ISY for INSTEON orphans

My hub stopped working when INSTEON went out of business, so I'm in the market for a new one. In this video, I evaluate the ISY994 by Universal Devices to see how well it meets my needs.
➤➤ISY devices 👉🏻 ebay.us/HbB7CL
➤➤INSTEON PLM 👉🏻 ebay.us/EjCb7J
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[@kazzboray3451]

Nice video, but I disagree with your scoring of Universal Devices (UD) as a company. I have never worked with a better company, I have entered support tickets on a Sunday afternoon and had them answered in less than 15 minutes. The UD support forums are active and provide excellent support as well. While you may consider a 15 year old company young. I think they have proven themselves again and again.

[@handydadtv]

Thanks for your feedback.

[@nandog6946]

Great channel. So will the 994i work with the Insteon thermostat device?

[@handydadtv]

Never tried. You should ask that on Reddit /r/Insteon.

[@williamkennedy3837]

The ISY has been able to "find, identify" about half of my insteon devices. Zero water sensors have been identified by the ISY.

[@handydadtv]

I like Home Assistant better.

[@Keto-Runner]

Agree with your review. I have used an ISY994ir for many years and have gone through a number of PLMs. I am glad I bought an extra PLM a few years ago after having the blasted things die. I have some I need to get around to repairing...bought the parts but have not been motivated.

[@handydadtv]

From what I’ve heard, they’re easy to repair by replacing the capacitors. Never done it though.

[@Keto-Runner]

@@handydadtv Do you know if I can use a HomeSEER product to run my ISY994 without a PLM?

[@handydadtv]

No, you need a PLM or Insteon Hub to control your lights from HomeSeer, Home Assistant, Hubitat, etc.

[@4Ivarr]

Good overview. And thanks for trimming the Echo trigger word.

[@handydadtv]

I got yelled at enough in the past 😂

[@randallrussell9456]

I've had the isy994zw since 2018 along with all of my insteon switches and plugins. I have about 10 light switches, 10 plugins, and two sensors. I never realized the insteon hub went down last year because my UD kept everything up and running. Once I set up Izzy I've pretty much left it alone. There are some limitations with my sprinkler system, garage, and other wifi devices, but for the most part it's worked flawlessly. And using Alexa with all of my Wi-Fi devices I got to the point of having too many cooks in the kitchen. I'm just not a fan of the outdated GUI. Now that my isy subscription has expired I'm contemplating going a different direction, so thank you for your videos. I'm wondering if home assistant with a small HP sandwich size computer would be the way to go has it seems to be the more prevalent home assistant if you will? For the same HP computer with home seer? I've never progressed past the isy 4.9 firmware update either as I just haven't made the time to get that technical with the manual update process to the 5.0 series firmware update. I did pay the $40 for insteon a few months back but again, not sure which direction I would like to go.

[@handydadtv]

Unless you’re a geek with a lot of time, don’t bother with Home Assistant. I installed it a couple of times on Windows and a Linux docker. It installs easy, but I bang my head against the wall trying to get Zigbee and Z-Wave working. And the Insteon integration was never a priority for the team because there wasn’t much demand. I really like HomeSeer. Doesn’t matter if you just buy the software and install it on your HP or buy it preinstalled on their Pi. It works the same. You’ll pay $59 for the MNS Insteon plug-in, but it’s SO WORTH IT. If you haven’t yet, watch my HomeSeer tutorials.

[@lisaklepp5167]

same here with the ISY. I had no idea. It is such a pain to program and I am afraid of messing up the command codes though.

[@plutoniumshore]

I only had 2 fanlinc controllers and 2 wall dimmers from Insteon and was able to regain functionality through Home Assistant. Its still pretty sad how this all went down. Great write up. Love what you did inside your home.

[@handydadtv]

I’ll be evaluating Home Assistant soon. Any pointers? Does it take a comp sci degree?

[@plutoniumshore]

@@handydadtv I first tried HA with docker/Linux and one thing to be aware of is that there are two different flavors: HA Core and HA with Supervised mode. I ended up going with a HA OS (vmware image) to get HA with Supervised mode to get access to all the plugins and extras. I already had a vmware environment I use for hosting other stuff (and doubles as my work lab) so that was something easy for me to do and had it up and running in under 20 minutes. I can see this being a bit daunting for someone with zero computer/electronics experience. HA has a discord channel (which I'm in as well) with lots of people willing to give you pointers and help.

[@handydadtv]

Sounds like a comp sci degree will be helpful. I’ll be sure to get supervisor mode. Thanks for the tip.

[@ericr4721]

Hello, I have used a ISY since before Insteon had hubs. PLM will likely stop working in 2years but you just need to solder new capacitors in it. They use weak capacitors in these devices. I have repaired Insteon switches as well just by putting in better capacitors (higher voltage rating).

[@handydadtv]

Thanks I’ve heard this from multiple people.

[@lisaklepp5167]

I have a ud device and it’s painful to program and set up.

[@handydadtv]

But once you do, it’s very reliable. Until your Insteon PLM dies. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@lisaklepp5167]

@@handydadtv Is the mobilinc app a work around for set up in the home or do I have to do the commands first in ISY and then go to the mobilinc app?

