Indigo Crisis Management

[Colly]

Hi All,

The conversation between my wife and I last night landed on "What would I do if you weren't around (home automation wise)?" When a light doesn't turn on or turns off unexpectedly we have a well established complaints procedure - she complains, I fix, repeat, repeat. We're both of an age where we "expect" to be around for quite some time yet but you never know what is around the corner - COVID-19 proving this. I lost a very good friend recently to motor neurones disease, he was only 41. If I was to suddenly disappear everything would be fine for a while until maybe my Mac Mini plays up or a z-wave module goes faulty. Now we're going to have a problem - the z-wave modules are nicely hidden in walls, ceilings, attic space, fuse board etc. How could I expect someone to troubleshoot if I haven't left a treasure map for anyone to follow?
While nearly all my lights will operate from a physical switch there are some that don't so if Indigo was to be unavailable then there would be a small but manageable amount of disruption. I will probably focus on those few modules that are installed in the fuse board and hardwire a switch nearby. Next to heating, it is fully controlled via Indigo and the backup is the Heatmiser App - on initial assessment last night I found out that my wife never re-installed the App after a recent phone upgrade, this is most likely the biggest crisis point.
So how do others plan for a crisis? Do you have a "How to manual"? Is there more than 1 HA freak in your house to cover? Interested in thoughts and information of your crisis management plans, maybe it's as simple as email Matt & Jay and they'll sort you out
Happy Easter - just to end on a positive note.

[DaveL17]

Thanks for asking the question. I've thought about this for a while. What about the LAN? What about the home entertainment system? What about other major home systems?

Like yours, most of our automation wouldn't disrupt normal use of anything if the automation went away--and that's my goal when adding anything new. But--also like yours--there's a few things that would need to be addressed. Currently, I've got a short description in the Indigo notes field that shows the physical location of a device or special instructions for parameter settings--anything that isn't obvious. For most of the LAN and entertainment stuff, any tech worth their salt could figure out our setup pretty quickly. I've already written down instructions for how to access network shares and pointers to the family "fortune". But I need to include more of the technology and this sounds like a great shelter-in-place project.

Your question has inspired me.

[vtmikel]

My wife asked me the same thing last night. Does Matt and Jay have a forum board for spouses that I'm not aware of?

[durosity]

With my not so great health over the last few years I’ve made a effort to document as much of the system as I can in OneNote, just in case. It’s not finished yet but I’ve created tabs for every room, listed the devices and types in there, taken some pictures of them and noted what they do and how they’re wired. That said it’s barely half done. The most important details are there though.. on the first page is my login details for indigo and other services and and a link to this forum with a note for her to post.. and my hope would be if I weren’t here anymore you folks would help her out if she did have any problems in the longer term I plan to get everything documented and pass it on to whoever ends up buying this house when we plan to move on!


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[Colly]

Currently, I've got a short description in the Indigo notes field that shows the physical location of a device or special instructions for parameter settings--anything that isn't obvious.

Good idea - I think I'll start adding some basic notes as a start.

For most of the LAN and entertainment stuff, any tech worth their salt could figure out our setup pretty quickly.

I agree with this totally and wouldn't be concerned too much. I've really only got my TV switching off at the end of the day and my Sonos automatically coming on in the mornings to our favourite station.

Your question has inspired me.

That is a first for me

[Colly]

Does Matt and Jay have a forum board for spouses that I'm not aware of?

Not yet, feature request on the way!

[Colly]

It’s not finished yet but I’ve created tabs for every room, listed the devices and types in there, taken some pictures of them and noted what they do and how they’re wired. That said it’s barely half done.

Pictures are definitely a good idea to highlight one or 2 module locations in suspended ceilings.

The most important details are there though.. on the first page is my login details for indigo and other services and and a link to this forum with a note for her to post.. and my hope would be if I weren’t here anymore you folks would help her out if she did have any problems

My thoughts exactly, there's a great community here just waiting to help.

[howartp]

I've already written down instructions for how to access network shares and pointers to the family "fortune".

If you want to let me have the code for your safe, I’ll look after it...


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[jalves]

This is a great idea. I have been putting together a document about all our financial stuff (account #'s, recurring bills, etc). Now realizing that I also need a document about all the stuff I do around the house. Not just Indigo/HA related. Things like replacing the filter on the AC, batteries in the smoke detectors, stuff like that.

[DaveL17]

I've already written down instructions for how to access network shares and pointers to the family "fortune".

If you want to let me have the code for your safe, I’ll look after it...


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You clearly didn't notice the placement of the quotation marks.

[peszko]

I thought about it for quite some time. I tried to give my wife the tour of the system, but ... well, she wasn't super interested, but....

I try to make the system completely usable without automation. Most lights in the house will turn on and off with a hardware switch. The alarm can be armed and disarmed with the keypad. All door lock will lock and unlock locally and with a key if required. The HVAC can be fully controlled with a in wall control. I have simplified the AV equipment, and now have TV, AVR and ATV controlling everything except whole house audio, but that is handled by airport expresses and airplay 2. So one apple remote to control them all (I hate the remote but at least its only one). I also try not to be dependent on cloud automation. So if I'm gone and all the accounts are disabled and internet disconnected, everything still works. No updates to Indigo, but whats there just works, as long as the mac mini stays up. Theoretically if mac mini holds, this could work for a very long time without intervention.

So basically, my system should fail progressively to the point where everything has to be turned on/off with the hardware buttons. If those fail, any electrician can just replace it with a regular one.

There are couple things that can't be properly controlled without indigo. I'll have to figure out how to make them work manually. I will probably ask the community for some suggestions.

[siclark]

Haha. Great thread. My wife has asked this many a time. She says the whole lot is coming out as soon as I’m no longer around, and she works in IT.
I had always planned for all systems to be operable without indigo. Hard light switches, stand-alone alarm and heating but slowly the heating has gained some zwave only elements and some zwave lights don’t have physical switches.
I should also get a HA document and network plan together.

[Shutter]

This came up a few years ago in our household. It got me thinking that if anything happens to me the last thing I wanted was for my wife to have to then try to figure out how things were put together.

My solution was to create a six page document the explained what was wired up in each room - so an electrician could come in a rip it out. How each device communicates to Indigo or third-party services. How the topology of the Indigo network relates to z-wave and any other service. What cloud services were in use and their account info. And most importantly an emergency procedures section with a list of possible issues and how to troubleshoot.

She hasn't had to use it yet, which is just as well as it needs some updating. Oops.

What creating this made me realise is that between us we had so many logins and other vital information in our own 1Password silos that I immediately switched us over to the 1Password Family account so we could share all household logins, documents, and the like in a shared vault.

[cuhouse]

I never worried about this until my parents house/dog sat for us while the family was on a 7 day cruise. A crisis management solution for that type of situation would be mind boggling. The house behaved except for Comcast.

For “normal crisis management” situations, I am fortunate to have a son (aaronlionsheep) that has taken an interest in home automation. He has surpassed my Indigo knowledge and thanks to Matt, Jay, Joe and Karl’s kind interactions with him, I am sure he will be a life long Indigo user/contributor. I am counting on him to help his mother if a crisis situation is ever encountered.

Jody