eisy | home is our 7th generation home automation controller and energy management system. It’s called eisy because it’s based on the same rock-solid ISY technology as its predecessors while also restructured for ease of configuration and use through our fantastic UD Mobile App. eisy is packed with power and flexibility and it’s so cute that some of us call it ‘cutie’! You don’t believe it? Checkout this video.
WiFi 6 | Bluetooth 5.2 | 1 x Gigabit Ethernet | 4 x USB Ports | 2 x 4K HDMI Ports
Internal NVMe slot can extend storage to 1TB
Operating System:
Refined version of FreeBSD. UD manages building and maintaining the kernel and core/required packages. The OS and packages were designed to be easily field upgradeable and ensure that you configure once and run forever.
Device Support
INSTEON Support – Requires a PLM (not included): 2413S, 2413U, or 24487U. If you are using 2413S (serial/RS232), then you will need our Serial PLM Kit
Z-Wave Support – Requires our ZMatter USB dongle (not included)
Zigbee / Matter Support – Requires our ZMatter USB dongle (not included). Zigbee and Matter support will not be available till 03/2023
100s of other devices and services are supported through our awesome and vetted third-party developed node servers (plugins). Here’s the list
How Easy Is It to Setup?
Plug in the power cord to your eisy
If you have a WIFI network, nothing else is necessary. If you prefer using a wired connection, plug in an Ethernet cable to the network port on eisy. Ensure that your network is DHCP enabled
Install UD Mobile by scanning the QR Code below on your mobile phone:
eisy | home is our 7th generation home automation controller and energy management system. It’s called eisy because it’s based on the same rock-solid ISY technology as its predecessors while also restructured for ease of configuration and use through our fantastic UD Mobile App. eisy is packed with power and flexibility and it’s so cute that some of us call it ‘cutie’! You don’t believe it? Checkout this video.
WiFi 6 | Bluetooth 5.2 | 1 x Gigabit Ethernet | 4 x USB Ports | 2 x 4K HDMI Ports
Internal NVMe slot can extend storage to 1TB
Operating System:
Refined version of FreeBSD. UD manages building and maintaining the kernel and core/required packages. The OS and packages were designed to be easily field upgradeable and ensure that you configure once and run forever.
Device Support
INSTEON Support – Requires a PLM (not included): 2413S, 2413U, or 24487U. If you are using 2413S (serial/RS232), then you will need our Serial PLM Kit
Z-Wave Support – Requires our ZMatter USB dongle (not included)
Zigbee / Matter Support – Requires our ZMatter USB dongle (not included). Zigbee and Matter support will not be available till 03/2023
100s of other devices and services are supported through our awesome and vetted third-party developed node servers (plugins). Here’s the list
How Easy Is It to Setup?
Plug in the power cord to your eisy
If you have a WIFI network, nothing else is necessary. If you prefer using a wired connection, plug in an Ethernet cable to the network port on eisy. Ensure that your network is DHCP enabled
Install UD Mobile by scanning the QR Code below on your mobile phone:
For those of you in the UDI forums regularly, you know what is happening in the world of DIY and Open Source home automation. For those of you like me that have a rock solid system and you only hit the UDI website once a year (or less) I’d like to catch you up. For the rest of you, I’d like to introduce myself and tell you why I am writing on the UDI website.
Like many of you, I feel like home automation is a no brainer. It should be a lot more common than it is. If you’ve read Geoffrey A Moore’s book, Crossing the Chasm, I think we can all agree that every time home automation has attempted to cross the chasm, it simply fell in. Hopefully we will all be a part of it when it finally leaps across. Even Google and Amazon integrations haven’t made whole home automation “normal”. Only one other person on my street even has one light set up for Alexa to turn on and off.
CoolToys Guy
Moving forward, I’ll be writing about automation, offering tips and tricks and opening up forum questions. I’ve been doing this since 2007 when I started the blog that is now CoolToys TV. Most people know me as either a pilot because I retired as a pilot in the Air Force Reserves in 2004 or the “CoolToys Guy”. If you watch my show you know that I think UDI ISY is a CoolToy. I might need to buy a eISY and check it out for a future episode. The HDMI ports are filled with intriguing possibility.
Getting Here
After not having a single light switch fail, or program hiccup for over 18 months, something happened. I hit up the UDI website and found that there had not been a post in over a year. The same was true on social media. I went to smarthome.com and found out they closed up and Insteon was in the ER.
I hit the forum asked for an update and was sent to my corner by forum regulars. I deserved it so it’s ok, they were right I should have scanned more before popping in.
