A question about programming Insteon thermostats ...

[gweempose]

I've now upgraded all three of my thermostats to Insteon ones. They are working great, and I'm enjoying controlling them from the ISY, Echo, Agave, etc ... I do, however, have a question about programming them. Does it make more sense to create the programs in the thermostat itself, or to let the ISY handle all the programming? What would be the advantages/disadvantages of one method vs. the other?

[stusviews]

Programming at the thermostat will continue to function even if you have difficulty with the PLM or ISY.

 

Programming using the ISY will allow you to easily make changes as you need then, on the fly

[apostolakisl]

You can do both.

 

Personally, I have gone with ISY 100% because my programs are too complicated for the built-in programming and subject to frequent change which is a PITA when you have to go to lots of thermostats in person.  I now have 9 thermostats covering 2 buildings at my church running both the sanctuary and the office/activities building.  We have lots of exceptions to the rules so using the built-in programming doesn't make much sense.  Plus we have several hvac units conditioning the same room and using ISY I am able to stage the units to create a "variable speed" hvac system that runs more efficiently and is better at pulling humidity out.  I have algorithms that handle multiple thermostats so I can change how multiple thermostats behave by simply changing one time on one ISY program.

 

But you can always create a base program that lives on the thermostat itself and then use ISY to over-ride that.  Since ISY can set the "mode" on the thermostat to use its own program or it can set the mode to auto/cool/heat/off directly and set the temp directly.  If ISY takes it off of "program", then you would need ISY to put it back on "program" when it is done with its over-ride.  I see two advantages.  If you develop a comm issue, the thermostats will still run the built-in program, or if you have an ISY crash it will do the same.  I have never had an ISY crash . . . ever, though I have had PLM crash . . .which is effectively the same thing of course.  Of course if you develop your comm issue after taking the thermostat off of program and before putting it back to program, then you would still need to manually go around and set them back to program.

 

My ISY programs leave the mode on "auto" at all times and shift the temps as needed.

[gweempose]

Thanks, guys! In my case, I think doing the programming in the thermostat itself makes the most sense. I'm not looking to do anything complicated, and this will give the best reliability. I can always override it from the ISY if I choose to.

[stusviews]

Thanks, guys! In my case, I think doing the programming in the thermostat itself makes the most sense. I'm not looking to do anything complicated, and this will give the best reliability. I can always override it from the ISY if I choose to.

 

That's precisely what I did.