Universal Devices ISY / IoX

Controls Universal Devices controllers — the legacy ISY994 and the current IoX platforms (eisy, Polisy) — over their on-LAN REST interface. Each ISY node (INSTEON, Z-Wave or UPB device) or scene becomes a GEM zone, and ISY programs can be run or stopped from macros and the command surface.

The driver talks HTTP(S) basic auth to /rest and polls /rest/status for node state. No cloud account and no Universal Devices portal login are involved.

One device, many zones

Add a single GEM device for the ISY controller itself — not one per light. Each INSTEON, Z-Wave or UPB node and each scene you want to control then becomes its own zone bound to that one device, addressed by its ISY node id.

Prerequisites

• An ISY/IoX admin account (username + password) with local access. On a fresh ISY994 this is admin / admin — change it before deploying.
• Network reachability from the GEM server to the controller.
• Know which platform you have — it decides the protocol and port:

Platform	Protocol	Default port
ISY994	http	80
eisy / Polisy	https	8443

note

The eisy/Polisy HTTPS certificate is self-signed. GEM accepts it automatically — you do not need to install or trust anything.

Setup steps

1. In Admin → Devices, create a device with driver isy_iox.

2. Set the required attributes:

   • IP Address — the controller's LAN IP.
   • Admin Username / Admin Password — the ISY/IoX local account.

3. If you have an eisy or Polisy, set Protocol = https and Port = 8443. Leave the defaults for an ISY994.

4. Save the device, then open it and switch to the Commands tab (it appears once the device is saved with its isy_iox command set, which GEM assigns automatically). Select get_devices, run it, and read the response console — it lists every INSTEON / Z-Wave / UPB node and every scene with its address and name. If you prefer code, run the same call from System → Script Console: await gem.command({device_id: <device_id>, command: 'get_devices'}).

5. For each node or scene you want to control, go to Admin → Zones and add a zone:

   • Device — select this ISY controller. Picking it makes the Address field show the ISY addressing hint.
   • Subsystem — Lights for dimmers and switches, Switches for relay / appliance modules. The subsystem sets the zone's on / off / level controls and iconography.
   • Address — the ISY address exactly as get_devices reports it (see the zone-address notes below).

   GEM does not create zones automatically from get_devices — the command only lists what is available; you add each zone yourself and bind it to this device.

Attribute reference

Device attributes

Attribute	Required	Default	Description
ip	yes	—	LAN IP or hostname of the controller.
username	yes	—	ISY/IoX admin account username.
password	yes	—	ISY/IoX admin account password (stored encrypted).
port	no	80	80 for ISY994, 8443 for eisy/Polisy.
protocol	no	http	http or https.
status_interval	no	15000	Milliseconds between /rest/status polls.

Zone address

The zone Address is the ISY node address, entered exactly as get_devices reports it:

• INSTEON — four space-separated hex bytes, e.g. 1D 3C 5B 1.
• Z-Wave — e.g. ZW002_1.
• Scene (group) — the numeric scene id, e.g. 29051.

The driver URL-encodes the address, so the embedded spaces are handled for you — enter them verbatim, do not substitute %20.

Commands

Command	Args	ISY action
on	address	DON
off	address	DOF
set_level	address, level	DON/<raw> (see scaling below)
fast_on	address	DFON (INSTEON fast-on)
fast_off	address	DFOF (INSTEON fast-off)
brighten	address	BRT (one step brighter)
dim	address	DIM (one step dimmer)
run_program	program_id	/rest/programs/<id>/run
stop_program	program_id	/rest/programs/<id>/stop
get_devices	—	Enumerate nodes + scenes
get_status	—	Read all node states from /rest/status

Dimmer level scaling

ISY dimmers use a raw 0–255 on-level (128 ≈ 50%). GEM zones use 0–100, so set_level scales your 0–100 value to the nearest 0–255 raw value before sending DON. Values outside 0–100 are clamped; a missing or non-numeric level is sent as 0. Reported state is scaled back the same way.

warning

The 0–255 scale is the INSTEON convention. UPB and Z-Wave nodes may interpret the DON on-level parameter as a 0–100 percentage or a 0–99 range instead. If a dimmer lands at the wrong brightness, verify the node's expected range against Universal Devices' documentation and adjust the level you send.

State polling

The driver polls /rest/status every status_interval milliseconds and reflects each node's ST property onto its zone:

• state → on when the raw value is greater than 0, otherwise off.
• level → the raw 0–255 value scaled to 0–100.

It does not subscribe to the ISY real-time event stream, so a change made at the switch or in another app appears in GEM within one poll interval rather than instantly. Lower status_interval for snappier feedback at the cost of more requests.

Known limitations

• Polling, not events. Real-time subscription (the ISY WebSocket / SOAP event stream) is not yet wired; state is reconciled by polling.
• No node/scene management. The driver controls existing nodes, scenes and programs; it does not add, remove, link or rename them — do that in ISY's Admin Console.
• Program addressing. run_program / stop_program take the numeric program id shown in the ISY program tree, not the program name.
• On-level scale for non-INSTEON dimmers is unverified against real UPB/Z-Wave hardware — see the warning above.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Check
authentication failed (401) in the log	Username/password wrong, or the account lacks local access. Re-enter credentials.
Connects but no zones ever update	Confirm each zone's Address matches a real node id from get_devices, including the spaces.
Timeouts / never connects	Wrong protocol/port for the platform (ISY994 = http/80, eisy/Polisy = https/8443), or a firewall between GEM and the controller.
Dimmer goes to the wrong brightness	Non-INSTEON node interpreting the on-level differently — see the dimmer scaling warning.
eisy/Polisy shows a certificate error elsewhere but works in GEM	Expected — GEM accepts the self-signed cert; other tools may not.

Related documentation

• Devices — adding and configuring the ISY controller device
• Zones — creating one zone per node or scene and setting its address
• Subsystems — placing the zones under Lights or Switches
• Commands — the full driver-managed command list
• Macros — running ISY programs and scenes from automations
• Triggers — reacting to node state changes polled from the ISY