tom.karez@gmail.com

I did try the repeater thing. I did not want to run around adding things that might not work later so I did not try that. Not really an engineer by any measure. The old board had no problem seeing all of my devices from it's home in my office. It was odd that I could add one switch that was co-located in the same 4 gang box with another one that would never add. Both the same model switch. Both these switches were less than 10 ft. from the ISY, no matter the orientation. To me there was something wrong when that happened and after trying the repeater I basically gave up and decided to put the old system back together. Just finished getting it all working again and tied to Google Home and what not. I assume that the new board would just add new functionality for z-wave plus, did not expect degradation of performance from the earlier product. I used to have another z-wave controller and it worked fine throughout the house as well. In any case I am giving up and getting back to a working system. Tired of having to turn on the garage lights by hand. Tom

So I have done everything. I tried 2 different 500 boards, I tried an extender/repeater, I tried positioning the ISY in other locations. I tried every option/menu that is available, I tried using a minimote as an inclusion controller, did not work. I tried everything that UDI suggested. Bottom line is that the 500 board did not work no matter what I did. I was unable to add any Z-Wave devices that were not basically next to the ISY. It is impractical to move it around when switches are all over the house. I wasted a significant amount of time on this and some money as well. I ended up reverting to the 300 series board with a 5.1 release. It was a bit flaky, I guess because it is an RC, but in the end I was able to get everything added and working. All in all a pretty frustrating experience. I did end up with a cleaner setup in the end as I basically ended up wiping out all the non-Insteon stuff and it's always cleaner the second (i wish) time around. IMHO the 500 board is defective, at least from my experience. I get that UDI spent money getting it all certified and what not but if it does not work in the field it really does not matter. The only solution that they suggested that worked was to revert to the old board and run an earlier version.

At my wit's end with the 5.3 and Z-Wave 500. I have spent hours simply trying to add my switches back in. Linear WD500-Z1. I installed the new module, figured I would clean things up and do a new install. Did a factory reset on the 500, used the minimote to remove the devices. It appears to remove them. I can add them to the minimote if I make it a controller. On the ISY I can add maybe 1 or 2 switches. Only what is real close to the ISY. It seems like I have nearly no range on z-wave. I cannot seem to get the minimote to be an inclusion controller. Does anyone have any insight on exactly how to do this, step by step in case I am mssing something. My thoughts are this. I reset the Z-Wave controller I remove the config from the switches, using remove on the minimote I add the devices to the ISY by doing a double tap, I can get this to work for 1 or 2 switches. Nothing further than 20ft or so from the ISY will add. I almost seems like it just does not like some of my linear switches or it is not making a mesh. Tried to use the minimote but the menus on the ISY don't have the move the controller around stuff, at least in 5.3.