Arc fault protector and Insteon devices

[Harold]

I have been going around in circles trying to fix my house Insteon/ISY system. I have had problems with understanding documentation. I have a bunch of stuff (i.e., a system) I did 10 years ago. It has always been flaky. I finally restarted from mostly scratch. I have a couple of devices that I just have not figured out why they don''t work.

The device DeJure is a simple switch. A 2476S V.3AH. I use it as a switch for floor outlets IN A BEDROOM. It works fine when I control it with a manual Keypad link in another room. Or manually at the switch. But when I try to use a remotelinc, it just will not work. Other devices associated with the keypadlinc responded as expected from the 2440 remotelinc.

I had just taken the outlet cover off to replace the switch when I had this thought. Do the arc fault devices required for bedroom power interfere with the Insteon devices? I have a keypad link in another bedroom that also will not work.

Just punting here.

 

[larryllix]

3 hours ago, Harold said:

I have been going around in circles trying to fix my house Insteon/ISY system. I have had problems with understanding documentation. I have a bunch of stuff (i.e., a system) I did 10 years ago. It has always been flaky. I finally restarted from mostly scratch. I have a couple of devices that I just have not figured out why they don''t work.

The device DeJure is a simple switch. A 2476S V.3AH. I use it as a switch for floor outlets IN A BEDROOM. It works fine when I control it with a manual Keypad link in another room. Or manually at the switch. But when I try to use a remotelinc, it just will not work. Other devices associated with the keypadlinc responded as expected from the 2440 remotelinc.

I had just taken the outlet cover off to replace the switch when I had this thought. Do the arc fault devices required for bedroom power interfere with the Insteon devices? I have a keypad link in another bedroom that also will not work.

Just punting here.

 

I have heard they do and from my experience the AFCI affect passthrough of the Insteon signal badly. I use MSes with bedroom lamps in the same room so the signal is direct link (Insteon scene) RF to turn the lamp on and ISY / PLM / powerline to turn them off. When I was trying to turn them on via ISY program (also)  via powerline they gave me real flaky operation in all the bedrooms.

[ELA]

How would an AFCI affect the pass-thru of Insteon signals?   Assuming we are talking about a breaker it would be located at the  panel.

While it is possible that it could be a signal sucker, likely not a severe one.   I find it highly unlikely that it prevents pass-thru to the downstream circuit only.  If that were the case then regular breakers would do the same since they all have similar contacts.  If it does suck signal it would affect all circuits because it is located centrally at  the  panel.    The accumulative effect of several breakers would then be very unkind to the entire Insteon/ISY system.

I would recommend the replacing the problematic single band sw. with a dual band. 

It would be interesting to actually quantify the level of signal attenuation introduced by an AFCI.

 

[carealtor]

My ISY is in the cabinet in the master bedroom closet and the circuit has an AFCI circuit breaker.  I have no issues.

[Teken]

I agree with ELA replace the older single band unit with a dual band and see what happens. If you're dead serious about finding out replace the AFCI at the panel with a newer model / brand and report back the results. I have many AFCI at the service panel and have never experienced any Insteon network issues. Keeping in mind I started off with all single band hardware and had only one Access Point in the entire home in 2009.

The bulk of the home has since been upgraded to all dual band hardware with a few Icon stragglers hanging around because they simply have low use and simply work . . .