Weird Insteon behavior

I have an Insteon switch that when pressed turns on it's own load and one other switch that it is crosslinked to. Been working fine for the month or two it's been installed. We went away for 3 weeks and upon our return we now find that after the switch is turned on and the crosslinked switch turns on as it should, two other switches also turn on about 3 seconds later!. It's as if they linked themselves while we were gone. No one was here to play with them. At least for me, Insteon is turning out to be just as buggy as X10. I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet but I may be selling a load of Insteon stuff for half price pretty soon.

Reply to
BruceR
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The delay implies that you have an error involving retransmission/repetition.. The multiple transmitter/repeater nature of INSTEON will make these sorts of errors difficult to isolate and cure. Assuming that unplugging the couplers doesn't end it, the problem would seem to require replacement of the switches which is expensive for everyone. Did you buy the extended warranties? (I'm not implying that the unrecompensed time and hassle of removing and reinstalling is an acceptable fix for you.)

We had our first observed and verified command failure two days ago that was much simpler and more benign than Bruce's problem. We have a conventional arrangement of two pairs of switches at the top and bottom of the stairs to control the top and bottom lights in the front hall. One switch in each pair is a slave. When I pressed both switches more-or-less simultaneously to turn both lights on, the two local indicator lights indicated that they were on, but only one light actually turned on. A second press did turn it on, but the failure dropped the field reliability based on estimated daily use to somewhere in the 97-98% range which is poor by our standards.

... Marc Marc_F_Hult

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Reply to
Marc F Hult

Warranty isn't an issue as these are all less than 4 months old. What IS a concern is that these things would create a fixed and repeatable change such as they have. The WAF went way down on this because it's the kitchen lighting that's acting up. I'll try doing factory resets on these and see if reprogramming helps.

Reply to
BruceR

Interesting. Of all the places to fail, it failed in the kitchen where the WAF considerations are perhaps the highest. Self-reprogramming is, IMHO, as bad as any of the flaws plaguing X-10. I wonder if these are just "settling in" issues that will disappear in the next iteration of the product line. On the other hand, combining X-10 and Insteon may have been too ambitious an undertaking from the beginning.

On a completely unrelated topic, the "All" butt sets arrived today and I can't seem to get them apart at the end where the cord goes in. It looks as if there's a screwhead beneath the swivel hook. There's also a round, black plastic cover that's near an existing screwhole but that's too far away to be keeping the case together. Is there a lip or something I'm not seeing?

-- Bobby G.

Reply to
Robert Green

To open the butt set remove the two screws from hanging loop at the top,

2 screws in the handle, and the two screws on the cord strain relief. The screw under the clip remains in place. As you suspected, there are two internal clip tabs that keep the bottom together but you can either just pull them apart by tilting the top forward and wiggling the case or slide a credit card in from the bottom to release them. The circuit board has wires attached to both halves of the housing so don't pull too hard! The cord ends are spade tips and just unplug so you can plug your new cord in. Do observe polarity! Let me know if you have any questions on it.

Reply to
BruceR

As soon as I worked the thick rubber seal between the halves free, it came apart in my hands. Thanks!

-- Bobby G.

Reply to
Robert Green

Let me know how you like it.

Reply to
BruceR

OK, those following this thread know that after being away for 3 weeks, we came home to find that a switch in the kitchen would turn on itself and one other switch as programmed but had "added" the function of also turning on two other switches that it was NOT programmed to do (they are all in the same 4 gang box). It would do this 100% of the time - not an intermittant behavior. Weirder Part: Now it works correctly again. Approx. 48 hours later it started working correctly again - 100% of the time. No loads were added or subtracted. My one great hope for this system is that replacing the 2414X Translator with the upcoming RoZetta will solve these problems.

Reply to
BruceR

Bruce,

I don't know what difference it makes but it occurred to me...

Maybe there is a GFI involved, since kitchen areas are near water, etc.

So what if there is?

Yeah!

I don't know either...

Just throwin' it out there!

Jack :)

BruceR wrote:

Reply to
Jack Edin

I don't think it's a factor as the lighting circuits are seperate from the outlets which are indeed GFCIs.

Reply to
BruceR

One scenario that would take the experience out of the realm of 'weird' and back to that of simply 'buggy' would be if you had indeed inadvertently cross-linked the switches but the linkage was/is working only intermittently because something that you do when you occupy the house attenuates/blocks the/a repeated signal. As you know, one of the imperfect aspects of INSTEON is the difficulty of successfully un-linking (convincing a device to forget). Were these devices virgin, unused, fresh out of the box, or had you installed them elsewhere or in a different mode/configuration before?

What is a "2414X Translator" ? Were you able to determine whether the behaviour occurred with the repeaters and computer interface removed from the system?

