I'm soooo pissed at SmartHome! :angry:

[Mr Spock]

Hey guys

I'm not looking to continually rehash this very well known and widely discussed topic. I know it can get tiring for some...

My thoughts were as Heardfan stated. There clearly is a quality issue and they are trying to limit their liability. Would you be happy if your car or camera died after the warranty expired when there is a known quality issue? My own problem seems to vary with when I bought them. I have a timer linc switch (November 2004) where both ON and OFF sides failed right after the warranty. I should have pursued it with them. The 2384 switch Linc's (X10) I have seem to be more reliable than what most report with the Insteon switches. In fact the ones I bought in 2001 get used several times a day and have been flawless. It seems (my observation) is that as time went on they either cheap'ed out or got their hands on a boat load of bad microswitches.

Today I took one apart. I'm documenting the microswitch replacement procedure and will post it here with pictures. It is not easy! I'm an engineer with excellent soldering skills and access to all kinds of equipment. I can do this, but it's not for the average person.

Jeff.

 

[Lagerhead]

home depot will not post a bad review unless you force them to - after many hours on the phone for several days, they posted mine - they offered me a $75 home depot card if i would withdraw the posts - i told them to keep their card

You mean that Home Depot pays to skew the reviews? ACK!!! Probably a legacy of the Nardelli days. One more reason to shop at Lowes.

 

[SteveL]

Mr Spock,

I'm not sure how many switches you need, but I am sure I have some in my garage that you are welcome to.

For what ever it is worth I have installed about 800 of those switches for various clients and to the best of my knowledge they are all still working today. If there was a tack switch issue with these switches I must have been lucky to not have been effected by it. I did hear a comment about customer service saying that they had not heard of this issue with the X-10 switches. I have been a dealer of Smarthomes since 1996 and I never heard of it so it would not be hard for me to understand that they hadn't heard about it. My personal opinion is that there may have been some isolated incidents but it wasn't a systemic problem. Let me know in a PM if you would like me to send you what I have.

SteveL

 

[Mr Spock]

Thanks SteveL

I'm of the opinion that the problem is related to contact oxidation and/or plating since it seems to depend on age and not the number of actuations. Therefore old switches may be ticking time bombs. I'm going to buy new Omron switches from Digikey. I've used Omron products for many years and believe them to be a quality manufacturer. The microswitches in my SwitchLincs appear to be Brand X with no mfg part marking of any kind.

P.S. I will be posting a microswitch replacement procedure with pictures soon. It will be for the X10 series SwitchLincs, but should be helpful for the newer SwitchLincs too. My only uncertainty is the exact Omron part number to order. It is either B3F-1100 (100g force), B3F-1102 (150g force), or B3F-1105 (260g force).

 

[briankelly63]

I'm posting this on every site I can find...

I called SH today. It seems the 7 year warranty is only valid on SOME switches!

Mine were purchased in 2004, they are x10 only predating the ICON and Insteon support. They are NOT covered under the extended warranty. If the microswitches fail (as mine are starting to do) you are screwed. Obviously I'm really pissed off right now. I installed these 2384W switches throughout my house (~25). Three have failed and a couple more are starting to fail.

I'm going to complain on every message board I can find. They have lost a customer for life. Let this be a warning to everyone contemplating buying SmartHome designed products.

Does anyone know where to find replacement microswitch parts?

P.S A thank you to Digger for offering to give me his old switchlincs to use for parts.

Did you ever find a suitable microswitch replacement?

 

[Mr Spock]

Did you ever find a suitable microswitch replacement?

yes, I wrote a procedure on how to do it too. Dan should be posting it here somewhere.

It's a Omron B3F-1102 for the 2384 and 2385 series of SwitchLincs, available at Digi-key.com

 

[electron]

The How-To has been posted here.