Migrated to ELK-m1, please help regain WAF -

[dtreyes]

Since migrating to ELK-M1G, the WAF is at record low.
1) I have dampster to open and close air flow when needed. When I connected my RC80 to m1xsp, Elk does not have any idea that the hvac is running and there is a need to open or close the dampster.
2) My wife used to be able to see how many hours the hvac have been on for the current week and previous week. She missed this feature.
3) Filter day is also missing.
4) We have insteon lights and modules all over. Now she is complaining the she could not tell if the lights are on or off as ELK does not reflect the true status.
5) She used to hear - the stove has been on for xxx minutes now. I cannot find a way to do this with elk.
6) She used to hear announcement to close door and windows while hvac is running, now I can't find a simple way to do this.

Please help me regain WAF so I can request for additional FUNDING !!!

 

[BrettS]

What did you migrate to the Elk from? How did you do these things before on the old system?

 

[dtreyes]

From Homeseer with dedicated PC.

 

[123]

I guess if your goal was to eliminate Homeseer altogether then my suggestion is worthless: Why not use Homeseer to fill in the features that the M1 can't provide, like TTS. I believe there are several plug-ins that'll let you monitor/control the M1 via Homeseer.

 

[Steve]

It's impossible to do absolutely everything with just the M1. The M1 is a great security system and has very good automation capabilities, but it was not designed to do everything a pc based software package can do. Things like TTS, sophisticated timers and other things are best handled by a pc.

 

[MarcDencker]

It's impossible to do absolutely everything with just the M1. The M1 is a great security system and has very good automation capabilities, but it was not designed to do everything a pc based software package can do. Things like TTS, sophisticated timers and other things are best handled by a pc.

stupid question

what I can do with the elk but not with the homeseer and what can I do with the homeseer and not with the elk?

 

[WayneW]

stupid question

what I can do with the elk but not with the homeseer and what can I do with the homeseer and not with the elk?

Not a stupid question, but too open ended for a definitive answer.
For starters, HS can do web based stuff that Elk cannot. Elk can do security and fire protection stuff that HS cannot (clarification: HS cannot be monitored by security company; HS cannot do anything hardware by itself, etc).
Did you have a specific area in mind?

 

[Steve]

That's really too broad a question to answer concisely. For a few examples:

M1 can, HS can't:
Anything to do with states - like when security is armed, then do this or that (can be done with HS if interfaced with some alarm that has an interface)

M1 can't HS can:
Since HS is software, technically it can be made to do anything, but some big things are:
TTS
Advanced math and timer/controls

But its really hard to make a fair comparison because the M1 is a great security panel with some very good automation capability and HS is software only (typically) that runs on a pc

Edit: I hate it when others sneak in while you're typing too slow

 

[jwilson56]

From Homeseer with dedicated PC.

Did you take your Homeseer server offline?

Ok lets try each one at a time...

1) I have dampster to open and close air flow when needed. When I connected my RC80 to m1xsp, Elk does not have any idea that the hvac is running and there is a need to open or close the dampster.

I do not have a RC80 .. can it be hooked up to the Elk or is it Zwave, ect... what did you use to actually open and close the dampster?

 

[dtreyes]

From Homeseer with dedicated PC.

Did you take your Homeseer server offline?

Ok lets try each one at a time...

1) I have dampster to open and close air flow when needed. When I connected my RC80 to m1xsp, Elk does not have any idea that the hvac is running and there is a need to open or close the dampster.

I do not have a RC80 .. can it be hooked up to the Elk or is it Zwave, ect... what did you use to actually open and close the dampster?

RC80 sends report of its status (heating, cooling, off). My dampster is controlled by weeder io board, so when RC80 reports that it is either cooling or heating and temp upstairs is not within comfort zone, HS opens the dampster. Presently connected to ELK, even though RC80 reports its running status, ELK does not process that input. You cannot querry from ELK on the status of RC80.

 

[jwilson56]

RC80 sends report of its status (heating, cooling, off). My dampster is controlled by weeder io board, so when RC80 reports that it is either cooling or heating and temp upstairs is not within comfort zone, HS opens the dampster. Presently connected to ELK, even though RC80 reports its running status, ELK does not process that input. You cannot querry from ELK on the status of RC80.

Ok this is a guess.. but I assume you have a Homeseer plugin for the 'weeder io board'?

I also presume that Homeseer has a RC80 plugin and its connected via RS232?

Are these assumptions correct?

 

[Spanky]

For a total advanced automation operation with the operational requests above, a combination of PC based software and the M1 is the right solution. Put the critical can not fail operations on the M1 and the advanced operations that are nice to have, but could be done without on the PC.