Feature Requests for the Mark Sandler Insteon PLM Plug-In

[mnsandler]

I understand the issue, but I don't have a good solution. I think you are the first person trying to link the simplehomenet devices back to other smarthome devices.

I would suggest using events to control the simplehomenet devices instead of the insteon devices on the status page.

you could create fake device on the status page that trigger you SHN device via an event.

[ramblreb]

I understand the issue, but I don't have a good solution. I think you are the first person trying to link the simplehomenet devices back to other smarthome devices.

I would suggest using events to control the simplehomenet devices instead of the insteon devices on the status page.

you could create fake device on the status page that trigger you SHN device via an event.

That may be true for HomeSeer users but Smarthome's promotion of these devices is that you can control these relays with Insteon KeypadLink devices and others so I am sure others are doing it with other software.

I still do not understand why it was decided to use another plugin to support these devices when I know full well that it could have been done in your plugin. These devices are fully Insteon compatible and use some of the same hardware yet the SimpleHomeNet plugin is the most lack luster and feature poor I have ever seen, sorry if that offends anyone. The same functionality that is in your plugin is necessary in order to realize the full potential of these devices. If I were Smarthome or SimpleHomeNet I would be very unhappy with the way these devices work together (or don't) in HomeSeer.

So if I have to go the Event route and there is a comm failure how will I know? So if for some reason the computer fails while I am not home, which is always the case, and my wife pushes the KeypadLink and nothing happens, that is unacceptable. When things don't work we get our gadget budget and buy-in from our spouses cut. =(

I simply shouldn't have to use some sort of work around to get two Insteon devices to work together in HomeSeer.

If I had to I would include a KeypadLink button on command in the event that is used to turn the pool light on (SimpleHomeNet Relay) so the KepadLink LED would light when the timed event turned the pool light on and use the one way link already established to turn the relay on/off from the KepadLink.

But I am leaning toward returning all my SimpleHomeNet gear, building a bigger case and going with 6 Insteon 2450 I/O Links instead of the EZIO8SA. Geez all this to "Upgrade" from X10! Not much of an upgrade when you can't even duplicate what you were doing in the old technology.

[pbibm]

Insteon switches can't talk directly to SHN (now SmartenIT). The endpoint control is achieved by a variation of the insteon protocol and behaves differently than standard Insteon switches. They can't be linked, something in the middle has to do it; a dedicated controller, HCA 11, Indigo, ISY, Homeseer, etc has to handle that translation.

I know this because 2 of my 29 insteon devices are SHN EZFLora sprinkler controllers. I bumped into this problem and dug around on the board and found scripts that could be adopted for my needs. I modified the scripts to talk between Mark's plugin and HS and have had a great, weather aware sprinkler system for the last 2 years.

With some advice, encouragement and work I got it going. If you don't have the inclination to work with scripts to get SmartenIT to work, there are the plugins, where another developer (Adam) figured out how to do it.

It wasn't a grand decision to not include SmartenIT/SHN in Mark's Insteon plugin. He is one of many independent developers who provide HS plugins to enhance it's capabilities. He doesn't need or have SHN devices, so he didn't provide it. This is mentioned in his consolidated documentation (Post 8). Mark takes incredible care of many of our HS installations with his creativity, skills and dedication and I'm not sure you're understanding the breadth and depth of what's provided. It does take patience and time.

Its best with homeseer to post about project ideas and ask advice in the beginning. I always do that as the support and knowledge here is great and you can make balanced choices.

I hope you can get this worked out and the group here would like help.

[ramblreb]

Insteon switches can't talk directly to SHN (now SmartenIT). The endpoint control is achieved by a variation of the insteon protocol and behaves differently than standard Insteon switches. They can't be linked, something in the middle has to do it; a dedicated controller, HCA 11, Indigo, ISY, Homeseer, etc has to handle that translation.

I know this because 2 of my 29 insteon devices are SHN EZFLora sprinkler controllers. I bumped into this problem and dug around on the board and found scripts that could be adopted for my needs. I modified the scripts to talk between Mark's plugin and HS and have had a great, weather aware sprinkler system for the last 2 years.

