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Home > Archive > Home Automation > October 2005 > Smarthome/INSTEON?
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Smarthome/INSTEON?
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| I'm new to this group. Trying to get feedback on Smarthome/INSTEON.
Anyone have any experience w/ them or their products? Can anyone help
me out before I make any purchases, etc.? Among other things, I'm
looking into their Keypad Linc. Thanks.
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| Hi Jcm,
Welcome to the group. Smarthome is great and stands behind their
warranties on all products (I think they are mostly 2 years). I have
over 20 insteon switches in my house and just added 3 of the new
insteon keypadlincs.
IMHO insteon is way better than x-10 or z-wave, I have not had one
issue of reliability. I can't speak to upb as I have not installed
it but insteon is awesome, especially since switches are $40. If you
want to go insteon buy the starter kit
http://www.smarthome.com/2490.HTML and add switches and keypadlincs,
etc. http://www.smarthome.com/prodindex.asp?catid=101
Hope this helps
Mike
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| Dave Houston 2005-10-20, 4:21 pm |
| "Mike" <mike921@gmail.com> wrote:
>Hi Jcm,
>
>Welcome to the group. Smarthome is great and stands behind their
>warranties on all products (I think they are mostly 2 years). I have
>over 20 insteon switches in my house and just added 3 of the new
>insteon keypadlincs.
>
>IMHO insteon is way better than x-10 or z-wave, I have not had one
>issue of reliability. I can't speak to upb as I have not installed
>it but insteon is awesome, especially since switches are $40. If you
>want to go insteon buy the starter kit
>http://www.smarthome.com/2490.HTML and add switches and keypadlincs,
>etc. http://www.smarthome.com/prodindex.asp?catid=101
>
Mike,
How long have you been using Insteon? Did you use X-10 before? If so, how
long?
A better URL might be...
http://www.smarthome.com/prodindex.asp?catid=74
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| Hi Dave,
I used X10 for about 3 years before I picked up insteon modules, I put
in a few z-wave switches in January and just did not like them nor did
I get the reliability I had hoped for. I still have various x10
sensors/thermostats/etc throughout my house so I hope that other
manufacturers start supporting insteon in new products soon. I started
using insteon when I got an email about the starter kit, May/June
timeframe I think. I then waited 'patiently' for the switches....then
bought a lot more when I found out the price drop.
And yes that is a better URL.
Mike
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| Dave Houston 2005-10-21, 11:21 am |
| "Mike" <mike921@gmail.com> wrote:
>Hi Dave,
>
>I used X10 for about 3 years before I picked up insteon modules, I put
>in a few z-wave switches in January and just did not like them nor did
>I get the reliability I had hoped for. I still have various x10
>sensors/thermostats/etc throughout my house so I hope that other
>manufacturers start supporting insteon in new products soon. I started
>using insteon when I got an email about the starter kit, May/June
>timeframe I think. I then waited 'patiently' for the switches....then
>bought a lot more when I found out the price drop.
>
>And yes that is a better URL.
Mike,
Thanks. The fact that you're an experienced X-10 user adds weight to your
views on Insteon. If they can keep the prices low and expand the product
list to include sensors, remotes, etc. I think Insteon may capture the
market.
What were the reliability issues you had with Z-Wave? I haven't seen many
positive reports from non-dealers.
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| Mark Thomas 2005-10-27, 11:21 pm |
| Dave,
What's your take on the possibility of wireless Insteon transmitters
(motion detectors, etc)? I'm not sure if it's possible because the
timing is based on powerline zero crossings. Perhaps they can use a
different RF scheme with a plug-in transceiver.
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| Dave Houston 2005-10-27, 11:21 pm |
| "Mark Thomas" <mrt@thomaszone.com> wrote:
>Dave,
>
>What's your take on the possibility of wireless Insteon transmitters
>(motion detectors, etc)? I'm not sure if it's possible because the
>timing is based on powerline zero crossings. Perhaps they can use a
>different RF scheme with a plug-in transceiver.
That's only for the RF transmissions used to couple PLC between the two
phases. If you look at the diagrams in their whitepaper (www.insteon.org)
you'll see that they plan for RF only devices which (being RF only) cannot
be in sync with zero crossings. They don't give details but it looks like
they should be able to accomodate remotes as well as sensors.
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| Dave Houston 2005-10-29, 12:21 pm |
| Mark,
Here's what the Insteon whitepaper says...
<quote>
If the device receives the message via RF, it will first retransmit the
message on the powerline in the next timeslot, then it will retransmit the
message using RF immediately after sending the last packet of the powerline
message. In this way, RF message received asynchronously will be
resynchronized to the powerline zero crossing at the earliest opportunity.
</quote>
"Mark Thomas" <mrt@thomaszone.com> wrote:
>Dave,
>
>What's your take on the possibility of wireless Insteon transmitters
>(motion detectors, etc)? I'm not sure if it's possible because the
>timing is based on powerline zero crossings. Perhaps they can use a
>different RF scheme with a plug-in transceiver.
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