Re: Stargate Vs other home controllers?

["Robert L. Bass" <robertlbass@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

>> The ELK M1Gold does support analog
>> voltage inputs -- up to 208 of them.
>
> Ahhh., The M1 doesn't but the M1 Gold
> does. That's mentioned on the very last
> line of the specs ..

The M1 is discontinued.  It will shortly* be replaced by the M1-EZ8 (the
name may be changed since there's a trademark question regarding that name).

> With that encouragement I looked some
> more at the docs which don't mention
> how to implement analog inputs as far
> as I kind find.  How many bits of
> resolution ?
>
> I looked too at what was available of the
> explanation of the rule-building process.
> Not many obvious ways to organize or
> check and important functions seem to
> be missing. Can the rule set be downloaded
> and externally edited?

Rules can be externally edited.  That is the normal procedure.  What
functions do you feel are missing?  Perhaps they're present but not obvious.
I'll be glad to try to assist.  If you have ideas for new features I'd be
happy to bring them up with ELK as well.  They're a pretty user-friendly
outfit.

> Can rules be added/changed while the M1
> is running? If not, because each rule is
> necessarily activated by threshold (change
> of state), not current state, it might take 24
> hours for a restart to make each rule do its
> intended thing.

You cannot trigger off a specific value using WHENEVER, but you can poll on
time intervals or based on other events which themselves can be based on a
WHENEVER rule.  You can check for =, >, < or <>.  However, it's usually best
to use > or < rather than =.  You can use counters to compare two or more
inputs (e.g., is the solar heater temperature higher than the pool
temperature AND is the poll temperature lower than 87ºF).

New rules can be entered while the M1 is running.  The only ones that
require a date change are sunrise/sunset rules.  Anything else starts
running as soon as you enter it.

*As with all manufacturers in this industry, "shortly," "soon," and "within
a few weeks" are indeterminate values.  :^)

--

Regards,
Robert L Bass

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