Giving Up On Insteon

[upstatemike]

I had a bad Insteon day yesterday and have decided to call it quits and go back to X-10.

First thing that happened was I replaced a KeypadLinc with a newer one that doesn't have the LED flicker. The KeypadLinc controls a bunch of lamps in my office which are also controlled from a ControLinc on my desk. Got everthing linked properly and made sure the KepadLinc LEDs stayed in sync when I turned the lamps on and off from the ControLinc. All worked fine EXCEPT when I used ALL ON or ALL OFF from the ControLinc. When I did that, only the large buttons on the KeypadLinc did what they were supposed to do... the small buttons ignored the command and stayed on or off putting them out of sync with the lamps they control. I did factory resets on the ControLinc and the KeypadLinc and set it all up again and still had the same problem. I called tech support yesterday and again today, and they never got back to me with a solution.

The bottom line is that the LEDs on a KeypadLinc MUST stay in sync with the associated load, PERIOD. It doesn't matter if the load is operated locally, from the KeypadLinc, from a ControLinc, or whatever, the LEDs must stay in sync or the product is useless.

The second thing that happened was that we had a storm that caused a brief power flicker. For some reason this caused half the Insteon devices in the house to turn themselves on! The main reason I moved away from X-10 was that the switches turned themselves on from line noise and Insteon was not supposed to have that problem because of the more complex protocol. If Insteon is going to give me the same grief then I might as well stick with X-10!

The third thing that happened was that I saw a posting from the guy who is making RoZetta saying he has run into problems and the product is going to take a couple more months at least. This means no Insteon control from Stargate this summer, and maybe not ever.

Faced with a choice of dragging out this transition, potentially for years, or working through the known X-10 problems with products like the XTB and getting on with my life, I think I will choose the latter.

 

[Smarty]

Some people call the "lastest and greatest" gadets the leading edge. In some cases, it is better known as the "bleeding edge". I feel your pain.

 

[Mike]

Wow sorry to hear that. That is dissappointing as you have the largest insteon installation I have heard of. I'm a little surprised as I originally had a light going on when it should not have, but it resolved itself, which I presumed to be when I added more devices. Given the number of devices in your house, that clearly would not make sense.

I wonder if the prices of Insteon devices will fall when you flood the market with your switches...

 

[jeffx]

I am just living with the flicker issue for now. I figure I have 2 years (warranty) to replace the switches for this issue and hopefully in another year all the bugs will be worked out and I'll replace all my switches then.

 

[WayneW]

I had a bad Insteon day yesterday and have decided to call it quits and go back to X-10.

Are you going back to X-10 only hardware or are you going to keep your current hardware and switch to X-10 signaling mode?

 

[Guy Lavoie]

I, for one, am very surprised. My thinking has been that if anyone is going to know how well Insteon is going to work in large installations, you will. It looks like you are mostly experiencing firmware issues which hopefully will get resolved over time, although updating existing devices could still be quite an undertaking if physically swapping them out is needed. I have hear about the issues with lightning storms and switches coming on from other users before, so this doesn't seem to be particular to your installation.

 

[3DogKnight]

You have more patience than I do. I bailed out within the "60 day-return to Smarthome-no questions asked" period, and haven't looked back. I just felt Insteon was not ready for prime time, and I didn't need the headaches. My new solution is more expensive, but I also value my time.

 

[johndoe74]

First thing that happened was I replaced a KeypadLinc with a newer one that doesn't have the LED flicker. The KeypadLinc controls a bunch of lamps in my office which are also controlled from a ControLinc on my desk. Got everthing linked properly and made sure the KepadLinc LEDs stayed in sync when I turned the lamps on and off from the ControLinc. All worked fine EXCEPT when I used ALL ON or ALL OFF from the ControLinc. When I did that, only the large buttons on the KeypadLinc did what they were supposed to do... the small buttons ignored the command and stayed on or off putting them out of sync with the lamps they control. I did factory resets on the ControLinc and the KeypadLinc and set it all up again and still had the same problem. I called tech support yesterday and again today, and they never got back to me with a solution.

