New to Automation

[jay5]

Hey I am new to automation and I bought a few insteon gear including a smartlinc, lamplink, and a motion sensor.

I quickly figured out the smarlinc isnt going to work for me. One thing is I am going to install two thermostats so right there I cant use it. Going to return it.

I am thinking of spending more money and getting the ISY-99i PRO and MobiLinc.

I am wondering if both will be able to do the following:

- Lights (im sure it does)
- Fan's (im sure it does)
- AC Units (im sure it does)
- Garage (both opening and closing plus current status using a sensor on the door)?
- Security Alarm?
- Cameras?
- Home AV equipment via IR

Just wondering, also I want to use Mobilink on two ipod touches and one ipad. Will the ipad app be the same price and will it be universal or will I need to buy multiple copies?

thanks

-Jay

[AdminWes]

Hi Jay,

Sounds like you've really jumped in with two feet into home automation. Welcome!

With what you want to do, the ISY-99 is really the right device for your setup. Here's my responses to your questions:

- Lights - Yes
- Fan's - Yes
- AC Units - Yes (Venstart Tstats with the Insteon Adapter)
- Garage - Yes to both control and status. MobiLinc supports the I/O Control Insteon device.
- Security Alarm - Not at this time. Working on supporting the ELK Security Panel for a future release.
- Cameras - Not at this time. Working on supporting IP Cameras for a future release.
- Home AV equipment via IR. - Not at this time. This is also a feature I'm working on with the IR control devices from Global Cache (GC-100 and iTach).

MobiLinc will run on all of your devices, inlcuding the iPad (in iPhone simulation mode). If all of your devices sync to the same iTunes account then it's a buy once, share on all your devices. I am working on a dedicated iPad app for MobiLinc that will be for sale as a seperate app from the MobiLinc Pro iPhone/touch app currently available.

I hope this helps,
Wes

[jay5]

Yeah really looking forward to getting this stuff setup. So the AV and Alarm were going to come much later anyways as a phase two type thing but you are working on them so thats good.

Do you know however is the ISY-99 does support those things now? If so I can supplement with thier junky web interface till you get it baked in. IP cameras I am not to worried about as they all have web interfaces too.

Let me know and thanks for the reply!

[AdminWes]

Hi Jay,

The ISY does support basic ELK features like arming and disarming directly, but currently the ISY won't respond to different security zone status changes. The ISY also won't emit IR signals. It will however accept IR as a simulus input to drive an Insteon scene (ISY-99i IR versions only).

Wes