... Marc Marc_F_Hult

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Reply to
Marc F Hult

Still haven't replaced the leads. I've decided I want to put a "quick change" connector so that I can use a modular plug, alligator clips or hook-type probes interchangeably. I noticed in taking it apart that it's incredibly well gasketed. Looks as if it might endure complete submersion. Mine has "RF!" inscribed in magic marker on the inside of the case. !!!???!!!

Looks very well made - worth the $20 for sure. Thanks for the tip!

I also got a $4.95 magnifier headband, a 28 LED flashlight ($16) and a 5 LED headband lamp ($7) that were pretty good deals. The magnifier has two sets of flip down lens, a velcro fastener in the back and a little swing away spot magnifier. A very good deal for $5. I love the flashlight - it puts all similarly sized incandescent ones to shame. Not sure it will stand up or what will happen when an LED fails but it produces incredibly even and bright illumination that's far "cooler" that a regular flashlight bulb. Much easier to read by.

Finally got my 50 ohm coax so I can move forward again on the BX-AHT now that it's going to be turbocharged via the XTB. X-10 life certainly got a whole lot better since the XTB arrived. So far, the increased transmitter power hasn't caused any unwanted side effects that I can see.

-- Bobby G.

Reply to
Robert Green

All were fresh virgins (alas the only ones I'LL ever play with). The problem lasted about 3 days and disappeared. Nothing changed before during or since that time.

Reply to
BruceR

I wonder if the "RF" means ReFurbished? or could just be inspector's initials. I wouldn't try submerging it though. I think the mike, earpiece and buttons might not like it. BTW, if the mike in yours is loose as mine was, a small ball of cotton will hold it in place nicely.

Reply to
BruceR

The funniest part of the experience was when I thought it had *no* microphone. I was looking at the backside and saw a plastic plug where I thought the mic should be. Took me a moment to realize I was looking at the wrong side.

I think I am just going to mount a standard 4 wire modular jack where the cordset was. That way I can either use a line cord or any pair of tips mounted at the end of a standard phone cord. Looks like there's enough room to mount one. If that doesn't work, I'll just get a spaded line cord and use that and a straight-through coupler to add the different probe tips. I'm still going to be on the lookout for a small standalone one-piece phone with CID and a battery backed-up redialer or better yet, phone book. Probably could cannabalize it and stick the parts in the butt set - it's got extra room.

I went back and compared the BECO black rubber job to the new one. If I needed a blackjack (known to you Brits as a cosh) for a quick beat down, my bet would still be on the BECO. Not as good as the Monadnock PR-24 Prosecutor that socked it to Rodney King, but I wouldn't want to get hit with either one.

In the annals of murder by telephone, I'm sure someone's skull was caved in by a hard rubber butt set with a heft metal core. The only thing more lethal were those old conical-shaped earpieces on the early wall telephones. They were almost as heavy as window sash weights. Can you tell I've been watching too much Court TV lately?

:-)

-- Bobby G.

Reply to
Robert Green

Even harder than the BECO is the old Automatic Electric all metal butt set. Can also be used to drive nails. I have both in my "museum."

Reply to
BruceR

Got a whole new set of test leads that attach via a coupler. Works very nicely and its large size makes it very easy to cradle on your shoulder without hunching.

Curious as to what the P and M keys do. Is it possible this unit has some sort of speed-dialing built-in? That would make it a lot more useful.

Neighbor's kid was ecstatic - wearing his all day. He was even more thrilled with the el cheapo Ratshack modular crimper I gave him. Even made his mom happy since he was able to fix the broken answering machine cord they had that would occasionally release from the wall since it was missing the clip. I had him practice first on a box of broken old line cords I had. He got the hang of it very quickly.

-- Bobby G.

Reply to
Robert Green

P is for "Program" and M is for "Memory" - Go off-hook, Press P (program), 1 (speed location), 9876543 and hang up. Go off-hook, press M,1 to dial 987-6543. You can probably program each digit with a number (haven't tried them all though). Still trying to figure out what "TBR" button does. Great deal for 20 bucks! The big size is comfortable without the heavy weight that others have. Some time ago I had purchased some spare butt set cords that are the nice cloth covered kind with two "bed of nails" angled "66" tip clips and a third cord with a heavy duty "no-snag" modular plug. Perfect for these babies!

Reply to
BruceR

Kewl. I didn't think it would retain numbers without a power supply. Makes it very much more useful.

To Be Revealed (eventually!)

Yes, though it's big, it's clearly not heavy. My friend was over the other night and couldn't wait to go home and order one.

I wish I had remembered to "boot" the modular plug. I've got a whole drawer full I bought for my network wiring a while back and they hopefully will fit the smaller phone cord. The guy who designed the little tang that breaks off on modular connectors must have also designed the hinges of CD jewel cases. Both are born to broken.

-- Bobby G.

Reply to
Robert Green

The solution to broken modular plugs... as equipped on my butt set. Available from

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Reply to
BruceR

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