Is Insteon dead?

[larryllix]

On 11/14/2018 at 4:39 PM, etsvilik said:

Giving that Insteon is a resurrected X10 - they have good chances to stay relevant long term . If one believes in Lindy Effect.  

My point about RF was that I find puzzling the current protocol. AFAIK If power line communication in Insteon  is crippled -  RF is not taking over. It should be a huge advantage to use both methods as fail over for each other.  

 

The two protocols are not complete backup for each other. The whitepapers describe  dependence on each other. RF only gets repeated over powerline and vice versa. RF is dependent on powerline for synchronisation of hop timing.  Of course a whitepaper is only a public concept, not what is actually being used.

Edited November 17, 2018 by larryllix

[silverton38]

Hopefully the Insteon Gods will communicate with their customers and give us an idea of the future?

 

[Scottmichaelj]

RadioRa has issues in itself as well as needing the use of repeaters just any other technology. With that said, to compare radio ra or any other high end system to insteon or zwave is comparing apples to oranges.
First off is cost. Generally you get what you pay for. The same quality and performance will come with an increase in cost. Pepple already look for the cheapest devices so increasing cost  isn't an option.
Secondly radio ra is professionally Installed. Done properly this means someone else is doing the designing, installing, and troubleshooting rather than the end user. This means the things you go through now would be done by someone else. The end result is the appearance of a trouble free system when reality is, the kinks were worked out for you.

One plus about Lutron RadioRa is you don’t get the “popcorn” effect for scenes that Insteon and ZWave have. If you have a large room and have a scene with lamps, pendents, and recessed cans all the lights turn on and off at the same time. Insteon has lag and you can see they are not in sync.

[lilyoyo1]

On 11/15/2018 at 11:40 AM, Scottmichaelj said:

 

One plus about Lutron RadioRa is you don’t get the “popcorn” effect for scenes that Insteon and ZWave have. If you have a large room and have a scene with lamps, pendents, and recessed cans all the lights turn on and off at the same time. Insteon has lag and you can see they are not in sync.

 

I didn't have that issue when I used incandescent bulbs. I can see it present with LED bulbs now. Haven't dealt with RadioRa2 with newer leds to know if it's as prevalent. I do see it happen still with control4 as well. If it's not, then that's a really good benefit as I do like uniformity.

[larryllix]

On 11/15/2018 at 11:40 AM, Scottmichaelj said:

 

One plus about Lutron RadioRa is you don’t get the “popcorn” effect for scenes that Insteon and ZWave have. If you have a large room and have a scene with lamps, pendents, and recessed cans all the lights turn on and off at the same time. Insteon has lag and you can see they are not in sync.

 

I try to set my ramp rates to different speeds to match and the differences are not that visible.

[Scottmichaelj]

I try to set my ramp rates to different speeds to match and the differences are not that visible.

It really depends on the size of the room and amount of lights to how bad you see it. I have always seen this happen on my installs and my own home regardless of bulb.

[larryllix]

6 hours ago, Scottmichaelj said:

 

It really depends on the size of the room and amount of lights to how bad you see it. I have always seen this happen on my installs and my own home regardless of bulb.

 

Insteon devices can do this quite well with their ramping. Other devices do not do it well. The look of the sequence is important though, and can be annoying looking if some care is not teken with the appearance, for sure.

I only see two complete cures. Amazing protocol speed and delay all responses for a synchronised effect signal. Sonos, chromecasting, and other synchronised audio systems must be using this method.