Insteon Availability

[JohnWPB]

With the increase in price with Z-wave, above the already high price, I think I will be steering clear of it.

I was impressed with the Insteon devices at EHX in Orlando a few weeks ago. He mentioned that they would be ready to ship "very early 2nd quarter".

Martin, do you have any ties or pending ties to carry the Insteon devices? From what the rep told me at the booth, cost was their first priority, and prices will be inline with current X10 devices, again from what he said. He also mentioned that HST had been sent some of the devices and they were testing them.

With the ability of the Insteor controller to be able to control X10 as well as Insteon, and the pricing being so good, it seems like a perfect way to slowly transition away from X10.

 

[Bruce L]

Also any idea on how far the range is for Insteon ? I have a shop about 100 yards from my house but both are on the same power meter (so electricly all one big panel). I have problems with controlling X10 devices in the shop from the X10 transmitter in the house. UPB is supposed to be able to transmit farther distance so I am pretty sure it would work in my situation. Any good info on the transmit range of insteon ?

 

[AutomatedOutlet]

John,

It looks like the first Insteon products will be coming out in mid-February. Yes, we'll have them as soon as they are available.

Although there were Zwave price increases announced a week or two ago, we were able to make a special deal and some of those price increases have been rolled back.

Bruce L,

The Insteon specs call for a range of 150 feet. I too have a need for this. I have a building in the back yard that's on a separate power feed from the pole and am looking forward to using Insteon to tie it all together.

 

[JohnWPB]

Glad to hear it Martin! I am a bit confused however, you said:

It looks like the first Insteon products will be coming out in mid-February. Yes, we'll have them as soon as they are available.

Have there been some delays, or was this a typo?

The rep did mention that they would work up to 150 ft., as you mentioned martin, but in the real world, we know that is always less. BUT if there was a module to the closest part of the house, and one in the closest part of the garage, it should work.

Also the rep mentioned another nice feature. With the Insteon xmitters, you can easily "bridge" 2 different phases. With one pluged into the one phase of the 110, and another plugged into the other phase. The signal will go RF from one to the other, which in turn will send it out on the other phase's power line. All of this is done 2-way and will report if the signal was either successful or not. No more hoping that the signal got through!

The question now is how that will be supported in HS as well as other software. If the signal did not go through, then it reports back, the software SHOULD then try again. HS 1.x has a "Device supports status response" in the device settings, but that has no bearing on what to do if the signal did not get through. Lets hope that HS 2.0 will take care of this.

I just love the fact that with the Insteon USB device, it will work with existing X10 as well as their protocol. This will replace the somewhat antiquated CM11a, and make the transition an easy and smooth one.

 

[AutomatedOutlet]

John,

You are right, that was a typo. I meant to say mid to late May. - sorry

As far as the phase coupling goes, Smarthome is coming out with a new Powerlinc controller that will couple both the X10 and the RF to both legs.

Hmm, I'll have to think about your HS question. Certainly the X10 side won't be an issue. I would hope that HS will make an interface to the new Powerlinc interface.