Punishment aside, it was clear looking at the website that something was happening at UDI. I reached out to Michel and offered some help. I just sold a website hosting and SEO business, so I have a little time to do some pro bono and trade work to make sure UDI is clearly alive and well in the public eye. Michel doesn’t have time to write this stuff, so I am glad to help. I don’t want potential new customers to leave the UDI site because the posts on the website are outdated.
New customers at UDI are good for old customers like me. Plus I don’t want to start my house all over again, I have a lot of code and time learning the nuances of Insteon motion sensors for lighting control. There is always a selfish motivation for free work isn’t there? I may as well be transparent now.
Heath/Zenith to Crestron
My first exposure to automated lighting was a very basic X-10 setup with a super cool digital alarm clock that could trigger one of four lights. That was in the 1980’s. In the 1990’s I built an electrical business, mostly home theater and whole house audio. Clients saw my house and we started installing X-10.
Newer Version of my first lighting controller.
In the 1990’s there was also a boom in residential lighting control. It wasn’t cheap but the business was great. At the high end Lutron systems were becoming more accessible and could be controlled by a now defunct HAI panel. My stores sold and installed a lot of those. There was also this new improvement on X-10 called Powerline Bus and then X-10 Pro which looked nicer and was more reliable. Soon Zigbee and Z-Wave arrived introducing us to the idea of a wired and wireless mesh network. Everyone was pushing the envelope in a slightly different way.
There was also this funny other company that decided to be a hybrid and not join Z-Wave or Zigbee called Insteon. I liked our rep so well, we bet on Insteon became dealers and dropped X-10. My personal home at the time was controlled by a HAI panel with Insteon lighting control. Eventually my rep convinced me to go the ELK/iSY route instead. Since then I have bought and sold five homes. Four, including the one I live in now are ELK/iSY/Insteon. So is my parents home.
Home Automation Goes Wild
The 1990’s through early 2000’s were like the wild west. Brands popped up and alliances formed and then went away. Leviton, OnQ, Legrand, HAI, Zigbee, X-10, X-10 Pro, Insteon, Z-wave and others were all playing nice one day and then not the next. It truly became an installation nightmare. A bunch of new midline brands like Control4 appeared and companies like Monster tried to dive in too. There were no standards for home automation.
From the time that UDI started until today, you could (and can) build a reliable system without breaking the bank, using any number of components. That’s why I like UDI and would like to see it be the backbone that helps move automation across the chasm. No Michel and UDI don’t pay me to say that and no I don’t own any of the company or get a cut of the deal.
Moving Forward
This year Insteon went into the ER and suffered a near death experience. From my view it was without warning. But looking back through my emails during the pandemic lockdowns, I should have seen it coming. Thankfully a small group of enthusiasts became investors and Insteon is still alive. We won’t have a good prognosis for a year or so. Personally, I am pulling for them. I don’t want to convert my entire house to Z-wave or Lutron. My wife will never let me have light switches that don’t match so I can’t replace as they fail.
Insteon now joins X-10 as a company/product that appeared dead and is still alive. There is a long list of companies all struggling to cross the chasm and control the larger market while at the same time trying to survive. Until a consumer automates a light switch and their own light bulb comes on, they aren’t likely to automate much else. That is how I started, and I am guessing many of you. That is the challenge we have in the world of automation.
Upgrades?
In cases like mine, unless I move, there isn’t much else to buy from UDI beyond my annual subscription so I can tell Ziggy to change the lights. The best thing I can do is to be a good ambassador of automation, and keep it democratized, so we aren’t dependent on a “dealer network” to keep our lights on.
So while we navigate the crazy world of home automation and the effects of the next economic shift, I’ll be scanning the UDI forum and a couple of others to try and keep everyone that reads the UDI news up to date with everything happening at UDI as well as the brands we can control with our UDI iSY’s and POLISY’s and soon the eISY.
“Do what you do so well that they will want to see it again and bring their friends” – Walt Disney
UD Mobile integrates with your Z-Wave/INSTEON/X10 devices, as well as all your ISY’s node servers such as Ecobee, Hue, Ring, Tesla, Tesla Powerwall, Solar Edge, Sonos, Lutron, Harmony Hub, ELK, all the climate services, and many many more.
To celebrate, for a limited time, get 20% discount on Polisy and Polisy PRO. Please use coupon code Z9F44G4R at checkout. Expires on 06/25/2021.
On 03/08/2021, there was unauthorized access to one of our databases containing user profile information. We have since blocked this unauthorized access and made additional changes to our technical infrastructure to prevent future incidents.
In order to provide single sign-on, and strengthen our security, early last year we started offering ISY Portal for authentication and authorization in addition to the website’s default sign-in option. ISY Portal has not been impacted by this unauthorized access. And, going forward, ISY Portal will be the only available option for signing in into your account. Although all the passwords in the compromised database are stored encrypted (one way hash), if you used the same password in ISY Portal, we strongly recommend changing it to something else. This site is a good source for generating strong and random passwords.
