Teken Posted January 7, 2016 Share Posted January 7, 2016 Today in the news there was an announcement of Insteon Sonos integration via the HUB II. The related press release had indicated some exciting things about how it would be integrated into the Insteon eco system. http://www.insteon.com/sonos One of the items not really highlighted too much was mention of a dedicated audio buttons for the KPL. I know speaking for myself and many others this is incredible to hear and know. This will help many avoid the whole half baked stickers or printed labels being stuck on or inserted into the clear buttons. These purpose built keys will look great and be truly professional. So what does this have to do with the title and KPL Relay? Well, apparently Smartlabs has finally decided to offer a purpose built 8 button KPL relay instead of making the person buy a 6 button unit and than have to buy a 8 button frame kit. There does not appear to be a part number for this new device but its listed here as pending: http://www.insteon.com/wall-keypads I am sure its going to have a different part number and firmware so hope UDI was kept in the loop if not well here's your heads up this is coming down the pipe! Ha . . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian H Posted January 7, 2016 Share Posted January 7, 2016 Going to be very interesting on how this develops as time progresses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teken Posted January 7, 2016 Author Share Posted January 7, 2016 Going to be very interesting on how this develops as time progresses. Agreed, and what I was curious to see is (IF) Smartlabs will change anything moving forward in the hardware where they can state for a fact all Insteon products now support LED loads. As far as I am aware the only device that states this as fact is the Inline Linc (ILL) on the sales page. Most of us are aware that LED fixtures depending upon brand, design, and quality. Will in fact cause huge inrush current when a device is first turned on. This inrush (startup) current can be 2-30 times the RMS current the unit typically consumes. As many here and else where have pointed out like CFL's the LED movement is fast approaching critical mass and costs of these bulbs have dropped a lot. Meaning people around North America given the chance when a bulb dies will select a LED fixture in its place. On a tangent I am curious to see if the Micro Modules will ever see a increase in their power handling. As it is now the Micro Dimmer only offers 100 watts of power handling which in my mind isn't very much these days. To be fair to Smartlabs over the years each product has steadily increased its power handling capability. This was seen in both the relay and dimmer modules of various product lines. As I reflect back this has come from (depending upon relay / dimmer) models from a modest 300 watts to 600 & 1000 watts for dimmers. The relay type has increased from a very modest 300 watts to 1800 watts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwester Posted January 7, 2016 Share Posted January 7, 2016 Hmm... I see zero new engineering work. The art department did a nice job to create a small few new custom button for a KPL, but that's all they did. On the other hand, the marketing department did a WOWZA! job of re-spinning a long-existing product to the point of re-launching it as if it were a new product! You got to give credit to whomever at SmartHome/SmartLabs is handling the marketing effort; they've got their stuff together. (If there actually IS any new engineering work, or a new version of the KPL, perhaps someone can link to the specs, or cut and paste the pertinent parts from that marketing web page? I honestly cannot find anything that even implies that this is even a new firmware version for the existing KPL! Having the chinese factory swap the 8-button faceplate instead of the consumer and creating a new part number for the result is hardly exciting to me, and certainly adds no new capabilities or features; it's marketing and nothing more!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teken Posted January 7, 2016 Author Share Posted January 7, 2016 Hmm... I see zero new engineering work. The art department did a nice job to create a small few new custom button for a KPL, but that's all they did. On the other hand, the marketing department did a WOWZA! job of re-spinning a long-existing product to the point of re-launching it as if it were a new product! You got to give credit to whomever at SmartHome/SmartLabs is handling the marketing effort; they've got their stuff together. (If there actually IS any new engineering work, or a new version of the KPL, perhaps someone can link to the specs, or cut and paste the pertinent parts from that marketing web page? I honestly cannot find anything that even implies that this is even a new firmware version for the existing KPL! Having the chinese factory swap the 8-button faceplate instead of the consumer and creating a new part number for the result is hardly exciting to me, and certainly adds no new capabilities or features; it's marketing and nothing more!) LMAO . . . I don't think you can appreciate how much I am laughing as I type this reply to you Mwester! You have been here long enough to know I have no problem throwing Smartlabs under the bus when required. The intent of this thread was to simply call out this product was in the works and does exist. Does it offer anything in terms of new features, capabilities, power handling etc. Probably not and more than likely you're spot on in saying its marketing genius in its own right. As you probably also noticed I created another thread about the now supported Insteon - Sonos support. I have no problem giving credit when credit is do to others as I did so in that thread. I've been too negative as of late in my replies toward Smartlabs and wanted to give them a fair shake. As I know most people in real life would expect . . . Having said all of this, wait for it . . . LOL History will prove at some later point in time if we are both right. More than likely more right than wrong! Ha . . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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