Poll Device State, Spud UPB plugin

[Uncle Michael]

I recommend never changing a device in HS. Make all changes in UpStart. If you change a name in UpStart, delete the device from HS before restarting the plugin. The plugin will find the new device and recreate the HS device.

Similar to Uncle Michael, I also use an active repeater (a.k.a. 'split phase repeater) at my breaker panel. Mine is from HAI (now Leviton).

And tenholde's point is huge: It is so easy to edit parameters of UPB devices and see immeidate functional results in HomeSeer -- therefore it is TEMPTING to make UPB device config changes that one should not make in HS3. It is a trap for the unwary. The Upstart config model is the gold standard. Now I see my current 'heavily-edited' UPB config in HS3 as a practice run, a beta test of my UPB network. I have saved the details and am using the spreadsheet as a reminder as I update my UPB devices in Upstart. I will delete all of my existing UPB devices from HS3 before importing the next version of the UPB network config (export) file from Upstart.

Keep in mind that when you delete/replace a HS device, you will need to edit all events that contain a reference to that device. That's not a big deal as you are starting out, but once you have been working with UPB for a while it can become a serious challenge to track down every instance.

I would recommend that you approach your UPB setup assuming that HS does not exist. Make it work as well as possible by itself, using UPB links to implement scenes. Once the UPB network is working efficiently, import the devices into HS and add functionality that is not possible with UPB alone. Limit as much as possible direct control of individual devices by HS. Instead, use HS to activate links. That way, you can modify the link action if necessary without impacting HS events. That will give you at least three benefits. You will have a system that works well even if HS is not running. You will minimize the work that HS has to do to "fill in the gaps". The need to make changes after you import your devices to HS will be minimized, because the UPB network will be thoroughly debugged before new devices are incorporated into HS events.

[Guest]

In UpStart, do you have the devices defined so that they report any local changes?

I don't see a way to set up devices to report local changes in UpStart V.8.1 Build 79. How do you do this?

[Guest]

OK, found this in UpStart: Edit Device -> Rocker Switch -> Report light level after rocker switch is pressed.
-- Does this work in everyday use, to keep the real device state and HS3 device states in sync?

None of my existing UPB devices have this parameter set.
-- Would this explain why local device states are not captured by the plugin in spite of having configured the PI to "Poll UPB devices for their current state at startup"?

[tenholde]

Yes, the plugin will see the local changes.

[tenholde]

Is there a way to poll a device for its actual status? There are times when UPBspud is not accurately reflecting the status of an actual device. For instance, if you manually dim a light from a wall switch that does not have the capability of reporting its device's load after a manual change (PCS KPLD7), then UPBspud plugin has no way of knowing how dim the light is, so it reflects the HS device as OFF, even though it is on (dim).