Insteon Dummy 101

htsource

Active Member
I have bought an Insteon kit including the 2413S serial PLM for my Cortexa controller. The house has extensively been using X10 although 30% of the switches are already Insteon/X10 since I had to replace them after years. Finally I pulled the trigger and bought the PLM and access points to slowly convert my X10 to Insteon.

I plugged in the PLM in the basement, connect the other end to Cortexa. As long as I have the address entered in Cortexa, I can control the light through the interface. I got the 2 access points installed based on the instruction as far as waiting for the green blinking light, not red/green. One access point was installed on the main floor, the other one on the 2nd floor.

This is where the fun begins, I tried programming one Insteon keypad, but no matter what I do, I can't make it to program or the plug in module will never link. I plug the module to another outlet, sometimes it links and other times, the 2 just keep blinking. Does it mean I have a signal issue?

Would it help if I have more access points? If that plug in module was dual-band with wireless, would it work better? Would wireless transmit down to the powerline or only wireless from one device to another wireless device only?

After linking the handheld remote to a few appliance modules, the speed is improved from X10 for sure.

As for un-linking, what's the procedure, do prepare the un-link first from the plug in module, before setting up the controller in un-link mode? Now from the remote, after I press a button, sometimes it blinks rapidly for about 5 seconds or so.

I just can't stand too many combination to make this Insteon work, getting confused.

The house is about 4000sq ft including the basement. I'm not sure what else I can do to imporve realibility. I do have an X10 filter/coupler installed at the breaker, not sure if that's causing more problem on the Insteon network?

Much appreciate your help.
 
Buy an ISY. Trust me. It is worth every penny. It makes programming and troubleshooting so much easier. You will also get ISY tech support which is invaluable. It will also make it easy to control x10 devices. You can buy the x10 module if you plan on having a lot of x10, but if you only have a few, save your money and use ISY programs to control x10.

I really doubt you are having comm issues. If you had x10 working in your house, anything will work.
 
If you are set on using Insteon it is basically a requirement to get an ISY to get things to work well. It may seem expensive but it's well worth the price. Otherwise you well waste hours if not days trying to get things to work.
 
What is this ISY, is it another PLM device?

The ISY-99 is mfg by UDI (Universal Devices Inc). It is a standalone controller that allows you to setup, control, and troubleshoot an Insteon mesh. It is an extremely valuable tool to overcome the shortfalls of the SH devices.
 
The ISY-99 is mfg by UDI (Universal Devices Inc). It is a standalone controller that allows you to setup, control, and troubleshoot an Insteon mesh. It is an extremely valuable tool to overcome the shortfalls of the SH devices.

http://www.universal-devices.com/

It is about the size of sandwich, uses 2 watts, and plugs into your PLM. It replaces all other controllers you might every want for Insteon. It has an IR version and it will network with other IP enabled devices (like a smart phone, pc, alarm system, etc). It has a very extensive programming section where you can write some crazy complex programs or just stick to simple things. If you are manually running Insteon now, you won't even believe how much more you can do. It never crashes either. And the tech guys will bend over backwards for you and the forum is very active and full of helpful people. Plus they keep adding more and more features with each firmware release. They only thing I don't like about it is that it doesn't really have a good owners manual. I think that is because they keep adding more and more features.

In case you can't tell, I really like it and I have a lot of fun with it. And no, I don't work for them or own any stock or anything to profit from being so embarassingly complimentary.
 
Do you have any X10 repeater couplers to bridge the phases?
Some are known to scramble Insteon signals as they see part of them as an X10 signal.

The ISY99i is a nice unit but with a Cortexa Controller. It may not be much help.

Do you have any SwitchLinc Dimmer Switches?
Version 35 of the firmware is known to cause communications problems with an ISY99i and could also be a problem with a Cortexa.
http://forum.universal-devices.com/viewtopic.php?t=3890&highlight=switchling+v35
 
Do you have any X10 repeater couplers to bridge the phases?
Some are known to scramble Insteon signals as they see part of them as an X10 signal.

Yes, I have an ACT X10 repeater. I can see when I'm sending Insteon signals, it flashes on the ACT and I see the error light comes on for about 2 seconds then it disappears. What I just realized after reading the post, I do have another Smarthome BoosterLinc the very original model. I vaguely remember this old model causes problems with Insteon as I was going to buy another one a year or two ago and came across some comments about the newer version doesn't cause problem with both X10 and Insteon signals. I just unplugged the Boosterlinc, will try to link some lights again with the keypad.

So far I only have one Insteon Keypadlinc that won't link to any plugin modules.


Do you have any SwitchLinc Dimmer Switches?
Version 35 of the firmware is known to cause communications problems with an ISY99i and could also be a problem with a Cortexa.
http://forum.universal-devices.com/viewtopic.php?t=3890&highlight=switchling+v35

I probably have about 15 SwitchLinc switches, maybe about 6 of them are dimmers. Not sure if they're version 3.5 though, but most likely these were purchased more than few years ago. I know for the Keypadlincs I bought, some have boosterlinc built-in.

