Re: Insteon or Zwave?

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

> Good idea.  I guess my basic point is that maintaining lots of convoluted
> rules becomes pretty difficult after awhile.

That's true, but you may find more efficient ways to code the system as you
continue to play with it.  If you'd like help some help, shoot me an email
specifying your needs and I'll go over it with ELK engineering.  They're
very helpful, creative folks.

> I've got lots of little things like this in my elk "code."
> But, when I want to change something, it's like
> untangling spaghetti.

Please don't take this the wrong way -- it's not a dig.  You might just need
a fresh look at your code.  Sometimes when I'm working out a problem I get
caught up in trying to make it work a certain way and miss an easier, more
elegant solution.

> Don't get me wrong.  I think the M-1 is great for
> contact closure stuff, etc.  And, it's probably
> cheaper than trying to add boards to a PC to do all that.

Significantly so.  It's also more reliable for security and fire alarm.

> I just find that it is impractical to try to do
> EVERYTHING on the M-1.  Programming just
> isn't as sophisticated as a PC.

Granted.  That's why software like CQC is popular.  It allows you to
implement complex algorithms and multi-tiered logical decision making.  The
ELK provides a solid platform for security, fire alarm with HA
functionality.  Its analog capabilities set it apart from most other
stand-alone controllers and certainly from everything in its price range.
Because the ELK is not a PC it is also not likely to need to reboot while a
critical process (say reporting an alarm) is running.

> I'm getting tempted to write an app for the PC that
> acts as the Ethernet server for the M-1 (instead of
> buying the ethernet card for the M-1 since it's pretty
> expensive).

Make it robust and I'll sell it online for you.  :^)

--

Regards,
Robert L Bass

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