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    accessing MyHS from out of country?

    we set up our first Homeseer/Insteon set up at our place in the states last week. When we try to log into the MyHS from Canada, it comes back with "Homeseer is not running". We want to be able to control items from our home - is this possible?

    #2
    Yes this is possible. The next step in troubleshooting is to ensure your HS4 server/hub is up and running.
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      #3
      Rupp is on the right track. If Homeseer is working correctly and able to register itself and connect with the MyHS servers, then all should be good after that...providing that connetivity is working and the software is able to reestablish connectivity if and when it drops.

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        #4
        HS doesn't really have any borders unless a country is actively blocking internet traffic (China, North Korea, etc). I HIGHLY doubt that is the case with Canada. There must be something else wrong with the setup. Did you try it when you were in the USA and not connected to your local network? There might be some issues with ports, firewall, etc. Personally, I don't use MyHS as it keeps on giving me problems when switching between LAN and WAN. Instead, I disable UPnP, have no port forwarding but have set up a VPN through my router. It takes an extra step when you are on your mobile device, i.e. you have to activate the VPN but it works fine, is encrypted and doesn't require MyHS.

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          #5
          I run my systems cross-border Canada/US using MyHS regularly and it works well. You need to set a few things up properly (assuming you are windows based):

          1) Unattended recovery in case of a power failure. Go into the BIOS and select the power setting to boot the PC up when power is applied. The default is to NOT power up.

          2) Dreaded automatic Windows updates cause a PC reboot. Add something to start HS4 automatically every time the PC boots up. It will not do this on its own. HS4 can now be run as a service, so that should work fine. Until then, we had to use a batch file that ran on startup, or something similar.

          3) If you're using an Insteon Hub, you MUST assign a fixed ip address in the router. Otherwise, it might be assigned a different ip after the power comes back on and the Insteon plugin will not be able to talk to it.

          4) Use a remote access program so you can remotely work on the other PC for fixing and adjusting things. I use VNC (Realvnc.com) which is free and works extremely well. It used to come pre-installed in Hometrollers, but I don't know if that's still the case.

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            #6
            Thanks everyone. First of all, we are novices at this and just getting our systems up and running. We used a windows laptop for some of the set up but we are using our iPads exclusively for the systems (one in CANADA and one in the US). We are back in the states now and saw that the hub was blue. Unplugged and replugged it in and then it went green and we are back up and running! So, we have a concern now that we see the response above. We know that we DID have a power failure here this week. Are you saying that whenever there is a power outage, the hub will need to be reset before we can access it again? (Which means we would physically need to be there) That’s not great news. Where do I find BIOS to change the power setting?

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              #7
              Originally posted by Rixpix View Post
              Thanks everyone. First of all, we are novices at this and just getting our systems up and running. We used a windows laptop for some of the set up but we are using our iPads exclusively for the systems (one in CANADA and one in the US). We are back in the states now and saw that the hub was blue. Unplugged and replugged it in and then it went green and we are back up and running! So, we have a concern now that we see the response above. We know that we DID have a power failure here this week. Are you saying that whenever there is a power outage, the hub will need to be reset before we can access it again? (Which means we would physically need to be there) That’s not great news. Where do I find BIOS to change the power setting?
              BIOS access depends on the PC brand, but most often, as the unit is powering up, you need to repeatedly hit either DEL, F12 or F2 until you see the BIOS setup (look up your unit's manual).

              As to the Hub, after a power failure, if it simply asks for an IP address from the router, what often happens is that the Hub gets going relatively fast while the router is still trying to initialize, exchanging with your Internet provider. So not getting an IP address, the Hub declares itself disabled. I don't believe the Hub will retry.

              To circumvent this, either give your Hub a fixed IP address, or better yet set your router to assign the Hub a reserved DHCP IP address with no expiry time (see your network provider documentation). You're laptop will still need Internet functionality at the US location to access the Hub, but the Hub will be responsive when the Internet is back.

