apostolakisl

I have only had one problem with inteon, the micro-switches. And I have had 100% failure on them (maybe 200% as several of the replacements failed). All of the replacements from the last 2 years seem to be fine. I have had nothing else insteon fail out of about 100 pieces. I will say that I had the IR tx of theirs, and while it didn't fail, I returned it because it was pathetic.

That is the idea of the INSTEON modem chip that could be integrated into almost anything, but getting companies to by in and do it is anther thing. Thanks, If you are the tinkering type and have lots of time to waste, you could tear apart a switchlinc relay and integrate the necessary componants directly into the AC unit. Provided there is enough room inside of the AC unit this would be very slick. Mostly you would need to pull the two micro-switches from the insteon board and install them (or other contact switches) to the face panel of the AC unit. One button turns it on, the other turns it off. Move the led indicators to the face of the AC unit and your are in business.

Trouble with an AC unit is that it cylces anyway. So even if the appliancelinc monitored itself for current draw, you wouldn't know if it was just off because it had reached temp. If you want to be sure that no one messes with the controls, I would suggest makeing a cover for the control panel on the unit. Much like you see for standard wall thermostats.

That's why you use a switchlinc locally and kpl in the distant room to control the appliancelinc. You never need to touch the actual AC unit or appliance linc. The switchlinc and kpl in the other room will track the status of the appliancelinc provided you use them to turn it on or off. (Assuming of course the insteon signal gets through) Resistive Loads have the cold-on spike, but 10 times seems like a lot. That would mean that a 1000 watt loads initial draw could be 90 amps. For that to happen and not pop the breaker it would have to be very very brief.

HMMMMM. Not an EE, but it doesn't make a lot of sense to me. An AC unit is different as it is primarily an inductive load where as lights are a resistive load. Resistive loads tend to have a current spike when flipped on cold, and inductive loads can have kick back volts (in other words they both have their problems). I don't know what the limiting issue is inside of the switchlinc. Anyway, the deal about amps and watts is not really valid. Unless you are dealing with a phase shift (power factor) which I don't think you are with AC unit, then the volts are constant at 120 and therefore watts and amps are just two different ways to measure the same thing since P (watts) = I (amps) x V (volts). In other words 8 amps is roughly 1000 watts. The spec sheet does say appliances up to 15 amps. So, it sounds like you should be good to go. The switchlinc relay is also rated the same, so if per chance the outlet the AC unit is plugged into is switched, you could save some money and replace the wall switch with the switchlinc relay and not need a separate switchlinc for local control.

Good deal Marc. Looks like that's the ticket. I little bit excessively black and bluky looking for indoor use, but you could put it behind something. And if you don't have an available box in the wall for a switchlinc local control, they make table top enclosures that you could put a switchlinc into.

Your AC units probably draws a lot of electricity, I bet 1000 watts, maybe more. Most insteon items are only capable of 480 watt loads. You may need to put a relay in that is rated for the wattage and have the insteon device control the relay. I haven't dug around the SH website to know for sure if there is a simple plug in module that can handle that much power, but I don't think there is. If you put a kpl in your master, a siwtchlink in each room, and an appliance link at each unit, you can create 6 scenes. Each scene includes one switchlinc, the appliancelinc in the same room, and the designated button on the KPL for that rooms unit. The status light on the KPL and on the switchlinc should follow the on/off status of the appliance linc (and thus the AC unit), assuming no missed communications. You could also wire your switchlinc directly to the unit and skip the appliance linc if you have a switchable outlet near the ac unit. Again, consider the wattages and type of load. The 1000 watt switchlincs are fine for lighting loads but they might not be appropriate for an AC unit. For sure you could pick up a standard 120 v relay and use the switchlinc to close the circuit to the AC unit. These can be had for cheap on ebay and have regular contact closures where type of draw is not relavent. You would have to build some proper electrical enclosures for this setup.

