Is my Insteon Relay broken? It turns on another relay (but not off)...

[RichTJ99]

Hi,

I have an Insteon V2 Relay in my bedroom. I also have a relay in my office and in my basement. When I turn the bedroom relay on, the basement light turns on. When I turn off the bedroom relay, the basement light stays on, so its not linked.

All other relays do not react this way.

Do I have a broken relay?

Thanks,
Rich

 

[upstatemike]

Hi,

I have an Insteon V2 Relay in my bedroom. I also have a relay in my office and in my basement. When I turn the bedroom relay on, the basement light turns on. When I turn off the bedroom relay, the basement light stays on, so its not linked.

All other relays do not react this way.

Do I have a broken relay?

Thanks,
Rich

Is there a chance that the basement lights have a noisy ballast or other problem that affects the signal? It sounds like the ON signal gets through because there is no interference when the basement lights are off but once on they might be generating some interference that prevents the OFF signal from reaching the switch.

 

[BLH]

Did you link in both directions. Bedroom to office and office to bedroom?
It could alo be a weak signal as others have indicated. What type of bulb is in the flaky fixture? Do you have the two RFLincs between the phases?

 

[Digger]

I would reset both devices and try again. OK now I sound like SH But seriosly I think in this case a reset might help.

 

[RichTJ99]

Hi,

Thanks for all the replies.

The relay in my bedroom is not linked to anything else (nor should it be), it controls a ceiling fan.

The basement relay (which controls two outdoor floodlamps (2 lamps x2 150 watt outdoor bulbs) should be stand alone (that will get linked in the future, but right now it is not).

When I press the power in my bedroom relay in the on position, it turns on the basement relay (not desired or installed that way). When I turn that same switch off, it does not turn the basement relay off (just an observation).

Actually, non of my relays should be linked to anything else (I might link a yet to be installed relay to a keylinc but thats a few days from now).

Maybe smarthome sent me a previously used relay that was linked to this other relay?

Whats the best way to troubleshoot it (replace the basement relay)?

Thanks,
Rich

 

[Digger]

Hi,

Thanks for all the replies.

The relay in my bedroom is not linked to anything else (nor should it be), it controls a ceiling fan.

The basement relay (which controls two outdoor floodlamps (2 lamps x2 150 watt outdoor bulbs) should be stand alone (that will get linked in the future, but right now it is not).

When I press the power in my bedroom relay in the on position, it turns on the basement relay (not desired or installed that way). When I turn that same switch off, it does not turn the basement relay off (just an observation).

Actually, non of my relays should be linked to anything else (I might link a yet to be installed relay to a keylinc but thats a few days from now).

Maybe smarthome sent me a previously used relay that was linked to this other relay?

Whats the best way to troubleshoot it (replace the basement relay)?

Thanks,
Rich

If you do a rest you will know in 2 minutes rather than replace a switch.

 

[RichTJ99]

Do I reset both units?

Is there an easy way to reset?

 

[upstatemike]

Sorry I didn't understand that you did not want to link to the basement lights. It is unlikely that two relays were shipped with existing Insteon links because every switch has a unique address. The odds of a pre-existing link between two switches AND you happen to get both switches is pretty low (but still possible). The chances of a leftover X-10 address in a switch shipped from SmartHome is very possible. (I have gotten a lot of switches with X-10 addresses already set). And it is very possible both basement and bedroom came with the same X-10 address already programmed. It is also likely if the bedroom switch is sending an X-10 ON that the basement lights would do something to prevent the X-10 OFF from getting through. I would go through ther steps for removing an X-10 address from one of the switches to see if that stops the basement lights from going on with the bedroom switch.

 

[RichTJ99]

I see the instructions here:

Removing the X10 Primary Address
1. Set SwitchLinc Relay to Linking Mode by pressing and holding the Paddle Top for 10 seconds until the top LED in the LED Bar begins blinking slowly and the controlled light flashes.
2. Set SwitchLinc Relay to Unlinking Mode by pressing and holding the Paddle Top again for 10 seconds until the controlled light flashes again.
3. Using an X10 Controller, send the following sequence three times in succession: assigned X10 Address followed by the OFF command. You have about 4 minutes to perform this step before SwitchLinc Relay’s Unlinking Mode times out automatically.
4. Once SwitchLinc Relay has received the preceding sequence three times, SwitchLinc Relay will confirm that it has removed its Primary X10 Address by blinking the top LED in its LED Bar.

I do not have any x10 controllers installed yet (or the serial thing that recieves the X10 signals). Is my only solution a factory reset?

 

[Digger]

I see the instructions here:

Removing the X10 Primary Address
1. Set SwitchLinc Relay to Linking Mode by pressing and holding the Paddle Top for 10 seconds until the top LED in the LED Bar begins blinking slowly and the controlled light flashes.
2. Set SwitchLinc Relay to Unlinking Mode by pressing and holding the Paddle Top again for 10 seconds until the controlled light flashes again.
3. Using an X10 Controller, send the following sequence three times in succession: assigned X10 Address followed by the OFF command. You have about 4 minutes to perform this step before SwitchLinc Relay’s Unlinking Mode times out automatically.
4. Once SwitchLinc Relay has received the preceding sequence three times, SwitchLinc Relay will confirm that it has removed its Primary X10 Address by blinking the top LED in its LED Bar.

I do not have any x10 controllers installed yet (or the serial thing that recieves the X10 signals). Is my only solution a factory reset?

Since you dont want a links anyway I would try a factory reset. HOPEFULLY it will be as easy as that. I doubt you have any links already in the switches when you received them from SH. I seriously doubt they are recycling old switches.

 

[RichTJ99]

BTW, the hard reset did the trick!

Thanks to all!

 

[BLH]

Digger; Most likely not recycled, but they did admit that some modules did leave with test links in them from the factory.

 

[Digger]

Digger; Most likely not recycled, but they did admit that some modules did leave with test links in them from the factory.

Hmmm I dont remember seeing any in my devices. But they did say "some". What I find interesting is that "some" devices have a green QC sticker and others do not.

 

[BLH]

I also have seen some but not all with a Green QC Sticker.

 

[Digger]

I also have seen some but not all with a Green QC Sticker.

Either they do random sampling or maybe it is a sign of a rework.