First impressions

Hello All,

I have been trying different HA solutions for a few years. I have a fully configured and working solution based on Crestron Prodigy (kind of proprietary solution based on Zigbee) automating the Home Theater and a few other contiguous rooms since 2010. Even though it never failed since installation, the simple fact that you cannot change your config yourself is disappointing.

Circa 2012, I learned about z-wave and the ability to DIY. I started with a Veralight and, eventually moved to HomeSeer HS3. HomeSeer is light years ahead of Vera. It supports a larger number of devices and also works very well once set. A few of my light switches are made by Leviton supporting two loads and two scenes in it's two buttons. It was a real nightmare pairing those devices with Vera. You had to try several times, with the controller inches from the switches and could never have it working in a single try. With HS3, the same devices paired successfully over the first try. HS3 also allows a greater number of plug-ins. I was able to try HS3 running on both Windows and Linux. Both worked as expected and I was able to have my setup (20+ devices) working in less than 2 hours. Every z-wave device I tried worked just fine.

Since I also have a few Mac computers around the house, I decided to give Indigo6 a try. I was happy to learn there was a 30 days trial version available. I figured 30 days would more than enough to decide whether some app suits my needs.

First, let me tell you that I found Indigo6 layout and menus very easy to understand.

I was able to register my Homeseer Smartstick+ USB z-wave interface without any kind o problem. I was also able to import al the devices already present there. The vast majority of devices worked as expected. Only a Linear GDOOZ garage door device did not work on Indigo6. Schedules also worked as expected. Manually switching z-wave devices On/Off was really fast.

The deal breaker was the fact that none of my available z-wave interfaces (a Homeseer Smartstick+ and a Homeseer Z-NET) include hardware include buttons.

I was astonished to find out that Indigo6 also did not support setting a registered and otherwise fully working z-wave interface to include, nor exclude mode. Because of this, all devices already present on the z-wave interface worked, but there was no way of evolving (adding, replacing, removing devices) from the current working setup.

Another thing that caught my eye as the fact that a process called IndigoPlugInHost was ALWAYS consuming nearly 99% of available CPU. Since I was running Indigo6 on a Quad-Core CoreI7 Mac, I did not worry much about it as the machine still had about 300% CPU available over the other cores. I don't know if there is anything that can be done to make Indigo6 consume less CPU, but thought I would also comment about it.

I look forward to try Indigo7, whenever it becomes available, but, for now, I think I will probably keep running HS3.

Any comments are very well welcomed.

Cesarvog,
Welcome to Indigo. I'm sure other more experienced users will chime in with more assistance but here's what I can tell you with my limited (<1 year) experience. BTW, I came from Smartthings, then Vera; neither can be compared to Indigo, and I couldn't be happier.

1. I've never used HomeSeer or HS Smartstick+. With Indigo, the include/exclude procedure is initiated by the Zwave stick, not the Indigo software, like with Vera. I use the Aeotec USB Z-Stick (Gen 5) and it is easily set to include/exclude mode with button presses, and works great. Pull it out of the Mac, take it to the device, do the exclude/include, plug it back into the Mac, and create the new device. It will automatically be seen by Indigo.

2. As far as your CPU usage, that sounds like something else is going on. Indigo, at least in my experience, uses minimal CPU resources. Of course, it all depends on your device count, schedules, actions, etc.

3. Your Linear GDO (I have one too) is not yet supported, but there have been many requests for it by Indigo users. I really expect support to come in Indigo 7, but I could be wrong. I've been holding off on other alternatives in anticipation of this.

Bottom line, don't give up too quickly. Indigo is a fantastic value in my opinion, and the users on this forum are the most helpful I've ever seen. And there are so many community built plugins, and the list continues to grow...and unlike HS, they're all free! I hope you're able to get your issues sorted out.

Jim

Hi Jim,

Thanks for the warm welcome and guidance. I will try to source one of those Aeotec USB Z-Stick (Gen 5) adapters and go on with my trial. Regarding the high CPU usage, are you running Indigo6 Pro or Lite? The trial equals PRO for 30 days, so maybe it has something to do with all the plugins that come on board with the trial. Or maybe there is some kind of crazy interaction between the "IndigoPlugInHost" process and some other thing I have installed on my Mac. The only thing I can think of from the top of my head is Java (latest version), but I need it to run some other low life programs...