I have the same sort of thing running on my bathroom fans but don't incorporate the lights at all. I figure that it is the deicision of the person using the bathroom as to whether the bath fan is necessary. Going in to comb your hair or empty your bladder isn't a fan situation so why have it turn on. I have the program wait 10 minutes after the fan is switched on and then have it switch off. The only change I have considered making is if after 10 minutes the bathroom lights are still on. In that case, they may be taking a long shower and still want the steam cleared. The coolest would be if their were a foul odor detector and a high humidity detector. The humidity thing is very doable, I am not familiar with any available stink meter. Maybe a float switch on the toilet tank, but then you would get fan for peeing as well. Maybe a switch on the TP dispensor, again, however, woman would set it off after number one. Perhaps only if the TP switch were tripped twice in less than 30 seconds then the fan would turn on.

I mean one of the universal remotes that you can buy for a few bucks like this one. http://www.buy.com/prod/xbox-360-univer ... 75285.html It seems like you could purchase a ready made board from somewhere in China for a couple bucks each (bulk order) and integrate it directly into the isy board. Let the ISY send the commands to the IR control board that would otherwise come from a keypad.

So ya can't just yank the board out of one of those $10 universal guys and wire it into your board?

Global cache is just awfully pricey and at first glance seems like it is rather complex. When you think that your are already spending $369 for the ISY, then another $50 for the module, and I think like $250 for the global cache, it just adds up to a lot of money to allow ISY to do what a $10 universal remote can do.

I really you guys (ISY) need to create your own IR transmition solution. The insteon one is just not proving to be worth a darn.

The 2411t that SH is selling doesn't work with the ISY. I understand they still have the older firmware model available that does work, but if you didn't specifically request it, you would have the new firmware. As far as linking the 2411t, it doesn't link the unit per se, it links each infrared code almost as if it were its own device. So, no, you wouldn't linke the 2411t prior to linking IR codes.

Now that is what I call living up north! Does it actually ever get dark enough to see the yard lights with a sunset that late? I like Oberkc solution. The first program starts and ends at the instant of sunset so you don't get the program being active during 2 separate days. The second program triggers on the first program becoming true and has no care in the world about what the date is.

Have you bought any of their other lights? I am interested in the spots for my china cabinet. The incandescent ones cost like $5 a piece and only last about 6 months at most. I am getting very anoyed at having to keep replace them. I was looking at these E27-xW4 White LED bulb. The color I was thinking might be best is natural white for the crystal to shine.

I can tell you where they don't have them. Lowe's. I was just there an hour ago and asked. I have never seen LED's that would work in the confined, poorly ventilated , outdoor exposure type fixture, except for the solar ones which in my mind pretty much stink. I would be very interested to find out if someone else has non-solar outdoor LED fixtures and how it all works (replacement bulbs versus needing entire new fixtures).

I think it will depend mostly on the style plug your current fixtures require. LED's are polarity specific DC, not AC. Since I assume you are running a 12v AC transformer you will need LEDs that correct for that and fit into your fixture sockets.

Agreed, scenes respond much more quickly. Programs can sometimes take a couple of seconds to execute whereas scenes are almost instant. If you have the same set of devices do different things based on some variables (who is home, time of day, or whatever), I like to create a scene for each scenario and then let a program execute the scene rather than have the program execute each individual device.

Your safest bet would be to hook up the lighting system minus the insteon unit and use the kill-a-watt or similar to measure the actual consumption. If it is under 480 watt then you should be good.

The install went fine and at first use, no problems. Does this mean that the next drop will have the Elk control module?!!!

[quote name="kingwr"Thus this condition in an IF statement will always resolve to True since the program only runs when it is true' date=' and a program with only one such condition will always run the THEN branch, never the ELSE branch. [/quote] There is an exception to this. If you write a line in another program "run (if)" or manually do a run (if) from the program summary page it will turn false. (assuming someone isn't pushing the button at the exact same time, which I am not sure is even possible)

Just curious, how many members of this forum do you suppose are female?

Great stuff. Maybe your accuracy would improve if you tried plugging 4 or 5 units into the killawatt all at once. I am pleased to see that we are definitely under 1 watt.

It would seem that at least some of the confusion here goes to what we have been discussing on another thread. And that is under what circumstances do various "if" statements get evaluated. "triggers" as we have been calling them.

Kingwr, The other thing is the true/false status of a program. Outside of that, I am not sure that knowing all of the nuances of a trigger event really matters. Basically, a trigger event has the potential to kill a running then/else, restart a running then/else, and change the true/false status. Lou