Insteon ISY 99 and Homeseer

[MichaelV]

I am a Homeseer user. I am in the middle of converting about 70 - X-10 Devices over to Insteon. So far I have replaced about 20 switches. It is pretty time consuming linking, setting ramp rates, and on levels from the swithches and Key pads. So, I am in search of a device / software that will make it easier to do this. The two options I have found is Insteon Explorer and SH's ISY-26/99. Explorer is a Beta Program and I can't seem to find any documentation. Will the ISY-99 Allow me to link, crosslink, set ramp rates, on levels, create groups and scenes from a PC? If yes, can I then use home seer to take over from there, that is to say, use homeseer as the master controller of all events in the House?
Thanks
MV

[rhughes1955]

I am a Homeseer user. I am in the middle of converting about 70 - X-10 Devices over to Insteon. So far I have replaced about 20 switches. It is pretty time consuming linking, setting ramp rates, and on levels from the swithches and Key pads. So, I am in search of a device / software that will make it easier to do this. The two options I have found is Insteon Explorer and SH's ISY-26/99. Explorer is a Beta Program and I can't seem to find any documentation. Will the ISY-99 Allow me to link, crosslink, set ramp rates, on levels, create groups and scenes from a PC? If yes, can I then use home seer to take over from there, that is to say, use homeseer as the master controller of all events in the House?
Thanks
MV

I moved my 60+ Insteon devices over to the ISY 99i Pro a couple months ago and am very pleased. It allows easy support for all of the capabilities that you mentioned, plus a lot more. However, you want to switch to the ISY Homeseer plug-in to integrate your lighting into the rest of your home automation. Even though the plug-in is in Alpha testing, I've been using it for about a month and find it's existing functionality fairly stable. Bob, the developer of it, has been very responsive when issues have occurred.

Randy

[MichaelV]

Thanks Randy,

It is so good to leave X-10.

MV

[bpwwer]

MichaelV,

I meant to respond earlier but got busy. Randy summed it up pretty good. Let me add that if you haven't yet, check out the UDI wiki at http://www.universal-devices.com/mwi...itle=Main_Page. The most recent user's guide is there along with some examples.

Just as an example of the ISY's ease of use. Today I removed a light that was the load on a dimmer switch. However, I still wanted a light that was controlled by the switch. I dug up an appliancelinc I had sitting around and plugged it in with a table lamp attached. Then on the ISY I did:

1) Add new Insteon device - enter appliancelinc address
2) Renamed appliancelinc to 'room-table'
3) Create new scene (room)
4) Selected 'room-table' and add to scene 'room'
5) Select 'room-switch' add to scene 'room' as a controller

Done, the switch now turns the light on/off.

Of course once I did this, I then found a lamplinc dimmer module. So I had to redo a couple of steps

1) remove 'room-table'
2) add new device - enter lamplinc address
3) rename lamplinc to 'room-table'
4) select 'room-table' and add to scene 'room'

And that's it. Took me longer to type all this than to acually do it The ISY will allow you to replace a device, but you can only replace it with one of the same type. So I wasn't able to simply replace the appliancelinc with a lamplinc.

The plug-in I've been developing is still 'Alpha' because I won't move it to 'Beta' until all the features are written and working. Right now, thermostat support is only partially implemented. That's the biggest missing feature. Once that is done, it will move into a beta testing phase.