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patrickm
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| Posted: August 25 2007 at 12:19 | IP Logged
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Hi,
I am wondering what other folks' Insteon experience has been?
I have had about 130 Insteon devices in service now for about 16 months. I replaced a couple of devices within the first 2 months which I attributed to infant mortality, but now I have about 4 V2 dimmers and 2 keypads that unreliable or unresponsive.
I was extremely happy with the reliability of my Insteon network when I first installed all of it but now I am wondering if I should have went with something else.
It's highly irritating that all the ancient and CHEAP X10 devices I installed over 15 years ago are still working perfectly. 
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moniputer
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| Posted: August 25 2007 at 12:28 | IP Logged
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I have over 85 Insteon devices and have had to replace 50% of them due to various problems.
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BeachBum
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| Posted: August 25 2007 at 13:08 | IP Logged
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In this house I am currently running 10 Insteon devices of which so far I have had to replace the PLC once. I am also running about 30 X10 of which the newest is 3 years old and the oldest 1977. You know those old brown ones. Over the years I've replaced maybe 10 of the in the wall X10 dimmers. I've had more controllers go bad than devices. I like the Insteon speed but I have had to code routines to recover from errors that are visual like a light did not go off or dim. Just my 2 cents worth...
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patrickm
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| Posted: August 25 2007 at 15:52 | IP Logged
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50% !!! Holy Cow!!!
What were the bulk of the failures?
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TonyNo
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| Posted: August 25 2007 at 19:10 | IP Logged
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I have a small Insteon install: seven SwitchLincs, three LampLincs, and several ApplianceLincs. Working well for a while now. I did have two LampLincs die, but those were replaced under warranty.
Edited by TonyNo - August 26 2007 at 21:36
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Dean
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| Posted: August 26 2007 at 16:49 | IP Logged
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I don't have too many Insteon devices installed yet, about 6 or 8 devices. I've had to replace two Icon dimmers in less than a year (luckily covered under warranty).
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Kremlar
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| Posted: August 27 2007 at 10:23 | IP Logged
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I have 60+ devices, most for about a year, and I've had 2 SwitchLincs fail due to unreliable button presses.
I also had one that wouldn't link, and a couple that needed new paddles.
I've been told that they are rolling out improved tact switches into production, so hopefully reliability will improve.
I haven't had any non-switch products fail.
Edited by Kremlar - August 27 2007 at 10:24
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mtwalsh367
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| Posted: August 27 2007 at 10:27 | IP Logged
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I have about 30 devices and many of there are more than a year old. I have not had to replace any due to the paddle/micro switch failures that seem to be common. Part of this is probably due to the fact that I rarely use the switches manually as my automation does a good job of turning off/on lights as needed.
I suspect that one of these days I might start running into the paddle issues for the switches that I do occassionaly turn on/off manually. I have been hesitant to purchase any more Insteon switches until I hear something from SmartHome that they have addressed the problem. Based on past posts on SmartHome's site I am under the impression that they have admitted that there is a quality problem with the paddle/micro switch. I can't figure out what is taking them so long to address this issue.
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gatchel
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| Posted: August 30 2007 at 19:39 | IP Logged
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Since December 2006:
1 togglelinc, 1 Appliancelinc, 1 controllinc bad. SH replaced them all under warranty.
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bmil
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| Posted: September 02 2007 at 10:15 | IP Logged
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Since Insteon was introduced my return rate is just over 35%. Primarily due to paddle/micro-switch failures. I also eventually had all KeyPads replaced for the flashing LED design flaw...
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BeachBum
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| Posted: November 05 2007 at 11:00 | IP Logged
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Hate to revive this one BUT my PLC 2414U died again. Was working fine and then stop transmitting and receiving on the power line. PH never saw the failure and kept trucking like nothing happened. Because of the excessive noise I have it was my recovery macros that discovered it. And also the eyeballs...
