Merry Christmas to me

W

Wooper

Member
The joy of the holidays is upon us, and apparently I have not been a good boy this year. It seems that the recent storm that came through with high winds sent a rather nifty spike through the power lines. I now find myself with somewhere around half ( 20 out of 40 or so) of my Insteon switches no longer working. It really doesn't help the WAF when you can't turn on the lights in either of the first floor bathrooms. So, on Christmas eve when I should be putting together the kids toys, and sipping hot cocoa, I will be ripping out all of the Insteon network and going back to the old fashioned way of doing things. Just how I wanted to spend my holidays.

Here's hoping all of your holidays are filled with far more joy than mine.
Howard
 
Sorry to hear about that, now you got me thinking into a whole house surge! I've been lucky with my Switchlinc switches for few years, but that doesn't guarantee anything. Could happen anytime!

Happy holidays everyone
 
Sorry to hear about that, now you got me thinking into a whole house surge!
Click to expand...

Absolutely! They're so inexpensive compared to the potential headaches they might help to avoid...
 
Wooper,

You sure you didn't just lose one phase of your hydro either outside or at the panel ?

Just a thought ? Test by trying to run a 220 appliance like dryer or stove ?

Neil
 
I feel your pain. In my case I had new switches under warranty (UPB) in just a few days so I just swapped them straight out without going back manual.
 
Thanks for the link to Ditek. I printed their brochure and have added to the sparky's list to include in bid.

Where is it best to install the low voltage line protectors. Just for outside runs?
 
nsisman said:
Wooper,

You sure you didn't just lose one phase of your hydro either outside or at the panel ?

Just a thought ? Test by trying to run a 220 appliance like dryer or stove ?

Neil
Click to expand...

A good thought. I actually called the electric company thinking this was the case, but the dryer and stove work fine. I also haven't noticed any outlets being out of service, just the lights controlled by Insteon. I think you may be partially right in that it may just be the switches on one leg. Sort of wierd also that nothing else went out. I have several computers, and tv's microwave, you know the standard stuff. Nothing else was affected.

Howard
 
Wooper said:
nsisman said:
Wooper,

You sure you didn't just lose one phase of your hydro either outside or at the panel ?

Just a thought ? Test by trying to run a 220 appliance like dryer or stove ?

Neil
Click to expand...

A good thought. I actually called the electric company thinking this was the case, but the dryer and stove work fine. I also haven't noticed any outlets being out of service, just the lights controlled by Insteon. I think you may be partially right in that it may just be the switches on one leg. Sort of wierd also that nothing else went out. I have several computers, and tv's microwave, you know the standard stuff. Nothing else was affected.

Howard
Click to expand...

Did you try air gapping them for a few minutes? I have seen a surge lock up an Insteon switch but it recovered after an air gap reset. Turning on and off the breaker did not work but the air gap did.
 
Digger said:
Wooper said:
nsisman said:
Wooper,

You sure you didn't just lose one phase of your hydro either outside or at the panel ?

Just a thought ? Test by trying to run a 220 appliance like dryer or stove ?

Neil
Click to expand...

A good thought. I actually called the electric company thinking this was the case, but the dryer and stove work fine. I also haven't noticed any outlets being out of service, just the lights controlled by Insteon. I think you may be partially right in that it may just be the switches on one leg. Sort of wierd also that nothing else went out. I have several computers, and tv's microwave, you know the standard stuff. Nothing else was affected.

Howard
Click to expand...

Did you try air gapping them for a few minutes? I have seen a surge lock up an Insteon switch but it recovered after an air gap reset. Turning on and off the breaker did not work but the air gap did.
Click to expand...

Just tried that to no avail. Pulled the air gap on several of them with no success. When I push the air gap in, the led comes on, but as soon as I let it go, the led goes out and nothing works.
Howard
 
I had a power outage a couple of weeks ago and lost 3 more Insteon switches, the failure
rate now is at 80%. Strange, my Leviton switches and duplexes are just fine.

Kind of expensive experiment with poorly made equipment.

Cliff s
 
dkemme said:
Thanks for the link to Ditek. I printed their brochure and have added to the sparky's list to include in bid.

Where is it best to install the low voltage line protectors. Just for outside runs?
Click to expand...


I usually put the devices at the point of entry for cable and telephone. The further the run to the actual equipment the longer the surge device has to clamp before damage occurs.

My phone surge I actually have inside the telco demarc box outside of the house. There usually is a gound in there which makes it conveinant.
 
Just a further note:

A more detailed count shows I lost 26 of 35 switches. The majority of the lighting in the house. It's been fun using the bathrooms in the dark.

Happy New Year to All!
Howard
 
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