New Insteon hub

[hum099]

Can the new insteon hub work along side of the hub I'm using for the ISY to use for simple tasks light turning on lights (using Siri). I do not want to loose any of the ISY programming. I guess the question is can devices be paired to both hubs and not interfere.

[Teken]

Can the new insteon hub work along side of the hub I'm using for the ISY to use for simple tasks light turning on lights (using Siri). I do not want to loose any of the ISY programming. I guess the question is can devices be paired to both hubs and not interfere.

 

No . . .

 

You risk the situation where one controller may over write another controllers link. You will either need to decide which controller to use in your home. Or have the HUB II / HUB Pro control isolated Insteon devices not linked, managed, controlled, by the ISY Series Controller.

 

I've been asked this question a few times and believe people need to decide one or the other.

[philtor]

No . . .

 

You risk the situation where one controller may over write another controllers link. You will either need to decide which controller to use in your home. Or have the HUB II / HUB Pro control isolated Insteon devices not linked, managed, controlled, by the ISY Series Controller.

 

I've been asked this question a few times and believe people need to decide one or the other.

I was wondering about this as well. What's the difference in having something like the Insteon Hub Pro control devices and have the ISY control them too. Is this any different than controlling devices independent of the ISY, like a IOLINC garage door controller being open and closed by the hard-wired switch, or having a lamplinc turn on a light when you use the lamps on/off knob (also independent of the ISY)?  I can see not pairing an Insteon Hub with the ISY as there is no benefit in doing so. 

[Teken]

I was wondering about this as well. What's the difference in having something like the Insteon Hub Pro control devices and have the ISY control them too. Is this any different than controlling devices independent of the ISY, like a IOLINC garage door controller being open and closed by the hard-wired switch, or having a lamplinc turn on a light when you use the lamps on/off knob (also independent of the ISY)?  I can see not pairing an Insteon Hub with the ISY as there is no benefit in doing so. 

 

The two examples you noted are related to *Load Sense* which still communicates the status back to the ISY Series Controller. If someone adds in another controller outside of the ISY it won't be aware of those status changes.

 

Lots of people have used two controllers in their homes including myself. In my case I used the now retired SmartLinc because it allowed basic control and a clean UI.

 

Did it work?

 

Yes, but as more complex conditions were added into my system via the ISY. The rogue devices operated via the SL caused programs to not execute as desired. 

 

In the big picture only trial and error can provide a person real world results. If what they find is acceptable then go ahead, if not then scale back until you find a happy medium. Its fair to say there isn't a hard and fast rule for right or wrong so much as be prepared to do some extra work and expect unintended results.

 

If the WAF is high perhaps dicking around with what works isn't a good idea, no? 

[paulbates]

I had a hub and PLM for a while. It was nice to have the insteon app to control things and have easy alerts for things like the garage door. However, its can be a lot of work and you can trip yourself up as mentioned.

 

The "Add devices found in links and keep existing links" method of adding devices must be avoided. The ISY will see the links to the other hub as a device and try to add. That can leave a trail of unusable links in devices. When you use the other ISY methods to add devices, existing links are deleted, including links to the other Hub.

 

You have to add devices in the right order; to the ISY first, and the other hub / PLM second.