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UpstateMike
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| Posted: February 18 2006 at 16:18 | IP Logged
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I got my PowerLinc today and am all set to try out PowerHome with my Insteon stuff. I got as far as being able to add devices both manually and through auto discovery. That works great and I can manually control devices entered by either method. I only put in about 10 devices to start but after an hour I still don't see any link information. Do I need to do something to kick off the link discovery process?
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dhoward
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| Posted: February 18 2006 at 16:39 | IP Logged
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Mike,
Welcome to PowerHome!
First thing to check is the settings for the Insteon DM controller. Open the PowerHome Explorer and navigate to Setup->Controllers. Click on the "Settings" button for your Insteon controller. Make sure that the "Background Operations Poll Interval" is set to 15 and that the "Background Status Check", "Background Local Level Scan", and "Background Database Scanning" options are all checked. Click "Done" and reinitialize PowerHome. You should start to see some links appear in less than a minute.
Let me know how it goes,
Dave.
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UpstateMike
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| Posted: February 18 2006 at 16:48 | IP Logged
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I went to those settings and they were already correct so I just hit done and then did a reinit. Looks like something is strating to happen!
Thanks,
-Mike
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dhoward
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| Posted: February 18 2006 at 16:58 | IP Logged
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Mike,
No problem. The default for the settings are all checked but they arent actually created in the database unless the window is opened so you should be good to go now.
If you didnt add all your devices, you'll likely see a lot of "NOT FOUND" in your links. Once you get all your devices added, you'll have a lot more accurate picture of your link database.
Let me know if you have any problems or questions.
Dave.
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UpstateMike
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| Posted: February 18 2006 at 17:35 | IP Logged
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One question: I notice right from the start that controllers are not listed under device status. Is there a way to send a direct command to turn a kepad button LED on or off?
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UpstateMike
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| Posted: February 18 2006 at 17:55 | IP Logged
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OK maybe 2 questions. In my Insteon address spreadsheet I had a field for firmware rev just in case there was a recall or something. Would this be a useful field to have in the PowerHome insteon database?
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dhoward
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| Posted: February 18 2006 at 17:56 | IP Logged
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Mike,
Only the load controlled devices are displayed in the Device Status screen. These all respond to a "Direct" address to address comand.
The secondary buttons on a KeyPadLinc do not respond to direct commands. If you create a link with the PLC as the controller and a secondary button as a responder, then you can send a group command that will turn the secondary buttons status LED on or off. You can do this with the ph_insteonrawgroup function. Check the help file for syntax.
Keep in mind that if you do create this link and control the secondary buttons status, this will in no way control the devices that are actually linked to the KPL's secondary button. This seems to be one of the major shortcomings of the Insteon protocol. Groups can ONLY be triggered or controlled from the device that is the actual group controller. So if you had a group of lights controlled by a secondary button on a KPL and you wanted to control that same group of lights (including the status LED of the KPL) from the PLC itself, then you would have to duplicate the group with the PLC as the controller AND add the KPL secondary button as a responder.
Let me know if this answered your question or not.
Dave.
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dhoward
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| Posted: February 18 2006 at 18:00 | IP Logged
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I had actually considered adding something such as this. So far, it hasnt been necessary but with all of the changes that seem to be taking place, it may actually become a necessity to provide enhanced as well as backwards functionality.
However, instead of storing the actual rev with the device, I may handle the situation by storing either the rev or parameters in the Insteon Types table.
Dave.
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UpstateMike
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| Posted: February 18 2006 at 19:26 | IP Logged
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The device status screen is probably not a good place for manual control due to the fact that it will cause groups to get out of sync. Might be better to have a separate control screen set up for group commands instead of direct commands. You could take each existing group and auto-create a new group that includes all of the same members plus the originator (The PLC would be the originator of the new groups).
This would give you the same effect as if you had actually pressed the button on the device you cloned the new group from.
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dhoward
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| Posted: February 19 2006 at 18:09 | IP Logged
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Mike,
Im working on a "Duplicate Group" function for the next version. It will give you the option to include the "originator" of the original group. Since the PLC can only control a total of 254 groups (0 isnt used and 255 is the master group), don't want to just arbitrarily duplicate all groups within the PLC. I'll let the user pick and choose.
You can still use the Device Status for group control as well as direct control. You could create a virtual X-10 device (say Z1) and then create a trigger for on, off, and even dim,brighten. Within the trigger, you can send the appropriate Insteon group command with ph_insteonrawgroup. The "group" changes will be immediately reflected on the Device Status screen just as if you had triggered the group from the original device itself.
Let me know what you think of this.
Dave.
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UpstateMike
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| Posted: February 19 2006 at 20:57 | IP Logged
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Sounds like you are way ahead of me. I need to do some more reading before I am ready to try the virtual device approach but I think that might do the trick.
I also agree that you don't want to just clone every group out there with the "Duplicate Group" function.
On a another topic, is there any way to manipulate the X-10 address in an Insteon device. It would be good to be able to read it, better to be able to set it as well.
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dhoward
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| Posted: February 20 2006 at 15:52 | IP Logged
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Mike,
I have the ability to read it, thats no problem. Setting though is a problem. I can poke the values in, but the device won't "read" the new setting unless it's restarted. IE. you have to pull the set button out and remove power and then push it back in.
What would be nice if there is a way to place a switch into link mode remotely. Then I could just send the X-10 address to assign to 3 times and Im done. Ive posted this query on the Insteon Developers forum, but have received no response yet.
Let me know if you think the poke the value and require a reset or user enter linking mode and PowerHome send the address is a better approach.
Dave.
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UpstateMike
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| Posted: February 20 2006 at 17:30 | IP Logged
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I'm not excited about either option since they both require you to visit the switch. If you are going to the device anyway you might as well just set the X-10 address manually.
Reading it is still important though. If a switch is acting strange a good thing to know would be if it is reacting to an X-10 signal and if so exactly which address.
Also I eventually want to be pure Insteon with no X-10 addresses at all. When I go to remove all the X-10 addresses I will want a way to review all the devices to be sure I didn't miss any.
Is the read feature already implemented?
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dhoward
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| Posted: February 20 2006 at 20:37 | IP Logged
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I know what you mean  . Having to visit the switch is a PITA and even worse if you have to play with the little set switch I think. It's too bad that SmartHome did not provide a way to update the device after poking in new values. There is a command to do so, but no device supports it except for the KeypadLinc.
The read feature is not yet implemented. I'll add an option in the Insteon settings so that this can checked for as well.
Dave.
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Topic: Need Insteon Help
