Insteon Plug-ins for ISY-26/99i and SmartLinc (with X10)

[techoguy]

If I had known this back then, I would have kept the Hub.

I actually just happened to read your other post mentioning the hub working through their cloud service and that's why I decided to mention this. Sorry I didn't end up mentioning it earlier.

I originally was in the same boat as you, had a smartlinc that died (apparently a lot of them are dying at about 1 year.) and SmartHome gave me a Hub as a replacement. Apparently when the hub first came out the hidden port wasn't available but the development community complained because other devices used it. So they re-enabled it. It's port 9761. It's kind of a backdoor to the internal PLM inside the Hub. So per Smarthome tech support, they are correct in that the Hub's HTTP works differently than the Smartlinc. But when using the TCP port 9761 it's exactly the same.

I contacted them

I realized that SmartHome tech support only knows what's printed in the manuals which isn't much. So when I have questions about a insteon device I go to the forums. The ISY forums have a lot of info and general searches usually find good forums for information.

[barnabas1969]

I'll keep this in mind for the next time the thing dies.

The first time, I had it installed in my wiring closet, plugged directly into the outlet, which is in the ceiling. It stays pretty warm in there, around 85F, so I thought that the heat killed it.

The second one was installed behind my HTPC, sandwiched between my HouseLinc USB powerline modem, and the FilterLinc line filter. I figured it got too hot between those two.

Now, I have it plugged in to a wall outlet in my son's bedroom. There is nothing obstructing the airflow, and his room is right next to the A/C unit, so it is one of the coolest rooms in the house.

[mbonaccors]

@technoguy, this works great! Thank you so much for writing this code - my keypads are now 3x more useful! You've unlocked for me so many more possibilities.

-Matt B.

[steve@rpad]

Techoguy, Thank-you!!! Been waiting a longtime for someone with the skills(I have no python experience at all) to tackle the plugin. Tried it last night and thru terRemote got the lights to turn on and off! WAF factor has risen exponentially! I have a fanlinc module that I will install soon. Haven't gotten into the details of what is going back and forth to EG but I have seen some posts in other forums describing it, so I'll start to investigate more. Again, Thank you very much for all your interest in the plugin! In my home all your hard work is greatly appreciated.

[techoguy]

Hi Steve, Matt,
I just want to make sure the praise is going to the right guys. I only changed a few things in the plugin so the keypads would work.

abuttio made a lot of changes from dt1000's plugin who i believe originally wrote the plugin.


Steve,
if you have any issues with the fanlinc let me know, i have a couple of them that i have installed and integrated into the system. external sw like houselinc or ISY is definitely your friend when setting these up.

Future effort on my part:
If I get around to it i do plan on writing a more robust plugin that handles a lot more of the low level communication from the PLM and EG. But not sure when i'll get to this.

My ultimate idea will be able to add insteon devices to the plugin and define events linked to the groups of that device, like group 1 of a keypad is really button A. This will allow one to add any new insteon device and receive event notifications that make sense to that specific device.
I'll also be able to read the database of the PLM such that EG will know a little bit more about the links as well.

[steve@rpad]

Techoguy, Thanks for the heads up with houselinc/fanlinc config tip. I have a multi action switch on my wall that operates ceiling fan in conjunction with RF remote control. Did u install 6 or 8 button Insteon Switch to operate Fanlinc? I'm thinking of just tablets with terRemote and EG. As well, do all the functions of the fanlinc work thru the plugin, forward/reverse/on/off/3 speeds? Plus light on/off/dim? Thanks again for all your help!

[techoguy]

Hi Steve,
I have 8 btn keypadlincs but I don't have them setup like smarthome shows them (low, med, high, off). It made more sense to me to just have low, med, high and to turn it off you just press the button that is on. I did that for a little while until i needed my keypad buttons for more things so now my keypad just has med. If I want to set the fan to low or high i use the insteon hub app or could use EG to do this as well.
All functions will work through the plugin once you setup links between the fanlinc and the PLM that is connected to EG. Though, i don't think the fanlinc supports forward and reverse. If you want insteon to control that you would probably have to get one of the mini insteon modules and wire it into your reverse/forward switch on the fan.

my current keypad is configured like this:
A= fan light (off/on/dim/brighten)
B= Fan (med/off)
C= Hue lights (use EG to set the color and brightness depending on the time of day, if its late at night it turns purple so you can see but not be blinded with a bright yellow light) (dbl tap turns off)
D= (future blinds control, open, close, adjust)
E= SONOS Play (dbl tap Pause)
F= SONOS Vol+ (dbl tap set volume to 65)
G= SONOS Next (dbl tap previous)
H= SONOS Vol- (dbl tap set volume to 33)

Keypadlinc example

I have many other keypads where i'm doing similar things as well.

[lja]

I have been able to get my lights to turn off on start of movie, on with pause and on with stop using my remote. I would like to have the lights dim on pause rather than on bright. I am using the 2412n. Can anyone help with this? Thanks in advance.

[techoguy]

Hi lja,
try using the device command that sets it to a specific value. This of course is assuming you are using a dimmable light switch.