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Pete - X10 Oldie
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patrickm
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| Posted: November 05 2007 at 11:52 | IP Logged
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What was the excessive noise characteristics? I am noticing bursts of a lot of wierd insteon messages on my system from or to nonexistent devices or commands I have never seen before. I was thinking it was more likely a flakey switchlinc or keypad rather than the 2414, but I guess the "whole insteon crowd" should be considered suspects. I have been having to reset keypadlincs lately that become unresponsive. They come back to life after a reset, but I am wondering if the cause is due to the strange Insteon communication traffic I see once and while.
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BeachBum
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| Posted: November 05 2007 at 12:05 | IP Logged
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My noise is generated mostly by low voltage trac lighting with dimmers installed on the track. When I trigger an Insteon change I then schedule a macro to read the status and compare it to what it should be. If not the same then send the device with the correct info and then check it again. Usually this will correct it. On the X10 side I do the same except I can’t check the status but the eyeballs do.
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dhoward
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| Posted: November 05 2007 at 12:47 | IP Logged
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Pete,
Have you tried a hard reset of the PLC? Before giving it up for dead, I would try a hard reset followed by a PLC prep of downloading the core app, clearing the PLC database, and adding device ID's to PLC (min). If it still acts flaky after this, then definately send it back. Im starting to see more of this type of error from users.
Dave.
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BeachBum
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| Posted: November 05 2007 at 12:59 | IP Logged
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Dave, I tried a bunch of scenarios but to no avail. Smarthome tech people had me trying commands I never heard of and they declared it dead. The new one just arrived while typing. Insteon is pretty cool in that I can almost establish almost the same lighting pattern by linking
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BeachBum
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| Posted: November 06 2007 at 12:56 | IP Logged
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After I received my replacement PLC I did the normal setup and which was difficult getting it to stick. Once I thought things smoothed out I started to notice the PLC wasn’t blinking but PH kept sending resulting in me going through the follow process a few times with basically the same results - a hung PLC.
I unplugged the PLC and held down Set and replugged. Then I brought up SDM Version 235 and sent a SendHardReset. Did a GetPlCStatus and everything looked ok. Then closed SDM and brought up PH. Next I checked an X10 device and it worked. Went to Insteon Explorer and Download Core Apps followed by Clear and Add Min. At this point everything looked normal. Started sending Insteon traffic and after awhile the PLC seemed to bog down and PH was buffering traffic to send. Shutdown PH and restarted and received the following from SDM:
SDM:DM=active,1.01.88.235,11/6/2007 11:14:48 AM,responded,08.9F.6F,2.13
UI:ConnectedAndReady
ui:getplcstatus
PLC:getPLCstatus=beginlist
port=USB4
connected=True
firmware=2.13
id=08.9F.6F
devicetype=InsteonPLC-USB
lastErrorMsg=#0:
endlist
uifinished:getplcstatus
ui:getlinks
uifinished:getlinks
PLC:getlinks=beginlist
endlist
ui:getlinks
uifinished:getlinks
PLC:getlinks=beginlist
endlist
ui:getlinks
uifinished:getlinks
PLC:getlinks=beginlist
endlist
ui:getlinks
uifinished:getlinks
PLC:getlinks=beginlist
Endlist
This is not what I would normally expect. Next I again unplugged the PLC and replugged and tried to Download Core Apps and received this message:
usbarrival=4287,4,1024,SmartHome,SmartHome PowerLinc USB E,
ui:dl=timercoreapp12
uifinished:dl=timercoreapp12
ProgressStart
ProgressMax=4606
Progress=0%,0,4606
Progress=1%,64,4606
