Re: Insteon reliability

[Marc_F_Hult <MFHult@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Wed, 13 Sep 2006 14:30:33 GMT, nobody@xxxxxxxxxxxx (Dave Houston) wrote in
message  <4509108a.1486390@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>:
>I would like to start recommending Insteon but my direct experience is
>limited and my views of its expected reliability is more academic than
>empirical. I would appreciate feedback about its reliability in small to
>medium sized installations. I would especially appreciate feedback from
>anyone who experienced the flicker problem and who replaced the flickering
>devices with newer, "fixed" devices.

>I notice that they have just issued recall notices (with free upgrades) on
>all of the Insteon interfaces (2414S, 2414U) but I haven't yet researched
>the reasons. If anyone can share these details it would save me a bit of
>time.


I have about 25 INSTEON devices of all types and experienced only one
(predictable) minor glitch with the hardware. Feeling left out of all the
enjoyment others were experiencing over the fickle flicker phenomenon, I set
up a situation and can now evoke and then correct the 'flicker' at will as
explained below.

Software is a different matter but every bit as important. The hardware
doesn't work in an automated fashion without software, so recommending one
without knowledge of the other is [choose a gentle word for here] at best.
This is particularly true of INSTEON because many/most software communicated
through the SmartLabs Device Manager (SDM) and not directly with the
hardware.  Homeseer development of a module for INSTEON has been a stand
still because of problems with the SDM and PLC. A new SDM was released at the
same time as the PLC recall announced.


My house has three above-ground stories totally about 3200 ft2 + partial
basement. About half the wiring is ~25 years old to main entrance panel.
About half to recent  additions through local load centers. Lighting loads
greater than about 270 watts are dimmed through hard-wired, centralized
commercial dimmer panels, not INSTEON or X-10. The system has three X-10
dimmers still in place because there is no neutral wire in those switches and
I have not yet installed a fix (hardwired or neutral for INSTEON. And there's
a story about REX waiting to be told  ;-)

The only _hardware_ glitch I have (other than the induced flicker discussed
below) is that if two INSTEON wall switches controlling two different INSTEON
loads with one being a slave (not an actual dimmer) are pressed exactly
simultaneously (two fingers, one on each dimmer) the load on the slave will
be delayed by 1/2 second or so. Rarely it won't turn on at all. The problem
is a collision and the need for a repeated signal. The solution is to
separate the two presses by a fraction of second in which case there is no
delay.

To coax my system to flicker under controlled conditions, I used a V2 dimmer
(top of stairs)  and V2 slave (bottom of stairs) connected to a chandelier
with 12 bulbs that normally is populated entirely with 15watt bulbs (180
watts total)  By substituting 60 watt lamps for 15 watt ones, I can create
any load between 15 and 720 watts in increments of 15 watts. The chandelier
flashes (not really a 'flicker') when the load reaches 270 watts if an
adjacent dimmer controlling the light at the bottom of the stairs in the same
junction box and powered from the same hot and neutral to the entrance panel
is pressed.

The flickering can be eliminated for any wattage up to my maximum of 720 by
putting a coil (inductor) salvaged from an old dimmer in series with the
dimmer that controls the chandelier. This gives me good confidence that the
fix now in place for all INSTEON dimmers affected (a larger coil) is
appropriate and effective and that new purchasers of the devices should not
experience the problem.


The hardware PLC recalls are both firmware and hardware revisions and are
themselves accompanied by new releases of the SmartLabs Device Manager and
PLC core application.

The hardware doesn't work in an automated fashion without software, so
recommending one without knowledge of the other is [choose a word for here]
at best. This is particularly true of INSTEON because many/most software
communicates through the SmartLabs Device Manager (SDM) and not directly with
the hardware PLC.  Homeseer development of a module for INSTEON has been a
standstill because of problems with the SDM and PLC.

A new SDM was released at the same time as the PLC recall announced last
week. On the INSTEON developer support site, the is a page full of bug swats
and fixes in the SDM. I haven't seen a comparable one for the PLC but I
presume it is more of the same. The 2414x fixes are both firmware and
hardware (see below for rev #'s).

The three new releases (announced and released to us on September 7)  are:

1) PowerLinc Controller firmware revision 2.13 and module revision 2.0
(2414U) and module revision 1.9 (2414S)
2) PLC Core Application revision 12
3) Smarthome Device Manager (SDM) revision 278

To get direct access to the details, you would have had to have paid the ~$20
differential between the cost of a 2414U only and a 2414U (or 2414S) with
developer access. Until then, you're working with second or third-hand info.

TO summarize, I would be skeptical of hardware recommendations made without
first being knowledgeable about, and so also being able to recommend,
known-good software that works reliably with INSTEON.

My three cents ... Marc
Marc_F_Hult
www.ECOntrol.org