considering move to HomeSeer from ISY

[mnsandler]

I am new to Homseer form many moons ago. I have an ISY with the 2413s PLM attached to the back of its Network port. I have bought my new Hometroller Pro Hub and also bought the Insteon plug in but can I use this PLM as it doesn't have a serial interface it has the network interface on it. I want to use the most reliable connection I can., Can I get a serial cable and/or am I better off buying a new PLM with the USB interface. Im also going to be using (and have purchased) the Zwave interface. Thanks so much

Welcome to the Forum.

the 2413S uses an rj45 jack for its serial connection. buy the necessary serial cable and you should be all set. You can also make the cable, its only uses 3 or 4 of the internal conductors. the wiring diagram is available on the net.

[Lenp2001]

I am new to Homseer form many moons ago. I have an ISY with the 2413s PLM attached to the back of its Network port. I have bought my new Hometroller Pro Hub and also bought the Insteon plug in but can I use this PLM as it doesn't have a serial interface it has the network interface on it. I want to use the most reliable connection I can., Can I get a serial cable and/or am I better off buying a new PLM with the USB interface. Im also going to be using (and have purchased) the Zwave interface. Thanks so much

[mnsandler]

Please start with the beta. Its stable.

[BJJDad73]

Got my HomeSeer trial loaded up and ready to start playing. I see there are 2 options in the store - one being the BETA plug-in, and the other being a version from I believe 2018.

Should I just be starting with the BETA at this point? Are the BETAs generally stable?

[BJJDad73]

You mentioned a dedicated device as being a plus for reliability reasons. While I agree with that statement, if that dedicated device is specialty hardware (HomeTroller Pi, ISY), that muddies the waters a little. What if that device fails? How long to replace it? Will your settings transfer? If your Windows server fails, and assuming you have another Windows computer in the house, you could be up and running again in short order while awaiting new hardware...assuming you have sufficient backups of the HomeSeer directory. I assume the same is true with any software-only version of HS running on your own hardware.

I agree with that. I am much better equipped to handle a hardware issue on a Windows box.

[upstatemike]

I very much like the detailed statistics over time and the menus in general. I might have to go ahead and try this on HS3 instead of waiting until I have HS4 running. I was hoping the new super PLM would have been released by now but I guess a can just pick up a regular serial one to use for this. Thanks for posting the screen shots.

One thing that might be different between the ISY and this plugin is the way groups (scenes) are managed. In the ISY you create a scene and then add devices or keypad buttons as either "responder only" or "controller and responder". The PLM is automatically added as a "controller and responder" to all scenes. A scene can have any number of controllers. A device or keypad button can only be a controller for one scene but can be a responder for any number of scenes. I'm having trouble matching this up with the plugin documentation but it might just be the way I'm reading it.

[mrceolla]

As far as Windows vs Pi version goes, I think your primary considerations would be outside of Insteon. I believe the Pi version of HS can only run 5 concurrent plugins. Additionally, I believe there are some plugins that only run on Windows, but I think all Linux-capable plugins are also Windows-capable. I could be wrong on that last part.

You mentioned a dedicated device as being a plus for reliability reasons. While I agree with that statement, if that dedicated device is specialty hardware (HomeTroller Pi, ISY), that muddies the waters a little. What if that device fails? How long to replace it? Will your settings transfer? If your Windows server fails, and assuming you have another Windows computer in the house, you could be up and running again in short order while awaiting new hardware...assuming you have sufficient backups of the HomeSeer directory. I assume the same is true with any software-only version of HS running on your own hardware.

[Burrington]

Very clean, I like it! Hopefully I'll be able to recreate all the functionality I have with my ISY.

I would be very surprised if there's anything you have in ISY that can't be done with HS. You might need some help from the forum, but there's always a way...

[BJJDad73]

Very clean, I like it! Hopefully I'll be able to recreate all the functionality I have with my ISY.

