Do I need a second ISY994?

[TimWing]

My home has a pad mounted transformer to receive the incoming electricity from the pole. This transformer then feeds my house on one meter and feeds the workshop on a second meter, resulting in two electric bills.

I have my ISY994 working but I want communicate to the workshop that is on a separate electrical service. It's a separate neutral and the PLM is not going to communicate through the transformer. I do have CAT6 running to the workshop feeding internet & LAN.

Can I add an additional ISY to the workshop and add it to the portal to link the two together?

Thank you for any suggestions.

[smokegrub]

How far is your workshop from the nearest dual band in your house? I have a situation similar to yours and I am able to communicate with devices in my detached garage. Have you tried?

 

[Techman]

Depending on the distance between your house and the workshop you might be able to couple the two via RF using two range extenders, or plug in dual band modules,  one in each location. Mount them as high up as possible and as close as possible to one another.

The easiest way to find out if it will work is to give it a try

 

[TimWing]

The distance between the house and the workshop is 180 feet. I did not even consider trying due to the distance.

[paulbates]

The insteon white paper says rf range is 150'.  Given that specs are usually conservative, its a worthy experiment. Do you have a couple dualband lamplincs to "borrow" and try it?

Put a lamplinc in an outlet in the house as close / high as possible to the outbuilding, put another one in the outbuilding on an extension cord. Plug in a lamp and try it. move it around in the outbuilding to see areas that are better. If it works at all, try different outlets to plug the lamplinc in the outbuilding.

Metal will be the thing to avoid.. metal siding, doors, walls, jboxes.. or foil backed insulation. 

Paul

[Brian H]

You could also use the builtin communications tests in the LampLincs and observe the findings.

Can't say about the presently sold Range Extenders. Mine have the same FCC ID as the 2457D2 Lamplincs and just have the dimmer components removed.

[paulbates]

12 hours ago, TimWing said:

Can I add an additional ISY to the workshop and add it to the portal to link the two together?

Thank you for any suggestions.

The ISY is not designed such that a second ISY will automatically 'sync' devices with the first one, even with the portal. Devices from the second ISY will not appear in on the first ISY 

While it is possible to control devices on a second ISY,  there will be additional manual integration work to do, device by device; writing ISY programs, variables and network resources to get devices on the second ISY to respond to the first.  Its more straightforward to try an solve this at the insteon protocol level.

Paul

[MWareman]

The ISY is not designed such that a second ISY will automatically 'sync' devices with the first one, even with the portal. Devices from the second ISY will not appear in on the first ISY 
While it is possible to control devices on a second ISY,  there will be additional manual integration work to do, device by device; writing ISY programs, variables and network resources to get devices on the second ISY to respond to the first.  Its more straightforward to try an solve this at the insteon protocol level.
Paul

I know at all new point it was intended for 5.0 that one PRO ISY can be a node server to a second PRO ISY - merging the devices together into one tree.

I don’t think the functionality is there yet in 5.x - or even if it’s still planned for the release.

[larryllix]

The powerline signal has a much farther rating than RF. If memory serves the powerline signal is 500' and quite possible it will travel to the pad mount transformer and back to the outbuilding. There will likely be no passing "through" the pad mount but dual band units at the other end can transverse the phases with Insteon.

Making the outbuilding a sub service from the house or vice versa would make less dual fixed charges on your monthly bill. Dual first rates may be a bonus though, depending on billing structure.

Is the transformer between the two buildings somewhat, assuming dual feeds from padmount,  or where is the split in services done?

[Teken]

7 hours ago, MWareman said:

 

 

I know at all new point it was intended for 5.0 that one PRO ISY can be a node server to a second PRO ISY - merging the devices together into one tree.

I don’t think the functionality is there yet in 5.x - or even if it’s still planned for the release.

 

 

Almost forgot about that feature request ~ Please make it happen!!

 

[TimWing]

Well you know what they say about assumptions....I just assumed the distance was too far.

I wired a 2477S in the workshop closest to the house and it works!!!!!!

The response to commands is very quick also. Now this makes me wonder if the communication is RF or possibly neutral as Larryllix suggested.

Either way, it is working very well. Thank you all for the suggestions! ?

[TimWing]

So I have another question on the subject. My ISY has z-wave but currently my only z-wave device is a Z-Wave Schlage door lock on my workshop which is 180' from house. I have an Aeon siren but it does not reach the workshop.

Are there any products that will extend the z-wave signal over neutral or RF?

[Techman]

41 minutes ago, TimWing said:

So I have another question on the subject. My ISY has z-wave but currently my only z-wave device is a Z-Wave Schlage door lock on my workshop which is 180' from house. I have an Aeon siren but it does not reach the workshop.

Are there any products that will extend the z-wave signal over neutral or RF?

Add a second Aeon siren or range extender in the workshop. The door locks have limited range.