Re: Insteon/X10

[Marc_F_Hult <MFHult@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 22 Mar 2007 17:58:46 -0700, "Paul" <PAUL_R_JACOBS@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in
message  <1174611526.163321.166780@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:

>I had installed X10.  It was very flaky in my house. I bought a plug
>in phase coupler which didn't help much. I have lights going off
>randomly, some lights unable to controlled etc.
>
>Is Insteon going to be much better?  I was hoping that the RF was used
>to send signals,but as I understand it, the RF is used for phase
>coupling.  That being the case, since I already have a coupler, can I
>expect much better with Insteon.

I have found INSTEON to be much more flexible, reliable and aesthetically
acceptable than X-10.

BUT:

1) If your wall switches do not have hot, neutral as well as the conductor
to the light under control, you would need to rewire to use INSTEON
powerline control (PLC).  Might be a deal-breaker.

2) So far, the RF component of INSTEON with the exception of the coupler
that you cite, is vapor. SmartLabs was criticized by the development
community for what was considered an flawed/inadequate RF development kit.
ABIK, even those companies shipping INSTEON PLC products have so far not
shipped any INSTEON RF. E.g.: www.simplehomenet.com

The easiest RF solution in many cases may be to continue using X-10 RF
concurrently with INSTEON PLC without using X-10 PLC. This would require
the use of an intermediate controller to allow the X-10 RF subsystem to
communicate with an INSTEON PLC subsystem.

3) There have been significant growing pains typical of newly introduced
technology in both INSTEON hardware and supporting software. Most have been
resolved. INSTEON has commendably bent over backwards to resolve the issues
and provide replacements. A minor example: The LEDs on some light switches
were too bright for some tastes. Smarthome voluntarily contacted all
purchasers, and sent free replacement light pipes/diffusers to those that
responded by email.

4) The price of the least expensive dimmers (originally <$19.99) has now
apparently doubled to $39.99 even though the SmartHome web site continues
to claim the availability of $19.99 devices.

5) Although the ability to do both X-10 and INSTEON simultaneously in a
hybrid mode is touted as an INSTEON advantage, this introduces more
complications and limitations than desirable IMO. (I do not have
significant actual experience mixing X-10 and INSTEON on the same
powerline.)

Part of the improvement in reliability provided by INSTEON compared to X-10
came/comes from increased signal strength that the INSTEON controllers
(Smarthome Part # 2414U and 2414S) provide compared to traditional X-10
TW-523 and CM11a powerline interfaces.

An ACT T1103-RS232
http://www.act-solutions.com/pdfs/PCCSpecs/ti103_spec.pdf

or Jeff Volp's XTB products
http://jeffvolp.home.att.net/x10_info/x10_xtb.htm

also provide higher signal strength for X-10 than X10-brand and other older
transmitter/controllers. (Jeff's is even higher than ACT's.)

If you have a major investment in X-10, give Jeff's many excellent
suggestions a try before giving up on what X-10 you already have.

If you are just starting out (or don't have much X-10 at this point,
consider something else. At least until the $19.99 price for INSTEON ICON
dimmers doubled,  INSTEON was hands-down the most cost-effective of HA
lighting system alternatives to X-10 IMO.

INSTEON intrinsically has many of the same vulnerabilities as X-10 with
respect to signal integrity.

So if you decide to migrate to INSTEON, do a 'search and replace'  on
Jeff's suggestions replacing "X-10" with "INSTEON" and you have the
beginning of a good INSTEON primer ;-) < only partly joking>

But INSTEON does have important advantages over X-10 advantages with
respect to reliability:

1) Each INSTEON module/dimmer can serve as a repeater to increase signal
 	strength.

2) Signal propagates faster so delay caused by repeated signals is
	substantially less.

3) Configuration software is much better. For example, HomeSeer
		a) automatically tracks commands sent
		   and reports raw data and percent success
		b) sets the maximum number of hops (1-4)
		c) sets the number of retries   (1-25)
		d) track links between devices
		e) response timeout (1-5 seconds)
		f) reports device type and firmware revision number and
                   so on

INSTEON has other advantages over X-10 also that relate to usability that I
won't enumerate here.

...Marc
Marc_F_Hult
www.ECOntrol.org