With some advice, encouragement and work I got it going. If you don't have the inclination to work with scripts to get SmartenIT to work, there are the plugins, where another developer (Adam) figured out how to do it.

It wasn't a grand decision to not include SmartenIT/SHN in Mark's Insteon plugin. He is one of many independent developers who provide HS plugins to enhance it's capabilities. He doesn't need or have SHN devices, so he didn't provide it. This is mentioned in his consolidated documentation (Post 8). Mark takes incredible care of many of our HS installations with his creativity, skills and dedication and I'm not sure you're understanding the breadth and depth of what's provided. It does take patience and time.

Its best with homeseer to post about project ideas and ask advice in the beginning. I always do that as the support and knowledge here is great and you can make balanced choices.

I hope you can get this worked out and the group here would like help.

You might not have all the facts straight. I asked both Smarthome and SmartenIT if these devices work together and will link to each other before purchasing and was assured that they did both. I had no difficulty linking 6 of the 8 buttons of my KeypadLink to 6 different relays in my EZIO8SA. Just followed the instructions for the EZIO8SA that spells out how to link the relays to Insteon Controllers under
"Controlling the Relays with an INSTEON Controller" Maybe the EZFLora sprinkler controllers are different but all of the SmartenIT items sold by Smarthome are advertised as controllable with any Insteon controller. This is a quote from the top of the downloadable command set for all SmartenIT EZIO products.

"The following information is intended to aid in programming a PC application to support EZIO. The comprehensive INSTEON
command set was established with and certified by SmartLabs to ensure interoperability and future expansion. Manufacturers
of INSTEON applications follow this command set to ensure maximum customer satisfaction with INSTEON products."

I have done a lot of programing in my life and I truly appreciate all the work I know Mark has put into his absolutely wonderful plugin. I just wish it extended to all Insteon devices which I believe should include the SmartenIT devices that are controllable by any Insteon Controller.

Seeing as this is most likely not going to happen I wish Smarthome would come out with their own multiple relay device or a reasonably sized wire in low voltage relay to replace older technology X10 wire in low voltage relay devices. I don't think that is going to happen either, that is why Smarthome is selling the multiple IN / OUT SmartenIT devices, to fill that gap in their Insteon Lineup.

[ramblreb]

So I get it, the SimpleHomeNet devices were not compatible in 2005 and therefore not included in the Insteon Plugin. Things have changed in the last 8 years. Now the EZIO line is a joint venture between SmartenIT and Smarthome designed to be inter-operable and therefore they should both be supported in the same Plugin. If Mark needs a device in order to do this I will buy him one.

[The Listener]

Reprogram a Device(s) that has(have) Forgotten its(their) Links

I have some Keypad Lincs that forget their links or settings due to power failure. The plug-in knows what the links should be; it uses that info when doing "Replace this Device". There needs to be a way to tell the plug-in to reprogram ALL the links that it thinks a device should have (not just new or changed links). If you don't want to add a new button, you could overload "Replace this Device" to accept the same address as the old address and just reprogram the links. Or you could have "Program this Device for Homeseer" ask for confirmation if it thinks that all the links don't need updating. Anything. This is really important for me. Mark's suggestion of:

"you can use the 'program device for homeseer' to reprogram the standard links but any custom links will have to be reprogrammed manually using the plugin."

is SERIOUSLY tedious, especially since the plug-in already knows how to do this and especially for 8 button devices.

An extension to this request would be for the plug-in to crawl all over its known devices and make sure everything on the devices matches what it thinks it should be, with an option to force all known devices into compliance.