Please note that, we do not store any credit card and/or payment information anywhere in our infrastructure.
Since the compromised system was first discovered, we have been working diligently and methodically to examine, test, and secure each component of our system and ensure it is safe. Earning your trust through the operation of secure services will always be our highest priority. We deeply regret this incident and apologize for the inconvenience.
We developed UD Mobile from the ground up to not only integrate with your Z-Wave, INSTEON, X10 devices, but also to integrate with all your ISY’s node servers. Yes! Using UD Mobile, you can now monitor and control your Ecobee, Hue, Ring, Tesla, Solar Edge, Sonos, Lutron, Harmony Hub, ELK, all the climate services, etc.
In addition, and thanks to our very active, enthusiastic, and ingenious developer community, we are now at 100 full featured Polys (Node Servers) including Lutron (Radio RA and Caseta), Camect, ELK, and many more climate services.
To celebrate, for a limited time, get 20% discount on Polisy and Polisy PRO.
Lutron
Whether you want to integration with Lutron Shades or contemplating and upgrade to a more professional lighting solution, this node server is for you. You can integrate pretty much any Lutron device/sensor limited only to your Lutron system (Radio RA vs. Caseta).
Say what? camect is an AI based, local and private camera recording and monitoring hub. It can detect such things as people, faces, deliveries, insects, animals, wind, etc. With this node server, you can automate what should happen based on what the camect detects.
“Trees that are slow to grow bear the best fruit.” ~ Moliere
We have been working on 5x firmware for about 5 years now while, along the way, we developed Polyglot, Polyglot Cloud, Polisy and – thanks to our fabulous developer community – about 90 node servers. We are extremely happy to announce that 5.3 firmware is now official and it’s Z-Wave Plus certified!
Important Notes:
Firmware releases 5.2+ do not work with older versions of the Z-Wave Module (300 series). Please take a look at the back of your ISY. If you see a blue LED next to the Port A jack, then you have an older version of the Z-Wave dongle. Please check upgrade eligibility, discount, and ordering, and assembly instructions. Alternatively, you can upgrade your ISY to ISY994i ZW+ Series.
Upgrade from 4.x firmware to 5.x firmware is not automatic and requires manual intervention. If you wish to upgrade to 5.3, please carefully review these instructions
Discount:
As a token of our appreciation for your patience during our journey to 5.3, for a very limited time, we are offering 20% discount on ISY994i ZW+ Series, and Polisy. Please use the following coupon code at checkout:
The long wait is finally over: Polisy is now shipping! Polisy is ISY’s companion that extends your automation wishes to infinity and beyond. Click a couple of buttons and integrate with weather services, Philips Hue, LiFX, Ecobee, Roomba, Sonos, Tesla, SolarEdge, and a growing list of other things.
Polisy PRO With Dual Band WiFi and Bluetooth (4.0)
Polisy is powerful. It boasts 1Ghz Quad Core AMD CPU, 4GB RAM, 32GB 3D NAND SSD, 3 x 1 GB Ethernet ports, and extensive I/O features. Its prowess is assured by a lean fine-tuned version of BSD Unix. Its security hardened by TPM boot. Its reliability, viability, and support is guaranteed by the same team that brought you the ISY.
Polisy is preconfigured with our revolutionary Polyglot framework that allows integration of anything into ISY. These things show up just like any other device, can be included in scenes, and available in programs.
For instance, our Tesla Poly enables you to use battery range, state of charge, and your own preferencees – such as price of electricity – as conditions to automate when to charge/discharge. Or use an INSTEON / Z-Wave motion sensor on the ouside of your home as a trigger for your Tesla to honk the horn and flash the lights to thwart off intruders.
Lest we forget, if you are a geek like us, you would want to know that we value your geekiness so much so that:
If you have already published a Poly in our Polyglot store, you get Polisy for free
Verified developers get 50% discounts on all our products, modules, and bundles including the preorder for Polisy
You get all products and modules in your hands before the general availability If you have not signed up as a developer yet, well,what are you waiting for?
Let UD Mobile guide you the rest of the way
d upgrade to a more professional lighting solution, this node server is for you. You can integrate pretty much any Lutron device/sensor limited only to your Lutron system (Radio RA vs. Caseta).
monitoring hub. It can detect such things as people, faces, deliveries, insects, animals, wind, etc. With this node server, you can automate what should happen based on what the camect detects.
that allows integration of anything into ISY. These things show up just like any other device, can be included in scenes, and available in programs.