Security , now what?

[tonti]

Good Evening,
I am a few days away from moving into our new house. I have the Elk M1 Gold, the M1XIN and the M1XEP which will take care of the security and some basic automation, i.e. garage door. I have been now trying to find a solution for the lighting and thermostat. I read up a lot of leads and looked at Phillips Hue, Lowes Iris & others but stumble across the need to be connected to the internet. I do not like to be connected to it and I do not like to leave configurations of my system out there (i.e. Chamberlain garage door opener with MyQ technology). 
 
I found a post from wuench:
 
1) ISY + ISY Elk Module + Insteon PLM + M1XEP
    or
2) M1XSP + Insteon PLM + M1XEP + Some way to program (manually/other software)
 
I found some good documentation and videos on 1) but the price of a ISY 994 & PLM combo is not my current desire. I like to see if someone has the 2) setup running and can tell me what programming is needed and how that is done.  
 
What other stand alone options are out there that I may have missed?
 
Has someone this set up working with the ELK?
http://www.simplehomenet.com/solutions.asp?page_id=HomAidPi
 
THANKS!

 

[ejh3]

I'm in the process of merging my ISY with a new M1 panel. Should start tomorrow fingers crossed! The product support at UDI is top notch!

 

[gatchel]

Elk will do all of your security needs and once you add the ISY you get a combination that pretty much gives you unlimited (I'm sure there are limits but you get the point) programming capabilities.
 
If you want Elk to do any lighting functionality you can export a config file from ISY which maps the desired ISY Scenes to Elk lighting addresses and can  be imported in to Elk RP.
 
My suggestion would be to get the ISY and the Elk Module add on to the ISY and it will allow you complete integration between the two. ISY had more program space and more programming capabilities. You can use variables and trigger programs based on any Elk input or other change.
 
And yes the product support really is very good at Universal Devices. They have a very good presence on their forums and would suggest doing more reading over there. They also have a very informational Wiki which covers a lot of things you may need to know.
 
http://forum.universal-devices.com
 
Also keep in mind that you are running a PC 24/7 with software and with Elk and ISY you are not. Your long term power consumption could also be a factor to look at.
 
 
Once more thing....ISY is in Beta Z-wave development. The few devices I have work very well with ISY.This gives you an option other than Insteon if you choose. There is a Z-wave add on module and dongle that can be added to get Z-wave functionality.