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[mnsandler]

I have some Keypad Lincs that forget their links or settings due to power failure. The plug-in knows what the links should be; it uses that info when doing "Replace this Device". There needs to be a way to tell the plug-in to reprogram ALL the links that it thinks a device should have (not just new or changed links). If you don't want to add a new button, you could overload "Replace this Device" to accept the same address as the old address and just reprogram the links. Or you could have "Program this Device for Homeseer" ask for confirmation if it thinks that all the links don't need updating. Anything. This is really important for me. Mark's suggestion of:

"you can use the 'program device for homeseer' to reprogram the standard links but any custom links will have to be reprogrammed manually using the plugin."

is SERIOUSLY tedious, especially since the plug-in already knows how to do this and especially for 8 button devices.

An extension to this request would be for the plug-in to crawl all over its known devices and make sure everything on the devices matches what it thinks it should be, with an option to force all known devices into compliance.


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I actually tried to add the feature once but I didn't get very far. I'll revisit it in the future.

[The Listener]

Replace Device Should Work Between Different Version Devices

I have a new v6.2 KeypadLinc that I tried to use with Replace Device for an old (not sure how old) KeypadLinc. The operation failed right away during the programming new links into the new device. No harm done, but not what I wanted or expected. I don't really know, but I suspect that there is some slight differences between the old 8 button device and the new one. The Replace Device should do a better job of going from old to new, mapping settings/links as best it can. If this isn't the issue, consider this a bug report.

[mnsandler]

I have a new v6.2 KeypadLinc that I tried to use with Replace Device for an old (not sure how old) KeypadLinc. The operation failed right away during the programming new links into the new device. No harm done, but not what I wanted or expected. I don't really know, but I suspect that there is some slight differences between the old 8 button device and the new one. The Replace Device should do a better job of going from old to new, mapping settings/links as best it can. If this isn't the issue, consider this a bug report.

I've tried to make the swap dev routine as generic as possible. But it only tried to copy links. copying settings, op flags, etc would be impossible to manage.

I can modify the code so it doesn't terminate if it has trouble writing a link to the new device, but that's about all i can offer here.

[claude]

Update device status on start up

It seems that the plugin, both HS2 and HS3, remember the last state of devices when it last shut down and therefore may not reflect the current state of devices.

Could the plugin start a general poll of all devices, in the background, after it has initialized?

[mnsandler]

It seems that the plugin, both HS2 and HS3, remember the last state of devices when it last shut down and therefore may not reflect the current state of devices.

Could the plugin start a general poll of all devices, in the background, after it has initialized?

Well at least the two plugins are consistent

Actually, HS save the state and restores it when restarted.

I'm not sure about starting another polling routine however. the plugin already has a polling routine (for those that use it). having two routines going at once will cause too much network traffic.

i think the answer is a custom script that runs on startup that calls hs.polldevice() in a loop for each device that needs to be polled.

[gduren]

Insteon Thermostat Support in HS3

Hi Mark, Given Tom's decision not to develop the Sage thermostat plugin for HS3, thought I'd formally request support of this T-stat be added to your Insteon plugin for HS3. Maybe Tom will give you a deal on the source code. Thanks!

[mnsandler]

Hi Mark, Given Tom's decision not to develop the Sage thermostat plugin for HS3, thought I'd formally request support of this T-stat be added to your Insteon plugin for HS3. Maybe Tom will give you a deal on the source code. Thanks!

Its really more of an issue of my time. I'm running out of cycles supporting hs2 and hs3 for two different plugins already. And i don't have linux supported yet either.

I can tell you if i add the tstat support to my plugin, there will be an upcharge on the existing plugin.

[greg631]

Insteon Thermostat

Any plans to support the Insteon Thermostat?

http://www.smarthome.com/2441TH/INST...rmostat/p.aspx

Thanks!

Greg

[CharlieWayne]

Re: Feature Requests for Insteon PLM Plug-In

Its really more of an issue of my time. I'm running out of cycles supporting hs2 and hs3 for two different plugins already. And i don't have linux supported yet either.

I can tell you if i add the tstat support to my plugin, there will be an upcharge on the existing plugin.

Can we prepay now? JK....


Like I expressed in Toms threads paying extra for HS3 support is not an issue. It wouldn't make sense for you to vest your time with adding Tstat support to HS2 as we already use Toms plugin.

I'll be watching this one closely.

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