roberthleeii Posted July 22, 2020 Posted July 22, 2020 I have an isy in my main house but want to add some control to a couple other buildings on my property. I have power run to a barn, shed, and guest house from my breaker box on my main house. Will this be enough to carry the signal to communicate with my other buildings if I add some wired insteon outlets and devices?
Teken Posted July 22, 2020 Posted July 22, 2020 40 minutes ago, roberthleeii said: I have an isy in my main house but want to add some control to a couple other buildings on my property. I have power run to a barn, shed, and guest house from my breaker box on my main house. Will this be enough to carry the signal to communicate with my other buildings if I add some wired insteon outlets and devices? You won't know until you try to be honest. Keep in mind when ever you're talking about two physical structures insuring proper coupling / bridging of the Insteon signal is paramount. So follow the 4 tap beacon test as outlined in the full users manual to determine success / failure. If you're talking about a Z-Wave enabled controller reaching to another building structure never going to happen. I don't care what anyone has told you or what you may have read but you will never get any Z-Wave system to operate reliably without a whole lot of money, time, and height. I've done three sites with Z-Wave which had several out buildings and at the end of the day two ended up installing another Z-Wave enabled controller. The third site spent several thousands of dollars to erect a few intermediate light poles that housed wired repeaters at regular distances. Having to trench half a mile of wire, install poles, and everything else that comes with it is no small feat or investment in time & finances. Good Luck . . . 1
larryllix Posted July 22, 2020 Posted July 22, 2020 (edited) 50 minutes ago, roberthleeii said: I have an isy in my main house but want to add some control to a couple other buildings on my property. I have power run to a barn, shed, and guest house from my breaker box on my main house. Will this be enough to carry the signal to communicate with my other buildings if I add some wired insteon outlets and devices? It is very hard to tell in advance what kind of Insteon noise disturbances will be on your power lines. Usually Insteon signals can be used up to 500 feet between devices with clean powerlines. The best way to test this would be to get two SwitchLinc dimmers, one in each between building, and attempt to create a scene between them. If this doesn't work, you will have two expensive light dimmers. If it does work then proceed with more Insteon devices. ***To make this test work both Insteon devices would need to be on the same phase (leg) of your power panel. Insteon devices have a built if four tap test to prove or disprove this association. Edited July 22, 2020 by larryllix
dbuss Posted July 22, 2020 Posted July 22, 2020 1 hour ago, roberthleeii said: I have an isy in my main house but want to add some control to a couple other buildings on my property. I have power run to a barn, shed, and guest house from my breaker box on my main house. Will this be enough to carry the signal to communicate with my other buildings if I add some wired insteon outlets and devices? You could plug in an Insteon plug-in device in the other buildings then check to see if you can control it from the admin console. 1
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