I have exactly the same problem. My Keypadlinc's 'A' button (non-load) is programmed to an X10 address, and it is in Toggle mode. When I turn on this X10 address from my palmpad, the keypadlinc 'A' button was not changed to 'ON' status.

I thought at first this is an X10 problem, but it looks like even if it is linked to another Insteon controller, the status will not be in-sync too.

 

[upstatemike]

I had a bad Insteon day yesterday and have decided to call it quits and go back to X-10.

Are you going back to X-10 only hardware or are you going to keep your current hardware and switch to X-10 signaling mode?

I don't know. I would like to find an X-10 switch that can be managed from a PC without having to go put it into "program mode" from the switch itself (because a lot of my mine are in remote places). If they add the ability to manage X-10 addresses remotely to the Insteon protocol, I will keep what I already have and just put them in X-10 mode. if not, I don't know what my long term plan will be.

 

[mwhistle]

I gave up on Insteon too. After transitioning my entire home to Insteon and running with it for several months, I ripped it all out and put in UPB. The costs weren't that much greater and I've been very satisfied.

I don't at all regret that decision. I was tired of fooling with the lights and wanted to get on with other projects.

 

[Rupp]

It seems expensive to upgrade all the switches when you do it but the beauty is you only have to do it once. Go for UPB or Z-Wave and don't look back. I've put all of my Insteon switches in X10 mode and love them because they are cheaper than the older 2-way X10 switches. Oddly enough we have power outages here several times a week and none of my switches (Insteon, Z-Wave, or UPB) turn on. The X10 switches do.

 

[upstatemike]

It seems expensive to upgrade all the switches when you do it but the beauty is you only have to do it once. Go for UPB or Z-Wave and don't look back. I've put all of my Insteon switches in X10 mode and love them because they are cheaper than the older 2-way X10 switches. Oddly enough we have power outages here several times a week and none of my switches (Insteon, Z-Wave, or UPB) turn on. The X10 switches do.

I wouldn't even mind so much if I had X-10 addresses programmed into the switches that went on. At least then there would have been a logical reason why they might have been susceptible to noise from flickering power.

As for Z-wave... I've been watching the discussions about whether it is "permitted" for Homeseer to use the portion of the protocol that allows the tracking of status when switches are operated manually. The whole thing sounds pretty chickensh*t. I think I'll stay away from that whole mess for now.

UPB was going to be my first choice before Insteon came along but I could never justify the cost. Maybe if they drop the price, and slim down the form factor, and add some brightness level bars, and Stargate finds a way to support it without having to disable the voice board to free up ROM space, then I might consider it again. For now UPB involves too many compromises and I am not really in a compromising mood. (Mainly because Smarthome tech support has failed to call me back for the second day in a row).

 

[Digger]

I am on the fence with Insteon. Just when I am ready to give up things starting working somewhat. Then I buy a few more and they sit there ready to be installed and things hit the fan again. I have about 10 installed and 8 working. I have another 8 ready to be installed and some on backorder for a month now.

All together about $1000 and they work when they want to. Its a pain to replace them all of the time when they go bad or just dont work in a particular location. I have one in the garage set to turn on when the garage door opens. I have to open and close the door a few times for it to go on. A real PIA.

OH and my RMA from March has vanished in thin air at Smarthome so I am out $25.

 

[v1rtu0s1ty]

You have more patience than I do. I bailed out within the "60 day-return to Smarthome-no questions asked" period, and haven't looked back. I just felt Insteon was not ready for prime time, and I didn't need the headaches. My new solution is more expensive, but I also value my time.

What brand did you buy next, just curious? and what is your experience on it? happy? just ok? hmmm, it works some times?

 

[Rupp]

When all else fails there's:
http://www.x10.com/automation/ws467_s.html

I still have 4 of these installed and working since I installed them over 10 years ago. :lol: