Insteon control

[electron]

I changed the title, interesting thread for sure!

 

[Guy Lavoie]

So, I will have to figure out how many phases I am dealing with (are all the switches on the same phase, only two phases, or on all 3?). Any ideas on how to accomplish this?

The most foolproof way would be to measure the voltage between the hot side from each switch to the hot side of another switch (assuming you can safely reach between switches with your probes or have a way of extending them). Set your meter on a AC voltage scale of 250 volts or more. Now measure the voltage between the hot side of two switches that you suspect are on seperate phases. If they are on the same phase, you should get close to 0v. If they are on seperate phases of a 3 phase system you should get about 208 v. If they are on seperate phases of a residential split phase system, you should get about 240 v.

 

[compuguru]

Alright, I think I figured this out. Here's what I plan to do.

I am going to purchase an SECU-16i and hook it up to the Ocelot. The SECU-16i will look for when someone pushes a button. I will have a small pannel of buttons near the door, labeled like power on, power off, and whatnot. 1 (or 2 for expandibility) Cat5 runs will go from the buttons to the SECU-16i.

I will then program the Ocelot to react to the approite button and launch an IR macro. I will also purchase a few switches, but I want to start out basic, then go for the more complicated things (Get IR working, then automate the lights sometime afterwords).

How does that plan sound? Does anyone have any recommendations on where to get Pushbuttons? RadioShack has them, but they are like $2 each. Also, any recommendations on what to put them in? I was thinking of making a small box with holes for buttons to come through.