Connect two buildings over LAN? Increase RF range? Help!

[Ookyer]

I have a detached garage with a separate electrical service (required by my power co) but wired with Ethernet on the same LAN as my house. I put an inline controller (dual-band) for some lights with an Insteon Hub in the garage. I can control this from the house no problem using the hub app. I added a dual-band Insteon switch in the house and the range between the hub in the garage and the switch in the house is right on the edge - sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

 

With 2 ISY994 devices, can I create a single network over my LAN? IOW, can I put a controller in the garage and one in the house and have them talk to each other? Or, does the ISY have a better RF range than the Insteon Hub? Or can the ISY device coexist on the same LAN as the Insteon hub?

 

How do people usually connect outbuildings if they aren't on the same electrical service?

 

Thanks!

[oberkc]

The ISY itself has no insteon RF capability. Some PLMs at dual band, but I cannot imagine why their range would be any better than the hub.

 

I understand theoretically that ISY devices can communicate with each other via commands through the network module, but this is something that I have never attempted.

[Xathros]

You can use the optional network module on the 994's to send commands to the other 994 fairly easily. It wouldn't be too difficult to write programs on the house 994 to control and monitor devices on the remote 994. The Insteon devices on the remote side would NOT appear on the device tree on the house side but could be represented by variables on the house side.

 

-Xathros

[Ookyer]

Thanks for the responses. We're still trying to get it to work with the hub, since we already have it, but it's hit or miss.