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What to do about my Insteon setup?....

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    What to do about my Insteon setup?....

    So, last night (Friday), my ISY decided to just give up. I have an email to UDI about it, but I'm going to continue this conversation as if it's dead and gone.

    I'm looking for suggestions and discussion on my next move (And I hope the Insteon Plug-in Devs might offer some thoughts too).

    I currently, for obviously reasons own a license for the ISY plug-in, which I just bought in May. So, If I am to keep using that plug-in it would mean I would have to purchase a new ISY at about $180. I believe I have a recent backup, so I would hope that if I were to swap it out and restore my backup, then the plugin would pick up where it left off an all would be good.

    My other option, since I have a serial PLM is to get Mark's plug-in and pay for it ($60). It's 1/3 the cost, but I would have to completely rebuild my Insteon Network.


    So, things I like about the ISY:
    1) I can set up all my links/Scenes in the ISY and not have to do it at the devices.
    2) The ISY does offer some Automation on it's side which I only really utilized to keep lights on KPLs in sync and as time went on, I figured out better ways of handling that.

    Things I think I would like about Mark's plugin
    1) It would keep everything in HS.
    2) One less piece of equipment to worry about (even if the ISY is pretty low powered)

    I'm not sure if Mark's plugin allows the setting up of Scenes in the devices like the ISY does. If it does, I may just go that route as it is 1/3 the cost. The thing is the hours of rebuilding events and resetting up all my scenes that would really hurt.

    So.. Thoughts? Any suggestions if anyone has used both approaches?

    #2
    I realize this is a little late, but I have the Insteon PLM and Mark's Insteon plugin, and I love it. You can only configure devices and create groups in the plugin but it's easy to configure.
    Personally, I would go with the PLM and ditch the ISY just because it's one less piece of hardware to complicate things. I don't think there's anything that the plugin along with events couldn't handle.

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      #3
      On the other hand you can maintain some basic timers and connectivity to an Elk panel in the ISY and it will keep some this basic lighting functionality going even if Homeseer crashes due to some other plugin not related to lighting.

      I like the concept of distributed independent subsystems with centralized integration through Homeseer rather than an all your eggs in one basket approach. The one less piece of equipment argument takes a back seat to high resiliency and the ability for the rest of the system to keep working even when a major subsystem fails.

      Comment


        #4
        So for now at least, I went with Mark's plugin. I haven't had time to fix my ISY. I do have some issues with Mark's plugin that make me a bit upset that he's not too enthusiastic about fixing (such as which Location field the room goes into, and the in ability to automatically sync LEDs).

        These are things that if I wrote the plug-in I might fix, but there is no way I'll have the ability to write a new plugin before my trial ends, so I'm stuck with either the ISY or Mark's plugin, and right now it looks like I'll be buying Marks. I may at some point look into creating my own, but it would be nice if some of these little things could just be fixed. From my perspective they are small fixes, but I also understand that HS plug-in development is not lucrative, so developers have to decide which things make the most sense to do based on their value of their time.

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          #5
          For me it would definitely be the ISY. I have had HS crash or not respond to triggered events in past. My lights which I've had for a lot longer than HS has never once failed me. Except failed switches. But ISY never crashed and not once (that I noticed) that lights didn't turn on or off when they were supposed to.

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by freeon View Post
            For me it would definitely be the ISY. I have had HS crash or not respond to triggered events in past. My lights which I've had for a lot longer than HS has never once failed me. Except failed switches. But ISY never crashed and not once (that I noticed) that lights didn't turn on or off when they were supposed to.
            Yeah, for now it was a matter of having everything back up for as little cost as possible. A new isy is 3 times the cost. If I can get my old ISY working, I will reconsider which one to use. So far, Mark's plugin hasn't missed anything.

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