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                #8
                Originally posted by claude View Post
                <snip>
                To circumvent this, either give your Hub a fixed IP address, or better yet set your router to assign the Hub a reserved DHCP IP address with no expiry time (see your network provider documentation). You're laptop will still need Internet functionality at the US location to access the Hub, but the Hub will be responsive when the Internet is back.
                Note that some routers, like my TP-Link, have limited number of reserved DHCP addresses (in my case 32, I think). What I ended up doing is using fixed IPs for devices that allow me to set a fixed IP and only use reserved DHCP addresses for devices that don't allow fixed IPs (like my Chromecasts, etc).

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                  #9
                  [QUOTE=msachs9393;n1546912]
                  Originally posted by Burrington View Post
                  I run my systems cross-border Canada/US using MyHS regularly and it works well. You need to set a few things up properly (assuming you are windows based):
                  1) Unattended recovery in case of a power failure. Go into the BIOS and select the power setting to boot the PC up when power is applied. The default is to NOT power up.


                  One caution I've heard about setting a computer to automatically restart following a power failure: what if the power goes out again while the system is still booting back up? It's possible that the hard drive could still be in the process of repairing any damage caused by the sudden power outage, then if it's doing that when the power goes out again it could cause further damage to the hard drive and the system may no longer boot. It would require two sequential power outages at just the right (or wrong) interval but it's something to at least be aware is a potential risk.
                  I never had a situation like that but if you have a lot of power outages then a UPS makes sense. Some of them can be connected to the computer and initiate a proper shutdown.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    [QUOTE=msachs9393;n1546912]
                    Originally posted by Burrington View Post
                    I run my systems cross-border Canada/US using MyHS regularly and it works well. You need to set a few things up properly (assuming you are windows based):
                    1) Unattended recovery in case of a power failure. Go into the BIOS and select the power setting to boot the PC up when power is applied. The default is to NOT power up.


                    One caution I've heard about setting a computer to automatically restart following a power failure: what if the power goes out again while the system is still booting back up? It's possible that the hard drive could still be in the process of repairing any damage caused by the sudden power outage, then if it's doing that when the power goes out again it could cause further damage to the hard drive and the system may no longer boot. It would require two sequential power outages at just the right (or wrong) interval but it's something to at least be aware is a potential risk.
                    That's true, but I suppose that could happen whether the PC powered itself up, or if you powered it up with your finger.

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                      #11
                      [QUOTE=mulu;n1546948]
                      Originally posted by msachs9393

                      I never had a situation like that but if you have a lot of power outages then a UPS makes sense. Some of them can be connected to the computer and initiate a proper shutdown.
                      Yes, that's what I have. A UPS and the Blade BLUPS plugin work very well together. The UPS eliminates any short duration power failures and blips. BLUPS notifies HS that power has failed. Events watch the battery discharge. Once the battery is nearly exhausted, HS shuts itself down in an orderly manner rather than crashing as the UPS dies.

                      But if you use a UPS, note that the Insteon Hub (or PLM) MUST be plugged directly into the wall, not in a UPS outlet. The UPS isolates the Insteon Powerline signal from getting to the power line. Insteon will still run via the RF path, but the alternate Powerline path will be defeated and effectively changes all your dual-band devices to single-band devices. Everything else except the Insteon Hub/PLM can be on the UPS power. My APC UPS is also an Insteon signal killer so it has to be isolated with a FilterLinc (or any X10 filter if you still have some around).

                      Also related to unattended power failure recovery: I have my WiFi Router, LAN hub, and Internet modem plugged into an Insteon appliance module. That way, HS can automatically reboot them if they don't power up properly after a power failure. If you want to do that with the Insteon hub you would need to use a non-Insteon module, Z-Wave for instance.

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                        #12
                        Originally posted by Rixpix View Post
                        we set up our first Homeseer/Insteon set up at our place in the states last week. When we try to log into the MyHS from Canada, it comes back with "Homeseer is not running". We want to be able to control items from our home - is this possible?
                        Possibly silly question for the OP - are you on a paid MyHS account? The Basic (Free) MyHS plan only allows remote access to a single system. You'd likely need to be subscribed to a Premium plan for multiple systems.
                        https://docs.homeseer.com/display/HS...g+MyHS+Account

                        I'm not sure how it works if you have two HomeTrollers with unique accounts. If you already are a Premium MyHS plan customer, this would be an HS4 support issue, not specifically related to this MNS Plugin.

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