The other option is to setup a scene with the desired level and use the scene on command recalling the scene you setup.

Hope this helps.

[lja]

device.JPG

Hi lja,
try using the device command that sets it to a specific value. This of course is assuming you are using a dimmable light switch.

The other option is to setup a scene with the desired level and use the scene on command recalling the scene you setup.

Hope this helps.

Thanks @ techoguy. Appreciated. Got it to work using device command.

[karlik]

Hi, Ive been using this plugin and it seems to receive only one activity "sensor activity" at a time so if two sensors detect movement in the exact moment then can happen that I miss one of them in EG

I want to use my sensors activity (movement and open/close) according to different conditions like time of the day so if is late in the night (between 23h - 6h) I want the light to turn only 30%, therefore I dont have the sensor linked to the light module but controlled directly from EG

I appreciate if you could share a version of this plugin that solves this (if available) or guide me to accomplish it. pd: Im a newbie with poor programming background.

thanks

[techoguy]

Hi, Ive been using this plugin and it seems to receive only one activity "sensor activity" at a time so if two sensors detect movement in the exact moment then can happen that I miss one of them in EG

I want to use my sensors activity (movement and open/close) according to different conditions like time of the day so if is late in the night (between 23h - 6h) I want the light to turn only 30%, therefore I dont have the sensor linked to the light module but controlled directly from EG

I appreciate if you could share a version of this plugin that solves this (if available) or guide me to accomplish it. pd: Im a newbie with poor programming background.

thanks

Hi Karlik,
This plugin doesn't have a buffer to handle new commands while a current command is executing. The Insteon PLM uses a serial interface to push data to the client (EG in this case). So if two insteon messages are sent over the bus to close together then one or both of the messages can be missed. In the case of insteon sensors, they send the broadcast message twice back to back which causes issues too. The other issue is when you send a message using EG to your insteon network, insteon immediately responds back which can cause the plugin to miss any incoming messages or cause the insteon PLM to ignore your message you just sent.

I do have a modified version (I don't recall if it's the one i uploaded or not) of this plugin to help medicate this problem as much as possible but it is not perfect. In my case i have 8 motion sensors, many keypadlincs, switchlincs, and other insteon devices that are always firing all day and i hardly ever get a missed message at this point. With that said, i am planning on writing a new plugin that does have a buffer and handles commands a little differently to make it much more reliable. At the moment i don't know when i'll have this completed.

Also,
i am actually doing something similar to what you are wanting to do with the motion sensors and turning a light on to a certain level based on time. I do that but also change the timeout time in which a light stays on, and also use the keypadlincs to allow me to temporarily disable the motion sensors too keep lights on or off. This was done by writing snippets of code though.

if you would like to try my version of the plugin, let me know and i'll upload it. Otherwise i hope to have the new plugin within a month or two.

[karlik]

Hi Karlik,
This plugin doesn't have a buffer to handle new commands while a current command is executing. The Insteon PLM uses a serial interface to push data to the client (EG in this case). So if two insteon messages are sent over the bus to close together then one or both of the messages can be missed. In the case of insteon sensors, they send the broadcast message twice back to back which causes issues too. The other issue is when you send a message using EG to your insteon network, insteon immediately responds back which can cause the plugin to miss any incoming messages or cause the insteon PLM to ignore your message you just sent.

I do have a modified version (I don't recall if it's the one i uploaded or not) of this plugin to help medicate this problem as much as possible but it is not perfect. In my case i have 8 motion sensors, many keypadlincs, switchlincs, and other insteon devices that are always firing all day and i hardly ever get a missed message at this point. With that said, i am planning on writing a new plugin that does have a buffer and handles commands a little differently to make it much more reliable. At the moment i don't know when i'll have this completed.

Also,
i am actually doing something similar to what you are wanting to do with the motion sensors and turning a light on to a certain level based on time. I do that but also change the timeout time in which a light stays on, and also use the keypadlincs to allow me to temporarily disable the motion sensors too keep lights on or off. This was done by writing snippets of code though.

if you would like to try my version of the plugin, let me know and i'll upload it. Otherwise i hope to have the new plugin within a month or two.

Hi techoguy,
Please upload it, I would like to try your version of the plugin, the last uploaded is not handling commands in the way you describe. I will be here to test your coming release... it will bring a huge power to the insteon network.

Thank you and to all that have put an effort on this

[techoguy]

Hi techoguy,
Please upload it, I would like to try your version of the plugin, the last uploaded is not handling commands in the way you describe. I will be here to test your coming release... it will bring a huge power to the insteon network.

Hi karlik,
see attached plugin.

Note, that your computer has a huge impact on how well this plugin will work or not.

__init__.py

techoguy insteon plugin changes

(77.84 KiB) Downloaded 210 times

[karlik]

Hi karlik,
see attached plugin.

Note, that your computer has a huge impact on how well this plugin will work or not.

__init__.py

Hi techoguy,
Thank you, Ive been testing it and is not perfect as you said, it reduces a bit the collision. how my computer have impact on the plugin's performance? I have a brand new mini pc 24/7.