Progress=2%,128,4606
Progress=4%,192,4606
Progress=5%,256,4606
Progress=6%,320,4606
Progress=8%,384,4606
Progress=9%,448,4606
Progress=11%,512,4606
Progress=12%,576,4606
Progress=13%,640,4606
Progress=15%,704,4606
Progress=16%,768,4606
Progress=18%,832,4606
ProgressError=0%,832,4606
Progress=18%,832,4606
Progress=19%,896,4606
Progress=20%,960,4606
Progress=22%,1024,4606
Progress=23%,1088,4606
Progress=25%,1152,4606
Progress=26%,1216,4606
Progress=27%,1280,4606
Progress=29%,1344,4606
Progress=30%,1408,4606
Progress=31%,1472,4606
Progress=33%,1536,4606
Progress=34%,1600,4606
Progress=36%,1664,4606
Progress=37%,1728,4606
Progress=38%,1792,4606
Progress=40%,1856,4606
Progress=41%,1920,4606
Progress=43%,1984,4606
Progress=44%,2048,4606
Progress=45%,2112,4606
Progress=47%,2176,4606
Progress=48%,2240,4606
Progress=50%,2304,4606
Progress=51%,2368,4606
Progress=52%,2432,4606
Progress=54%,2496,4606
Progress=55%,2560,4606
Progress=56%,2624,4606
Progress=58%,2688,4606
Progress=59%,2752,4606
Progress=61%,2816,4606
Progress=62%,2880,4606
Progress=63%,2944,4606
Progress=65%,3008,4606
Progress=66%,3072,4606
Progress=68%,3136,4606
Progress=69%,3200,4606
Progress=70%,3264,4606
Progress=72%,3328,4606
Progress=73%,3392,4606
Progress=75%,3456,4606
Progress=76%,3520,4606
Progress=77%,3584,4606
Progress=79%,3648,4606
ProgressError=0%,3648,4606
Progress=79%,3648,4606
bad:03 len=585
PLC:eventraw=12
PLC:eventraw=11
PLC:eventraw=11
PLC:eventraw=11
PLC:eventraw=11
PLC:eventraw=11
PLC:eventraw=11
PLC:eventraw=11
PLC:eventraw=11
bad:EF len=585
PLC:eventraw=12
PLC:eventraw=11
PLC:eventraw=11
PLC:eventraw=11
PLC:eventraw=11
PLC:eventraw=11
PLC:eventraw=11
PLC:eventraw=11
ProgressError=0%,3648,4606
Progress=79%,3648,4606
Progress=80%,3712,4606
Progress=81%,3744,4606
Again this does not look normal. Bottom line is I have to keep unplugging the PLC to get this thing rolling again. I’m not calling Smarthome yet, still have 1 more PLC coming.
Got any thoughts???
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Pete - X10 Oldie
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crisx
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| Posted: November 06 2007 at 16:36 | IP Logged
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I'm not sure if this will apply to you or not, but I had a PLC that I thought was very flaky, and eventually got to the point where I had to unplug it every 12 hours or so to make things work. When I received a replacement from SH, the same thing continued to happen. After trying the PLC on a different computer, I eventually isolated the problem to the USB ports on the original computer. I had a PC Card USB hub laying around, plugged it in, and all problems disappeared.
If you have another PC to test the PLC, give it a shot...
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BeachBum
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| Posted: November 06 2007 at 16:46 | IP Logged
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Hadn't tried that so I just plugged a new USB cable in and moved it to another slot so we'll see. I don't have many options unless I go to a hub since this is a laptop.
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Pete - X10 Oldie
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BeachBum
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| Posted: November 06 2007 at 16:58 | IP Logged
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Well, it was I nice thought but still have the problem...
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Pete - X10 Oldie
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BeachBum
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| Posted: November 07 2007 at 16:15 | IP Logged
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I moved the PLC to another system and mirrored that system to the one that runs the house. I’ve not had a failure since then. Thanks to CRISX in pointing me in the right direction. What bothered me was PH just kept feeding the PLC until everything bogged down and the PLC had all the ramifications of an outboard problem. When I unplugged it and then back in the PLC caught up to PH and kept trucking until the next bottle neck. Now onto figuring what is wrong with the laptop besides old.
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Pete - X10 Oldie
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Topic: Insteon Device Failures
