Insteon Feature Request

upstatemike

Senior Member
I am looking for a way to keep Insteon keypadlinc buttons in sync with the switches they control and I am wondering if there is a way to do it in HouseLinc or PowerHome. The problem is that when a SwitchLinc Timer V2 expires and shuts off or when a PC sends a direct command to a switch, the associated KeypadLinc button does not get updated.

What I would like to do is poll all switches that are linked to a keypadlinc button every couple of seconds to verify that they are in sync. In cases where more than one switch is linked to a keypadlinc button, I want the button to be ON unless ALL of the associated switches are off. So if I press the keypadlinc button that is supposed to shut off three switches and one of the switches fails to acknowledge that it turned off, then the keypadlinc button should stay on (or go back on) to indicate that at least one linked switch is still on.

I don't need to poll every Insteon device I have, just the ones linked to keypadlinc buttons (maybe 50 or so). They would need to be checked at least once every couple of seconds; otherwise I will already have walked away from the keypadlinc before the true status is displayed.

Is this something that PowerHome or HouseLinc can already do?
 
The idea of polling any Insteon devices in seconds doesn't sound like a good one to me... but I may be wrong on that. :ph34r:

I've kept my KeypadLinc lighted buttons in sync by programming a LOT of links between things. I have not found a >good> way to maintain these multiple-interlinked links - it becomes tens then hundreds pretty quickly - but it does work well.

I only did this with up to three switches before using PH and HL. Now I've got as many as five or six interlinked in cases since these can manipulate them with some click/drag (HL) or typing crap (PH) then push it out and I only need to test it. I have found that some problems came up and I had to delete links and start over at least once; but it seems to have worked out.

So... that's switches talking to each other... or HL or PH telling things to do stuff. I think the issue you're asking about involves a "TimerLinc", right? I don't have one of those. Can it be told what to do and when by HL or PH or something else? Can it tell KeypadLinc buttons what to do? If yes on both, then this is pretty straightforward if programming-intensive.


I've been testing it with stuff to do what you ask. Here's how I've got it now. Now that I have four KeypadLinc Button5s that all reflect the state of the coffee-maker provided that any one of those four is used to turn it on, all works as expected. If a Button5 is on then the coffee maker is on and ALL Button5s are on.

The challenge came when I automatically turned on the coffee maker (an ApplianceLinc) at 5am or whatever. Now I send an "on" to the coffee maker AND all four Button5s on the KeypadLincs. All works as expected. Provided your TimerLinc can do that, I think you're in good shape.

I'm expecting to use polling occaisionally to keep things in sync (assuming someone gets it working well eventually :D ) but I sure don't want to rely on it to sync button states.


I just re-read your post... perhaps your concern that not ALL devices responded is more significant? If so, I'd say re-evaluate or add SignaLincs until it is 100% reliable before looking to polling to address it.
 
Back
Top