Another question, how can I link a light switch to 2413S PLM? I'm not getting feedback to the Cortexa, and I was told I need to link up the PLM and the switches. I tried doing the hold and wait for the blinking lights, but if I try to pair them up, both units blink and nothing happens.

Thank you guys for your help.
 
Another question, since the 2413S is dual-band already, and I have 2 access points. How should I go about putting the access points throughout the house? I set the 2413S into the mode where it beeps, then I used one access point upstairs on the main floor to see if I get a green light, when I do I stop. So far for the 2nd access point I just go to the top floor and do the same thing, find an outlet that shows the green blinking light and stop there. Is this the right way? I have come across some outlets just don't respond - no flashing green nor the red/green signals.

Just wanted to make sure I'm doing the right thing! Thanks for your help.
 
Yes, I have an ACT X10 repeater. I can see when I'm sending Insteon signals, it flashes on the ACT and I see the error light comes on for about 2 seconds then it disappears. What I just realized after reading the post, I do have another Smarthome BoosterLinc the very original model. I vaguely remember this old model causes problems with Insteon as I was going to buy another one a year or two ago and came across some comments about the newer version doesn't cause problem with both X10 and Insteon signals. I just unplugged the Boosterlinc, will try to link some lights again with the keypad.

So far I only have one Insteon Keypadlinc that won't link to any plugin modules.




I probably have about 15 SwitchLinc switches, maybe about 6 of them are dimmers. Not sure if they're version 3.5 though, but most likely these were purchased more than few years ago. I know for the Keypadlincs I bought, some have boosterlinc built-in.

Another question, how can I link a light switch to 2413S PLM? I'm not getting feedback to the Cortexa, and I was told I need to link up the PLM and the switches. I tried doing the hold and wait for the blinking lights, but if I try to pair them up, both units blink and nothing happens.

Thank you guys for your help.


The problematic switchlincs are firmware 35, not hardware 3.5. There is no way to know that they are v35 without some application that queries the switch for its firmware. The ISY reports the firmware version of every device. I don't know if other controllers do. The v35 I know are found on some v4.x hardware versions, but not all of them.

I doubt, however, your troubles are the v35 ones. The v35 troubles are primarily mysterious lack of scenes responding, not troubles getting thinks linked.

I don't know about Cortexa, from the website it looks like it is geared towards installers, not DIY. Does it track everything? The ISY keeps an event log so you can track out every single power line command, how many hops they make, whether there is an acknowledgment of success, and so forth. It lets you program complex scenes in seconds. It doesn't sound like Cortexa is doing this for you as I hear you talking about using the switch paddles and blinking leds to program. With ISY, you do all of it from the computer and you know exactly what links are on the switch is it shows you by name everything about every device. Some of the older switches do require a power cycle after programming via ISY, the newer ones don't.

On ISY forum lots of people come along who have had Insteon and used other controllers, every comment from one of these people is that ISY revolutionized the experience. I truly believe that anything more than the smallest Insteon setup without an ISY is a frustrating mess waiting to happen.

And no, there are not any Insteon signal meters out there besides an oscilliscope (sp?). There are some x10 meters that sort of work for that purpose but I believe the one everyone reported as working well has been discontinued.

I would consider removing all of your x10 devices, getting the insteon working and then adding the x10 back in, testing everything as you go, especially the x10 repeaters.
 
If you have a mac, you can also use Indigo software as your controller. with the 2413 you would either need to leave the mac on or set up direct links between the devices. Haven't used an ISY but Indigo is a dream, allows control through an iPhone, and yes does report on the version of the devices.
 
The problematic switchlincs are firmware 35, not hardware 3.5. There is no way to know that they are v35 without some application that queries the switch for its firmware. The ISY reports the firmware version of every device. I don't know if other controllers do. The v35 I know are found on some v4.x hardware versions, but not all of them.

For the 600W SwitchLinc Dimmer, it's the units labeled V4.0. Those seemed to be the main offenders. Probably the same for the 1000W version. Not sure about the SwitchLinc Rely.
 
I've identified 2 SwitchLinc switches with Boosterlinc, planning to change those out. I'll check what else I have, I pretty sure I have some with labeled V4.0.

Thank you guys for all your suggestions.
 
According to smarthome, the v35 switches is only a problem when in the presence of ISY. However, the people at ISY deny this. I trust the people at ISY. I have never had any v35 switches. Furthermore, the people with the problem have physically removed the ISY from the system and had the same problems. After physically removing the switches, problems went away, ISY or not.

You should get an ISY. If you had one, you would be able to log all of your communications and know what is doing what in just a few minutes. If you get the tech guys on the phone, they will walk you through diagnostic stuff like this.
 
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