Insteon Icon Appliance Module to Contact Closure

[az1324]

You may have seen this topic: http://www.cocoontech.com/index.php?showtopic=4629&st=15&hl=

Well I decided to modify an Icon Appliance Module to turn it into a contact closure.

Disclaimer: Do NOT do this modification! There are line voltages on this pcb and you could cause damage to connected equipment and/or a fire hazard.

This is documented for educational purposes only.

Ok so here is the inside of the appliance module:

I removed the relay to see what traces were hidden underneath:

Now we want to isolate the relay contacts from the line voltage, so I drilled out the through holes that connect it to the board. By doing this, I broke the connection to a trace (shown in red) that fed the 120V hot wire through to the rest of the circuit. Also there are some other traces that I had to be careful not to break (shown in yellow).

I reconnected the broken trace to 120V hot with a wire. Then I connected wires to the switched relay contacts. These were covered in heat shrink tubing to keep them from coming into contact with the board. There is still 120V flowing around in that area!

I disconnected the wires leading to the switched outlet because I won't be using that. I then secured all loose wires with hot glue, replaced the PCB, and put it all back together. The wire is routed out through the ground hole of the receptacle.

Final shot of the new insteon contact closure module.

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

Excellent work! This would work out nicely if someone wanted something like a garage door opener control via Insteon.

Thanks for sharing! I love projects like this!!

BSR

 

[BLH]

Thank you for the construction project. I have two that are not OK with 120 volts anymore. As the things have shorted capacitors [C17 and C18] across the relay contacts. Seems that both the Icon and ApplianceLinc V2s don't like some loads. Even though well within the specfications.
I also see in one of the photos; like mine; the Firmware is marked "Beta"

 

[Digger]

If the product is still in Beat shouldn't they tell us when we buy it? I wonder if thats why all of the Insteon prices are going up as products are now being released out of BETA?

 

[BLH]

Smarthome John or maybe Smartlabs Mike basically told me the labels where incorrect that the firmware was loaded usually within a week of shipping. My first ones said that and it was one of the first off the line. My last set also said the samething. Since they still have not publically address the smoking modules damaged by simple inductive loads [14 watt undercounter light] and some CFLs. Both the ApplianceLinc V2s and Icon version. I am not surprised at the labels.

 

[ginigma]

If the product is still in Beat shouldn't they tell us when we buy it? I wonder if thats why all of the Insteon prices are going up as products are now being released out of BETA?

Heh! Many jobs ago I was responsible for a prodution line and we were using beta ASICs in production boards. My boss said: "just sand that off the top of the chip and we'll be fine." Oh well, good thing they weren't doing something important, like space shuttle control.