Anyway, thanks again for your reply. I hope other Users/Developers would also chime in.

Have a nice weekend.

Ditto to what Japple55 said.

Re Inclusion/Exclusion, that's been mentioned several times and we're all hoping, if not expecting, that it will be in Indigo 7 when released.

Regarding CPU, if you kill that process in Activity Monitor, then look in your Indigo log, it will show which plugin 'terminated unexpectedly' - then you can work out why that one is consuming so much CPU.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thank you, howartp!

I have just started Indigo6 with server and client running on the same machine (no remote connection available), and noticed that the IndigoPlugInHost did not go haywire immediately. It took between 5-10 minutes to start happening.

When I quit it using Activity Monitor, I got the following in Indigo6 log:

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Aug 14, 2016, 11:35:51 AM
Z-Wave Debug stopped zwave packet parser thread
Z-Wave Debug stopping node healing thread
Z-Wave Debug stopping node status polling thread
Z-Wave closed connection to Z-Wave 4.05 static controller
Error interface "Z-Wave 1.0.368" (pid 70704) unexpectedly stopped -- restarting in 5 seconds
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Then it restarted and in about 2 minutes IndigoPlugInHost was back at 99.8%...

EDIT: One thing I forgot to mention is that, after I initially tried Indigo6 with Homeseer Smartstick+ z-wave interface, I decided I would give it a try connecting it to a HomeSeer Z-NET remote z-wave interface. I used the socket method and it seemed to work, as I indeed can turn on/off my z-wave switches.

Here is the corresponding entry in Indigo6 log, when it starts the interface:
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Z-Wave connected to Z-Wave 4.05 static controller interface on socket://192.168.1.215:2001 (firmware 4.32)
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So, it seems that Z-Wave PlugIn may be the culprit, but why??? Could it be the Z-NET interface? It's so much convenient to have the Mac in my office and the Z-NET in a closet in the middle of the house...

EDIT2:

So, to answer my own question, it seems the remote network socket connection to the Z-NET was the reason. I have now replaced it back to the SmartStick+ and IndigoPlugInHost is sitting comfortably at 0.6% CPU...

Here is the log entry once I reconfigured Indigo6 to use the USB interface:
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Z-Wave connected to Generic Controller interface on /dev/cu.usbmodemFD121 (firmware 4.32)
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I have a RaZberry daughter card purchased and in the mail right now. It may take a long time (between 7 and 30 days...) before it arrives, because of Customs regulation in my country... When I get it, I will try the remote Network Socket method again just to verify if it results in the same weird IndigoPlugInHost behaviour.

I think the attached screenshot, taken on a stock 4 GB 2009 Mac Mini, shows a much more typical pattern of resource usage. I literally just logged in and captured this without any prep. Indigo and the Mini have been running for days and days.

This Mini is also my NO-IP client and my iTunes Server.

[matt (support)]

Thanks for sharing your first impressions write-up after using Indigo.

I'm not sure why the Z-Wave library is spinning the CPU when connected over the socket, but I will investigate that some (although I don't have a socket based interface to QA against currently). Indigo's typical CPU usage should be pretty low. Quitting the Indigo client application but leaving the server running (in the background) can lower it even more, as the client UI updates is a large part of the CPU usage typically. That isn't related to the problem you are seeing with the Z-Wave library spinning at 100% though, so is unlikely to have any impact on what you are seeing.

Even if you decide not to use Indigo now, please do periodically check back to see if future versions might work better for your needs.

Thanks Matt,

I will keep an eye on Indigo because I would really prefer to have my automation system running off one of my Macs. Whenever I get the RaZberry card delivered, I will try again the socket connection. It should be as simple as changing selecting Socket again, adding the IP address of the RaspberryPi onto which I installed the RaZberry daughter card and setting port to 3333, instead of 2001 (which is the default for the HomeSeer Z-NET).

I already like most of what I see in Indigo6 and can see it fulfilling all my needs in the near future. Additionally, I'm hoping Indigo7 does not take too long.

Additionally, I'm hoping Indigo7 does not take too long.

Sentiments shared by most people here, my friend

I have just purchase a license for Indigo 6 Pro and look forward to the upcoming release of Indigo 7. #Indigo7Sneak

Welcome!!! You won't regret it...though your better half might.