Have M1G, Adding zwave t-stats & Locks, should I just add ISY?

Hey guys,
I'm setting up my new home and installing my M1G.  I've decided to jump into interacting with Yale zwave locks and thermostats and although my original plan was to stick to controlling it all with the elk and using the elk zwave module it appears that going the ISY route doesn't really cost more.  
 
What would you recommend?  
 
Second question...  I'm also planning on getting an energy monitor  and irrigation controller.  Is there any benefit to controlling these through the ISY versus getting stand alone systems that are designed for each specific task?  The Rachio looks hard to beat, and there appear to be quite a few energy monitors that well reviewed. 

mikefromgeorgia said:

Hey guys,
I'm setting up my new home and installing my M1G.  I've decided to jump into interacting with Yale zwave locks and thermostats and although my original plan was to stick to controlling it all with the elk and using the elk zwave module it appears that going the ISY route doesn't really cost more.  

Click to expand...

I like a minimalist approach, so I just use elk m1 with its zwave serial board and a leviton serial vrc0p module. I also have yale locks and zwave thermostats.  The locks have been reliable and I've not experienced any issues except one situation when a lock took two-three seconds instead of the usual one to execute a command.  That has been fixed. since.  For lighting, I use radiora2 with elk m1 as well.
 
I am not as happy about my zwave thermostats : a. they have been losing setpoint commands about once every two months.b.sometimes the current temperature fails to update. I am pretty sure (a) is due to the elk m1 losing the setpoint command, not zwave communication failures.  ( b )is due to the  zwave slave(the thermostat)  poor retransmission design.
 
At the cost of additional complexity and arguably lower reliability overall since now you have two systems that can fail, the  ISY can probably solve (a), but not ( b ).  I tried an ISY a while ago but was put off by having to use two automation controllers and a poorer zwave range (in my environment) in comparison to the vrc0p.

M1G and ISY integration is great. Been using it ~10 years. Added Zwave locks recently.

Another vote for ISY, support is great and their marking a lot of improvements. They now have a portal service where you ISY connects via internet to the ISY portal server, enabling a secure connection without port forwarding. The portal also allows seamless integration with Amazon Alexa Services and IFTTT. Be sure to get some hardwired zwave devices or zwave repeaters to make sure the zwave network is reliable.

+1 for ISY. The Elk module for it is great, great integration. The two are practically made for each other.

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Thanks 

+1 for the ISY/Elk combo.  The ISY is basically what the M1XEP should be these days.  

ISY zw on the way

I've had Elk + Zwave for a while now. I use Elk to control Zwave natively (XSLZW + VRC0P).
 
For those with the ISY and door locks, does the ISY allow you to manage PINs for the lock through the ISY device? Say I want to add/delete a user code. Can that be done through ISY or does it have to be done via the lock directly?

drvnbysound said:

I've had Elk + Zwave for a while now. I use Elk to control Zwave natively (XSLZW + VRC0P).
 
For those with the ISY and door locks, does the ISY allow you to manage PINs for the lock through the ISY device? Say I want to add/delete a user code. Can that be done through ISY or does it have to be done via the lock directly?

Click to expand...

 
ISY allows setting PINs, schedule, etc.