flyindy

Just wanted to thank you for this solution, I finally put this together today and it's up and running. I've recapped two PLMs but still having reliability issues, mostly the PLM (and therefore the ISY) not seeing devices turn on externally so statuses aren't staying current for programs, etc. So far so good, although oddly I've had several devices fail after the new setup. Two Icon relay switches, a LampLinc and a six button keypad all will not take the PLM address write. I did finally get one of the Icons going - I had already tried a bunch of things - factory reset it, restored the device, tried to manually write updates, etc. but it would always fail to take the new PLM address. I finally deleted it from ISY, factory reset the Icon, then added it back as a new device and it started working. I'll try to do something similar with the other devices (though one is in the attic - probably not NEC approved). Like someone else on this thread, about the only X10 thing I care about that I have left is an IR receiver in my home theater, I may see if I can upgrade the ISY with that feature (I need to do something with my Z-Wave module anyway to get above 5.0.14), or find another solution for IR. Thanks again, and hoping my network is a lot more reliable now! Gerry

OK, thanks. I'm kinda torn, I like the idea of getting off the powerline, and have a feeling the USB Powerlinc is going to have the same issues as the serial. It looks like the only semi-critical thing I still have on X10 is an old IR543 IR receiver that I use in my home theater remote to spit out X10 commands to trigger scenes and programs in the ISY. So I may try to find an Insteon replacement for that (I don't think I have an IR receiver on my ISY, I'll have to check) and just give up X10 finally for good. I'm trying to solve reliability issues where, for example, lights should be turning off at sunrise and on at sunset, sometimes they do and sometimes they don't, and it seems like the status in the ISY isn't updating (presumably because the PowerLink isn't seeing the change). I'm hoping the 2448A7 may improve that reliability.

OK, I gotta do this. I have two serial PLMs, I've replaced caps in both of them, but they both seem weak and my control is unreliable. My main question is since this is an RF-only solution, is there a recommended way to bridge to the powerline? I realize that many if not most Insteon devices are dual band and will repeat what they hear via RF on the powerline (or vice versa), but do I just build this and hope I have a dual band device close enough to get onto the powerline? Or is there a recommended bridge device, or regular device, that I should put nearby the RF PLM to ensure good bridging? I think this was covered, but I'm assuming X-10 commands aren't supported with this solution. I have very few X-10 devices left, but do have a few, would be nice to keep that going but is not a dealbreaker.