Insteon, X-10 & Outside Holiday Lights

[TonyNo]

The temperature today was 60° so I decided to start putting up the outside lights. I've upgraded to all LED lights and found an interesting issue (not new, but I never thought about it until I saw it).

My outside lights have been controlled by X10 appliance modules, but the addition of Insteon here seems to have drowned out my outside outlet. No X10 control there. Grr. Guess I can order up a few new Insteon modules and steal one from my living room until they get here.

The interesting bit was the load-sensing current. When off, all of the icicle lights are dim, but one is a bit brighter. I'll try adding a little night light or something and see what happens.

 

[BLH]

I have seen others report that as more Insteon Devices are added. The Insteon performance gets better and X10 get worse.
The Insteon devices are two way and like X10 or any other brand that is two way. The transmitter part absorbes some of the line signals if it is not the transmitting one. With the Insteon signals; all it has to do is get to the next Insteon module to be rebroadcast, but Insteon modules don't retransmit X10 signals.

 

[TonyNo]

Yup. I got lucky and had a spare Insteon dimmer, switch box, and an old extension cord. Wired it up, put a baggie over it for weatherproofing, and I'm golden! Now to order an Insteon plug-in module or two...

 

[Xpendable]

You might be interested in this... I've been working on a sequencing/controller program that allows you to build animated light shows sychronized to music using Insteon. Here's a screenshot:

I'm hoping to release a beta in a few days.

 

[TonyNo]

That is interesting!

 

[upstatemike]

More than interesting.... This is way over the top cool!

 

[burkemaninabox]

That is Cool man!

B

 

[Mike]

Nice job, I think many will be curious to see your results.