[Burrington]

I think there are signal strength metrics or other features you get with this plugin that the ISY does not offer? Maybe more control over hop count?

Can't get the actual signal strength - wouldn't that be sweet! Here's the plugin's main config page with a number of the tools available:



Here is a typical Insteon Device setup screen, this one is for a KeyPadLinc:



And here is a snippet of the device list which shows various info including Comm reliability and error rates over time. It can be sorted by clicking on any of the blue headings:



I'm Interested to know how this compares to what's available in ISY nowadays.

[BJJDad73]

Thanks for all the input Burrington, excited to try HomeSeer out!

[Burrington]

One word of warning: I'm still on HS3 and Mark's HS3 Plugin works great. I understand there are a couple User Interface issues with the HS3 Plugin on HS4, but Mark is working on an HS4 specific plugin. So, if you go ahead with HS4 and the HS3 Plugin (which you should!), and find some UI issues, know that there is a solution in the works.

[BJJDad73]

I will have to check into and test HomeSeer/Alexa reliability, because that is important in my house.

Although the idea of a dedicated HomeSeer device is appealing for reliability reasons (like the ISY is), I have a reliable Windows-based "server" already and will likely utilize that for my HomeSeer install if there's any benefit at all to running on Windows.

[upstatemike]

I agree about the quality of Mark's support (based on reading this forum) and that is the main reason I am planning to test the plugin when I implement HS4. I think the real question BJJDad73 is trying to uncover is what might be different between using Homeseer and this plugin v.s. using an ISY by itself or with Homeseer and the ISY plugin. I would like to know that as well. I think there are signal strength metrics or other features you get with this plugin that the ISY does not offer? Maybe more control over hop count?

On the ISY side you get the ability to trigger Alexa routines and more reliable connectivity to Alexa in general though I understand Homeseer is working to improve that.

There is a lot of change happening on both the Homeseer and ISY/Polisy platforms right now so its not clear what the best path is going to be for Insteon. If I were starting from scratch I think I would likely go with Homeseer and this plugin to keep things simple. I would still run a Windows version of Homeseer though because even though this plugin works on Linux there are too many cool ones that do not. I wouldn't want to limit my options.

[Burrington]

I switched from ISY to HomeSeer a few years ago. At the time, I was very happy that I made the switch, and still am. HS has connectivity to virtually everything electronic, and if you find some odd thing that isn't already connected, you have all the power of the PC and vb.net to do whatever you want. I'm sure ISY has come a long way since I left, but HS has made leap and bounds too, so I'm pretty confident HS is still well in the lead.

I have 155 Insteon devices running in my home (and another 38 in my RV) and HS on a PC doesn't even break a sweat. Usually runs around 1% CPU and bumps up to 2 or 3% when it gets busy. It is all super responsive. I have integrated Heat, A/C, Lighting, Audio, Video, IR control, RF control, Water Heaters, Garage Doors, Door Locks, Video Cameras, Indoor & Outdoor temperatures, Weather, Security Panel, Irrigation, Water Shut-off Valves, Leak sensors, smoke detectors, CO detectors, Power monitoring, UPS, and probably more I've forgotten. It all works pretty seamlessly through HomeSeer.

With regard to Insteon support in HS, Mark's Insteon Plugin is second to none. It all works, and when something doesn't work right Mark fixes it - right now! Here's a typical problem interaction with Mark:

1:00 Me: Hey Mark, I can't get this to work.
1:30 Mark: Try abc and then def. If that doesn't work, try ghi.
2:00 Me: Thanks Mark, that did it.

Or...
3:00 Me: Hey Mark, is there a way to do ...?
4:00 Mark: No there isn't, but I'll look at it.
7:00 Mark: Try Beta version 243 and look for a new feature called ...
9:00 Me: Mark - that is exactly what I needed - AWESOME!!

In case its not clear, Mark is super responsive and helpful. I wish every software developer was half as good as Mark is, the world would be a better place.

Make the switch to HomeSeer - you won't regret it!