Re: Need more input

[nobody@xxxxxxxxxxxx (Dave Houston)]

I may have overstated that. RadioRA recommends a repeater within ~25' of
each switch, etc. which is not quite the same as "a repeater every 25'".
Almost all RF based systems need the same kind of density for coverage -
it's a function of FCC radiated power limits.

Bruce Robin has a lot of experience with Insteon in a large house so maybe
he can jump in here. In discussing this, he told me that Insteon is almost
100% reliable but it may be that there are NAKs and retransmissions
happening in the background that he's unaware of. I'm not sure this is what
ELK refers to as "status signals" and, having no interest myself in the M1G,
don't want to get deeply involved in understanding it - I'm too busy with my
own projects right now.

Shortly after Insteon was introduced, a dealer loaned me one of the starter
kits and I reviewed it here in a series of posts. I think you can find them
by searching on "Insteon Review". I did see instances where signals needed
to be repeated so I would want to look into the details here. It may be that
they're just not reporting ACKs from the PLC (e.g. 2414S) but that the
ACK/NAK process and repeats are still taking place (this is primarily a
function of the transmitter and node it's trying to reach). If that's the
case, the ELK being unaware of status may not be a big deal. There's a lot
of back and forth signaling (especially with group commands) about which the
ELK panel may not need to know the details (and may not want to bother
sorting out). With my project, I'm planning to ignore much of that traffic
but to offer an optional module that will track status of all modules based
on primary signals sent and received.

Lutron has a patent on two-way RF signaling for switches. That might be a
factor in status reporting by some of the others.

Since this is in the early planning stages, my preference would be for one
of the hardwired systems. They have the best reliability (but also tend to
have the highest cost). Which way to go is probably best left to the
customer.

"ABLE_1" <royboynospam@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>Thanks Dave,  I did not know that Lutron wants a repeater every 25'.  That
>could be a lot of repeaters.  Have used the ToggleLinc equipment on a
>project this past spring.  Worked really nice for the project.  I believe
>you were the one that initially suggested that product line to me.
>
>As for the walls being open................ well there are no walls in the
>house, not even a foundation yet.  Other building are in construction but
>plenty of time to get the right stuff in place.
>
>Concerning the Insteon and the M1G if you go to the instruction manual for
>the ELK-M1XSP page 18 gives a list of limitations.  The one being that
>status signals cannot be read by M1G.  Is this all that important to the
>operation??
>
>There limitations listed on the Centralite, OnQ ALC, UPB, Insteon mostly
>dealing with reading status from devices.   There does not seem to be any
>limitations listed with the Lutron RadioRA equipment.  That may be a plus
>for the Lutron.
>
>Anyhow thanks for the input.  All is very helpful.
>
>Les
>


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