Re: Insteon - WOW

[Mitch <sumoldguy@xxxxxxxxxx>]

One other thing I forgot to mention was the setup of n-way switches.

It is VERY NICE.  Since each module is a transmitter and a receiver, you
just program one switch/dimmer (connected only to power -- not to a
load) to control another switch/dimmer.

The procedure is simply to press and hold the paddle (on) for 10 seconds
and the switch/dimmer status light blinks.  Then, you go to the
switch/dimmer that you want to control hand hold its paddle (on) for a
few seconds.  The lights go on/off and voila, you've got a 3-way setup.
  Just repeat for 4, 5, etc.

No need to worry which phases the various switches/dimmers are on or
anything.

And, the same process works for controlling lamp and appliance modules
from wall switches.

It's great!

Mitch

Mitch wrote:
> I just did an Insteon installation for a friend.  It's my first Insteon
> experience.
>
> The project's fairly small right now, only about 25 switches/dimmers
> plus a few appliance modules in a 3500 sq ft house using a Mac and
> Indigo to control them.
>
> I priced the insteon/icon solution vs. X10 for them and the prices were
> almost identical (maybe a few bucks less for insteon) when I included
> the phase coupler/repeater, etc.
>
> And, what a breeze to install!
>
> The Icon and Insteon switches and dimmers are wonderful to work with
> compared to X10 modules.  They're significantly smaller so there's less
> fighting to get them into the boxes.
>
> I'm not a Mac guy, but doing the software was a no-brainer.  Like ALL
> the home automation software I've used for lighting, its UI is quirky
> and it's a little clumsy to define lighting events, but it works fine.
> Set up is nothing.  You just give it the hard-wired addresses of the
> Insteon devices, it finds them and voila!  You do want to keep a
> spreadsheet of the locations and the addresses of the insteon devices so
> you don't have to run around looking for which device is where.
>
> They've been running for a week or so now -- 100% reliable.  If it was
> an X10 installation, I'm sure I'd still be tweaking it (older house,
> main plus 2 sub-panels, lots of "junk" on the power line...).
>
> I'll be doing a larger installation in the next couple of months.  It'll
> be interesting to see if the same experience holds.
>
> Mitch