CraigM wrote:Do you access Indigo from a laptop which would allow you to roam to a device? Otherwise why would you want to go to the Insteon device just to press a button?
mostly, yes. i do access indigo client running on a laptop. indigo touch (IOS client) is mostly not designed to do the things you need to add/configure devices, otherwise it would be nice to be able to do this from a mobile device i carry with me all the time like an iPhone.
i would also note that insteon devices such as motion sensors can't be added/configured except by pushing physical buttons on the device, so there is no way to deal with them from a central location (except by physically collecting all the devices and carrying them to central location within reach so you can push and hold their set buttons).
CraigM wrote:My office where I access Indigo is not in my main house, so to be clear, I will need to start the process at my office computer and then run into the house to press a button before it times out? That sounds like fun.
not sure i completely understand your configuration in terms of where things are located... however to my knowledge, z-wave devices can not in general be turned on and/or plugged in, then just left sitting there waiting for a server to reach out and to do an inclusion at a later time. so this may be a problem for your use case. z-wave is different from insteon in this regard. insteon devices as i know you know have unique fixed address (essentially like a MAC address) hard-coded into them. z-wave devices afaik do not - instead, they are given their addresses dynamically during the inclusion process. my experience is that when you push buttons or whatever to put a z-wave device into inclusion mode, the device goes into inclusion mode, starts listening for a controller, then if no controller handshakes with it within some time period (like typically 30 seconds to 1 minute?) it times out and exits inclusion mode. i think this is considered part of z-wave's basic approach to security - i.e. part of the design that prevents inexperienced customers from buying devices and having others (nefarious neighbors or warflyers) take control of them.
CraigM wrote:My point exactly, how do you move a hardwired device or one that is only accessible via ladder? I'm less concerned about not being able to include, but more the process options of running around pushing buttons vs doing it all right from Indigo, if that's even possible.
i have z-wave skylights and other devices where i had to use a laptop to tell Indigo to put my z-wave controller (z-stick) into inclusion mode, then literally climb up a ladder and hit the program button on the device, wait, then check indigo logs to see whether the inclusion was successful. frustratingly, in many cases, it has taken multiple repetitions before i succeed. in other cases, where instructions or device feedback were not clear or where i made some initial mistake in setup, i've found it necessary to do hard-resets of devices or exclusions of the devices before i ultimately got things working.
CraigM wrote:My confusion comes from the Indigo Wiki that states "You can usually include and exclude devices directly from Indigo, Older versions require you to take your interface to the device to include/exclude it using the button on the interface (i.e., Indigo 6)"
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if there's a way to do exactly this - meaning to include a z-wave device (let's just use a z-wave in-wall dimmer switch as a concrete example)
without being in physical proximity of the switch, i don't know how to do it. it is possible that i'm simply uninformed of features of newest generations of z-wave devices, and for example, there might be a way to scan a QR code on the back of a switch and do a purely over-the-network inclusion process with that device, but if so, i'm unaware.