Mixing Insteon Switches and bulbs

[James Peterson]

I just purchased my ISY.

I don't have much knowledge on the subject.

My question is what is the protocol for mixing insteon bulbs into a insteon switch controlled circuit? Will this cause issues? Is this recommended?

[jgorm]

I dont see the usefulness of the insteon bulbs. Definitely dont put in a circuit that already has an insteon switch because you could use a $6 led bulb instead of the $30 insteon bulb. I bought 2 of the insteon bulbs, and I haven't found a need for them yet. My thought is to add a can light in my bathroom and hardwire it in. Then I could use the 4 position switch to control it without running new wires.

[James Peterson]

My only thought behind this was to have better scene control.

example:

since all room lights are on same circuit.

turn 1 light on

or all lights on

or specific set of lights on

 

If this is not recommended then it will save me time experimenting.

[bsobel]

I just purchased my ISY.

I don't have much knowledge on the subject.

My question is what is the protocol for mixing insteon bulbs into a insteon switch controlled circuit? Will this cause issues? Is this recommended?

 

Dont do it, you'll get device not responding errors from the ISY UI when the switch to the bulbs is off. As for better scene controls, I don't see how this helps, can you give a longer example?

[James Peterson]

I just purchased my ISY.

I don't have much knowledge on the subject.

My question is what is the protocol for mixing insteon bulbs into a insteon switch controlled circuit? Will this cause issues? Is this recommended?

 

Dont do it, you'll get device not responding errors from the ISY UI when the switch to the bulbs is off. As for better scene controls, I don't see how this helps, can you give a longer example?

 

I have a room with vaulted ceilings and 10+ recessed lights. Not very easy to rewire. My thought was to add insteon bulbs to the curcuit so that I could control how may I wanted to turn on.

ie) at night only keep a select few on, but dimmed over specific areas.

 

Technically I can get by fine without this option, I'm just investigating possibilities.

[bsobel]

Got it. In that case rewire the switch so its just a controller by disconnecting the load wire (the red one) and connecting what was running to the lights into the black wire (e.g. make it so those lights always have power). Then you can do what you like (I've done this quite a bit for my ISY/Hue integrations) Then you can go crazy with various patterns, dim levels, etc. A keypad in place of the switchlinc is a great option is you can have each button do a different scene.

[James Peterson]

Got it. In that case rewire the switch so its just a controller by disconnecting the load wire (the red one) and connecting what was running to the lights into the black wire (e.g. make it so those lights always have power). Then you can do what you like (I've done this quite a bit for my ISY/Hue integrations) Then you can go crazy with various patterns, dim levels, etc. A keypad in place of the switchlinc is a great option is you can have each button do a different scene.

 

 

Sweet... Sounds like thats what I will do.

thanks.