Help to Understand Why Something Works

[GlowingHair]

I am hoping that the knowledgeable folks here can provide some insight, as I can't figure a logical explanation for this. It's a good, but confusing situation for me. Two weeks ago, I lost internet service for 2.5 days. My ISY994 carried on, with key functionality working as programmed. I added Hue functionality via Network Resources, years ago, at a time before plug-ins, and it has been working well for years. Obviously, without internet, I can't control Hue bulbs - fine, they are in non-critical areas. What surprised me was that two of the Hue bulbs came on and off per the schedule I had previously programmed. How can the ISY reach the bulbs when I can't?

Thanks in advance for any insight, or any reasonable theories. Saying it was gremlins doesn't count.😉

[paulbates]

What do the network resources look like? Network resources can address local devices directly, where phone apps typically go to a "cloud" service that has to come back to your house. When I used Venstar thermostats and rainmachine sprinkler controller, they worked exactly like this.

[Guy Lavoie]

That's one of the big selling points of a controller like the ISY: local control. A lot of vendor specific hub products go through the internet as a cloud service. UDI only sells controllers, so they're not tied to a particular device communication technology. 

Now the two products mentioned so far (Hue and Venstar) both feature local APIs, which is why they can keep working without the internet. Some of the vendor features like skyport for the Venstar might not work, but the ones using the local APIs will. Same with Hue. I'm not sure if the Hue app requires the internet or not (I'm seeing messages that a user account will soon be required) but the ISY or eisy can certainly keep talking to the Hue hub, unless they end up changing that someday.

[GlowingHair]

@paulbates Below is an image of the NR. To me, it looks like the NR is using the IPA, which would not have been available. The blurred part is my very special key to access the Hue. So, following what you and @Guy Lavoie wrote above, my guess would be that key is the local access. Am I on the right path? 

Guy, I appreciate everything about my ISY, especially the internet independence, even though I really don't know why I got it in the first place. It, and the PLM, were plugged in for years before I added anything to it - every time I opened the interface, the blank screen sent me scurrying away. Finally found time to RTFM, and haven't looked back. I have one of the first batch of PolISYs sitting in a closet waiting to be deployed, but dreading the upheaval.

Thanks

[paulbates]

192.168.1.x looks like a locally administered address, non internet and likely your hue hub. Is it possible that the 2 bulbs coming on are different age or type than the others and maybe earlier products were able to operate locally?

[GlowingHair]

@paulbates You are correct that about the IPA belonging to the Hue hub. From what I see when I dump the bulb info, it looks like they are part of the version 3 bulbs I bought (since version 1 didn't do greens well at all). They may be able to be operated locally - some tunable white bulbs of the same vintage can be. 

[paulbates]

@GlowingHair .. ok. And at my house, IPAs belong in a frosted glass 🍻 🤪

[GlowingHair]

@paulbates Sorry, too many decades in IT. And a strong dislike of hops - more for the rest of the world, right?

[Guy Lavoie]

3 hours ago, GlowingHair said:

@paulbates Below is an image of the NR. To me, it looks like the NR is using the IPA, which would not have been available. The blurred part is my very special key to access the Hue. So, following what you and @Guy Lavoie wrote above, my guess would be that key is the local access. Am I on the right path? 

Guy, I appreciate everything about my ISY, especially the internet independence, even though I really don't know why I got it in the first place. It, and the PLM, were plugged in for years before I added anything to it - every time I opened the interface, the blank screen sent me scurrying away. Finally found time to RTFM, and haven't looked back. I have one of the first batch of PolISYs sitting in a closet waiting to be deployed, but dreading the upheaval.

Thanks

If you've read up on the way Hue works, or even signed up for their developer program, you'll know that you can have local control by sending REST style commands as in your example. The "special key" to access the hub is unique, and is generated by the hub when you request one, and the link button on the hub has been pressed. I learned all about the Hue protocol by messing around with HA-Bridge, which is a java program that emulates a Hue hub, and allows you to trigger command line programs, http requests, etc from Alexa. I originally used it to control X10, directly and also through my Ocelot controller. I'm still using it with the eisy. 

Your comment about looking at the admin screen and causing you to hesitate is common. The learning curve looks steep. The trick is to conquer little bits at a time. I'm still new to the eisy (I first got it in August this year, have been an Ocelot and X10 user for 25 years). Then there is the forum that you can search through and ask questions. That's how we all learn!

[GlowingHair]

@Guy Lavoie I don't remember signing up for hue's dev program, but who knows. I can issue commands in a browser tab, and get details about the bulbs that I used to build the NRs.

I was actually embarrassed about my hesitation at the blank admin console. I have written so many programs, successfully, from a blank screen, that I found my reticence shameful. Before the ISY, the only time I hesitated working with a blank screen was in COBOL (yeah, I'm old). The forum has been a godsend! I check it out daily, just to see what's going on, what to watch out for, help out when I can, and basically just feel like part of the community. It was the forum that prompted me to get a Raspberry Pi and learn Python; it's still running and interfaces with the ISY just fine. Sorry, I have had a tendency to ramble lately.