[@handydadtv]

I never used the app

[@kgmccoykm]

I believe you can purchase tech support sessions from UD and have them set things up.

[@kgmccoykm]

@@handydadtv I've been using my PLM for 14 years - it is still going strong.

[@macsterguy]

This should help a lot of people! You da hacker man… Way to go!

[@handydadtv]

You’re the best. Thanks 😊

[@michaeloneill1473]

I’ve had an isy994 controlling Insteon products for about 10years. I use mobilinc which intergrates into alexa. Haven’t had any issue/downtime since Insteon went belly up. Crossing fingers UD doesn’t have any impact from the Insteon closure….

[@handydadtv]

Hope not.

[@jec6613]

UDI has been around quite a while and they're a well run company that keeps improving their products ... and they charge appropriately to keep themselves in business. They're currently looking to buy what's left of Insteon. :)

[@handydadtv]

Yes I heard that. But I don’t know how they plan to do that since they’ve admitted they don’t have the money to rebuild their Java UI.

[@TheCapland1]

In my home i have insteon Hub controling 6 insteon devices plus a dozen of x10 devices. This isy 994 could be Works in my mixed system? In time: o am Brazilian and my system os installed here in Brazil. So, It os boy ease adquire such devices here in Brazil. Could tou PLS help me?

[@leonardjj]

I have an ISY 994 with an Insteon PLM. My system has both Insteon and X10 devices. ISY with Inston PLM and ISY x10 software module (extra cost) can control both Insteon and x10. Definitely the way to go while giving you time to grow into a future protocol what ever may come.

[@handydadtv]

Wait for my video this weekend to make your decision.

[@VampireOnline]

I wonder if a raspberry PI and home assistant could handle all of this for much cheaper

[@handydadtv]

It’s on my list to test. Stay tuned.

[@danbails9887]

My home system controlled by the insteon hub is still working. Lights on timers still work. I just cant get into the programming from the ap anymore.

[@handydadtv]

Right. Apparently the schedules were handled locally on your hub rather than in the cloud. But, as you said, there’s no way to edit them without the app. I also wonder if the hub will still track sunrise and sunset times correctly without connectivity. Be sure to watch my HomeSeer review as well. I was really impressed with it. kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z5PWXnx4hNVqaKM

[@iousa63]

Thank you! You said we need either a PML or a working hub to communicate with Insteon devices. If I haven't reset the Insteon Hub,and don't have a PLM, can I use it to complete the procedure you described in the video?

[@handydadtv]

The ISY only works with a PLM. I will be exploring other options that use the hub (whether you’ve reset it or not).

[@richiechen2249]

@@handydadtv Thank you! Waiting for this video to be posted and see whats the easiest solution to migrate my insteon hub. I have 60+ devices (mainly switches and plugin modules and couple of thermostats). I have around 6 schedules and they come on or off inconsistent and I want to be able to delete them and maybe create them again.

[@handydadtv]

@Richie I’m evaluating HomeSeer next, then Home Assistant. Stay tuned!

[@richiechen2249]

@@handydadtv Thanks! Looking forward for these two videos. Hopefully you show us the Hub version of the HomeSeer

[@handydadtv]

@Richie You’ll have to wait and see. (Spoiler: you’ll be pleased)

[@jimlaymon6021]

Thank you for this. I love the 8 button keypads and use several of them, with one spare. I’ve been reconfiguring a few things with just HouseLinc and creating the equivalence of scenes and schedules in that. I’d love to get all this to work with ISY if it will eventually work with Lutron higher tier stuff. Do you know if Polisy works with Insteon USB RF PLM, or the Insteon hub itself?

[@handydadtv]

According to the UDI website, it looks like Polisy needs a PLM just like the ISY.

[@mparrish59]

ISY 99/4 and Polisy only works with Serial (RS-232) PLM

[@kazzboray3451]

The Polisy and newer Eisy support Insteon control if you use an additional serial or USB Insteon PLM; they support both types . The iSY994i cannot use a USB PLM and requires a serial version.

[@brucebailie237]

I have just setup Home Assistant with my Insteon hub and I looks promising, found all my Insteon devices (103 devices) but I am still getting up the HA learning curve to figure out how to use the scenes already configured in the Insteon hub. I would be very interested in your evaluation.

[@handydadtv]

If you treat Insteon devices like any other device and only control it from HA scenes, you’ll be fine. But INSTEON scenes (those that are triggered directly between devices) aren’t supported through the UI right now. Still under development.

[@edwardsrf]

The Insteon PLM is impossible to find at a decent price. The second hand ones on eBay are listed around $400. Any ideas of where to find one? Thanks much.

[@handydadtv]

There is a rumor that Universal Devices may be coming out with a PLM, but eBay is the only option right now.

[@edwardsrf]

@@handydadtv - Thanks! Hopefully something like that will eventually happen.

[@travismeils753]

Is there an app that works with this hub? Does it have options for working with a thermostat?

[@handydadtv]

Yes there is an app. Not sure about thermostats.