Practical Insteon HW reliability examples please

[Steve]

I've been pleased with UPB, but in my opinion the manufacturers of UBP gear are lagging behind Lutron & Insteon by not offering a contemporary looking keypad that can be engraved.

Don't want to go off topic, but what is wrong with the HAI Scene/House switches or the 6 or 8 button switches from PCS? All are lighted and can be engraved?

 

[pkoslow]

I•There were 47 Insteon devices that were controlling the exterior and landscape lighting only (no interior lighting).
•Sound like a lot of exterior lights? It is... this is a $12.5M Montecito estate using Insteon lighting.

Just out of curiousity, what type of system controlled the indoor lights?

No control of the inside lights... simple old fashioned toggle switches.

 

[pkoslow]

I•There were 47 Insteon devices that were controlling the exterior and landscape lighting only (no interior lighting).
•Sound like a lot of exterior lights? It is... this is a $12.5M Montecito estate using Insteon lighting.

Just out of curiousity, what type of system controlled the indoor lights?

If they were not controlled manually then maybe that would explain the low failure rate compared to other installations. Also with that many... how many would you manually press in a day or week

Yes, quite true. Most of the Insteon switches at this house are operated by timers in the Indigo software and were rarely touched. They have a couple KeypadLincs that control lights for the pool, spa, bbq & some other exterior accent lighting that are not on timers and are used frequently.

At my own home and that of customers there are Insteon Switchlincs that see heavy daily manual use in kithchens, baths, etc. and I've seen very few failures. I think I've only had 2-4 Switchlincs out of all the ones I've purchased and installed that have had the "paddle" type issues that many complain about. Most had failures with the triac or were DOA.

 

[pkoslow]

I've been pleased with UPB, but in my opinion the manufacturers of UBP gear are lagging behind Lutron & Insteon by not offering a contemporary looking keypad that can be engraved.

Don't want to go off topic, but what is wrong with the HAI Scene/House switches or the 6 or 8 button switches from PCS? All are lighted and can be engraved?

Hi Steve,

My customers just don't like the way the HAI keypads look. I tend to agree and think they look a little dated compared to Lutron & Insteon. The ABCD buttons are also quite small on the HAI keypads and don't leave much room for engraving.

I think if you showed the following photo to 10 people, none of them would pick the HAI as the most attractive keypad?

 

[Steve]

I would not argue with that picture. I kind of like the Lutron as well. From what I remember seeing a Keypadlinc, the buttons were very cheap plasticy looking like in this pic, and there was alot of bleeding of the light from 1 key to another:

Do the custom etched keys essentially fix those problems? If so the I guess I would agree the switch is not bad.

 

[MikeB]

Do the custom etched keys essentially fix those problems? If so the I guess I would agree the switch is not bad.

Yes, the custom-etched keys are far, far better looking.

 

[Herdfan]

My customers just don't like the way the HAI keypads look. I tend to agree and think they look a little dated compared to Lutron & Insteon.

When I had decided to bail from Insteon and had come to the conclusion that Vizia would not work for me, I had two choices: Lutron and Centralite's Litejet. When it came down to it, my wife decided whe liked the look of the Lutron keypads better and thought they would "age" better and not date the house as the more contemporary Centralite keypads might.

And yes, the engraved buttons make the KPL's look almost as good as the Lutron or Litetouch keypads.