Extend Insteon to Outbuilding

[Goose66]

I have an outbuilding (pool house) that is on a separate electrical feed from the main house (same meter but separate branch circuit just inside the meter). Insteon in the pool house can work, but rarely does. I have Wi-fi coverage in the pool house, though, and I have a run of coax in the pool house that runs back to the main house wiring closet.

 

Does anyone have a novel way to extend Insteon over Wi-fi or coax that doesn't involve a brand new ISY and Insteon PLM? The Coax run is currently being used for DirecTV but there may be a way to get that to work over Wi-fi. Could the coax be used with a couple of hacked range extenders to create an RF bridge over coax to the outbuilding?

[paulbates]

How far is the outbuilding from the house? Dual band insteon might be able to make it on its own, but you may have to put a range extender in the house, as close to the outbuilding as possible, and one in outbuilding, close to the house as possible. Line-of-site between the 2 and no metal inbetween (siding, wiring, etc)

 

The pool pump may need to be filtered as well as a source of noise.

 

Paul

[Teken]

I have an outbuilding (pool house) that is on a separate electrical feed from the main house (same meter but separate branch circuit just inside the meter). Insteon in the pool house can work, but rarely does. I have Wi-fi coverage in the pool house, though, and I have a run of coax in the pool house that runs back to the main house wiring closet.

 

Does anyone have a novel way to extend Insteon over Wi-fi or coax that doesn't involve a brand new ISY and Insteon PLM? The Coax run is currently being used for DirecTV but there may be a way to get that to work over Wi-fi. Could the coax be used with a couple of hacked range extenders to create an RF bridge over coax to the outbuilding?

Not going to happen unless your using Insteon RF or power line. Have tried installing the signal bridge at the service panel? Also if you have a outdoor outlet a Rube Goldberg method is to install a plugin dual band device very high up in a outdoor rated enclosure.

 

I've done this on four installs this year alone. One was for a hobby farm and another for a guy who owned a home mechanic shop.

 

Worked great and both spanned over 150 feet. I used the on-off relay as its small and offers the longest range when compared to the older hardware. It also enables you to tell if RF vs Power line is making a difference because you can toggle either one off.

 

Absolutely helps identify and prove reception is done by either one.

 

Good luck!

 

 

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[larryllix]

I have a shop outbuilding located about 20 feet off my garage far end. Then the garage is about 28 feet across until the closest Insteon dual band device is pluggedin beside my dual Outback Inverter system.

 

The outbuilding is coated in metal foil insulation and it has a metal roof. Even the joints in the insulation are covered in oil tape. Unless you locate an FM radio un front of a window the whole dial goes blank and receives nothing.

 

Despite the RF blocking inside this outbuilding the Insteon device comm's work perfectly. I have the occasional miss inside my house but never to my shop.

[Goose66]

My situation is similar to Larry's - the pool house is just off the garage and one level below. The closest dual-band Insteon switch is on the house side of the garage - about 32 feet away. Are you assuming that the Insteon signal is getting to your shop via powerline, then? Because mine is not working reliably via powerline, although the interference from the pool pump is something I have not thought of. I am going to flip the breakers to the pumps one night and see how the reliability fairs.

[larryllix]

My situation is similar to Larry's - the pool house is just off the garage and one level below. The closest dual-band Insteon switch is on the house side of the garage - about 32 feet away. Are you assuming that the Insteon signal is getting to your shop via powerline, then? Because mine is not working reliably via powerline, although the interference from the pool pump is something I have not thought of. I am going to flip the breakers to the pumps one night and see how the reliability fairs.

Yes. Powerline has reports of working 500' away for many.

 

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[Outlander]

Yes. Powerline has reports of working 500' away for many.

 

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I had my ISY in my old house communicating back to my meter (~40ft) and then to my new shop panel (~200ft) which then fed my new house (~75ft).  All worked well controlling Insteon switches in new house without any signal bridges.