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That is an excellent point. Really, for some reason it didn't even occur to me. I'll have to make sure to keep in mind that other people may need to turn lights on once in awhile. Thanks to you both for all your suggestions and answers. I've truly learned quite a bit just from this little discussion and am now very excited to order my ISY and a few other pieces and dive into this wondrous and expensive world.

Thanks Teken, for the info. Let me go through what you posted with a few more questions I have now have. 1. What user manual do you mean? The ISY manual? I haven't come across mention of this before and would like to check it out to ensure I understand it. 2. I have read about filtering and noise makers. How do you identify them and then what is a filter that you place on your line? I've read people talk about them but I don't know what they are, where to get one, or how to use one? Can you offer any more info? 3. Great advice thank you. And I'm balding quickly so certainly don't need to add to the loss. 4. I've been doing more reading and think I understand more about these. Is it guaranteed that you'll need one of these? Also I saw they're useful for bridging phases in your homes power. Do all homes have two phases that need to be bridged? I was looking at the Insteon site and my electric panel does look like the one in the picture. But I really have no idea what any of this is about. 5. Good to know. I sort of thought this might be the case. 6. Is the KPL the keypad with the buttons? Not sure if I have a need of one of those or the benefit of it. I plan to interact with the system entirely through my phone or an iPad. Thanks for all the advice and help. I'm almost ready to jump in. Now it's just a matter of finding a regular ISY994i Pro. I don't need or want the IR module but I can't find just the PRO being sold anywhere by itself. May have to buy the regular model and upgrade it I guess.

Thanks for the info. That was helpful regarding the electricity. I went ahead and checked after reading your post by unscrewing a switch and pulling it out so I could see for myself. My home is only about 14 years old and sure enough it seems to have a neutral wire. At least, there are three wires going into the switch as well as the copper ground. I guess the test would be to get some sort of ohmmeter and see if one of the wires has no charge? I'm not afraid of messing with my electrical as I've got enough sense to turn off the power and such. I just don't have a lot of knowledge about it. But I'm eager to learn and happy to play with things. Also, what does having a neutral wire mean regarding what products I can get? This is one of my main problems with any HA products. I haven't seen it listed anywhere what I can buy and use thanks to having a neutral? Anyway, thanks so much for the help and the response. I appreciate it.

Hello all, I'm jumping into the HA game and looking for some guidance. I apologize if I should not be posting this here. I've done a lot of reading and lurking on various HA forums and sites though and since I'm leaning towards an ISY and this community seems quite helpful/friendly I thought I'd give it a shot posting here. First, ISY 994i or Pro? I want the most secure version so that I can access it over the internet and with smartphones. Obviously nothing that is accessible from the internet is 100% secure, hence most secure. I noticed on the product page that the Pro supports higher grade encryption. What are people's opinions? I know the basic can be upgraded into the Pro, but as I said, my decision there is entirely which is the most secure. I plan on adding an SSL cert and locking it down however else I can that still allows me access with my phone. Second, more related to the serial PLM. This is my biggest hesitancy in going with INSTEON. Smarthomes own site is filled with negative reviews talking about how all the PLMs fail after two years. Are people still finding this to be the case? Are people noticing problems with other INSTEON gear? Should this not really be a big concern? I mean $60 - $80 every two years is not that bad in my opinion. I mean yeah, it's ridiculous something isn't done about this but every HA option seems to have some caveats. Also, I see some people out there on other forums saying INSTEON is dead and things like that. Any unbiased opinions here on why that would be and if there's truth to it? Finally, can anyone provide a little guidance for someone getting into this for the first time? I'm a software developer by trade so I'm not worried about programming the ISY. In fact that's one reason why I'm leaning towards it. However, I don't know much about electricity and there are a number of INSTEON pieces of seen mentioned that I'm not sure if I need. I've seen mention of access points and bridges and other things that some people talk about using. What are the basics that I need to jump into this expensive game? I'm going to start small and eventually work up to making my house think for me. Just some info incase it makes a difference. 4400 sq ft home over 3 stories. My main end goals are being able to use our phones to open/close the garage, have some cameras watching outside doors, and of course the other things one does with HA. First though I think I'll just start with a switch turning on/off some lights. I only mention the size of the house because I'm just not clear on what I'll need. Dual band INSTEON devices seem like the smart way as I don't know anything about my houses electricity. But I guess first I need to look behind some light switches and see if I have a neutral wire? Again, no idea what that really means. So, anyone willing to throw some info at me? Anything would be appreciated. Sorry, I know this was a long post. Hey, if someone thinks I should take my questions elsewhere then I'd appreciat suggestion on that as well. Thanks for any and all help.