'd read all that you can on the polisy sub-forum page as well as Googling "polisy wiki". Both will help you with what you're asking. Once done and you start working with your actual unit, you'll be able to use the forums for additional help you may need. 

Edited August 6, 2022 by lilyoyo1

[apostolakisl]

My past experience with Costco marketed Feit products is that they aren't any good.  Basically, I have never had a light bulb from them that ever came close to working at its rated hours, not even close.  Also, they just were never that nice in general, like color, dimming, etc.  But I did give up on them about 10 years ago, so maybe they are better now.

If you like Insteon products and can hold off a few more months, you might see what the new owners do with the company.  

I doubt that you would be wanting for more should you buy a Polisy or the newer iteration from UDI.

[Techman]

FEIT changed their technology a few years ago, I've been using the newer FEIT bulbs without any issues. I haven't had any failures and they dim as expected, with no flickering, using Insteon devices.

[Dub]

2 hours ago, Techman said:

FEIT changed their technology a few years ago, I've been using the newer FEIT bulbs without any issues. I haven't had any failures and they dim as expected, with no flickering, using Insteon devices.

Good to hear.  I have several of their recessed models from a few years back.  They look good, and give off good light, but with an Insteon dimmer mine will flicker.  If I start pushing Insteon traffic especially changing a ramp rate those Feit bulbs flicker a lot more.  I recently bought some Zooz switches and they say they are not compatible with Feit bulbs.  Just a blanket statement with no details.

9 hours ago, apostolakisl said:

My past experience with Costco marketed Feit products is that they aren't any good. 

I haven't used any of there smart products, but there was recently a post by a user that was getting rid of all his UDI gear and Insteon....going all Feit.  

Here is the link to that post...

https://forum.universal-devices.com/topic/37630-the-time-has-come-the-walrus-said/

 

[Techman]

@Dub

The FEIT bulbs I was referring to are the screw in type. I'm not familiar with, and haven't used, the recessed models.

[larryllix]

I started buying LED bulbs when they first arrived on the shelves about $25 each bulb and I know this. One batch is never the same quality ad the next batch from the suppliers. Brand names have been switched on the exact same devices and qualities vary a lot from one year to the next in the same brand.

One thing you can rely on is the latest models are 1000% better than 10 years ago.

Sent from my SM-G781W using Tapatalk

[apostolakisl]

The FEIT items I bought, and I kept giving them more chances because the price was so tempting, but it was always a waste of money.  They were always inferior to other products that were available for sale at the same time.  So I'm not comparing a FEIT bulb of 10 years ago to some other brand of today, I'm comparing my experience with FEIT products of 10-15 years ago to other brands of 10-15 years ago.  

For example, I bought a bunch of CREE recessed cans and a bunch of FEIT ones maybe 12 years ago.  The CREE lights behave perfectly and still do today.  They dim perfectly, they don't flicker, and the color is pleasing.  The FEIT ones are all in the landfill.  People looked like they had jaundice, and they failed.  If memory serves, I didn't have issues dimming, but I forget.  Definitely the jaundice thing though.  The CREE cost twice or maybe 3 times as much up front, but on a basis of hours used, the CREE bulbs would be like 1000 times cheaper.  I am currently illuminated by 6 CREE CR-6 bulbs that I have been using every day, all day, since I remodeled my office in 2012.  Maybe 24,000 hours now?  They are on a standard manual dimmer.  No Insteon in my office, but I have the same bulbs at home and the Insteon dims them great.

[Dub]

4 hours ago, Techman said:

The FEIT bulbs I was referring to are the screw in type. I'm not familiar with, and haven't used, the recessed models.

They are retrofit LED.