Insteon 2442-222 Micro Dimmer Review

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INSTEON MICRO DIMMER:

 

On December 22, 2014 I received my second set of (2442-222) Dual Band Micro Dimmers and wanted to provide an over view of the latest features and attributes. This will be a reference link for the most common questions and answers that may be asked about this current product.

 

Ultimately, this information is being provided to the forum members in hopes of keeping the most relevant information in one spot.

 

More details including the users manual can be located at the vendors site here:http://www.smarthome.com/insteon-2442-222-micro-dimmer-module.html 

 

Current Users Manual: http://cache-m2.smarthome.com/manuals/2442-x22.pdf 

 

1. Dual Band: Transmits over both RF and Power Line. Effective line of site RF range is stated as 150 feet.

 

2. Controller / Responder: This version can be used as a controller / responder. 

 

3. Minimum load is indicated as 5 watts to a 200 watts max. Supported loads are only incandescent

 

4. Power Consumption: <1.00 Watts

 

5. Surge Rating: Not indicated 

 

6. LED Indicator: Blinks when Insteon traffic is seen.

 

7. Error Detection: This device will bink Red if one or more Insteon devices do not respond. It will blink Green if the receiver devices Acks the message.

 

8. Phase Coupling: This device can be used to confirm proper coupling / bridging. It will remain in the phase (beacon) detection test mode for 4 minutes.

 

9. Voltage: 100 - 240 VAC Frequency: 50/60 Hz auto detect upon power up.

 

This is the new packaging of the Micro Dimmer:

 

 

The front face of the Micro Dimmer:

 

The rear of the Micro Dimmer. This batch indicates a production date of 33 week 2014, hardware Rev. 1.05, ISY firmware of v.43

 

This is a side view of the external antenna which is secured with white tape.

 

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This is a side view of the screw hold downs along with the yellow / purple sense wire.

 

 

I decided to crack one of these units open and is standard with Smartlabs. A Insteon ID sticker is placed on the inside to ensure it is labeled correctly on the outside of the case. To remove the entire assembly requires the external antenna to be unwrapped from its white tape.

 

I did not do this so the following images show how far I was able to remove the PCB from the housing. On the top right where you see the white screw hole. The user needs to press and hold this spot before the white backing plate will release.

 

 

The user needs to press and hold this spot before the white backing plate will release.

 

 

There are two things holding the entire PCB in place. One being the external antenna and the two sense wires which are inserted into a thin (pain in the ***) cavity. Below is as far as the PCB will drop out with a few sharp impacts to the rear of the case.

 

You can clearly see the 4 screw hold downs in this image

 

As more slack is given to the yellow / purple sense wire the PCB can be extracted about 70% of the way from the housing. You can see the toroid, heat sink, a gray piece of insulator material, 

 

 

This is another side view showing the PCB from another view point. From this view you can see the LED indicator, the three micro push buttons, black piezeo beeper, 

 

 

This is as far as the entire PCB could be extracted with out the external antenna being unwound from the tape. I have to tell you given the over all size of this little square box I am extremely impressed in the quality of the surface mount soldering and Smartlabs ability to cramp so much into such a small space.

 

It makes you wonder if Smartlabs had the backing of a large company like Apple, Intel, Cisco, etc how much more this device could be miniaturized. 

 

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QUESTIONS & ANSWERS:

 

Q: Does this unit make any noise when turned on / off?

A: No, it does not make any noise when turned on / off.

 

Q: Will this device act like a Access Point (AP) Range Extender (RE)?

A: Yes, this device will help couple / bridge the two sides of the (split phase) electrical feed in the home. 

 

Q: Does this device meet the energy consumption rating stated by Smartlabs?

A: Yes, based on a few quick measurements and data logging this device does indeed consume less energy than previous generations of devices.

 

The stated energy consumption is <1.00 watts and I was able to measure and detect similar readings on three of four of the units. 

 

One unit was just a shy under 1 watt as can be seen in this data capture:

 

 

This is a screen capture of the device when turned on:

 

 

After the initial turn on the device went back to <1.00 watts.

 

 

 

Q: Does this device remember the last known state after a power outage or when plugged back in?

A: Yes, it does remember the last known state of On / Off upon power up.

 

Q: What is the default ramp rate of this device?

A: The default value is set to 0.5 seconds but can be reduced to 0.1 seconds.

 

Q: What kind of dimmer technology does this model use?

A: Leading edge triac dimmer

 

Q: Does this model support the X10 protocol?

A: Yes, this model has native support for X10. 

 

Q: Does this device leak current which causes low consumption LED's to glow?

A: Under testing

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These are the available options from the ISY UI Console:

 

 

These are the selectable options for the Micro Dimmer: I have not had a device that had the *resume dim* option before so am eager to see how this operates.

 

 

This is the energy consumption captured by the ISY Series Controller using the Energy Module and the power of the Brultech Green Eye Monitor (GEM). As can be seen this unit shows a 1 watt consumption.